The Galactic Starcruiser is CLOSING: WHY?
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
- Well, that didn't last long. Why? Idk but I'm gonna try to sort out an answer in real-time as you watch along with me. Come on, it'll be fun.
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Video Credits:
Starcruiser Commercial Reupload, TonicShadow, • Disney's (DELETED) Sta...
“guess Kevin Perjurer will probably have to handle this one in an hour long video that makes people cry for some reason toward the end” I absolutely love that this is the reputation Defunctland has garnered in the theme park community
We can take bets on how far back in the past it opens. Walt Disney's EPCOT film? Georges Méliès' 1902 "A Trip to the Moon"? Conquistadors arrive in Florida?
(a long time ago in a galaxy far far away?)
and it will probably start like
“over a billion years ago, the big bang occurred”
So true 😅
Slightly over 277.324 billion years ago...
Crying with laughter. Seriously, the Galactic Starcruiser is a hideous joke.
Who would have thought locking people in a windowless hotel for 2 days for 6 grand wasn't a profitable venture?
i mean theres alot of poeple who really liked it the issiue is not the no windows (its not like you dont see the sun since you go in to the park)
a capsule hotel would be more profitable.
its 1.5 days
@@hephestion6063 oh, in the case, sign me up!
@fundued plays no windows is a pretty big point to undermine. Of course there are bigger issues at play. But a windowless room is a pretty unsettling/uncomfortable idea to a lot of people, even for the theme trade-off.
As a lifelong Star Wars fan (I saw what would later be retitled “Episode IV” in first-run theaters as a kid in 1977), and as a cosplayer, AND as someone with a theater background, this looked like SO much fun! BUT- there was no way I could justify $5000, plus airfare, for two days.
Hello fellow OG Star Wars fan and cosplayer!
The price is way to much on top of everything else but I think they should have included more activates for everyone to do. As well as adding a pool and a gym.
Thank you Mr. Data 😉🖖
Episode IV was literally added in 1979/1980 before Empire came out....Jesus you people who constantly need to bring that up, really just need to stop...Its wasn't retitled 20 years later and YES they added episode 4 to the rerelease before Empire because nobody thought it was going to be successful and nobody thought there would be sequels.....Your not special because you saw what was supposed to be a bomb that was just supposed to cash in on the Sci-Fi craze at the time.
I hate the sequel trilogy, but you better believe I would've done it if I had any hope of being able to afford it.
I like how people have been hyped for the Defunctland episode on this even before it opened
and Jenny Nicholson 3 hour expose
Hahaha everyone knew itd last 5 mins
@@hephestion6063 turns out it was 4 hours lol
@@hephestion6063 she has one out right now unless oyu mean something else
It's almost as if charging $6000 for a two night land cruise based on the unpopular sequel trilogy wouldn't go over well.
Crazy right?
I mean, I'm willing to pay 134 dollars an hour for a good time, but the context is completely different
@@eticketchannelofficial 🤣
or buying a fancy Suite in a fancy hotel in Las Vegas for 2 nights.
Made a lot of money for an "unpopular" trilogy.
It's also aside from a lot of money, it's a lot of work. It's exhausting. It's not even 3 full days & if you aren't a LARPER or a huge Star Wars fan and or not an extrovert it's a huge amount of forced interactivity with other people & if you're burn out or tired & you need downtime in that 2 + days you're watching money burn.
I'd argue that one doesn't have to be an extrovert to play. But one should be showing up to play at least part of the 2 days. We had some down time in there and we still had a blast and wanted to go again. Though you're not wrong on watching money burn (and missing out on some story beats).
Yeah true... I also feel like it is something that you really do need a group while I feel like a lot of disney can be done solo. I think in general disney needs to create more spaces for solo people to meet people though so the interactivity seems cool as long as it is thought out and there is space to get to know people and not just rush you from point a to b to c ....
The biggest problem is companies thinking that with theming and “Luxuries” alone will make people spend thousands of dollars while IN A RECESSION.
This was never worth 6 grand, recession or not. Every normal earning person spending that kind of money for 2 nights has never learned how to save up for retirement or bad times.
It's been working for them for years. They keep steadily pricing average families put and squeezing the families who can afford it... and people people keep coming, and paying. No issues with spending at their parks.
@@lifequest7453that's false...guest numbers are still to high....they need to keep increasing prices to keep numbers normal.
This specific project didn't work but people are willing to spend s pretty penny tongo to disney
We aren't in a recession nor are we forcast to have one in the US. Smh.
@@moshunit96 don't let a little thing like reality deter you from believing.
Is kind of amazing to me how Conservatives purport to be serious about the economy, but then they at totally untethered from reality.
They think the economy works like the ten commandments, that there are rules graven in stone that must be followed. Take the fantasy that lowering taxes will _always_ grow the economy, commonly held belief... even though the 2017 tax cuts and the GWB era cuts show that's not true. The Kansas Experiment shows it's not true.
But some people will still believe this stuff no matter what happens in reality. To some people, it's about the dogma, not about making a decision based on the evidence.
Hear me out. Muppets Galactic Starcruiser Under New Management
^This
If Kermit is Palpatine like in the parody video edits I've seen people make around CZcams, it would print money. XD
I think they should run the shuttle spaceships (box trucks) from Batu to the Star Cruiser for dinner and a show. Only people with dinner reservations would be allowed on the shuttles.. They could be served drinks, shop, mingle with a character or two and experience "Light Speed" in the main Atrium and then continue on into the dining room for the dinner show with Guya. They already have a full menu and a full show. Take out the storyline and let Guya and company sing. Then they shuttle you back to Batu. Have a few showings a day like the "Hoop-de- Doo". Cycle people through at a more reasonable price. The dinner show could also be available from outside the park by using the "shuttle craft " that currently takes you from the Starcruiser parking to the ship. They could even make the last show of the night an "overnight excursion" so they could ger some use out of the rooms. They could very easily salvage this thing. It's already built. They just need to use it differently.
I absolutely love this idea
You're a genius
That would be great. And maybe they can do a shorter version of the adventure too and create more missions with spaces where the rooms were (although I imagine rerouting plumbing would be a huge problem)
I just wrote kind of the same thing before I saw your comment. Yes all of this.
Yea I'm gonna bet they keep everything, add the dinner show to the park like Olgas cantina. And just use the hotel part as a premium hotel. At a more reasonable price
Even if Disney had a perfect track record with their handling of the IP that pleased hardcore fans and general moviegoers alike…I could never realistically see many people dropping $5000 for this.
Exactly. The same thing would happen. The rich and hardcore fans would go a couple times then stop.
I feel 100 to 200 hundred dollars for the 2 nights would have been a WAY better price for the trip for all that you get.
Your certainly right there. The only way to get people to return would have been to allow the passengers to change the story through their actions, including different endings. But since that would have included the Imperial side winning during some voyages, they were clearly too scared or incompetent to make this a truly immersive experience.
Kind of sad really, there was definitely a way to do this hotel that could have gotten many repeat visits. Original + Prequel era themed voyages and allow the visitors to control the story and its outcome would have kept this hotel alive for years.
@@BurningFlamesofDivineDragon that's an insanely low price. I'm sorry but some non themed hotels in a big city cost that much. It was too high but your price is equally ridiculous lol
@@BurningFlamesofDivineDragon That makes literally no sense, 1K-3K would be singificantly better. $200 is so unrealistic especially for Disney.
You know what would be super cool? A large haunted mansion style hotel with big staircases, a large ballroom restaurant with fake large windows showing a constant thunderstorm "outside", old style furniture with frayed curtains for each rooms and just candlelights lighting up the endless hallways etc. It would be epic, especially during halloween season.
And it actually sounds comfy
I agree wholeheartedly to this proposal. The GSC location seems be off-theme since the Mansion is on the other side of the park(s) but it seems a fantastic way for a beloved Disney-original IP to be utilized.
I, jokingly, propose a kickstarter to get this going. Disney is not averse to external money flowing in and at, lets say, $2500 a pop, crowd owned initiative will be rid of the investor's 'burden' that comes with some of the previous external money pools.
Because a room there costs more than an annual pass to Disneyland.
And if all you were getting was a room, that comment might actually be relevant.
@ttintagel And if the hotel as a whole didn't cost more than an annual pass to Disneyland, your reply might actually be relevant.
Put in context, one hour at the Starcruiser cost as much as a full price single day theme park ticket.
And for those who may argue that it was ackshully 15 dollars cheaper, you spend 12-16 hours of that 45-48 hour "experience" sleeping.
Lol! Yeah, I get to sleep at home for free
Did you intend to spell actually like that?
@@mr.marvelasmr5872 Ockwurd.
@@mr.marvelasmr5872 "ackshully" in this case is meant to suggest a lisping, nasal nerd making a correction, perhaps accompanied by a self-satisfied adjustment of the glasses.
They definitely need to repurpose the building into a cheaper hotel and themed restaurant kind of thing. I bet a bunch more people (including myself) would book a stay there if you took out all the performance shows and it was half the price it currently was. The building is already there. They may as well try to get more money out of it somehow instead of leaving it empty and abandoned or demolishing it.
This is my prediction. They realized they weren't making money on it, so they coupled it with the Lake Nona announcement to burden the impact knowing full well that thanks to the union contracts in place most CMs will simply be reassigned to other locations, anyway. Now they close it without any announcement as to what they're going to do with it because they already know they're refurbishing it behind the scenes to do exactly this while waiting for the political climate to improve so they can announce its grand reopening as a "more affordable" deluxe resort.
As a foodie myself, I would love to go to a Star Wars themed restaurant. The restaurant atmosphere and the food in this actually looks good.
I agree. I wondered why they didn’t just say they were going to close and re-imagine what the hotel could be, but realized they probably wanted to get a push for bookings with a possible solid end date set. They also avoided cancelations from the existing bookings. 🤞they open a really cool SW themed hotel instead, but what is the capacity?
@@RickCorp right now the max capacity is 502 according to a Google search. I know that means it would be booked solid, but who cares, that 502 more guests Disney can have on property as opposed to staying off property.
@@jspihlman What is the minimum staff they would need to run a hotel with only 500 rooms?
Even if it was Original Trilogy based it had maybe 2 years of Full occupancy before the inevitable decline.
It just cost too much.
Right? Everything about it screams unsustainable.
the lack of windows and outdoors spaces makes selling the "spend two days inside this thing on your very expensive vacation" a super hard sell. I think this kind of idea would have more merit with a like- Naboo themed vacation, and the LARP stuff happening centered around your stay at the Nabboo resort.
Exactly. Have a themed hotel that allows you to selectively immerse yourself in the story as and when you choose to, instead of an enforced, regimented schedule that forces you to follow a tightly controlled script so as not to break the experience.
A Naboo hotel would be amazing, especially if it functioned more like a normal resort where you could still go to the parks
If they created a scale version of Jabbas Palace or the Catina Bar, I wouldn’t care to be indoors for 2 days if it were an awe inspiring layout?
@@crazyralph6386 This IS an awe-inspiring layout. I was there in May and the detailing blows you away. On the bridge, everything actually works. They are not just blinking lights. In Engineering, if people don't operate the instruments correctly, the mission fails. In person, it blows you away. The problem is that people didn't GET how amazing it is.
Like you were saying, a 7 night Disney cruise costs a little more than half the 2 night Starcruiser. PLUS you can go on tons of cruises and still enjoy yourself every time. There is plenty of "replayability" on cruises (new entertainment, new ports of call, etc).
The only reason for someone to choose the Starcruiser over DCL is if they happen to be a big Star Wars fan in addition to having a lot of money to spend.
*a big fan of the NEW star wars
I'm a big Star Wars fan but as someone who is more into Star Trek. The only way I'd go to this is if I could dress up in a Starfleet uniform for the live action role play.
yes you can visit different parts of a the same cruise ship every time you ride it.
@@BurningFlamesofDivineDragon I like your comment, it made me laugh, I am also a Trekkie and a Star Wars fan to and as someone who went to Star Trek the Experience twice when it was opened and Loved the attractions there, I would much rather be beamed aboard the Enterprise-D and sitting in a shuttlecraft flying around and out running Klingons then sitting in a concrete building for 2 days and 2 night playing a giant video game with a bunch of cosplayers who think its Star Wars and if I wanted to be stuck in a concrete building for 2 days and 2 night, I would just commit serious crime and get thrown in prison.
It would probably work better as a couple floors on one of their cruise ships.
The star cruiser failed because it was priced so high that only a limited group of people with money would be able to go. That limited group would likely be older with kids. They don’t like Disney Star Wars. They grew up on the original trilogy and prequel trilogy so to throw all of that out and not Incorporate it, is a huge reason for why it failed.
It's somewhat funny that they spent half the Disney Parks panel at the Star Wars Celebration talking about this, only to shut it down about half a year later.
Otherwise well, as someone who lives in Europe and really wants to go to Walt Disney World someday.. I'd prefer another hotel with access to everything for a longer period over Galactic Starcruiser. And I'm saying that as a huge Star Wars fan.
Also thank you for acknowledging the fact this was a first attempt at something like this, I started to feel like I was the only one thinking this. 🙏
I feel 100 to 200 hundred dollars for the 2 nights would have been a WAY better price for the trip for all that you get.
@@BurningFlamesofDivineDragonven their cheapest hotels are more than that and don’t have full times actors. It’s just an unfashionable concept for anyone to be able to afford
It won’t let me edit my comment (thank you google for the broken mobile app) but I meant “infeasible” and not “unfashionable” something with your username’s length makes the CZcams app not let comments be written right
i still think one of the biggest problems (aside from the price) was how small and uncomfortable the rooms were, but then again i'm one of the countless people who could never hope to afford to go to Disneyland itself, let alone this money pit of a hotel lol so maybe it was better in person idk
People did vlogs in them, honestly it doesn't look that good, closing makes sense
I feel like aside from the price they should have included more activates for everyone to do. As well as adding a pool and a gym.
@@BurningFlamesofDivineDragon okay yeah that would have been cool, swimming is something Disneyland is lacking
Yes like I am 6' 4 or so and a big guy like it looked so tight for me and my family. I already don't like how in the parks my legs are crammed and there are a lot of rides I can't fit on but my bed should not be a place where I want to cry too.
The room was only for sleeping, showering, and changing. There was something happening 07:00-22:00. The rooms were comfortable and all, but you were paying for the cast to power all the interactive events (everyone has earpieces and there will have been a Truman-show style control room monitoring cameras to make sure cast move around the ship correctly so characters don’t interact until the scripted events; so including non-character and off-stage there was probably one cast member *per passenger* on my voyage) - not a relaxing hotel stay in a swanky room.
This was a stupid idea from the jump. People don’t go all the way to Orlando to stay in a hotel and never leave.
Besides it being way too overpriced one of the things is the fact that they let so many social media influencers Go for free. I personally know multiple people who could afford to do it who actually said if they're going to let these POS Go for free I'm not going to pay for it. If it was that worth it they would have made even the influencers pay for it. I've been saying this for years now when you hand out freebies to influencers it makes your product look inferior.
I would say that for me, one of the biggest problems I had with the Galactic star cruiser and the reason that I didn’t want to do it even when I had the money to do it was because of how limiting staying there is. When you visit a hotel like the Polynesian or the animal Kingdom Lodge, those hotels have extremely immersive experiences and high levels of steaming throughout, but you can also leave. You can hang out at the resort, or you can pop off and go to the parks and come right back and you’re not losing any of the immersion or any of the story or any of the compelling nature of those hotels. Whereas when you go and stay at the Galactic star cruiser, it is literally like a cruise in that you have to stay there and the only “excursion“ you have is to Hollywood Studios one time, and that’s it. Why would I want that? If I go to Walt Disney World, I want to experience the theme parks. So deciding to go to the Galactic star cruiser either illuminates my ability to experience the theme parks entirely, or it forces me to extend my trip for longer than I want and spend $10,000 on a Disney vacation instead of maybe the $5000 that an average family from out of state would spend.
If I were Disney, I would re-theme the resort to be a resort and not a cruise experience. Add some digital floors to the elevators to copy the launching up and down experience that you have in the space 22 restaurant, so that people staying at the hotel can not have to break their immersion, but can still visit the theme parks without issue. Instead of making a consistent and unending storyline that you experience from the moment you wake up from the moment you go to bed each night, treat the hotel like you would treat the Star Wars land at Hollywood studios. It’s a real hotel in the Star Wars universe, and so there are occasionally performances, maybe there’s a dinner theater, maybe characters walk around sometimes, but you don’t have to be assigned a role and you don’t have to stay with this whole story for the entire time. That way, you basically just turn it into the Star Wars equivalent of the Polynesian. It’s super themed, a luxury experience, and appeals to fans, but it has “re-ride-ability,” as you described, and feels more worth it. Also, lower the damn price. OK, maybe you feel like it needs to be more expensive than a stay at the beach club, fine, but $2000 for two nights day is a lot more realistic than $4800.
You don't understand how much more themed it is than the Polynesian. But let's make the parallel experience.
If the Polynesian was like Starcruiser, you would go to a dock where you would be met by an outrigger-canoe that would paddle you to an actual island. Your room would be a grass shack built out over the water and you could look down to see tropical fish swimming underneath. You would be invited by natives to go pearl diving and deep sea-fishing. A guide would take you on a simulated deep-sea diving experience.
It sooooo much more immersive than any existing Disney hotel. But that's what they couldn't communicate. It's NOT a hotel. It's a total theatrical immersive experience.
Omg I’m a cast member and I saw you while I was working and I excitedly told my friends lol
I was looking at a Royal Caribbean cruise with a two-story loft suite, with a HUGE balcony and hot tub for less than the Galactic Starcruiser
I think the best they can do with it now would be to make it into some sort of "Star Wars Experience" like DisneyQuest, where you can go in for the day with a special ticket, do activities, eat at the restaurant, etc, but it's less money, less immersive, and just a day so those people who only like Star Wars casually will still think it worth it to only waste a few hours of their vacation on it instead.
Do you remember the news 1-2 years ago that Disney had put a task force in place to build mini versions of entertainment outside of the parks? I think from the lessons of success they learned from the Hyperion Lounge and Oga's that they should build restaurants and bars in other metro areas. Those would be jammed packed with reservations and give the Starcruiser experience to us all locally
Yeah I could totally see them doing that and maybe bringing back the thing they did a while ago that was called like DisneyQuest or something like that. It was a huge failure the first time around though lol
The Mandalorian was the first time people got genuinely excited about a character at Galaxy's Edge and that speaks volumes. Most people aren't invested in the sequel characters, and i think that was the first hurdle the starcruiser faced. I feel like if it had been based on the original trilogy, it would have done better. Even at the huge price tag.
I'm really curious what your data source is for your claim that "most" people aren't invested in the sequels.
@@ttintagel people keep telling you about the diminishing box office numbers as each movie was made but we get it, you simp for shitty movies. Most people at the parks will overhear others talking about how it should be the mandalorian/new republic era themed instead
I mean, Adam Driver was good value as the Dark Lord of the Hot Topic Sith. And BB-8 was kinda fun. There were... other characters, right? I know Harrison Ford showed up at one point, and Carrie Fisher, our once and future princess, made an appearance. We got a chrome trooper that one time... but she was a bit more flammable than would have been ideal... There were knights of Ren, whoever the hell those were supposed to be. They kinda just showed up like "Oh, y'all know who these guys are! Right? R...right?".
I mean, I give the sequels a load of well deserved hate, but there were a few good scenes tossed in there. The one where the stormtroopers land and attack whatsisface in the first one and we get to see the Dark Lord of Edge stop a blaster bolt dead in midair was actually a REALLY well done scene. Top marks. I loved everything about that. The rest of the movie just didn't live up to it. Why the hell was he a janitor but also being deployed to frontline duty? Why would you use a stormtrooper as a janitor? That's... literally the entirety of that stormtroopers arc that I can remember. Wasn't he supposed to be the love interest for... miss paint by numbers "not like other jedi girls"? But then he wasn't? And Mark Hammill set a tree on fire for some reason? Was the tree a Sith tree? Did it have yet another weird Vader with Lukes head in the helmet thing? Was he just pissed off at space hippies? Why didn't he set the porgs on fire instead? I'm clearly giving this more thought than the people who wrote the script did.
I don't know. I'm sure there were other good scenes... the one with the star destroyers rising out of a thunderstorm was kinda cool... Wait, didn't the Rebellion blow up a planet? Oh so when the Empire does it, it's a whole thing, but when the Rebellion does it, we're supposed to cheer for them. Pfff hypocrisy. I'm gonna go drink till I forget everything else about that disjointed mess of a trilogy.
@@ttintagel diminishing box office and merchandising returns once the goodwill of fans ran out
@@ttintagel Do you get tired of trying to defend the sequels to the countless comments of people who oppose them? You could at least use multiple accounts so it looks like it isn't just you. You don't think people notice the same name? The data is there. You just keep pretending to ignore it.
I think it has a lot to do with not being able to leave the hotel. Most people going to Disney only have so much time there. I know I wouldn't stay there because of that!
Our family was just hoping for a Star Wars themed resort, you know with AT AT Walkers spitting water into the pool and stuff like that. Even then we wouldn't pay more than market rate and we always look for great value.
It surprises me how long it took for them to do it, cuz I thought it wouldn't even last 1 year
The dumb games and activities, the crap food, the cheesy poorly executed entertainment, the cheap cramped rooms, and its not Star Wars but the crappy sequels...for $6k? What were they thinking? This will be converted into a regular premium hotel at $500 a night with less cosplay and no story. They can still keep the spaceship idea and use the shuttle box truck to take people back and forth to Galaxys Edge on the half hour.
They should have done a hotel in a Star Wars planet theme. There were so many restrictions with being in a “ship”.
This hotel is yet another confirmation that the powers in charge at Disney don't have the slightest clue about their customers. What a horrible idea, implemented poorly and priced way beyond anything reasonable. This was very predictably destined to fail.
I went. Not a horrible idea and it was executed beautifully. It was priced to high to start.
Poe Dameron:
Somehow the Galactic Starcruiser is closing.
Lol.
Can't wait to see Defunctland’s video on the star wars hotel
I think you nailed down the issues pretty well. My thought for a bit of salvage would be to turn it into a dinner (and lunch?) theater. For a couple hundred dollars per person, you get a nice meal plus a 60 minute show. You start in Galaxy's Edge, ride the existing "shuttle" to the "starcruiser", eat the meal, get entertained, then ride the shuttle back to Batuu. The price point would make it much more accessible to most resort guests, and it could still be a very immersive experience. Make your meal choices at the time of reservation (from a pretty limited menu, of course) and the meal service could begin pretty much as soon as folks arrive. That speeds up the turn time and allows time for several seatings per day - at least 3 and maybe as many as 6. (2 breakfast shows, 2 lunch shows, 2 dinner shows) My guess is that would be a pretty popular event. And if you change up the show every few months (or do a different show for the different meals), it adds to the replay factor. I don't know if it would pay for all of the costs of building the starcruiser, but it should make money and would be better than letting the place sit vacant.
Once you said you basically aren't allowed to leave- I felt like that might've been a big determining factor. If I'm going on vacation to Florida, I want to be free to set my own schedule and come & go as I please. Even Disney Cruises allow you to go outside and are large enough not to feel cramped.
Once I compared the price to a family vacation at Beaches (inclusive family resort), I understood the pricing structure. Unfortunately, without the pools, massages, excursions, etc., it just didn’t feel “vacationy “ enough for my family. We were booked to go and canceled. 🤷♀️
i love that you mention Living with the Land in every video. It's the best ride ever created! Never stop talking about it.
From what I've seen of it, as rave as some of those reviews were, it's biggest problem was that there wasn't anywhere near enough to do for the price of staying. One of the biggest complaints even from people who were invited to those original opening "cruises" was about how underdeveloped the interactive elements of the experience were. Everyone was on a strict schedule, all the different quests were super easy but you only ever got a chance to try out any one thing once, and as you pointed out there was a set script everyone was following so your actions only affected your personal experience, not the main storyline. Even Star Tours has a half dozen different trips you could experience, and that's a five minute simulator ride. Heck, there are 5-star resorts in the real world where you could drop five grand a night without realizing it, but not only will you get that money's worth in amenities, you have the freedom to come and go as you please. Not to mention you could go on an actual cruise a dozen times, go on the same route with the same cruise line each time, and each experience would be wildly different from the last simply because of those real world factors that the cruise line has no control over. At the very least, they should've built the star cruiser right next to Batuu, let it act as a second entrance into the park. Regular park goers could've gotten a chance to preview the experience themselves and that could've shaped their plans during their next trip.
Was the idea of creating an immersive, interactive experience like this a neat idea? Absolutely. But if you're going to trap people in a glorified dinner show for two days, you need to at least a) an escape room level of interactivity at the bare minimum, and b) to make it affordable enough that people will want to come back (or even consider going in the first place).
Umm... it WAS built right next to Batuu. It's just a 5-minute shuttle. (btw, aside from the "box truck" criticism, the shuttle was very well-themed and designed.) And, to your larger point, I was busy ALL day running missions. I was exhausted at the end of the day. There was no free time, if you engaged correctly. It didn't feel forced. It felt like I was in a movie and interacting with the ongoing action. But you are criticizing something you didn't do.
@@jlasf fair point, it's armchair criticism of something that would just be too expensive for me. Though I live in Florida, so the idea of spending that much money at Disney at once and not being there for a full week is already a turnoff. I'm not saying there aren't people who enjoyed their stay, there were plenty (yourself included apparently), but that price point was always going to be it's Achilles' heel. Also, got nothing against the box truck, I've seen the inside of it. I was just thinking something more along the lines of the resort they're building on property over at Universal Epic Universe. Something literally within the bounds of Hollywood Studios, maybe even something that could've acted as the weenie for that part of the park. There's just so much wasted potential, so many little things they could've done differently that would've made the pricetag worth it. That's my only real gripe at the end of the day: what I saw of it just didn't impress me. Not enough to drop five grand.
@@HenshinHead There is a middle ground that someone should explore. Not as expensive/immersive as Starcruiser, but more creative than a Polynesian hotel. For instance, Universal could do a Harry Potter hotel. You get a wand that acts a room key and turns on the lights. Paintings that move in the hallways. Etc.
@@jlasf I know a lot of people who were hoping for something just like that when they expanded into Diagon Alley. The Leaky Cauldron would've been the perfect choice for an experience like that.
To Be honest, I always thought it looked more like a startrek theme than StarWars. But the biggest problem was the ridiculous price that you are expected to pay... I also think that they should be using some of the original trilogy for something different on separate versions of the cruises on separate dates. But it was always going to fail because of the price. 2 days??? They must have bumped their head. Complete Failure.
I would change the title of this video to:
“The galactic starcruiser existed, why?”
Imo it was less StarWarsie.. than GE itself… having it centered to one SW era was a big mistake, should’ve been like 3 different shows/eras rotating… and much cheaper, so people would go back an experience different stories.
I agree that the price point made it unfeasible for the majority of Disney guests but I also agree that this should be taken as a learning lesson... the idea of a role playing stay at a hotel is a great idea but it must, as you mentioned, be cheaper (much cheaper) and more varied (not the same story every time that you go to the hotel)
Like I said on my other favorite Disney CZcams channels covering this, Imagine Universal Studios announcing a Harry Potter experience, charging $6000 to enter, then giving it a generic European theming and throwing in a couple of Fantastic Beasts characters. That's what Disney did.
The best, short turn around version of the GSC going back into service is as a themed dining experience only. If it was character dining with a murder mystery dinner kind of interaction (if there's one at all) that could be done in a weekend.
You have to agree that tommorowlands aesthetics and sci-fi theme back in 2018 went hard compared to the tommorowland we have now with the boring white colors. I know that was not related to the video at all but just something I wanted to say.
I would’ve gone but yeah that price point was too much. The price was like 2 1/2 months rent for me. I think they also should’ve changed up the story a bit. Having one storyline doesn’t give much replay value. They had an accompanying novel where Han and Leia get married on the ship, that would’ve been a cool story to do on certain weekends to make people want to come back.
Honestly its a testament to the current state of Lucasfilm as a whole. Kathleen Kennedy needs to be fired. Indiana Jones getting awful reviews, Willow being pulled from Disney+. Bad Mando Season 3 reviews and a decade without another Star Wars film. Can we please clean house?
#fireKathleenKennedy
Naaahh, they'll just fire more of the lower rung employees like park staff and studio workers etc and then reduce EVEN more services while jacking up prices.
Maybe the fact that the biggest SW fans have bathrooms that are better themed than this hotel? Why spend $6000 for 2 nights when you can live in more faithful recreated homes all the time?
I think they should just make it into a walkthrough ride or a dinner show or something since they already have it built
Star Cruiser was a premium-priced experience, but the actual hotel experience was very budget quality. And, despite being a deluxe+-priced hotel, you get none of the deluxe hotel perks because you're stuck in the hotel for the duration of your stay.
I'd be curious to know your thoughts on Bob Iger seemingly purgeing every major action taken by Chapek in his short time as CEO. Harmonious was a great show, people only hated it because they didn't move the barges in and out like they did for the illuminations and Epcot Forever, same with them going back to happily ever after in Magic Kingdom, Then the cancelation of the Lake Nona complex (a terrible idea regardless that cost a lot of imangineer experience and knowledge) and now starcruiser and a disney+ rework. I don't disagree that starcruiser was a great idea executed poorly, but it was for a niche of a niche audience and that audience also had to have buko bucks to attend. Not everyone wants to go on a LARP. Personally, I wish they'd take the time to train all of the Galaxy's Edge CMs to the level that the star curiser CMs were in terms of engaging in the LARP elements. I know opening crew of galaxy's edge was, but I feel that they dropped off of that level of training really quick. When I was there, I tried to engage CMs with even the basic lingo for Batuu and most of them felt like they were annoyed I knew it. It made the entire experience in Galaxy's Edge feel like I was more in Star Wars land between Toy Story land and Muppet's Courtyard instead of on Batuu.
It failed because the target demographic was too small and because said demographic was not revisiting. To book a Starcruiser voyage, you had to have a lot of money, be enough of a Star Wars fan to want to put that money towards this, and be willing to put in the energy to interact with the actors and go on the missions to make it worth it. I don't think that's a very big Venn Diagram. They could've kept filling voyages if they lowered the price, but I think it was too expensive of an experience to run for that to make sense with all the actors etc. The average family might've been able to save up for it, but if people are going to save I think they'd rather save for a normal WDW vacation. It's an out there concept and I'm glad Disney took a risk, but the business model of this just doesn't seem to make sense, even if pretty much everyone who went said it was amazing.
No one thing would have been fatal - the cost, the "locked inside" factor, the fact it didn't focus on the Star Wars era people really love and are more familiar with, the forced play-along, the rooms, etc. It was a perfect storm of sub-par ideas that came together in a single tsunami of Bad.
Welcome back!
They asked guests to pay thousands of dollars to take part in a weekend larp you don't get a break from.
Blah.
Here’s my take:
The biggest challenge this experience had going against it was customer attraction and commitment.
It’s the same reason that VR is currently struggling to go mainstream - until customers can actually experience it first hand, they aren’t going to understand how fun and truly worthwhile it is for them to part with their cash. I think the Starcruiser would have been great once I was in it. But asking people to essentially gamble £4k on something that looked like a tiny overpriced hotel room, rather than just spend a week or more in Disney World for the same cost, is inevitably going to backfire, regardless of how great the actual experience was.
Try explaining to someone what chocolate tastes like. Not going to be as good as actually eating some chocolate is it? Disney’s mistake was trying to sell the most overpriced chocolate in the world without letting people taste it before buying.
Oh, and trying to sell a tiny portion of mystery, super taste specific, super expensive chocolate next to 20 bars of tried and true, well established awesome chocolate - for the same price? Bad idea.
They could remove the dinner show options, light saber building, you know all the extras and just make it in to a hotel. Leave all of the decor alone and continue providing shuttles straight in to the park.
The funniest thing to me is that there’s a Disney giveaway happening that’s for the starcruiser that I’ve been entering everyday. They announced it closing in the middle of the giveaway period, which just makes me want to win it even more lol
I know that they’ve done smaller scale tests like the pirate thing at MK and the poly they were play testing with resort guests earlier, but it’s still amazing to me how they jumped so fast into something this expensive and experimental without testing something much smaller scale
I think one of the main problems was that their overhead costs just were too high if not every single cabin is booked. Those actors probably are pretty expensive and with only hundred rooms or so, they couldn't split the cost among more guests. I guess there is a reason why the "budget" resorts have so many rooms.
As for the building, I actually hope they will leave it abandoned for some time, I'd love to see a Urbex video of the behind the scenes facilities.
Surely there is a big fan base for immersive entertainment, but that hasn't stopped Disney in the past to still close it down (I'm looking at you, Adventurer's Club and Comedy Warehouse, doesn't get much more immersive than that).
The price point was insane. There's no way it would have been realistic for most people to go. And even if they did, like you said, it's fun ONCE.
I was never going to be making memories there at that price! But it looked super cool! We rent DVC points when we stay at the Deluxe resorts, and that saves us a lot of money! I feel the Starcruiser was doomed from the beginning by out-pricing most of its customers. The idea was genius, but I don’t understand how they didn’t see this coming right from the beginning when so many of us Disney fans did!
I really think one of the biggest problems was revolving it around Kylo Ren’s timeline instead of Darth Vader’s timeline.
Maybe Disney plans to thanos snap the sequel trilogy out of existence and go back to legends.
A Star Wars fan can dream can’t he?
Disney needs to make a haunted mansion themed hotel. You could literally stay at a fun “haunted” house with ghost encounters and even do ghost tours. That would be interesting.
Hello great content...seen you on the Libery Square Riverboat attraction last week when i was there from AZ...didn't want to interrupt your fun...hope you had a good time take care of yourself
Disney learned that they can’t just put a Star Wars logo on and hopefully you milk all that money from Star Wars fans
So much Offhand Disney Lore for the cinematic universe!
Edit: Just commenting about all of the newest videos
The problem with retheming this or doing something else with it is that it's in the Hollywood Studios CAST parking lot, which is kind of hilarious. It was put there to give it easy access to Galaxy's Edge, but it won't work as a regular hotel. Here's your nice views of all the Cast Member cars and the Cast Members going to work while you're playing in the pool. Nah, it'll definitely be turned into something not guest facing or just completely abandoned, as per usual.
You know, they could just make this A hotel (after modifications). Seriously, Futuroscope in France just opened a sci-fi hotel that looks a lot like this.
if this was the original trilogy it would have been sold out for years-- that target demo has massive savings and discretionary income (late boomer and early gen x)
it would be cool if they turned it into an extension of galaxy’s edge, but it seems unrealistic since it’s on the other side of the CM parking lot :/ it would just be a shame for that whole space to go to waste
I think the other problem was that to most star wars fans it didn’t feel or look enough like star wars from what we saw in commercials, etc. It just kinda looks like kennedy space center summer camp rooms. Im sure it felt different with all the awesome cast members in character but they didnt do well in showing that in advertising.
They'll do a renovation and reopen it as a more traditional hotel with Start Wars theming. Something more affordable and profitable. And maybe this time they can get their cringy hospitality execs to keep their campy mitts off its promo vids.
For people like me who love SW and I wanted to do this and I’ve been saving up for it, it sucks. They gave up too soon, I understand reducing voyages but I’m not rich enough to immediately pay $5000 but I was willing to save and wait. Makes me really really sad I’ll never experience it,
Yes it was grossly overpriced, that combined with they didn’t plan ahead to offer different experiences so it’s not the same every time is what doomed the hotel IMO. It’s RIGHT next to DHS…that space could allow for a huge expansion of the park. Put an attraction in it. Or add to the room space available and make it a standard SW hotel with similar amenities to Pop! Century. They seem to always want to add hotel room space, especially DVC rooms lately. So as I think about it, they could totally convert it to a DVC hotel with the same theming.
They could always turn it into insist accomodations for staff members, that way it helps their employees.
If the hotel prices had been cheaper and set in the original trilogy era then it would have been a hit. Disney just can't stop shooting themselves in the foot.
Firstly, it isn't a hotel. That's why the price isn't comparable to a hotel. They couldn't have run an experience with such high operating costs at a rate comparable to a hotel.
@@ttintagel Oh look who it is...again. It legitimately could have been cheaper. Less than 48 hours of dinner theater doesn't cost that much. You could literally go on 2 week long cruises for the same price.
According to a source I'm choosing to believe, it was originally going to be temporarily shutting down at the end of this year to work on some of the stuff and fix some of the problems. Then the announcement came at the same time as the Lake Nona announcement which leads me to believe Disney has decided to cut their losses because of everything going on with DeSantis and is instead shifting all the new time, attention, and money to their other parks, and even more specifically the Anaheim resort. I hate that all those cast members are going to be losing their jobs but hopefully Disney can shift them around and they won't be missing out on too much pay. I think Disney is going to finish the work they've started in Florida then stop for a while. And I don't blame them.
Thankfully I have heard from a few different outlets/sources the cast members will be reassigned and no one is losing their jobs.
@@oneearrabbit that’s genuinely great news!
I'm honestly thinking this war with DeSantis is going to be just another nail in the coffin that Chapek is building for Disney. They need to boot him out, because with him at the helm, the end, she is a comin, and she is a comin sooner than any of us would like to believe.
@@SergeiMosin DeSantis needs the boot or Chapek? Because Chapek already got fired and the (very strong) rumor is DeSantis is about to announce his presidential run which would require him resigning as governor. But also hard agree on Chapek ruining the company. He was genuinely the worst. Like worse than post-Wells Eisner. & I have actual PTSD from that era.
@@KassMcCormack Nothing to do with DeSantis. As much as I disagree with him, Disney was going to cancel Lake Nona and close the Starcruiser regardless. You can't blame that on a governor that is on the way out. They were just poor choices that needed to be dealt with. Disney is badly in need of better leadership.
To add on as someone who lives in Florida and even working inside the Walt Disney area I was talking to my coworkers and they didn’t even know that hotel existed and first the learned about it is it’s closing and I feel like most people who would like to do the voyage probably couldn’t afford it
What about turning that into an escaperoom? Big enough for different versions and way less staff needed. Also still a way to earn money with what they have now
Comparing te Starcruiser to "other hotels" is kind of apples and oranges because THE STARCRUISER ISN'T A HOTEL.
I say their biggest mistake was removing roaming characters and personal interactions from GE if that was never removed then this thing wouldnt have felt like a complete paywall it just be more like a boojie overnight ticketed event.
such a shame- I think if it was $1000 for 2 nights, hubby & I probably would have done it. great video!
At about 8:35, you said "Not being able to leave...on your own accord for any reason..." When Pete Werner's staff did their review, one of the ladies chose not stay in the room at night and would leave out of the exit door that is in each room.
I truly enjoy your channel and the amount of superlative work that you provide your subscribers. But when it comes to this specific topic, I am not disappointed to see it shut down. I strongly felt that it was a misstep by Disney's execs to execute this project. It was destined to fail on countless levels and a mis-step, it was simply arrogance with a massive dosage of ignorance of the suits in Burbank to green-light this project. From the initial concept, it was simply a vanity project and completely tone-deaf to the culture and social economic times we live in. Arrogance prevailed over common sense and should have been priced more equitably to access for the average customers and patrons of Disney theme park. The pricing is vulgar and offensive to the average person. And how often realistically are the members of Club 33 going to spend 48 hours in that environment? These people are going to Europe or China on private jets. People with that type of disposable and discretionary income can go anywhere in the world and truly experience high-end true luxury and service. The best of days Disney does not cater to that clientele at that level . Even if a guest has a fat checkbook or Deep Pockets, the experience is simply a novelty, not a redo and repeat attraction. Sometimes, concepts simply need to remain and should stay on the storyboards. Disney should not evolve into an elitist theme park where the wealthy can only enjoy. Even in most recent times, Club 33 is expanding like Starbucks or McDonald's. They are all over within each Disney parks. This was never the intention of the original club. Even having the money to afford a membership The Prestige and alure of yesteryear no longer exist and no longer so exclusive. The value is no longer there nor justifiable other than the necessity to satiate one's ego and arrogance. I can turn a blind eye to a great deal when it comes to customer service these days, unfortunately for product or services. But I find at 33 consistently the food to be mediocre and working way too hard to be pretentious. Also, I have a slight problem when the staff behave more like they are members than the members themselves.
See you all on one of the benches in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland, of course, behind the ropes.😘 as well as being content with only my first class tickets on commercial airlines when I travel to Europe and China😉🥂
The choice of the awful Sequels over the OG Trilogy or even Prequels also played a significant role in its failure
There's no replayability because of the cost, not the story. I haven't met one person who has been on Starcruiser who wouldn't want to go again. I've been twice and my experience was different both times. Love commentary from people who never have been.
As everyone slowly turns their gaze to Defunctland with baited breath
Here’s the problem….and I haven’t heard a CZcamsr bring this up:
Yes. It’s way too expensive. Yes, it’s not worth it. Etc….
Bu here’s the thing. Most people do not want an all immersive, interactive encounter. Sometimes, we just want to enjoy, and be left alone.
That was my thought. Do I have the money? Sure. Do I like Star Wars? Absolutely. Do I want to be trapped in a 48-hour LARP? Hell no.
@@2stayweird I'm personally down for a 48-hour indoor star wars LARP but I know I'm in the minority. Even then, despite it appealing to me, I doubt enough people in my demographic can even afford the absurd price for the experience
Someone drank enough blue milk to bankrupt them 🤪
I took a vacation to Dublin Ireland and Isle of Man for the TT race in 2022...and for a total of 40 DAYS I spent just under 11k. (I flew business class to Dublin, just because and that was one of the biggest expenses.) So around $275 per day for a trip that had a LOT to do and things to see. Contrast that to the close to 2k PER DAY for Disney's train wreck.
Pretty much every other hotel in existence has the exact opposite business model. You have a base rate to get a room, and then there's optional activities and experiences you can purchase. By forcing everyone to pay for the maximum experience, you alienate everyone who might have been interested in buying some things but not others or who just wanted to stay the night. Or in other words, the people who keep a normal hotel open.
It was an interesting if flawed idea, very very badly executed. $6000 for 2 nights in a windowless cell, playing what amount to children’s birthday party games.
Honestly I kinda see the building being turned into a restaurant with a gift shop or like you said either tearing it down or just making it an abandoned background building. I thought the concept was kinda cool but the cramped rooms and singular plotline and ofc the price just didn't seem interesting. Honestly it would've had worked with maybe 2 plots/ storylines running every other trip/ month so there was a chance to experience something new. I liked a lot of the characters introduced and hope that they stay canon in the lore of the land.
There was one main storyline running. But multiple factions with multiple subplots depending on which factions you were engaging with.
No mindbending Disney tech or charming animatronics like what we used to see long ago. Just a bunch of hit n miss actors, tv screens and goofy light props shoved into a lobby. I dont know what the answer is but when tech in the star tours queue is far more interesting it makes sense why it failed.
Almost like their target audience was too poor to afford it. Crazy right?
Grand opening, grand closing!