Why Disneyland’s $1 billion Star Wars land isn’t a bust despite flat attendance - OCR/SCNG

[Mac Tonight]

You have a group of people who did their "best" work spending a billion bucks to create a new, immersive, one-of-a-kind experience, and it results in a 0% attendance increase and actually forces the company to resort to creatively begging people to visit...

Yeah, I don't think I'd keep those people around either.

 

[mickEblu]

You have a group of people who did their "best" work spending a billion bucks to create a new, immersive, one-of-a-kind experience, and it results in a 0% attendance increase and actually forces the company to resort to creatively begging people to visit...

Yeah, I don't think I'd keep those people around either.

I agree but if Trowbridge is still around then they fired the wrong people.

 

[SoCalMort]

I'm still waiting for these Holiday Special figures to be released.

Would you settle for a Bea Arthur / Incredible Hulk doll?

 

[Mac Tonight]

I agree but if Trowbridge is still around then they fired the wrong people.

That would make sense, but I think Trowbridge's standing within the company is too important to be let go over this.
The team under him, sure. But he probably has a good amount of goodwill built into his resume that got him off the hook. As far as we know, this is his first "failure".

 

[Phroobar]

Would you settle for a Bea Arthur / Incredible Hulk doll?

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Well Bea Arthur was a marine in WWII. She was part of the Women's Reserve in 1943. She served as a typist in Washington DC.

 

[mickEblu]

That would make sense, but I think Trowbridge's standing within the company is too important to be let go over this.
The team under him, sure. But he probably has a good amount of goodwill built into his resume that got him off the hook. As far as we know, this is his first "failure".

Oh he does? I’d never heard of him before SWL. I assume he’s done some good stuff to get the gig in the first place. First failure but an enormous one. I think if they fire anyone it should be the people in charge making the decisions not the order takers. The fact that’s he still around makes me wonder if they indeed let all those imagineers go because they consider SWL a failure or just because it’s more industry practice to let the “expendable” imagineers go in between jobs. With that said it could be both and not necessarily one or the other.

Of course we can’t forget about Chiger and their contributions to the failure. Lastly we can put some of the blame on marketing too. Basically, everyone failed. Lol

 

[Phroobar]

According to his wiki, Scott worked at Universal Creative on the Amazing Spiderman, Revenge of the Mummy and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Personally I never heard of any of these rides.

At Disney, he worked on the virtual reality game for Tomorrowland and the flying dragon aircraft for the New Fantasyland. His latest project was Galaxy's Edge.

Scott Trowbridge - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Mac Tonight]

Oh he does? I’d never heard of him before SWL. I assume he’s done some good stuff to get the gig in the first place. First failure but an enormous one. I think if they fire anyone it should be the people in charge making the decisions not the order takers. The fact that’s he still around makes me wonder if they indeed let all those imagineers go because they consider SWL a failure or just because it’s more industry practice to let the “expendable” imagineers go in between jobs. With that said it could be both and not necessarily one or the other.

Of course we can’t forget about Chapek/ Iger and their contributions to the failure. Lastly we can put some of the blame on marketing too. Basically, everyone failed. Lol

Trowbridge's pre-SWL career contains some little known attractions at Universal like, The Amazing Spider Man, Revenge of the Mummy, and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

When he did join up with WDI, he was put in charge of R&D and the Blue Sky Creative Studios.

Definitely not a man off the street.

 

[mickEblu]

Trowbridge's pre-SWL career contains some little known attractions at Universal like, The Amazing Spider Man, Revenge of the Mummy, and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

When he did join up with WDI, he was put in charge of R&D and the Blue Sky Creative Studios.

Definitely not a man off the street.

Ahhh ok it’s coming back to me. I think I was focused on what he’s done for Disney. Impressive resume yet those were all for Universal. I’d be pretty ed if I was Disney. I think the pressure of this being Walts Disneyland and the stigma of having an enormous land based on IP/ Star Wars in Walts park and then them backing themselves into a corner with this original take on Star Wars /hyper realistic theming was just too much for him/ them.

 

[Phroobar]

Ahhh ok it’s coming back to me. I think I was focused on what he’s done for Disney. Impressive resume yet those were all for Universal. I’d be pretty ****ed if I was Disney. I think the pressure of this being Walts Disneyland and the stigma of having an enormous land based on IP/ Star Wars in Walts park and then them backing themselves into a corner with this original take on Star Wars /hyper realistic theming was just too much for him/ them.

Why? Disney hired him. They told him what they wanted. He pretty much made a Harry Potter land with a couple of rides, food and upcharge items. He did what they wanted based on the characters they said to include. Personally I think he did a great job. Blame Bob for cutting all the fun daily operation stuff out.

 

[mickEblu]

Why? Disney hired him. They told him what they wanted. He pretty much made a Harry Potter land with a couple of rides, food and upcharge items. He did what they wanted based on the characters they said to include. Personally I think he did a great job. Blame Bob for cutting all the fun daily operation stuff out.

I blame everyone. Not sure if you read my last post. Chiger are at the top but I do put a fair share of the blame on Trowbridge or whoever the creative lead was. I doubt that they told him that it needed to be a depressing war torn beige land. The walk around droids and aliens are cherries on top. Not the cake.

 

[Phroobar]

I blame everyone. Not sure if you read my last post. Chiger are at the top but I do put a fair share of the blame on Trowbridge or whoever the creative lead was. I doubt that they told him that it needed to be a depressing war torn beige land. The walk around droids and aliens are cherries on top. Not the cake.

Yet Star Wars has war in the title. All Star Wars environments have that lived in look. Look at all the environments you see in the Mandalorian. That is what separates them from squeaky-clean Star Trek bridge. In this case, we have a town taken over by the First Order. What are you expecting them to do? Plant flowers and dance around a Life Day poll? To me it looks very much like the African areas of DAK where the people have suffered under totalitarian rule. I don't think the problem has anything to do with the execution of the land. However it has everything to do with the daily visitor experience and the lack of life.

 

[TP2000]

From the USA Today article referenced in the above and linked below:

.....He adds that Lego versions of some of the Wookiee characters from the ‘70s special will appear in the upcoming update. Any chance of Lego Bea Arthur?

“Well, you can wait and see," Rimes says. "I don't want to spoil anything.”

'Star Wars' exclusive: New Disney+ Lego holiday special pays homage to its kitschy 1978 predecessor

Exclusive: Premiering Nov. 17 on Disney+, “The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special” brings Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron back together to celebrate Life Day.

www.usatoday.com

They even quote @George Lucas on a Bench : "That's one of those things that happened, and I just have to live with it,” Lucas said in a 2002 Maxim interview.

The Life Day event could be fun if they do it right. Disney needs to make fun of themselves and embrace the bad 1970's TV variety special aspect of this whole thing. Imagineering and the parks both take themselves so seriously sometimes, and it's been getting worse in recent years, in my opinion.

A silver lining to a 6+ month long Covid closure could be that they remember they all work in a Non-Essential industry. There's no good reason for them to exist, except for pure folly and decadent luxury, and they can close entirely for months at a time and the human race continues on without them. They should lighten up and realize the place is only a theme park, and stop taking themselves so seriously.

If you are Non-Essential like all CM's and Imagineers are, from churro salesgirls to Marketing VP's to celebrity Imagineers, you need to be more humble and realize your entire industry is non-essential. So lighten up, kids!

 

[mickEblu]

Yet Star Wars has war in the title. All Star Wars environments have that lived in look. Look at all the environments you see in the Mandalorian. That is what separates them from squeaky-clean Star Trek bridge. In this case, we have a town taken over by the First Order. What are you expecting them to do? Plant flowers and dance around a Life Day poll? To me it looks very much like the African areas of DAK where the people have suffered under totalitarian rule. I don't think the problem has anything to do with the execution of the land. However it has everything to do with the daily visitor experience and the lack of life.

Right. War. Which is why many of us had problems with a Star Wars Land going into Disneyland in the first place.

At the end of the day it’s a theme park but unfortunately they were more focused on making it “real” and less focused on making it fun and pleasant. That’s where they failed. The results speaks for themselves. You can’t tell me that 3 aliens, 4 droids and a 5 minute show on the rooftops twice a day changes everything.

And we re not Even getting into the ride choices. But I do agree with you. Disneyland was the wrong park for a Star Wars Land. At the very least it was wrong for the kind of Star Wars land we ended up with.

 

[TP2000]

At this point they really should consider the 6+ month long Covid closure of Disneyland to be a blessing. They have a chance to relaunch Star Wars Land next year as part of the Marvel Land grand opening and get a do-over on the whole thing.

All they have to do is add back all the staffing and extras they cut in 2018; musicians, performers, stunt show, interactive aliens, bounty hunters, and roaming droids. And keep Bob Chapek far away from any public messaging about Star Wars Land's relaunch, because he's charmless and sucks the life out of every interview he gives.

But since the entire company is in dire financial straits now, and they seem to be doubling down on the entire concept of Batuu and Ky'le From Tustin working the snack bar being just as good as a Stormtrooper stunt show on the rooftops, that probably won't happen. But if that doesn't happen, we'll at least know they had a rare opportunity at a do-over and full re-launch next year and they passed on it out of ignorance and ego.

 

[Mac Tonight]

Right. War. Which is why many of us had problems with a Star Wars Land going into Disneyland in the first place.

At the end of the day it’s a theme park but unfortunately they were more focused on making it “real” and less focused on making it fun and pleasant. That’s where they failed. The results speaks for themselves. You can’t tell me that 3 aliens, 4 droids and a 5 minute show on the rooftops twice a day changes everything.

And we re not Even getting into the ride choices. But I do agree with you. Disneyland was the wrong park for a Star Wars Land. At the very least it was wrong for the kind of Star Wars land we ended up with.

1000% they went with the worst possible design for SWL.

No one wants to step out of the real world into the literal intergalactic universe of Star Wars... only to enter a war-torn canyon where everything looks run down and abandoned. And you're right, throwing in some more droids and walk-around characters isn't going to suddenly fix a darn thing.

SWL should have been broken up into three separate worlds. Mos Eisley, Hoth, and Endor. These separate worlds should have been connected by "portals" that transport you from one world to the next. And each world would have had an amazing attraction.

No one was asking for the broken down remains of a place no one had ever heard of...

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Even if they made something better, I'm just not sure the demand is there to build so big. If they had just opened ROTR with a Millennial Falcon prop parked outside for Insta, it would have been enough. Instead, they built a nightmarishly huge land of beige buildings and rocks with nothing to do, landlocking the northwest side of DL and destroying existing areas in the process for no good reason.

 

[SoCalMort]

The Life Day event could be fun if they do it right. Disney needs to make fun of themselves and embrace the bad 1970's TV variety special aspect of this whole thing. Imagineering and the parks both take themselves so seriously sometimes, and it's been getting worse in recent years, in my opinion.

 

[mickEblu]

I will say that the crowd flow is much better after GE opened. They could have just built a walking path back there through the old wall of trees

 

[britain]

SWL should have been broken up into three separate worlds. Mos Eisley, Hoth, and Endor. These separate worlds should have been connected by "portals" that transport you from one world to the next. And each world would have had an amazing attraction.

No one was asking for the broken down remains of a place no one had ever heard of...

You're acting as if Star Wars only consists of the original 3 movies. Star Wars consists of 28 feature films, 12 live action series, and 33 animated series.

What's that? You aren't aware of all the Star Wars movies made between 1977 and 2055? Oh they're great! Only a small handful of them show Mos Eisley, Hoth, and Endor. Boy you should see some of the planets from the 2040's films, my personal favorite Star Wars era. Fortunately, none of the films actually show Batuu.

If Disney had made Galaxy's Edge be a planet that you'd seen before, that would be like in 1955 making the entrance to Frontierland be SPECIFICALLY Davy Crockett's Alamo rather than a generic fort, or like making Sleeping Beauty Castle look actually like the castle from the film Sleeping Beauty.

A carbon copy of Radiator Springs is a kick to visit, and fits in the vibe of DCA just fine. But Disneyland is NOT DCA. It's more amorphous, timeless and (little u) universal. Like Batuu (...as soon as they ditch the silly "We are specifically between Ep 8 and 9" requirement).