Starcruiser: What do you think it'll be used for in 5 years?

[sedati]

That’s actually a GOOD idea and too bad they didn’t do that to begin with.

Are you seriously kidding?
This is up there with wanting Batuu to turn into Mos Espa.
I hope Disney isn't listening, because these calls for them to simply aim-low are distressing.
We can argue about execution, but at least these projects were ambitious.
I can honestly imagine them going the value route as describe and the blowback outrage on this forum if they did. Along with the calls for something worthy of the brand- like a simulated in-universe vacation.

 

[DfromATX]

Are you seriously kidding?
This is up there with wanting Batuu to turn into Mos Espa.
I hope Disney isn't listening, because these calls for them to simply aim-low are distressing.
We can argue about execution, but at least these projects were ambitious.
I can honestly imagine them going the value route as describe and the blowback outrage on this forum if they did. Along with the calls for something worthy of the brand- like a simulated in-universe vacation.

No, I wasn’t kidding, but I guess I should first say I don’t give a rat’s you know what about Star Wars. If the hotel flops as is, I thought his idea was good. At least that way more Star Wars fans would be able to enjoy it.

 

[JohnD]

My guess is that, if it flops as is, Disney will lean hard into expansion.

They'll redub it "Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser and Resort", build an additional annex featuring 200 "Value Resort" rooms that wouldn't be as elaborately themed (i.e. no "port hole" windows looking out to a GFFA projection, and a second queen bed in place of the sleeping bunks). This annex would largely function as a standard hotel, with a lot of the activities (Lightsaber Training, Droid Racing, Sabacc, etc.) made available to the Value guests at an additional charge. They would still have free access to DHS by way of the shuttle truck.

I was thinking the same thing. But they would have to do a lot exterior work and renovations. Think about it. Currently, all you need is a themed front. You're whisked inside a warehouse with no windows then put in a truck for a day trip to GE without ever seeing the exterior. If turned into an overall resort, theming needs to be done all around the now-resort which allows for free mobility around it. Judging by the exterior photos, it would need a LOT of work. The buildings would have to be renovated with windows and all the usual interior touches to allow for free movement (e.g. elevators, Exit and directional signs, etc) within it without being kept to a strict itinerary. I would get rid of the shuttle truck and just theme a standard bus to be more "Star Warsian". Keep the windows. Put a wrap on the outside of the bus, if desired.

 

[Tha Realest]

If you read some of the early reviews leaking out, this might not be a purely hypothetical question in the near future!

 

[Tha Realest]

I was thinking the same thing. But they would have to do a lot exterior work and renovations. Think about it. Currently, all you need is a themed front. You're whisked inside a warehouse with no windows then put in a truck for a day trip to GE without ever seeing the exterior. If turned into an overall resort, theming needs to be done all around the now-resort which allows for free mobility around it. Judging by the exterior photos, it would need a LOT of work. The buildings would have to be renovated with windows and all the usual interior touches to allow for free movement (e.g. elevators, Exit and directional signs, etc) within it without being kept to a strict itinerary. I would get rid of the shuttle truck and just theme a standard bus to be more "Star Warsian". Keep the windows. Put a wrap on the outside of the bus, if desired.

I keep thinking about this. They didn’t really allow themselves a lot of leeway to reconfigure this thing if the all-in LARPing concept faceplants. If you do away with the star cruiser conceit and treat this as a regular accommodation it’s arguably below AOA, ASM, and the other values. As you note, the construction doesn’t lend itself to exterior theming. Inside, the rooms are small and, again, stripping away the “cruise” conceit, would come off as really odd and presumably cramped. I feel like a future reconfiguration would be prohibitively expensive and limited substantially by the existing construction and design choices.

 

[GuyFawkes]

I'm not one of them, but I think there are plenty of rich people, Tim Trackers, and super fans who will pay. I don't even like Star Wars, but I'm ok with this. If people want to spend their time and money there, so be it. It doesn't really affect me. However, I was hoping to see Genie+ fail because that affects my experience.

No.....You don't understand the rich at all. There's old money and trendy money neither are interested in this Star Wars crap.

Hot and trendy???? Most important thing. Rare, I can, you can't, next up.

The Star Wars cruiser really doesn't appeal to the rich, only the stupid.

 

[DfromATX]

No.....You don't understand the rich at all. There's old money and trendy money neither are interested in this Star Wars crap.

Hot and trendy???? Most important thing. Rare, I can, you can't, next up.

The Star Wars cruiser really doesn't appeal to the rich, only the stupid.

Maybe I should have said "rich Star Wars fans"

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Everybody has different opinions on this but:

I don't think there is enough demand for a full time/year round "LARP'ing Hotel" at Disney. It's a nice concept but why not make this a SW themed resort - equipped with things like Mos Eisley, CM interaction in costume, themed dining, maybe exclusive shows and activities etc.? If done right you can deliver a heck of a lot of Star Wars and make the experience memorable.

As for the LARP'ing aspect - and what I don't understand is: There would have been plenty of opportunities to have "special LARP'ing events" throughout the year - without the need to commit to this dedicated LARP'ing format. It would have given Disney the advantage of gauging reaction/demand to such an environment. And introducing things gradually with the ability to see what was working and what was not used to be Disney's MO. Not so much anymore. Unless of course its a price increase.

A Disney Star Wars themed resort is going to sell out. Had they done this and offered special LARP'ing events - and those events proved to be a high demand offering - then you look at making the switch. Why commit when you didn't have to? And now they find themselves in the position they're in.

 

[Brad Bishop]

Everybody has different opinions on this but:

I don't think there is enough demand for a full time/year round "LARP'ing Hotel" at Disney. It's a nice concept but why not make this a SW themed resort - equipped with things like Mos Eisley, CM interaction in costume, themed dining, maybe exclusive shows and activities etc.? If done right you can deliver a heck of a lot of Star Wars and make the experience memorable.

As for the LARP'ing aspect - and what I don't understand is: There would have been plenty of opportunities to have "special LARP'ing events" throughout the year - without the need to commit to this dedicated LARP'ing format. It would have given Disney the advantage of gauging reaction/demand to such an environment. And introducing things gradually with the ability to see what was working and what was not used to be Disney's MO. Not so much anymore. Unless of course its a price increase.

A Disney Star Wars themed resort is going to sell out. Had they done this and offered special LARP'ing events - and those events proved to be a high demand offering - then you look at making the switch. Why commit when you didn't have to? And now they find themselves in the position they're in.

They used to do that with Star Wars Weekends. It was a set of weekends in May which really pulled in the Star Wars fans each year. They let people come in and participate with LARPing and all that. They had parades, stars who'd sign their autographs, special merch (though the quality of the merch started to fade towards the last year or two). It was great fun that could be had by anybody.

Then they stopped doing that (the thing people loved) and built Galaxy's Edge (the well themed strip mall with high prices) to which the response was more, "meh". Now they've created an exclusive (in terms of price) hotel that only top-dollar Star Wars fans can get into. Regular fans need not apply.

 

[Astro_Digital]

It will be the next meet and greet in five years for only $20. take you pictures with Rey and Kylo Ren.

 

[GuyFawkes]

It will be the next meet and greet in five years for only $20. take you pictures with Rey and Kylo Ren.

There's the real problem, Rey and Kylo who????

They don't have the fan base. They are simply replacements for legends.

 

[Brad Bishop]

There's the real problem, Rey and Kylo who????

They don't have the fan base. They are simply replacements for legends.

Remember when Disney bought Star Wars and the worst part about it was I, II, and III? Everyone was heralding how Disney, because of their success with Marvel, could right the ship and Disney would be just printing money with Star Wars from there on out?

...and they screwed it up.

Maybe a Star Wars fan can answer this:

From my understanding you had a series of 9 books (I know there are some others) that equated to the 9 movies. We started in the middle with IV and then went to V and VI. I'm wondering:
1) Did I, II, and III stick to the original books/plots? I'm guessing they did as they seem to be a setup to IV, V, and VI and Lucas was still in charge though, I think he screwed those movies up. (they look good, now, don't they?? in comparison with VII, VIII, and IX).
2) I have a hard time believing that Disney stuck to the original books/scripts/plot with VII, VIII, and IX. It really feels like they just rehashed everything for VII, which I have a hard time believing the original books/plot did and everything became Ren/Rey and the New Order and the original idea of "the force" seemed to be lost in it because Rey can do everything (why even have the force?). It just seemed like some thrown together nonsense for VII, VIII, and IX. (granted, I don't think I saw IX, or if I did, I don't remember it)

 

[Heppenheimer]

Remember when Disney bought Star Wars and the worst part about it was I, II, and III? Everyone was heralding how Disney, because of their success with Marvel, could right the ship and Disney would be just printing money with Star Wars from there on out?

...and they screwed it up.

Maybe a Star Wars fan can answer this:

From my understanding you had a series of 9 books (I know there are some others) that equated to the 9 movies. We started in the middle with IV and then went to V and VI. I'm wondering:
1) Did I, II, and III stick to the original books/plots? I'm guessing they did as they seem to be a setup to IV, V, and VI and Lucas was still in charge though, I think he screwed those movies up. (they look good, now, don't they?? in comparison with VII, VIII, and IX).
2) I have a hard time believing that Disney stuck to the original books/scripts/plot with VII, VIII, and IX. It really feels like they just rehashed everything for VII, which I have a hard time believing the original books/plot did and everything became Ren/Rey and the New Order and the original idea of "the force" seemed to be lost in it because Rey can do everything (why even have the force?). It just seemed like some thrown together nonsense for VII, VIII, and IX. (granted, I don't think I saw IX, or if I did, I don't remember it)

Not at all. The movies aren't based on any books (unlike, for example, The Lord of the Rings), they originated as screenplays that were always intended as films. George Lucas wanted to make a trilogy of movies from near the beginning, but there was never a complete draft or even an outline of the entire series. He wrote the original Star Wars as a stand-alone film, but kept the ending open-ended enough so that he could complete the trilogy if the movie succeeded (which it obviously did!). What is now known as "Episode IV" only received that title retro-actively, although oddly enough, long before the prequel trilogy was ever contemplated.

The original trilogy (episodes IV-VI) implied enough of a larger universe and back-story that Lucas was then able to tie it together with episodes I-III, although many fans were unhappy with the execution. Some of the events in the prequel films were mentioned or hinted at in the original trilogy, but once again, there was never a set plot to follow until Lucas wrote one specifically for these films.

Episodes VII-IX were never planned by Lucas, and weren't even foreshadowed by any of the events in the prior films. The screenplays came from the Disney production house once they took over the franchise. There was no "original books/plot" for Disney to "stick to" because they were entirely the creation of Disney. How well these films integrated themselves into existing Star Wars materials is a debate that has brought out some pretty toxic segments of the fandom, to put it mildly, so I won't go there...

Prior to Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm, there were innumerable tie-in novels, comic books, video games and even a handful of TV shows that expanded on the characters, events and history of the Star Wars universe (known as the "Expanded Universe", which I refuse to call the "EU" because the EU is a real thing that actually exists). After the sale, Disney announced that they would not hold to the often-tedious continuity established in these works, although they would take inspiration from them, when deemed useful. Someone who is more of a Star Wars fan than I will probably need to explain what, if anything, Disney has used from these largely discarded properties.

 

[Heppenheimer]

I was thinking the same thing. But they would have to do a lot exterior work and renovations. Think about it. Currently, all you need is a themed front. You're whisked inside a warehouse with no windows then put in a truck for a day trip to GE without ever seeing the exterior. If turned into an overall resort, theming needs to be done all around the now-resort which allows for free mobility around it. Judging by the exterior photos, it would need a LOT of work. The buildings would have to be renovated with windows and all the usual interior touches to allow for free movement (e.g. elevators, Exit and directional signs, etc) within it without being kept to a strict itinerary. I would get rid of the shuttle truck and just theme a standard bus to be more "Star Warsian". Keep the windows. Put a wrap on the outside of the bus, if desired.

They seem to have gotten away with claiming the "Riviera Resort" has some kind of theming .

 

[HauntedPirate]

They seem to have gotten away with claiming the "Riviera Resort" has some kind of theming .

You mean bolted on arches and pictures of Walt on the walls isn’t “theming”?

 

[Heppenheimer]

You mean bolted on arches and pictures of Walt on the walls isn’t “theming”?

I'd believe it if the theme was "What if Walt visited a non-descript airport Marriot for a conference on updates to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles?"

And to be fair, there's nothing wrong with airport Marriots. But when I stay in one, I have certain expectations, and one of them is not being gaslighted into believing the hotel is anything other than a nice but generic business class venue.

 

[Snake]

Was it just me? Or did anyone else think this was a terrible idea from moment it was announced? Instead of a hotel, they should have invested this all into the star wars land. That just tells everyone where the current corporate Disney executive is at when it comes to ideas. I think Iger had a hotel fetish. How many hotels have they built since they built Animal Kingdom? If they are smart they will build an addition to Galaxy's Edge that goes right up to the hotel and turn that hotel into a proper cantina or Jabba Palace after they retheme Galaxy Edge to Tatooine. Or they could actually try to save the Galactic Cruiser by making it original trilogy and have Darth Vader invade. Then how packed would this be? Anyone? Darth Vader force choking Larprs? I might even have to see that one.

 

[sedati]

Was it just me? Or did anyone else think this was a terrible idea from moment it was announced?

Seemed the next logical step in themed entertainment. Some had dipped their toes in the concept, but only Disney was bold enough to lay some money down. We'll see if it worked, though undoubtedly there will be needs for tweaking as would be expected for such a new concept.

Jabbas Palace- I'd love to visit, but other than the suite on the top would you (or more importantly your entire family) want to sleep in a place that could best be described as "Dank."

Galaxy's Edge to Tatooine- again, strip the color, the foliage, and the landscape and boom, there you go. Enjoy the complete lack of shade and thematic dust-storms.

 

[Snake]

Seemed the next logical step in themed entertainment. Some had dipped their toes in the concept, but only Disney was bold enough to lay some money down. We'll see if it worked, though undoubtedly there will be needs for tweaking as would be expected for such a new concept.

Jabbas Palace- I'd love to visit, but other than the suite on the top would you (or more importantly your entire family) want to sleep in a place that could best be described as "Dank."

Galaxy's Edge to Tatooine- again, strip the color, the foliage, and the landscape and boom, there you go. Enjoy the complete lack of shade and thematic dust-storms.

What irked me was they had money for a hotel, that means they had more money they could have/should have put into the VERY underwhelming land. Avatar Land is better than GE.

 

[sedati]

What irked me was they had money for a hotel, that means they had more money they could have/should have put into the VERY underwhelming land. Avatar Land is better than GE.

I mean they have money. Money for lots of things. Thousands of things. Why single one thing out as a waste? To me this is almost an R&D investment more than a hotel. And if it ends up making money, then it's money well spent isn't it? If it doesn't, well, lots of things don't- probably some things you yourself enjoy.

Also, aside from this board and some youtubers, I've yet to know a person in real life who found the land underwhelming let alone VERY underwhelming. My Disney hating, Star Wars Meh-ing brother loved it and kept talking about the quality of the "sets" (his word for theming.) They even liked both milks. Everyone I've talked to has enjoyed it, even those who went before RotR opened. My own biggest gripe about the land is that I've yet to experience it myself. Most just want it to be more which isn't really a complaint, and something that fits most every land or park built to date- none more than the park the land sits in now.