Star Wars Land announced for Disney's Hollywood Studios

[monothingie]

There was a belief that “if we build it, raise prices to unheard of levels, [they] will come.”

FTFY

 

[mikejs78]

There was a belief that “if we build it, [they] will come.”

WDI should have been able to produce a more compelling product.

Didn't they though? Wasn't a bunch cut?

 

[monothingie]

There was a belief that “if we build it, [they] will come.”

WDI should have been able to produce a more compelling product.

They did, but someone got greedy and decided to open it as an incomplete land.

 

[ToTBellHop]

They did, but someone got greedy and decided to open it as an incomplete land.

It wasn’t entirely greed. Over-confidence of a frat house president?

Both WDI and management have a lot of

strutting around.

 

[TeriofTerror]

Not doubting you, I'm just curious. The only thing I heard was from a podcast where they were speculating that there would be discounts soon but they were quick to say they had no info from Disney.

Nothing fabulous. To quote Reo Speedwagon, heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who...

 

[monothingie]

It wasn’t entirely greed. Over-confidence of a frat house president?

Just waiting for his platinum parachute out

 

[Hawkeye_2018]

Not surprising that people are waiting to visit GE. Why spend all that money to see a half completed project. Especially when you realize the Falcon ride is just Star Tours with buttons.

 

[mikejs78]

Not surprising that people are waiting to visit GE. Why spend all that money to see a half completed project. Especially when you realize the Falcon ride is just Star Tours with buttons.

Well, I'm personally looking forward.to trying MFSR. But Disney isn't something I do every month, or even every year. So I'm waiting until both attractions are open and the crowds die down a little (well, based on my original view of what would happen.). So next year at the earliest.

I suspect I'm not alone.

 

[AEfx]

I don't need to have a face to face with Bob Iger to know that Disney isn't happy with the results of SWGE. There's some beautiful art direction there but the middling response to Smugglers Run specifically combined with the lack of crowds is absolutely a problem.

Absolutely is correct.

We can argue about the causality, but the fact that there is a problem is undeniable.

Personally, I think people don’t take the ST backlash seriously enough. Interest in the ST among the SW lifestylers has diminished if not evaporated. The people who spend thousands a year on Star Wars suddenly aren’t. The general SW merchandising reflects this. The products have largely flopped at retail. You know it’s a problem when the products featuring even the main villains gather dust on retail pegs until they are clearanced out.

Let’s put it this way, if Darth Vader were doing meet and greets instead of Kylo Ren, we wouldn’t be having this conversation...

 

[Hawkeye_2018]

All these people waiting for 'crowds to die down' will end up all going the same week sometime next year and it will be unbearable

 

[mikejs78]

Absolutely is correct.

We can argue about the causality, but the fact that there is a problem is undeniable.

Personally, I think people don’t take the ST backlash seriously enough. Interest in the ST among the SW lifestylers has diminished if not evaporated. The people who spend thousands a year on Star Wars suddenly aren’t. The general SW merchandising reflects this. The products have largely flopped at retail. You know it’s a problem when the products featuring even the main villains gather dust on retail pegs until they are clearanced out.

Let’s put it this way, if Darth Vader were doing meet and greets instead of Kylo Ren, we wouldn’t be having this conversation...

I really don't think this is it. Star wars conventions, Celebrations, etc, still sell out and command hefty figures. The merchandise issue had less to do with lifesrylers than with average people. Merchandising is low compared to when TFA was released but higher than before that. The issue is, how many Kylo Ren action figures do you need?

Rise of Skywalker interest is tracking very high. Lifesrylers make up a tiny minority of SW fans. TLJ still tracked extremely high in popularity after it's release, despite the Internet saying otherwise. The backlash is overblown IMO and not shared by ordinary people who make up the vast majority of SW fans.

 

[RSoxNo1]

This was a bad call. I don't understand why Disney would not build a SW area that's recognizable to SW fans. GE should have been an area that's from a SW movie(s). Not something that Disney made up.
They built Pandora in AK straight from the movie and that area and rides are always packed. And look at the wait times for the Harry Potter ride at Universal. Up to 10 hours?! Really?!
Not sure Disney realizes how much they've damaged the SW brand.

The recreating what we know vs drawing inspiration from what we know argument is a valid one, but count me in the "drawing inspiration" group. There are circumstances where recreation is the right play, but I think for different reasons, Star Wars and Avatar were better suited for the inspiration group.

If Disney was building an entire park devoted to Star Wars where they could recreate 5-6 locales than I'd be on board, but to pick a specific land is tough. They get around the multiple lands thing on Star Tours and they conceivably could have structured Smugglers Run in a similar way.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Absolutely agree on the Kessel Run and the non-pilot positions. I'm just not sure how solvable that problem is, however. They can't retrofit the cabins with swivel chairs and real gunner controls, and if you give the engineers actual tools they'll show up on eBay in ten minutes.

Put the buttons on 30, 45 or 60 degree angles that come out from the wall and have an obvious auto pilot button at each of the 6 seats.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I mean, in all fairness, a Kessel Run mission would be more Solo content. And that “monster escape” mission from the concept art does look very Kessel-esque.

Absolutely, but the Kessel Run was the primary reason fans wanted to see Solo. The monster concept art mission was described as, "steal a piece of cargo and battle a monster".

 

[RSoxNo1]

Do TDA and TDO have an assessment on why SWL is not as successful as they thought it would be? What do they consider the reasons?

They believe adding any space character they have in the arsenal to the land (except from the original Star Wars trilogy) should fix the problem. Expect Buzz Lightyear and John Carter to debut with the Florida version.

 

[Hawkeye_2018]

Batuu will be featured at some point in future movies or shows. And if done right, it will renew interest in GE.

 

[Master Yoda]

Batuu will be featured at some point in future movies or shows. And if done right, it will renew interest in GE.

They already have a 3 issue comic series on it and it is expected to be featured in a couple of the novels. While it is not the same wide reach of films or TV, it is something.

 

[Bleed0range]

The recreating what we know vs drawing inspiration from what we know argument is a valid one, but count me in the "drawing inspiration" group. There are circumstances where recreation is the right play, but I think for different reasons, Star Wars and Avatar were better suited for the inspiration group.

If Disney was building an entire park devoted to Star Wars where they could recreate 5-6 locales than I'd be on board, but to pick a specific land is tough. They get around the multiple lands thing on Star Tours and they conceivably could have structured Smugglers Run in a similar way.

I don’t see exactly how making Batuu Tatooine would have improved the land. The architecture is similar enough, there’s a pod race engine cooking meat... look at the outside of Tatooine traders and just imagine it being more of that look. Would that really help? Maybe, but imagine all the sand! You gotta have sand or it wouldn’t be authentic! Haha.

What I think people really don’t like is that the OT characters aren’t present. We know the Falcon is there but not Han. For some it isn’t quite the same knowing this takes place in a period where all the characters we grew up loving are dead. I think that’s the biggest problem. On top of having only one ride open and raising prices so high... and scaring off everyone.

Get an R2 and 3PO animatronic in there for the whole year... why on earth are they not there? I haven’t heard of either of them. Put them in that TSR opening. They should be interactive. Maybe you can talk to 3PO? Anthony Daniels will always do VO work.

 

[AEfx]

I really don't think this is it. Star wars conventions, Celebrations, etc, still sell out and command hefty figures. The merchandise issue had less to do with lifesrylers than with average people. Merchandising is low compared to when TFA was released but higher than before that. The issue is, how many Kylo Ren action figures do you need?

Rise of Skywalker interest is tracking very high. Lifesrylers make up a tiny minority of SW fans. TLJ still tracked extremely high in popularity after it's release, despite the Internet saying otherwise. The backlash is overblown IMO and not shared by ordinary people who make up the vast majority of SW fans.

They buy the most stuff, though. Star Wars products are selling less now than they did five years ago. A small amount of fans who spend thousands and thousands of dollars on SW products every year are what the majority of merchandising income comes from, and it’s been that way since the 1990’s.

I’m not going to get into an argument about TLJ, I think you are looking at it through rose colored glasses though.

You also hit the nail on the head. How many Kylo Ren figures do people need? Not many and not nearly as many as Vader. They have literally made over 100 different Vader figures (that’s just the 3.75” line) and they rereleased him in multiple versions every year and they have always sold out. Still do. But Kylo? Nope. And especially not Snoke, who’s figure is clogging up Walmart clearance aisles as we speak.

You never found Emperor or Vader there.

 

[tk924]

You also hit the nail on the head. How many Kylo Ren figures do people need? Not many and not nearly as many as Vader. They have literally made over 100 different Vader figures (that’s just the 3.75” line) and they rereleased him in multiple versions every year and they have always sold out. Still do. But Kylo? Nope. And especially not Snoke, who’s figure is clogging up Walmart clearance aisles as we speak.

You never found Emperor or Vader there.

More proof of this can be found at discount stores like Ollies, Ross and even Dollar Stores. Never heard of this prior to 2012.