News Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Permanently Closed Fall 2023

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Congratulations, you've discovered that the dining hall is empty when it's not one of the seating times.

I guess you've never been to the lounge of a cruise ship at 3 PM.

It looks like a church basement, when the teen youth group was hosting Sci-Fi Nite. Please see Youth Pastor Jake for tickets.

But if you think this was "immersive" and worthy of $1,000 per night from an allegedly top-notch entertainment company, then go big on this. And never let it die.

2022-wdw-star-wars-hotel-galactic-starcruiser-media-preview-crown-of-corellia-dining-room-2-700x525.jpg
 

edfhinton

Member
They flat out gave up instead of back to drawing boards...
You don't know that. They have said something will be done next. Disney does not announce things until they are ready. If there is work going on there (as the public work order filing suggests), then they most likely have already gone back to that drawing board. That and other grapevine indicators suggests various levels of activity under way. My guess is it will probably be sometime in 2024 before the public gets to find out what they have chosen as a new direction.

As for the personal shots against me as newer to posting on these boards, that's all fine. But I have been in business longer than most on these boards have been alive. I've learned along the way that sometimes the best products fail in the market. Disney seems to have a "build it and they will come" attitude sometimes. But it doesn't work that way. Some amazing products and many products that were higher quality than their competitors have failed over the decades because the companies didn't figure out how to win in the marketplace regardless of how good their products were. Anyone remember Betamax?
 

Splash4eva

Well-Known Member
You don't know that. They have said something will be done next. Disney does not announce things until they are ready. If there is work going on there (as the public work order filing suggests), then they most likely have already gone back to that drawing board. That and other grapevine indicators suggests various levels of activity under way. My guess is it will probably be sometime in 2024 before the public gets to find out what they have chosen as a new direction.

As for the personal shots against me as newer to posting on these boards, that's all fine. But I have been in business longer than most on these boards have been alive. I've learned along the way that sometimes the best products fail in the market. Disney seems to have a "build it and they will come" attitude sometimes. But it doesn't work that way. Some amazing products and many products that were higher quality than their competitors have failed over the decades because the companies didn't figure out how to win in the marketplace regardless of how good their products were. Anyone remember Betamax?
The point im trying to make is this. If the Starcruiser was a “success” by peoples admission again we will take them at their word that means Disney created a product that people liked yet it still was not worthy of them keeping it… ive suggested lowering the price and market more been told that probably will not work because of internal margins. So what can Disney do better if they are not willing to lower the price point on an already “successful” innovative idea? Cheapen said product/experience? I am genuinely confused to what people who are defending this see as an alternative
 

edfhinton

Member
The dining room discussion is one more example of people not understanding what this was. First, the pictures do not do it justice. But that doesn't matter because the immersion was driven by the interactions with the cast and other guests. The environments were great, but they were never intended to be the star of the show. They were just set pieces within which the immersion could be created. It is the experience itself that was immersive. Guests who had never considered any kind of LARP or cosplay, including guests in normal street clothes, found themselves completely pulled in and forgetting that it wasn't real. People who never heard of 'LARP drop' experienced it when they had to leave. The environments were meticulously consistent and believable as what they were themed to be. But they could have been almost anything. That is a key difference between passive immersion where the environment has to do all the lifting and interactive character immersion that creates connections and getting lost in story. One of the reasons I have been advocating/hoping Disney finds a way to create little mini-experiences is that there may be no possible way to convey the experience without people doing it. So adding more interaction in their attractions and having paid lower-price short duration immersion opportunities may be the only way they can build the market for the longer duration format. Pictures, no matter how good, could never convey what this was. I don't want them to just repeat the same duration/price approach with new story. As much as I believe better marketing and getting the word out to more people would have worked, I also know that marketing also carries costs and the marketing budget was probably constrained by the number of guests this was limited to. They are going to have to build awareness and market for this type of experience in ways that fit into other budgets.
 

LSLS

Well-Known Member
You don't know that. They have said something will be done next. Disney does not announce things until they are ready. If there is work going on there (as the public work order filing suggests), then they most likely have already gone back to that drawing board. That and other grapevine indicators suggests various levels of activity under way. My guess is it will probably be sometime in 2024 before the public gets to find out what they have chosen as a new direction.

As for the personal shots against me as newer to posting on these boards, that's all fine. But I have been in business longer than most on these boards have been alive. I've learned along the way that sometimes the best products fail in the market. Disney seems to have a "build it and they will come" attitude sometimes. But it doesn't work that way. Some amazing products and many products that were higher quality than their competitors have failed over the decades because the companies didn't figure out how to win in the marketplace regardless of how good their products were. Anyone remember Betamax?
LOL. Come on now. There's an entire thread dedicated to announcements of Zootopia and Moana lands in Animal Kingdom. Go look at what they said was coming to Galaxy Edge. And that entire D23 where they cancelled almost everything. Epcot transformation. They legit announce things all the time before they are ready. I'm not saying they won't do something, but they announce they have plans all the time that lead to nothing.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
So ill ask this… they created a unique experience that supposedly was highly liked and yet they couldnt find a way to make it work and we are suppose to believe they will be able to do this again when they re envision this place as Josh claims?!?
He lied. Let’s move on.
Really? This is your definition of "tremendous"? 🤔

2022-wdw-star-wars-hotel-galactic-starcruiser-media-preview-crown-of-corellia-dining-room-2-700x525.jpg
I want to Clorox my eyes when I see that. There are playgrounds inside airport malls with more thought/detail put into them
 

Tha Realest

Well-Known Member
The dining room discussion is one more example of people not understanding what this was. First, the pictures do not do it justice. But that doesn't matter because the immersion was driven by the interactions with the cast and other guests. The environments were great, but they were never intended to be the star of the show. They were just set pieces within which the immersion could be created. It is the experience itself that was immersive. Guests who had never considered any kind of LARP or cosplay, including guests in normal street clothes, found themselves completely pulled in and forgetting that it wasn't real. People who never heard of 'LARP drop' experienced it when they had to leave. The environments were meticulously consistent and believable as what they were themed to be. But they could have been almost anything. That is a key difference between passive immersion where the environment has to do all the lifting and interactive character immersion that creates connections and getting lost in story. One of the reasons I have been advocating/hoping Disney finds a way to create little mini-experiences is that there may be no possible way to convey the experience without people doing it. So adding more interaction in their attractions and having paid lower-price short duration immersion opportunities may be the only way they can build the market for the longer duration format. Pictures, no matter how good, could never convey what this was. I don't want them to just repeat the same duration/price approach with new story. As much as I believe better marketing and getting the word out to more people would have worked, I also know that marketing also carries costs and the marketing budget was probably constrained by the number of guests this was limited to. They are going to have to build awareness and market for this type of experience in ways that fit into other budgets.
It doesn’t look that much more impressive from other angles though. In all the videos and photos I’ve seen, it doesn’t scream “dining room” so much as corporate cafeteria with neo-futuristic succulents.

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1697543727658.jpeg
 

edfhinton

Member
Betamax was a disaster
It is widely recognized that Betamax was the better quality product than VHS. They had twice the image resolution. Betamax tapes were also about half the size of VHS, which they thought was an advantage, but they clearly botched the recording time issue that going with the larger capacity that the bulkier VHS tapes provided would have resolved. But VHS won the marketing wars except in the case of professional studios that stuck with Betamax for a longer period because they could not settle for the inferior quality of VHS recordings. Higher quality lost.
 

Dranth

Well-Known Member
You buried the lead…
It looked like crap
Small correction. It looks like crap in pictures (which I agree, it does) but the people who have actually been there have pointed out many times that it didn't look nearly as bad in person. Doesn't mean it shouldn't have been better but it likely gets called out unfairly because it just doesn't photograph well.

Betamax was a disaster
It was better in every way except one but let's face it, quality doesn't win out in most cases. People want cheap and easy first and foremost with quality being a distant third in most cases.
 

MrPromey

Well-Known Member
...
As the podcast says... someday, the Galactic Starcruiser will have been our Woodstock.

Seems like a corporate profit vehicle set up in the tourist capital of the world catering to the rich or those with good credit limits for play-pretend* would be the opposite of a Woodstock... unless you're talking about Woodstock99?

If so, maybe. 🤷‍♂️


Yall are trying too hard to crap on people's good time. Go outside and touch some grass.

Touch some grass:

Something you say when somebody is acting disconnected from the real-life world.

Something you say to someone when they need to come back down to earth. Some similar sayings are come back down to earth , go outside , etc.

Something you say to people that simp for fictional characters, dbtards, narutards, aottards, mhatards and bts fans.

An expression used to tell someone to take off their rose coloured glasses, restrain their lustful urges and get control of their hormones.




... I know this comes across as mean but, oh, the irony.

*you may bristle at my wording but that is what it was, right?
 
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Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
It is widely recognized that Betamax was the better quality product than VHS. They had twice the image resolution. Betamax tapes were also about half the size of VHS, which they thought was an advantage, but they clearly botched the recording time issue that going with the larger capacity that the bulkier VHS tapes provided would have resolved. But VHS won the marketing wars except in the case of professional studios that stuck with Betamax for a longer period because they could not settle for the inferior quality of VHS recordings. Higher quality lost.

I think that’s the point…

“Degrees of failure” are somewhat irrelevant.

But here’s the big thing: I don’t think that those that worked in the swamp locker didn’t do everything they can…so it’s not a failure “on the ground”.
The entire thing was DOA. Overall - a failure in an order of magnitude. Any suggestion they’ll “tweak and reopen” is fool.

Even I didn’t pop on here and say “it’s gonna be a disaster”…many did. I NEVER underestimate the eastern US’s ability to toss money into the mangroves. Not for one second.

But they pulled the plug in earth shaking fashion. That is a “strong indicator” that it was far worse than people are giving it credit for in the autopsy.

A post of above said “hundreds of thousands of people loved it…”

Somebody gonna have to seriously question that. The decision to close it was made in 10-12 months…hell - knowing how the controlling brain cluster works - it may have been on a “clock” before if ever opened. Not just possible…likely.

They’re good with data. I’m sure what the C-suite laments is financing the construction…not the closure. And that’s a house of ego…and they STILL closed it.

We’re underplaying the fail here in reality…not overstating it.

Now enjoy the circus 🤡
 

edfhinton

Member
... play-pretend* ...

*you may bristle at my wording but that is what it was, right?
I don't bristle at that at all. But there is huge psychological impact from "play-pretend" that Disney tapped into. LARP drop is a real phenomenon that is a subject of study by psychologists. It likely also was a huge factor in how many of us who went once thinking we could only ever spend the money to go once or perhaps every 4-5 years found ourselves back again in the same 12 month period. We had to have that experience again and it was even better on repeat visits. You can downplay the play-pretend aspect, but it is likely regardless of the financial failure of this attempt to become a bigger and bigger part of entertainment. Disney is not going to abandon the interactive immersion concept.
 

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