what has happened to the " star wars " hotel?

[bjlc57]

i know that Disney has closed this venue but are they going to let it go to the racoons, like they did with Art of Animation? how can they have a new hotel and not use it? what is the long term progress for this building?

 

[John park hopper]

The hotel catered to a minority of guests at an outrageous price so rather than lower the price they shut it down

 

[WorldExplorer]

The building is a windowless, ugly concrete slab directly behind Hollywood Studios where if you had a view it would be of the rocks on sticks behind Galaxy's Edge.

They're not using it because without the elaborate gimmick it is a terrible building for a hotel.

 

[Chef Mickey]

This is the management failure I always talk about. Imagine spending all this money on the concept and literally just doing nothing with it and getting nothing from it. This is why I talk about Disney having a spending problem. They spend like the government.

 

[HauntedPirate]

The building is a windowless, ugly concrete slab directly behind Hollywood Studios where if you had a view it would be of the rocks on sticks behind Galaxy's Edge.

That's a view I can get for free from World Drive.

 

[DonniePeverley]

Obviously they know their accounting better than us - but was reducing the price something that would not have worked?

Or just too expensive to operate?

 

[Hockey89]

This is the management failure I always talk about. Imagine spending all this money on the concept and literally just doing nothing with it and getting nothing from it. This is why I talk about Disney having a spending problem. They spend like the government.

They sure do and that they thought it would work long term was insane.... Such a small group that would want and would spend for that year in and year out....

 

[mysto]

i know that Disney has closed this venue but are they going to let it go to the racoons, like they did with Art of Animation? how can they have a new hotel and not use it? what is the long term progress for this building?

Raccoons! Can we pet the raccoons? Feed them? Maybe they are going to use it as a wildlife rehabilitation hospital. I'd pay to stay there, tax deductible of course, and with free dining or free line cut. I think I have a star trek larping costume somewhere....

 

[JoeCamel]

Raccoons! Can we pet the raccoons? Feed them? .

Upcharge

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

i know that Disney has closed this venue but are they going to let it go to the racoons, like they did with Art of Animation? how can they have a new hotel and not use it? what is the long term progress for this building?

Well it’s not really a hotel…

It was designed for a specific purpose that failed hard…but they can’t throw the door open and check people in like it’s all stars

 

[donaldtoo]

Maybe they could get Ford to sponsor it and reopen it as the Edsel Hotel…?!

 

[danlb_2000]

Obviously they know their accounting better than us - but was reducing the price something that would not have worked?

Or just too expensive to operate?

I have always felt that this is the fundamental problem with the hotel. What they were trying to offer is inherently expensive to operate, so you can't significantly reduce the cost and provide the same experience.

 

[JoeCamel]

I have always felt that this is the fundamental problem with the hotel. What they were trying to offer is inherently expensive to operate, so you can't significantly reduce the cost and provide the same experience.

Or any other experience worth staying there

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I have always felt that this is the fundamental problem with the hotel. What they were trying to offer is inherently expensive to operate, so you can't significantly reduce the cost and provide the same experience.

Or any other experience worth staying there

You can’t put a price on magical experiency experience adventures

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

This is the management failure I always talk about. Imagine spending all this money on the concept and literally just doing nothing with it and getting nothing from it. This is why I talk about Disney having a spending problem. They spend like the government.

Posts like this baffle me.

First don't we want Disney to try new things, to experiment, to try and offer unique experiences that you can't get anywhere else?

Second, that is exactly what WDW did. They put money into an idea, which personally experiencing it, i thought was really well done...it just didn't turn out to be commercially viable long term at the price point offered. They did something with it until it was determined it wasn't going to be sustainable/commercially successful long term, and then shut it down. That's not spending money and then doing nothing with it.

Third, after it was determined that the experiment wasn't a commercial success, they shut it down to save on the costs. There is no reason to "force" a use out of the building right now. It would likely take a significant expenditure to retrofit it to serve as anything but what it was originally intended for, being rather purpose built/designed. Unless there is a pressing need for it, why would they want to spend money to repurpose it if not necessary.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Posts like this baffle me.

First don't we want Disney to try new things, to experiment, to try and offer unique experiences that you can't get anywhere else?

Second, that is exactly what WDW did. They put money into an idea, which personally experiencing it, i thought was really well done...it just didn't turn out to be commercially viable long term at the price point offered. They did something with it until it was determined it wasn't going to be sustainable/commercially successful long term, and then shut it down. That's not spending money and then doing nothing with it.

Third, after it was determined that the experiment wasn't a commercial success, they shut it down to save on the costs. There is no reason to "force" a use out of the building right now. It would likely take a significant expenditure to retrofit it to serve as anything but what it was originally intended for, being rather purpose built/designed. Unless there is a pressing need for it, why would they want to spend money to repurpose it if not necessary.

It failed for a variety of reasons

First and biggest they don’t understand the fanbase. Because they never made an effort to…never have…apparently never will.

But I don’t give them flak for trying…they just pooched it. They fired their shot

 

[thomas998]

Posts like this baffle me.

First don't we want Disney to try new things, to experiment, to try and offer unique experiences that you can't get anywhere else?

Second, that is exactly what WDW did. They put money into an idea, which personally experiencing it, i thought was really well done...it just didn't turn out to be commercially viable long term at the price point offered. They did something with it until it was determined it wasn't going to be sustainable/commercially successful long term, and then shut it down. That's not spending money and then doing nothing with it.

Third, after it was determined that the experiment wasn't a commercial success, they shut it down to save on the costs. There is no reason to "force" a use out of the building right now. It would likely take a significant expenditure to retrofit it to serve as anything but what it was originally intended for, being rather purpose built/designed. Unless there is a pressing need for it, why would they want to spend money to repurpose it if not necessary.

It would have cost next to nothing to simply put some meet and greets in it. I suspect the real reason it was closed completely is probably some accounting trick where they get to write off the full cost of the building in one fell swoop rather than having to string it along for 30 years if it remained as a used building.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

It failed for a variety of reasons

First and biggest they don’t understand the fanbase. Because they never made an effort to…never have…apparently never will.

But I don’t give them flak for trying…they just pooched it. They fired their shot

That's my point. It's the people who seem to ridicule WDW for taking a shot and spending money, when you try something new and it doesn't work out. Personally I want that to happen from time to time, as it means WDW is taking shots at new and different things, not every idea is going to pan out.

From the failure perspective and reasons for it not commercially succeeding I agree there are going to be a variety of them. Subjective opinion alone, with no real access to data, I don't know if the experience as envisioned and offered would ever have a chance at long term commercial success, understanding the fan base or not. Even without any insider data, anyone who experienced a "cruise" could see that running this hotel was a lot more labor intensive on a per person basis than an standard hotel. You also didn't have nearly as many revenue generating centers in this hotel as you would in a standard resort, and it really wasn't a big number of rooms place where you got alot of economies of scale savings or massive numbers of guests to spread overhead/operations costs. I just don't know if no matter what the offering was, you were going to have enough people who would be willing to pay the price point to keep up. OR you would have to water it down to such a degree that it was a completely different concept, not an immersive experience but just a themed hotel. That would be doable, and maybe more preferable to the general fanbase, but a completely different concept.

 

[danlb_2000]

It would have cost next to nothing to simply put some meet and greets in it. I suspect the real reason it was closed completely is probably some accounting trick where they get to write off the full cost of the building in one fell swoop rather than having to string it along for 30 years if it remained as a used building.

I am sure there is something to your second point, but I don't know that there is much else they could have done with it. Putting M&G's in there wouldn't make sense since it's not easy to access and there are already place in DHS to do that. People suggested turning it into a "normal" hotel but it doesn't have the amenities needed to make that work.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

It would have cost next to nothing to simply put some meet and greets in it. I suspect the real reason it was closed completely is probably some accounting trick where they get to write off the full cost of the building in one fell swoop rather than having to string it along for 30 years if it remained as a used building.

The depreciation for closing the building is going to be a saving in and of itself.

But as to putting a meet and greet in the building, did you go the hotel and see it? First getting to and from the location isn't the easiest thing and certainly not just a lets stroll through HS and walk on over for a meet and greet. Not without some major additional work to be done. Its also going to be a net loss and waste of the square footage of the building, and all the upkeep maintenance costs, utilities, ect., to keep that entire building open and functioning... for a meet and greet that isn't going to bring you any addition revenue, and that could be accommodated much easier in an existing HS location.