News Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Permanently Closed Fall 2023

JD80

Well-Known Member
Ok…but on the whole it has “struggled” unnecessarily…

Better?

I actually watched the Mando season 3 behind the scenes doc they just put on the Holy Streamer the other day…

I invite everyone to watch it. Then we can break down the first 10 minutes. Everything they try to highlight as a “strength” brilliantly illustrates why they’ve struggled as badly as they have.
Can't disagree with that.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
There is one scene that killed the franchise, and it happened in Last Jedi. Forget the nonsensical casino chase, the Mary Poppins Leia, the walrus with human-like mammaries on its crotch, the unceremonious offing of Admiral Ackbar, or the idiotic “running out of gas” plot point….all small potatoes.

What killed Star Wars was The Assassination of Luke Skywalker By The Bubble-Headed Gerber Baby Rian Johnson



Luke Skywalker does not consider murdering a sleeping teenager because he’s scared of the dark sife.
Even Mark Hamill criticized this decision (“Jake Skywalker”), and it was so bad that not only did JJ Abrams try to course correct (yet fail miserably) we have Favreau and Filoni doing their best to rehab Luke by shoving scenes of him training Grogu into BoBF.

I should never laugh this much…I’m too old
 
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FigmentFan82

Well-Known Member
I recently stayed at the Legoland Hotel in NY. It is nothing special. It is themed to Legos, nothing too greatly beyond that (although the elevators might be the best thing in there, IFKYK) But it fully works for what it is supposed to be - a Lego themed hotel and while sure the target is a much younger crowd, everyone seemed to be having a good time.

If Starcruiser was only ever just a themed hotel it would be booked 24/7/365

There's a time and a place for the phrase "But what if..."

This wasn't one of those times.
 

kingdead

Well-Known Member
We should save that for a discussion on a failed billion dollar hotel based on bad Star Wars movies, huh?
Even if this had been based on a more popular part of the franchise, a full day of character interaction is a tough sell. One of the sadder things I was seeing about the experience was that people who were shy felt they were missing out--for that price, every single person should feel satisfied by the end. You really had to have a certain personality type to get the most out of it.
 

pdude81

Well-Known Member
There was a recent episode of Podcast: The Ride with Andrew Barth Feldman where he talked about his trip to the Galactic Starcruiser that hews pretty closely to your experince and it explained the appeal more than any of Disney's advertising. (It actually sounds a lot like Evermore but more focused on a single experience rather than some sort of continuing story.) It's ideal for theater kids, improv folks and tabletop RPG/LARP enthusiasts. If you aren't prepared to throw yourself into the story, you aren't going to get any value from it. He made it sound fantastic. When the naysayers complain that the rooms look too small or the activities look dumb or the food doesn't look good, it's because those are not the focus of the experience, it's all in service to the story. The cast and the story are what you're paying for. And I think it was probably a first-in-class experience there.

The first problem was that Disney didn't really communicate that, hell, I didn't really understand it until I heard that podcast. The second problem is... how big is the clientele for that kind of experience? You really have to be an active, willing participant to get the most out of it; you have to realize it's not a relaxing getaway, it's like an interactive murder mystery that you act (improv) out over 48 hours. I don't know that even with an IP that kids love like Star Wars that kids are going to understand it or be able to really engage in. You have to be pretty confident and savvy to "yes and" your way into an experience like this, so it's not really suited for families at all. And the third problem is the price. No matter how committed you are to it, $5-6k is a chunk of change for most anyone to throw at a 2-ish day experience. A fourth-ish problem, and maybe this would have been addressed if it had lasted, is that, with a smaller target audience, I would have to imagine it would have had to depend to a decent extent on repeat customers, which would require eventually updating the story. I know you can role play into multiple factions and have different experiences in the same story, but even if you wanted to play each faction that's 3 or 4 visits before you're replaying the same thing at least once? Unless it just turned into an expensive version of midnight showings of Rocky Horror where the guests all throw toast together or whatever they do.

Knowing what I do now, I really wish I could have experienced it. But even knowing what I know now, I don't know that I would have been willing to pay even the 30% discount prices they were offering. I wish they could have found a way to make it profitable, or at least break even and keep it going as a boutique experience that could support itself. Hopefully they can learn from their failure and maybe come up with another way to offer a similar experience. But not like Evermore which appears to rely on free labor.
Almost every child cries hard when it is over and they don't want to leave. It's kind of devastating. It's also not really a failure unless this just dies and nothing comes of it. I'm fairly certain some of the interactive and hacking missions given led to the Bounty Hunter game at SWGE, and I think they could refine the experience with a different IP and do quite well with a more limited experience.

I most certainly understand adults rationalizing whether this would or would not be worth it to them, as we all need to survive and feed our families. We have a lot of competition for our dollars and it's hard to choose what's worth it. I would suggest that (IMO) this experience is much more than the sum of its parts, though each person will value it differently.
 

pdude81

Well-Known Member
I recently stayed at the Legoland Hotel in NY. It is nothing special. It is themed to Legos, nothing too greatly beyond that (although the elevators might be the best thing in there, IFKYK) But it fully works for what it is supposed to be - a Lego themed hotel and while sure the target is a much younger crowd, everyone seemed to be having a good time.

If Starcruiser was only ever just a themed hotel it would be booked 24/7/365

There's a time and a place for the phrase "But what if..."

This wasn't one of those times.
$1000 a night to stay in a lego themed hotel with no story or add ons. Now it's a cool place and a lot of fun, but not a comparison to SWGS. If you had All Star Wars Resort for $400 a night with crappy paintings on the walls, people would complain that they devalued the brand and that Star Wars is dead.
 

dreamfinder912

Well-Known Member
Almost every child cries hard when it is over and they don't want to leave. It's kind of devastating. It's also not really a failure unless this just dies and nothing comes of it. I'm fairly certain some of the interactive and hacking missions given led to the Bounty Hunter game at SWGE, and I think they could refine the experience with a different IP and do quite well with a more limited experience.

I most certainly understand adults rationalizing whether this would or would not be worth it to them, as we all need to survive and feed our families. We have a lot of competition for our dollars and it's hard to choose what's worth it. I would suggest that (IMO) this experience is much more than the sum of its parts, though each person will value it differently.
People on these last cruises are bringing custom mini tissue packs. It's designed to forge a very quick, very deep emotional connection. It's going to be very intense these last few months.

I do hope we see game elements pop up. I'd love for Raithe and Co to be added to the park in some way too.
 

brettf22

Premium Member
Ok, this is kinda off topic for the Starcruiser thread, but since it has somewhat devolved into a random Star Wars thread…

Dan Povenmire (creator of Phineas and Ferb) took his staff to Disneyland. While riding Rise, it broke down (shocking, I know). So what did he do while stuck on the ride?

He called Scott Trowbridge, who was Dan’s college friend.
 
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erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
Ok, this is kind off topic for the Starcruiser thread, but since it has somewhat devolved into a random Star Wars thread…

Dan Povenmire (creator of Phineas and Ferb) took his staff to Disneyland. While riding Rise, it broke down (shocking, I know). So what did he do while stuck on the ride?

He called Scott Trowbridge, who was Dan’s college friend.
I like how he's genuinely surprised that it broke down. Lol
 

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
Ok, this is kind off topic for the Starcruiser thread, but since it has somewhat devolved into a random Star Wars thread…

Dan Povenmire (creator of Phineas and Ferb) took his staff to Disneyland. While riding Rise, it broke down (shocking, I know). So what did he do while stuck on the ride?

He called Scott Trowbridge, who was Dan’s college friend.
That is hilarious
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
Almost every child cries hard when it is over and they don't want to leave. It's kind of devastating. It's also not really a failure unless this just dies and nothing comes of it. I'm fairly certain some of the interactive and hacking missions given led to the Bounty Hunter game at SWGE, and I think they could refine the experience with a different IP and do quite well with a more limited experience.

I most certainly understand adults rationalizing whether this would or would not be worth it to them, as we all need to survive and feed our families. We have a lot of competition for our dollars and it's hard to choose what's worth it. I would suggest that (IMO) this experience is much more than the sum of its parts, though each person will value it differently.
Yo…they couldn’t get anyone to book it.
It’s absolutely a failure

Have we reached the introduction to the opposites again?
 

solidyne

Well-Known Member
Ok, this is kinda off topic for the Starcruiser thread, but since it has somewhat devolved into a random Star Wars thread…

Dan Povenmire (creator of Phineas and Ferb) took his staff to Disneyland. While riding Rise, it broke down (shocking, I know). So what did he do while stuck on the ride?

He called Scott Trowbridge, who was Dan’s college friend.
I know this guy's [Povenmire's] final two comments were intended to be facetious, but they're actually kinda true. :(
 

solidyne

Well-Known Member
Did you also catch Trowbridge's comment? (paraphrasing) "What do you do, ride rides all day??" In other words, "Come on Dan, you don't actually consume the products we're producing do you?? Sheesh, you actually go to the parks???"

The contempt these people have for us...
 

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