Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser - A Triumphant Failure

I guarantee Disney will learn the wrong lessons from this. They're so out of touch with consumers that I'm sure it will be the worst case scenario where Disney thinks that high-end experiences aren't worth it and continues to degrade as a themed destination

Haha, that moment when Rey activates the lightsaber, then puts it down and picks up the "stunt double" saber always cracks me up.

These comments sum it up well: "One user on Reddit said: “Hmmmm…so you mean to tell me that Disney opened a crappy, cinder-block hotel filled with bad cosplay, cheap sets, silly acting theatre, basic arcade games, cell-like beds, and bland space windows, charged $5,000+ for a two-night stay…and somehow, this did not attract the average person into purchasing said experience enough to keep it afloat?” “It was essentially a $5000 escape room with Star Wars sprinkled in. And they damn near force you to participate in the ‘story,'” echoed another user."

When I first heard the $5000 price, I thought that must be the inflated cost for early adopters. I figured the real price Disney was planning on was around $1000, after a year or two or operation. The fact Disney ever convinced themselves there was a big enough market to charge $5000 on an ongoing basis is absolutely mind-blowing.

I think Disney sometimes forgets that, despite their astounding dedication to theming, there’s difference between a simulation and the real thing. There’s a difference between Epcot’s Paris and the actual Paris. There’s a difference between the Golden Gate Bridge and California Adventure. There’s a difference between an actual cruise ship experience, and the Halcion.

This was the epitome of Chapek’s goal of only courting the most wealthy people to visit the parks, while actively keeping people who spend or can afford less away

Disney failed because this was like a cruise that never left. In addition to pricing so astronomically high, many were turned away from it; this only appealed to a certain niche. Im an avid Star Wars fan and i could never justify spending nearly 4-6k for a two night stay that did not look worth it. But hey disney tried i guess.

The venn diagram of Star Wars fans who can afford $5000 (or vacation with other people who could love it enough to pay $2500) for 2 nights, and who love the sequels and First Order version of Star Wars, whose idea of Star Wars is a brightly lit luxury liner and not dirty grungy spaceships, who can also afford the surrounding WDW vacation, and who like to LARP... that's a very, very tiny amount of people. WDI did not understand that the sort of Star Wars fans with 5K to drop on a vacation tend to be older, middle-aged people who love the older trilogies. Making it primarily for children who love the sequels, not their parents, was a critical mistake.

The price and the deterioration of the Star Wars brand over the last few years is really what killed this from ever succeeding. Me and few friends (and even my dad) used to be really big Star Wars fans, but most of us don't really care for it anymore. It really doesn't help that they made this set during the sequel trilogy era. Maybe if this was set during the OT or hell, even the prequel era (since there seems to be a lot of nostalgia for that era these days), I think this would've done a bit better, but even then, I don't think it'd be enough to save this.

IF you look at those concept art shots you used during the "survey" section, you'll see big rooms with king sized beds and luxury amenities--all worth not only of a $1k per night experience but also what one might expect of a future deluxe "cruise starship" with well-to-do galactic guests. What we got instead was tiny rooms with bunk beds akin to a kid's summer camp cabin, mediocre tiny bites of food made "interstellar" by dying them bright odd colors, and some bad-FanCon-weekend cosplay stuff with ONLY Chewbacca from the original trilogy characters (same problem with Galaxy's Edge--the older fans who loved the original movies and could more possibly AFFORD the crazy prices were alienated) present in the story. NOW they have a huge "white elephant" that is utterly unfixable--some have suggested it as a revamped dinner theater possibility and others as what it SHOULD have been--a scifi version of the classic and TRULY worthy of your praise Adventurers Club which was destroyed to make room for generic mall shops and mediocre restaurants at Disney Springs. PLUS the remote locale means it would never get any foot traffic nor justify the cost overruns. The only way it can possibly be redeemed is as an added attraction for galaxy's edge, but even then there's the problem of the TIME it would take to take the shuttle to/from, enjoy a meal and show, and return and whether people would want to dedicate that much of their Disney park experience to this one thing other than those idly curious to see the "ruins" of what was a boondoggle from moment one. I can tell you really loved it--I respect that. But you are a VERY tiny subset of the audience, especially with respect because you didn't pay for it yourself and being there gives you content for this wonderful channel. Further, this is a one-and-done experience with virtually no "re-rideability" for 90% of those who make the financial sacrifice. IF you were going to go on a 3-day-2-night experience, why not go on a Disney cruise ship with all the amenities of a "comprehensive" vacation and at what could even be a similar or lower cost? As for your diagnosis of the problems, the timeline issue isn't about having a unique story--it is about having virtuall NONE of the beloved characters and context and MOST of what Disney has virtually killed the franchise with. And it isn't just marketing--it is content vs. value vs. time. TOo much of it is NOT "first of its kind" because with cosplay, escape rooms, and lots of such roleplay experiences out there it is just a re-themed take on that. As for StarWars being a success? Not lately--the spin-offs are spiralling in. Couple that with presenting a product in rooms, cuisine, and service that wasn't up to the pricetag and was certainly inferior to deluxe vacations that wealthy people can not only do but re-do with satisfaction. I love you and your vids, but I think your own personal love-affair with this thing clouds your reasoning in this video. It is a HUGE bomb and financially one more nail in the ever-growing rickety structure of the Disney financial empire. Stockholders will be pissed, Iger will again blame Chapek, and life will go on as Universal eats Disney's lunch when Epic Universe opens.

This was always bound to fail. You go to disneyworld to ride the rides and go to the theme parks. The average person was never going to pay for this, and hence why it failed so quickly, and I think this will be seen as one of if not tbe biggest failures in disney history. But with that being said, I think we can all agree, the idea of a starwars hotel is dope AF. What they should have done is made a large resort style hotel with a lot more things to do. Imagine a solarium style pool that looks into "space," maybe have different bars or restaurants that are in different starwars locations. And even for the rooms, maybe you have a foresty endore wing, you have a space wing, maybe a hoth wing, and maybe even a death star/ star destroyer wing. But i think its pretty clear that this could have and should have worked and been really cool, if just executed, in the exact opposite way that Disney tried

I'm a BIG Star Wars fan - this was on my bucket list while it was open. I am very disappointed that it's closing, but I understand why it wasn't a success, I am a single woman who lives with her parents, neither of who are as much of a fan of Star Wars as I am, when I looked into it to see if I could do a voyage on the Starcruiser for a trip I just took in February, a single person could not go on the trip by themselves, my next best bet would have been to go with my sister and brother-in-law who are also Star Wars fans, we could not justify the 6,000 dollars it would have cost for us three to go for 2 nights, when our whole week long vacation, cost a little more than half of that. We had hoped that they would lower the price eventually, to a point where we felt comfortable spending for the experience.

I'm shocked that Disney actually pulled the plug permanently. I was expecting them to "close for refurbishments" and then announce a revision of the hotel. Hopefully the Galactic Starcruiser theme resurfaces on one of Disney's actual cruises.

I’m not shocked by this. Normal families cannot afford such a crazy luxury and Disney during Chapek’s time at the helm became increasingly unaffordable for the common family. It is a shame for those cast members who had to work tirelessly to provide guests an experience that fit their astronomically high bill. Hopefully Disney can repurpose it into a resort of some form or simply make it a Space 220 hotel edition that could give the Star Wars vibes but still allow people to get to experience the theme parks.

The Galactic Star Cruiser failed the moment it was themed exclusively to the Disney Star Wars Trilogy.

It's weird cause I heard they were gonna try to do a dinner show experience during off days while still having the full service for peak days. I thought they would have tried that before considering shutting down.

BIG star wars fan, but this never really did anything for. First of all the price was just absurd for what you get. It's basically a murder mystery dining event and a cruise ship merged into something in what is basic windowless warehouse. There's not really much to do there and corners seem to have been everywhere you look. If it was $500+ per person (for two nights) it might be worth it for a one time experience. Repeat visits though I would say isn't worth it either.

“This was Disney’s most service and guest-experience project in decades.” Yes, for rich or very well-off people exclusively. Meanwhile the average guests in the park who might be taking a once-in-a-lifetime trip get mediocre service. That is precisely the issue

I wouldnt be surprised if they repurpose it as a normal hotel or a walkthrough experience

History tells us that it will probably be left to rot for years, before it becomes a destination for urban explorers and eventually is torn down for safety reasons. Especially if they take it as a tax write-off. You can't write-off something like that and then turn around and keep using the space for something else. The IRS frowns on that sort of thing.