News Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Permanently Closed Fall 2023

[mysto]

I’d go so far as to say SWGE is a perfect testament to today’s Lucasfilm. Eschewing what’s been historically popular and instead force feeding you what *they* want instead.

They won't allow me to see the OT unaltered because they want that.

 

[Figments Friend]

So getting back to the topic of the Starcruiser now….

There has been some discussion about what should be done with the building.

A few years ago Disney was testing ‘escape room’ concepts for the Resorts.
Seems to me a windowless, pool lacking, former Resort not too far from a major Theme Park would be a contender for a ‘escape room’ location.
Purpose built, you could say…

Yet another non-Park activity Guests could experience if they wish, similar to the water parks, Fantastia Gardens Golf, or Disney Springs.

What say you folks…?

-

 

[JIMINYCR]

Do you think if they put something like this in Las Vegas like Universal is doing with the HHN experience it would have done better?

No. Dis has the SW land that they were counting on attracting a fan base looking for something special but as we have seen they out priced those they were hoping to book and they made it a multiple day stay which was a deterrent for many.
If the experience was less intrusive on time and money then maybe it would have worked.

 

[erasure fan1]

So getting back to the topic of the Starcruiser now….

There has been some discussion about what should be done with the building.

A few years ago Disney was testing ‘escape room’ concepts for the Resorts.
Seems to me a windowless, pool lacking, former Resort not too far from a major Theme Park would be a contender for a ‘escape room’ location.
Purpose built, you could say…

Yet another non-Park activity Guests could experience if they wish, similar to the water parks, Fantastia Gardens Golf, or Disney Springs.

What say you folks…?

-

Repurpose the dining area and give us the star wars restaurant everyone expected would be in galaxys edge. A villain character meal would be great. 3 meals in a day, 3 different trilogys if they're worried about continuity. I'd just have all the characters mixed together, but that's me.

 

[wdwfan22]

Think about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando specifically.

You can buy your school robes and wands, take the train from one area to another, write a letter for the Owl Post, eat in universe foods and "cast spells" in various locations. That's about as immersive as the Starcruiser was, with the main difference being you can't stay overnight.

@lazyboy97o mentioned the time and money commitments. Wizarding World has none beyond general admission. You can do all of the above, or none at all. It's entirely up to the consumer. Even if you want to do everything, if at any point you want a break, you can leave and do something else. It's immersive, but not restrictive.

Epic Universe will have Power Bands for Nintendo and supposedly baby dragons you can adopt in the HttYD area. Each land has some sort of interactive gimmick that comes at a price, but is entirely voluntary. Universal seems to have figured out the balance of interaction and immersion for its parks while Disney struggles with weak imitations. I was honestly expecting Galaxy's Edge to be more like Wizarding World in that sense. Not just mobile games and clothes you can buy, but not wear.

The wizarding world is about as interactive as galaxy. Galaxy has the mobile app wwohp has wands. Both offer foods and dress up. And in my opinion none of the interactive elements appeal to anyone over the age of 25unless you are well will leave it there.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

It’s not even that it priced people out. I’m not priced out, but I”m sorry, spending $6,000 for a 2 night experience is nuts. There are so many better things I can that amount of money on. And I’m the kind of person who probably would have done this if it was priced reasonably. Chapek just got greedy when he priced this thing.

And that’s assuming all you did was the 2 night stay. Which many did not. A lot of people included the 2 nights as a part of a larger trip. Making the cost even more ridiculous

I dunno. 7 days at a Deluxe , all meals, some shopping vs being held captive for 2 nights on a fake spaceship with small rooms and a set schedule. Tough decision.

 

[mysto]

Repurpose the dining area and give us the star wars restaurant everyone expected would be in galaxys edge. A villain character meal would be great. 3 meals in a day, 3 different trilogys if they're worried about continuity. I'd just have all the characters mixed together, but that's me.

They could reverse the shuttle so you start in the park and go to dinner at the Starcuiser. Very plausible and very low startup cost now that it'sall built. Nice bit of armchir imagineering.

i was kinda thinking they'd keep girlfriends there.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I actually miss Star Wars Weekends. I thought it was a fun celebration of the franchise.

It didn’t take itself too seriously…

And that’s what Disney should be good at.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

They could reverse the shuttle so you start in the park and go to dinner at the Starcuiser. Very plausible and very low startup cost now that it'sall built. Nice bit of armchir imagineering.

i was kinda thinking they'd keep girlfriends there.

The crapeteria sucked too…

Have you seen it? It’s less charm than abc commissary

 

[JoeCamel]

No. Dis has the SW land that they were counting on attracting a fan base looking for something special but as we have seen they out priced those they were hoping to book and they made it a multiple day stay which was a deterrent for many.
If the experience was less intrusive on time and money then maybe it would have worked.

If TWDC went all in on gambling and built a Star Wars casino with attached real lux hotel featuring Star Wars experiences in Las Vegas it would do well I think. Could you imaging a space casino? That might be just what the money spending public wants. They just have to drop this family thing and go all in on making money......

 

[lewisc]

If TWDC went all in on gambling and built a Star Wars casino with attached real lux hotel featuring Star Wars experiences in Las Vegas it would do well I think. Could you imaging a space casino? That might be just what the money spending public wants. They just have to drop this family thing and go all in on making money......

Almost 30 years ago the Las Vegas Hilton had the Star Trek Experience.
Fantastic. The queue area had the history of the future. Props, costumes and a timeline combining our history with ST. People were stopping look. Announcements were made telling guests this wasn't a line.

Beamed into Enterprise. A lot of characters. Shuttle simulator return to earth


Themed restaurant and bar. You could book a wedding package. Wedding on the bridge. Married by a starfleet officer.

In some ways it was better then. SWGE

 

[DisneyDebRob]

Almost 30 years ago the Las Vegas Hilton had the Star Trek Experience.
Fantastic. The queue area had the history of the future. Props, costumes and a timeline combining our history with ST. People were stopping look. Announcements were made telling guests this wasn't a line.

Beamed into Enterprise. A lot of characters. Shuttle simulator return to earth


Themed restaurant and bar. You could book a wedding package. Wedding on the bridge. Married by a starfleet officer.

In some ways it was better then. SWGE

It was amazing in every way,especially Quarks’s. Didn’t cost 6 grand either.

 

[some other guy]

If TWDC went all in on gambling and built a Star Wars casino with attached real lux hotel featuring Star Wars experiences in Las Vegas it would do well I think. Could you imaging a space casino? That might be just what the money spending public wants. They just have to drop this family thing and go all in on making money......

one word-
Twileks

 

[twilight mitsuk]

Plus no mandatory valet parking at wwohp

 

[Dizknee_Phreek]

I actually miss Star Wars Weekends. I thought it was a fun celebration of the franchise.

I miss SWW so much. They were so much fun. The character meet n greets, the ST ride-a-thons, the Cantina Band concerts, and of course the celebrities (I will forever regret not taking the time to meet Carrie Fischer one year). Such a blast!

So getting back to the topic of the Starcruiser now….

There has been some discussion about what should be done with the building.

A few years ago Disney was testing ‘escape room’ concepts for the Resorts.
Seems to me a windowless, pool lacking, former Resort not too far from a major Theme Park would be a contender for a ‘escape room’ location.
Purpose built, you could say…

Yet another non-Park activity Guests could experience if they wish, similar to the water parks, Fantastia Gardens Golf, or Disney Springs.

What say you folks…?

-

Escape rooms are a good idea. Maybe even have some VR things in some of the rooms. Make it a mini SW themed DisneyQuest.

A guy my husband follows suggested using it as a themed wedding venue. This makes sense to me. They have the fairytale, princessy type venue. Why not a venue for more nerdy couples (I would include myself in that crowd...Disney princesses were never my thing). They already have rooms built in for guests.
He also suggested a walkthrough SW "zoo" with animatronic alien critters. I'm thinking they could keep the transportation to/from GE...like a SW version of Rafiki's Planet Watch.
They definitely have options to make use of the space to make it worth their time and money spent. The question is...will they do anything with it that actually makes sense?

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Plus no mandatory valet parking at wwohp

You can have your grips with SWGS, but I don’t understand this one. It’s free valet parking, what’s the big deal?

 

[twilight mitsuk]

You can have your grips with SWGS, but I don’t understand this one. It’s free valet parking, what’s the big deal?

Some people just don’t do valet parking and swgs had no other parking options

 

[lewisc]

You can have your grips with SWGS, but I don’t understand this one. It’s free valet parking, what’s the big deal?

Some people just don’t do valet parking and swgs had no other parking options

True. Some people don't like SWGS $$$$ and look for other reasons to nit pick

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

If there's any casual takeaway from this failure (because I'm not at all convinced anyone in WDI or Burbank has learned their lesson yet), I would hope that Disney could at least stop releasing concept art to the public that is wildly inconsistent with the reality they end up building.

For example, what they announced in the first WDI concept art released for the Starcruiser made it look impressive, with a big scale and huge windows out into space, droids roaming the lobby, a robot bartender, an interior that actually reflected the exterior shape of the ship etc.,...

But the actual reality was a mostly windowless room with a value engineered aesthetic and no continuity to the rest of the "ship"...

Agreed. But if it's any consolation, even the table service dinner show they once announced for GE ended up being small and lame on the Starcruiser. So at least you weren't missing some grand dinner show if you didn't want to pay $5,000 for the Starcruiser.

What they announced would be in Galaxy's Edge as the table-service dinner show...

But the actual reality of what they put behind a $5,000 paywall on the Starcruiser was just SciFi theme night in a church basement...

So the good news for Star Wars fans who couldn't stomach the huge price tag for the Starcruiser... at least you didn't miss much!

But seriously, Disney's marketing team and WDI team need to stop releasing concept art on future projects that is wildly inconsistent with the actual product they are going to offer to customers. It's not a good business practice in the Internet age, and it makes people not trust you.

I forget just how bad that looked…
Must have had leftover supplies from the cancelled side of pop century?

As shaq once told Craig Sager After he asked about his jacket in post game:
“It’s Terrawful…terrible and awful at the same time”

 

[asianway]

It’s not even that it priced people out. I’m not priced out, but I”m sorry, spending $6,000 for a 2 night experience is nuts. There are so many better things I can that amount of money on. And I’m the kind of person who probably would have done this if it was priced reasonably. Chapek just got greedy when he priced this thing.

There’s a reason cruise ships fly foreign flags