Epic Fail For Disney: What went wrong with the Galactic Starcruiser?

[@solarbear7229]

Dude we ALLLLL know what went wrong. 5k for 2 days based on the sequel trilogy? Who's paying that much for that era? It was doomed to fail?

[@Solo13508]

It being in the sequel era has little to nothing to do with this. This was just poor business practice on Disney's part. It could be set in any era and same result would be achieved

[@UmbaGuy]

@@Solo13508 I mostly agree, although putting it in the OG era might have attracted a few more mega fans, it was doomed to fail.

[@OmertaSkywalker13]

@@Solo13508 lol

[@StraightOtohGunga]

​@Solo not at all, they made a "Star Wars" hotel without any real Star Wars in it. And then they wondered why many weren't interested

[@Aristocles22]

@@Solo13508 I don't know about that. The OT has some truly devoted fans. Insanely devoted. Maybe the price was too high, but they could have lowered it. No amount of price-altering would have saved something based on the "sequels."

[@RobertSmith-th3rz]

They'd rather close it down than lower the price. Says a lot.

[@luhedi6303]

Operational costs must have been too high so they couldn’t lower the prices.

[@dabeerdsgamer7763]

They in fact did try lowering the cost. They offered 30% discounts to specific customer groups (like annual pass holders). It still was not enough

[@AndreNitroX]

Those sons of bitches

[@jkdbuck7670]

​@@luhedi6303 Exactly!

[@ainzer2903]

The damned screens alone cost them bleeding money

[@Elemento0420]

Let's see: 1. Way too expensive 2. Focused on only one trilogy, that most of the fan base hates 3. Poor quality service and experience Need I go on?

[@king_dot]

It making you stuck a single place for two days had to be a big problem as well

[@frontierlandfrank5314]

From everything I’ve heard the experience/quality of service was too notch.

[@dondoesdoodles9726]

The main reason I was fundamentally opposed to this is simple. You are only allowed to dress up if you buy their licensed costumes. My friends and I are big enough nerds to have built film ready custom Mandalorian costumes. This also rules out a lot of the people from the 501, The Imperial Legion, The Rebel Legion, The Mandalorian Protectors and Mercs, and the Jedi Council. All these groups are made up of a majority of Star Wars OCs that would love to immerse ourselves in a weekend of Star Wars Larping. We are the core demographic for this and their own policies mean we'd never attend. Also the price means we'd only do it once and even then it's still to steep to justify for most.

[@superomegaprimemk2]

Go on, list all of their problems

[@frontierlandfrank5314]

@@dondoesdoodles9726 never heard of this. Did they tell you ahead of time or after you got there or what?

[@carlosvasquez9890]

"A windowless ship to nowhere" describes Disney's SW perfectly. Thank you.

[@eyeheartsushi2212]

LOL

[@KneelB4Bacon]

I prefer "a cinder block bunker with a carpet."

[@SilverSpireZ]

It's almost like releasing a two day glorified LARP and charging $6000 for it was a bad idea. How did nobody at Disney point this out? This is the least surprising announcement of the entire year.

[@Nintendoggy]

I heard you weren't allowed to dress up, so... semi-larp?

[@dondoesdoodles9726]

The main reason I was fundamentally opposed to this is simple. You are only allowed to dress up if you buy their licensed costumes. My friends and I are big enough nerds to have built film ready custom Mandalorian costumes. This also rules out a lot of the people from the 501, The Imperial Legion, The Rebel Legion, The Mandalorian Protectors and Mercs, and the Jedi Council. All these groups are made up of a majority of Star Wars OCs that would love to immerse ourselves in a weekend of Star Wars Larping. We are the core demographic for this and their own policies mean we'd never attend. Also the price means we'd only do it once and even then it's still to steep to justify for most.

[@icykid]

when your board room is full of multi milionaires and elitists like Kennedy and Iger 6000 bucks sounds like chump change

[@iwantalienstotakeme]

@@Nintendoggy you could dress up, but when they did the excursion to Galaxy's Edge, you had to take your costume/makeup off, from what I see almost nobody dressed up in any kind of costume, people just wore regular tourist outfits so there's zero immersion 😐😐

[@jkdbuck7670]

Scary and not surprising that a bunch of idiotic suits with MBA's sat around a table and decided this was a good idea. Apart from the mass/forced self-deletions, I see little difference between such corporate morons and Jonestown.

[@GrechStudios]

For a company that doesn’t like to take risks, it’s pretty bizarre that THIS was the project they decided to green light.

[@jacob_e_lynch]

I agree. I was really upset when Disney built this hotel. Especially because they canceled the Mary Poppins ride and Spaceship Earth refurbishment.

[@Ellebeeby]

That is the Disney of yesteryear. Now they're all about risks - from the gambling on "LGBT scenes for the west that we can cut out for China and Saudi Arabia" to the ESG-led money burning of recent films, Disney does nothing BUT take risks these days.

[@FumiTheKitten]

They take all kinds of risks. Getting involved in politics as a corporation is a devastatingly stupid risk. They’re losing tons of money because of their Woke ways. Going against a bill that stops the sexualization of 5 year olds is as dumb as dumb gets.

[@GusMcGuire]

@@FumiTheKitten The problem with Disney Star Wars is not 'going woke'; it's bad writing. And that bill that "stops the sexualising of 5 year olds" is nothing of the sort. It's simply an ill-considered, ignorant, vindictive law, created by bigots who seem to stupidly think that if you ban the word 'gay' it'll somehow stop kids from being gay. It won't - it'll just perpetuate bigotry and cut LGBTQ kids off from normal routes of support. It makes about as much sense as if they wrote a law banning people from talking about "being black" with the expectation that it would stop black kids from being born.

[@jkdbuck7670]

“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” --George Carlin

[@johantolli372]

This whole thing reeked of Disney not being able to look past "George Lucas made alot of money on merchendising". Disney put something together, slapped a SW logo on it and expected people to pay ridiculous amounts of money for an experience that not worth it. This hotel/fake cruise felt like just another Disney cash grab.

[@TheRecklessGamerINC]

Well said.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

To be perfectly honest, this could have worked if it came out back in the ’90s. But nowadays with the economy as it is, it was never going to work.

[@zxyatiywariii8]

If they'd used the original concept art, and set this during the original trilogy, it would've been successful. But this price -- for Disney Wars? Doomed to fail.

[@AndreNitroX]

You slapped it on a plastic lunchbox and now you’re selling it. YOUR SELLING IT!

[@7thwheel]

It is a failure by people who don't get and worse don't care about Star Wars. The sets looked like they were out of Star Trek not Star Wars.

[@strikeflyer]

I still find it funny how there were several comics and a book revolving around this. I couldn't help but laugh at it

[@Luks2820]

Everything based on the Sequel Trilogy fails, so of course Disney will double down.

[@CantankerousDave]

Doubling the price in this case...

[@Milothemighty10]

“Twice the pride double the fall”…

[@codyerickson3550]

This, though. I don’t know how many times Disney needs to take the damn hint that the vast majority of the fan base does NOT like nor want anything related to the Sequel Trilogy.

[@Solo13508]

Your idea of a treetop Kasshyyk hut is honestly so much better. So long as it was reasonably priced of course. Hopefully Disney learns from their mistakes here

[@mazkeraid4039]

Ha, this is Disney they were talking about, we all know how well do their mistakes be “learned” from…

[@FTChomp9980]

Fans have better ideas then Lucasfilm.

[@zxyatiywariii8]

Disney doesn't learn. They double down and blame the fans for pointing out the sequels are the WORST trilogy of the whole Stars Wars universe. Just because they slap a Star Wars label on it, doesn't mean people will pay for it.

[@carolbriscoe9337]

Probably not. The bean counters are in charge. Probably why DISNEY bought LucasFilms. They saw merchandising monies and little else

[@jonw3738]

No. I don't want them to learn from this. I want them to keep failing and eventually go completely out of business.

[@richardsylvester4518]

I'm sure the price was a sticking point for most people, but for me the main reason why I didn't go and why it failed is because it's set in the sequel trilogy. It's that simple.

[@StraightOtohGunga]

Same here, I would have found a way to afford it if it was actual Star Wars that I know and love

[@derekdean3368]

I never got this. - You go to Disney World, but not to any of the parks except for one part of one park on one day. - You pay 2x-3x more than a 3-day ocean cruise leaving from Florida (including Disney cruises with Star Wars at sea day) - You must role play an adventure alongside other guests and staff, which is definitely an experience, possibly a really fun one, but is not what every person looks for in a vacation. In my family of 5 (most rooms were only designed for 4 people, btw), 2 of us are Star Wars fans. If my family goes to Disney, what would we do? Book a stay at the Star Wars hotel, where none of us get to visit the rather iconic Magic Kingdom or Epcot, and where the 3 non-fans will definitely get Star Wars-ed out? Or book a stay at one of the other Disney hotels (or a nearby offsite hotel / airbnb) where we can go to any of the parks, see all the sights, stay as many or as few days as we want, and still visit the Galaxy's Edge area at some point? Or, heck, book a disney star wars at sea cruise where the non-fans can keep swimming or doing whatever other activities they want while the fans see the characters? I can't be the only person planning vacations who has to weigh out these sorts of decisions, so I don't get what Disney was thinking. Even Original Trilogy characters wouldn't be enough for me to choose the Star Wars hotel when planning a vacation.

[@AndreNitroX]

They wanted to fail. No other logic is here for these bad decisions

[@KaijuCommander]

I get the feeling that there are a lot of yes men at Disney who could have/should have pointed these problems out to high ranking decision makers at Disney like Iger and Kennedy, but don’t have the nerve to disagree with them openly so these bad ideas get green lit anyway.

[@GENGHISKHAN-hk3qs]

They tried to charge $4,800 a night for hotel room the size of a jail cell.

[@CMVBrielman]

Well, you see, the rooms have to be small. Because this is a cruise ship. In space. Where there is not much… space. This being in a setting where ships tend to be measured in kilometers.

[@StraightOtohGunga]

​@@CMVBrielman they really could have made the rooms much bigger, but they also could have gone with a better concept that is less star-trek looking in general

[@sternshadowdude2]

They made the rooms like that on purpose to get guests to stay out of their rooms and interact with the story events.

[@GENGHISKHAN-hk3qs]

@@sternshadowdude2 they are so small though, and super expensive. And clearly it didn’t work.

[@vetarlittorf1807]

Why not just lower the price so middle-class families can afford it? Wouldn't that be more profitable? Oh wait, I forgot the whole thing was designed by the lawyer from Jurassic Park.

[@FTChomp9980]

Nice reference and diss! We all know what happened to the lawyer in ths movie.

[@dylanmahaffey8920]

And apparently they did try a coupon day, just as the lawyer said

[@istari0]

I suspect their operating expenses are too high. Disney is in cost cutting mode. Huge layoffs and they just cancelled a billion dollar office development in addition to shutting this down. The disputes Disney is having with the Florida governor don't help either.

[@jedimasterdraco6950]

@@istari0 Yeah, but are the costs so high that they can just write this off so easily? I heard somewhere it cost between one and two billion to set everything up. Wonder who Disney is gonna take pieces of flesh out for that.

[@istari0]

@@jedimasterdraco6950 Disney is in a major cost cutting mode. They are laying off thousands of employees and just cancelled a billion dollar development in the Orlando area. What with their dispute with the governor of Florida and the overall state of the economy, anything that not making profits for them is a target for elimination or reduction. I imagine they will at some point remodel it for something that will actually make money.

[@Hendricus56]

They should think about doing something on a planet that works with, if possible, all trilogies, allowing them to do a Prequel story one month, an OT one the next, followed by a Sequel month. Not only do some people want to return in a different time frame for the other story, they would also have something resonating with more fans. Reduce the price as well and it would work pretty well. Heck, cut 1-2k of the starcruiser price and it would attract way more people. But somehow, businesses don't understand the logic of earning less per individual customer but more in the end

[@StraightOtohGunga]

I have been saying this forever, I among many people have no interest in the sequel trilogy. If they could only adapt a model of allowing all eras. Or changing it up by the month, it would be perfect. There would be a little something for everyone.

[@mazkeraid4039]

Way better thought out business strategy than how Disney could’ve bothered to handle, alas Star Wars is just another brand to them.

[@zxyatiywariii8]

Yes! Flexibility would've been a much better strategy.

[@PrincessFionaYT]

The Disney business model of the last 10 years has been based on their customers putting themselves into unreasonable debt. It’s not sustainable and they’re starting to see it all over their parks.

[@otakubullfrog1665]

My guess is that the original plan was to eventually create additional storylines that they'd rotate through once most Star Wars fans had gone once. They probably figured that they'd be booked up with first-timers for quite awhile, so this could be a phase-two consideration. I'm sure that there'd be a lot of pressure from certain people at Lucasfilm to keep the focus on the sequel trilogy because it would be embarrassing if it got clearly outperformed, but it would have at least given people a reason to go back (not that Disney diehards have ever seemed to have much of a problem enjoying the same experience over and over again).

[@josharnoldy6833]

The craziest part is that from the outside, the Galactic Cruiser looks like a warehouse. Even the architecture in Galaxy’s Edge matches the Star Wars lore and Disney as a whole goes above and beyond to capture the magic in building design and architecture.

[@jimmyboydonald6578]

It's like the feeling you get when you accidentally walk in on Hector Elizondo or Jack Nicholson using the bathroom. 😅

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

The Disney Warehouse confirmed real. I've been saying it for years :)

[@jlasf]

Silly comment. I was there and there is no reason the exterior has to be themed. All the theming is on the inside and it's all the passengers see. Honestly, it was never a factor.

[@perceivedvelocity9914]

This could have worked if you were visiting Bespin. Han being frozen in Carbonite. Luke sneaking around trying to avoid Stormtroopers. Boba Fett escaping with the Carbonite block. The battle between Luke and Vader. People would line up for that. Instead Disney created a boring adventure with Rae on a cruise ship.

[@PedPaul]

I would consider paying to be frozen in Carbonite myself for 10 minutes or so! That would be more interesting than a cruise with Rey.

[@JRS06]

Does everything Star Wars have to be exclusively based on the orignal trilogy? It's great on all but I like having sequel and prequel representation.

[@sternshadowdude2]

@@JRS06 Sequels are trash.

[@JamesRDavenport]

Well, Rey is their golden child, or more specifically the Dark Empress of Lucasfilm's child. They cannot admit the character sucks. So we get what we get. Yawn.

[@The_Sharktocrab]

​@@JRS06 yeah it would be better with zero sequel representation because the sequels are awful films with no soul

[@troopcaptain]

Well at the very least, we'll get a Defunctland video about this.

[@denvan3143]

Disney’s disclaimer reminds me of Pee-wee Herman falling off his bike and telling the onlookers “I meant to do that.“

[@FTChomp9980]

If the Hotel was themed after Coruscant or Bespin I feel like it would have succeeded especially having a Lightsaber duel between Mace Windu and Palpatine for Coruscant and Luke n Vader Duel for Bespin if they took influence from the Prequels and OT it would have been a success but the StarCruiser took place in the Sequel Trilogy that blew up like the Death Star.

[@Dethflash]

I paid $800 for a 4 night cruise from Florida to the Bahamas. That includes the drink package also. Disney wanted 6k for no drinks, no cruise, no custom costumes, and it takes place in the worst possible Star Wars alternate timeline.

[@zacharyfett2491]

The ST isn’t popular; Disney doesn’t seem to understand this. I have seen plenty of photos and videos from “influencers” about the hotel; Disney announcing a shutdown after little more than a year leads me to believe that influencers do not move the needle when it comes to large purchases. It also leads me to believe that Disney was subsidizing many of these influencers’ trips. Disney knows the true numbers and dollars spent, and it must have been brutal.

[@teresar6348]

Even if they put no strings on this trip, those influencers prolly know that if they say anything negative, even in part, they will never be asked again.

[@crossfire34]

Not just this. But Indiana Jones appartently sucks, and Willow is being removed from Disney+. Not a good week for Kennedy.

[@thorshammer7883]

These are the tainted fruits Disney will eat for their labor which is their lawless practices and faithlessness. You reap what you sow eventually and they will catch up to you no matter how rich or powerful you are by reason of your own brightness. That maybe a bitter pill to swallow for the Disney conglomerate, but swallow it they certainly will unless they forsaken their ways. Whoever sows to please their own flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction. And Disney will suffer that unless they learn and turn away from their practices. Their constant defilements and disrespect took them here and they will suffer for those fruits. In righteous judgment and rebuke. They reap what they have wrought by their own hand.

[@jkdbuck7670]

But a great week for people who grew up and liked Willow and Indiana Jones.

[@genghisgahan9623]

This could have worked if: 1) its was simply a star wars themed hotel, with staff in costumes, food themed on sci-fi etc. 2) was based on the original trilogy. 3) was just a hotel, sure it could have a few fun experiences or character appearances etc, but it would primarily remain a hotel. 4) make it affordable.

[@teresar6348]

5) Make this more than a 2 day experience, even if the rest of it is just the other parks, and use that to help subsidize the price. Let the plot be that you are taking the ship from your home planet, ENDING in baatu, and traveling to the neighboring kingdoms on that planet (i.e. the other parks) Include a few days at another hotel, have the key let the front desk know to interact with you as though you flew in from another galaxy. Tickets to every single park with food, genie +, and perhaps a paid star wars themed event in the park. Given how disney gets all of this very predictable traffic, they can charge an extra 1k per person for those extras rather than rack rate and still won't likely take a loss. Now instead of 4k for 2 people for 2 days, its 6k but you get a full week and most of the logistics are handled ahead so you don't have to.

[@GrievousReborn]

This is what happens when they make it super expensive so the average Star Wars fan cannot afford to experience it

[@carolbriscoe9337]

Created for the rich and famous. Only they weren't interested. Even at that price, they expect far more for their money!

[@colten53]

What went wrong? Did anything even go right with the Galactic Starcruiser?

[@77Pictures]

Sure, bad choice of Era and especially that massive price were the main issues. But the experience itself was pretty fantastic and still could have been, if chapek hadn't put an experience ment for Galaxys Edge behind a pay wall. When it first opened I was working the old west immersive equivalent at knotts Berry Farm near Disneyland. That experience has been going successfully for six years. It's part of your entry ticket. All summer you get to be a part of this interactive story which was the plan for Disney. I'm just hoping they put a simpler version of this experience back in the parks. Galaxys edge is an empty space that would absolutely benefit from more characters and stories. Especially characters from the OT.

[@StraightOtohGunga]

Galaxy's edge really needs to be changed and opened up to all Star Wars eras. I should be able to go see Ahsoka, Luke, Leia. Vader, boba fett at at Star Wars theme park if I want to

[@OnlyOneKenobi]

I've been looking forward to this! As ever, you nailed it! Whole thing was a terrible idea from the start. What the hell were they smoking?! 🙄😏👌🏼 Embarrassing.

[@fredericos4190]

I consider myself a huge Star Wars fan, and ok I live in Brazil, but I had no idea this resort even existed…

[@onlyonestarwarsfan5337]

$5000-$6000+ overnight dinner show. Who exactly was the target audience for this, again?

[@cathydanielson9995]

Affluent adults who would have greatly preferred something based on the original trilogy they grew up with. I still couldn't have spent the money, but I can see how this would have appealed to the group who does have the extra income.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

⁠@@cathydanielson9995 Still wouldn't be enough people to keep it afloat. Would make more sense to make it a Star Wars-themed hotel with all the extra stuff tacked on as extras for those Superman.

[@rumblehat4357]

If this truly had been a temporary test run, they would have actually announced that from the beginning. That would have built up excitement that “You HAVE to go before it closes!” It would have generated sales for those caught up in the whole ”it’s only temporary and I have to go, otherwise i will miss out!” Rather than “oh, maybe I will go if the price drops significantly.” That tells me that press release is Disney trying to save face.

[@cmyaj]

Disney continues to thumb its nose at the older Star Wars fans, making things that we have little (or no) interest in, in some misguided attempt to shove Disney SW in our face, all the while calling us bigots for not liking it. Top that off with making it so expensive & it the Galactic Starcruiser was bound to fail. Sadly, Disney won't learn & we'll continue to get sub-sub-sub-par SW until they sell the franchise off in a desperate attempt to avoid bankruptcy at some point in the future.

[@rumblehat4357]

As an original 1977 fan, you are correct. I have zero interest in this, even if it was $300 night.

[@RetroGamingLoser]

Nobody wants to fly out to Disney to drop 5k to larp inside a hotel for 2 days.

[@edgarnava384]

That press release LoL

[@feanol22]

That was such a puzzling venture from the start. Made no sense on so many fronts. Who was the idiot who came up with it?

[@albertotensai]

Horrible business model. Even if the experience was based on more popular movies, there was no way to keep this afloat.

[@staroceans8677]

I completely agree with MANY of the responders' comments that it was the WRONG ERA, NOT that interesting, and it was far TOO MUCH money. Maybe if Darth came into my room, or even Luke, instead of Kylo Ren and Rey...yuk. Also this was Kathy's idea to put in her Trilogy and NOT George's.

[@donaldking5791]

After dividing the fandom, blaming the customers for their failure in providing wanted products, making fun of customers, basing all these attractions on Disney Star Wars rather than Lucus's Star Wars, and finally making it so expensive that the Galactic Starcruiser failed. Who would have thunk this......

[@borafett3005]

It's not a remake of the Titanic, but a prequel to the Rey movie.

[@shadeblackwolf1508]

It would not be too expensive to turn this into a normal disney hotel with a starwars theme

[@babtanian]

Disney not understanding their fans is the one consistency you can count on with them; at least when it comes to Star Wars. I've been a Star Wars fan since 1980; a hard core fan that has bought up almost everything they've offered along the way. I'm not wealthy, but I could afford this experience without causing any fiscal hardship. I would have to choose this over something else of course, and that has been the problem for me. If I'm going to fork over $4,800, I'm either going to acquire something tangible or have a reasonable guarantee of forging a lasting memory; an enjoyable one. In the case of the Galactic Cruiser, they haven't done anything to entice me, or even partially justify that price tag. If they had, I'd probably have gone.

[@MCsCreations]

Thor, imagine if they made this hotel themed on Hoth... Inside Echo Base, with wampas appearing from nowhere... And, in the end, having to evacuate the base. And all this for 1k. I don't even know if it would need to be 2 days.

[@StraightOtohGunga]

Would be awesome, I also think a jabbas palace with music and spas (a pool at a hotel.. imagine that) would be pretty cool

[@MCsCreations]

@@StraightOtohGunga Oh, no doubt about that!

[@jeffrey_live1748]

Sequel trilogy theme is what went wrong. Who cares about any of the characters? Nobody

[@arrow1414]

"It's a (tourist) trap!“

[@Offbreed309]

I would never be able to afford it, but it being sequals themed removes any desire to go.

[@TheRecklessGamerINC]

When they first announced the star cruiser a few years ago I was pretty excited and thought the idea was cool. I’m 23 and I don’t like traveling or into hotels and stuff like that but this was something that I was down to save up for. Until I later saw the pricing. It’d take me quite a while to save up 4000 bucks just for two nights. And then shortly before it opened I learned that the price was so high because of the whole upper echelon “premium” experience they were going for. I’ve seen a few clips of the interactive games they have and those seem alright but most of time I just see clips about all the expensive food, items, and drinks you can buy. It’s just not what I’m into personally. Basically I realized I would never afford it and probably wouldn’t enjoy myself if I had ever gone. I’m glad it’s closing down, but I’d be open for a more traditional hotel with a Star Wars theme from all era’s.

[@dr.bright5670]

Here's how you fix it: Make it JEDI TEMPLE themed and offer lightsaber fencing classes. Have temple guards walking around and green screens on windows showing gunships flying nearby, along with the sound effects. Have Jedi masters greet you (Plo Koon, Mace Windu, Luminara Unduli, Yoda, Quinlan Vos, Qui-Gon Jinn) There could be a darkroom ride about the Sith temple secretly buried beneath the temple, a interactive Jedi Council meeting, along with a VIP one-on-one meditation with Yoda with Frank Oz playing him. THEN, at the end Order 66 happens and you have to escape the temple as the Jedi fall all around you, before Darth Vader arrives and force chokes the guide, who reveals himself to be a time traveling Luke Skywalker who has come back to save everyone. Then it plays the og imperial march theme and boom! Directed by George Lucas. (Hopefully)

[@mazkeraid4039]

A proof of concept that I can see fans themselves can do something like it because Disney is too inept to do something magical about it. This is strange considering that they are no strangers to fantasy space adventure which revolves around the galaxy and dark powers, and once these useless employees are discarded from Lucasfilm, nothing could be done about that.

[@nerdygirlcreates655]

Or even give a choice of being a Jedi or Sith

[@rexpositor6741]

High cost, low quality. As someone who can easily afford this, I steered clear, because I understand value.

[@leonardoespino9780]

I have tears…. But of JOY!!!

[@bryanblackburn6928]

I think they tried to do too much. Compare to the Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas that lasted for a full decade I believe. I was fortunate enough to visit that before it shut down. It was more a ride as part of a vacation than a full vacation in itself. Lasted about a half hour, made you feel like you were on the enterprise D and at the end, let you out at Quarks bar from DS9....complete with a few costumed characters as bar patrons. I even bought a 6 pack of Romulan Ale, Ha. I can't remember the price for the ride, but it was tens of dollars, not thousands of dollars, plus you could go into Quarks without going on the ride if that's all you wanted. Disney should have taken a hard look at the model and had Star Wars just be an area of the park (like Epcot) that people could visit and have different rides and activities that they could go on while there. And they absolutely, positively, 100% should have included content from the original and prequel eras in addition to the sequel era.

[@StraightOtohGunga]

Sticking to the sequel era is such a huge mistake. I would have loved an Epcot world tour style setup with some of the different planets, each with their own shop or activity

[@trouverunpseudomarrant9423]

This hotel was more expensive that the Paris Ritz or the Mamunia and was built around the least popular part of Star Wars, no wonder why that failed

[@kimmccarthy7747]

On the point about spending two days inside a windowless building: I have been to many a convention where I never left the hotel it was in, eating and going to panels and buying things. Lots of fans listening to your report have. And I would not put it past a few of us to have spent that much buying things at those cons, at least the big cons with dealers' rooms that would fit the Starcruiser in them. So there is that. And on a totally different point, perhaps Disney never expected this to go that long. I would love to see a financial report examining outlay costs vs how much money they took in. This might not have been any more than a temporary cash inflow, or an experiment, like they said.

[@TrunksXV]

6000 is a deal breaker in today's market. Heck its a deal breaker in 2000, or even 2010. Nobody has that kind of money. Heck nobody even has a job to afford that. And if they do, they are sad fools. Go on a real cruise! Go to Europe. Japan. Hawaii!

[@codyerickson3550]

The three things that killed Galactic Starcruiser: 1) Price. 2) Only 2 nights long 3) Based in the Sequel Era, by far the LEAST popular era of Star Wars, bar none.

[@barryon8706]

I think they badly overestimated how much of a draw they could create just by slapping the Star Wars label on something.

[@marajade9879]

Living in Germany visiting the Star Cruiser has never been an option for me, but I also never felt the desire to do so. I'm not going to pay that much money for the ST and having to cosplay, which I don't really feel comfortable with. Plus, I despise the Starcruiser for being shoved into so many books and comics. I don't want any "commercial breaks" in my books... As an avid reader and fan of The High Republic I thought the "Republic Fair" from "The Rising Storm" would make for such a great Star Wars live experience. It's basically like a world exposition within Star Wars, so different planets and organisations like the Jedi Order present themselves in a variety of pavillions, do shows and exhibitions, etc. New tech like a research ship is being presented and visitors can explore it, etc. It would be so amazing to walk through these different worlds at your own pace as a visitor to the fair and explore so many different aspects of the galaxy. If they ever announced the Republic Fair as a live attraction, I'd surely be there in no time! :D

[@Zanatrey]

That's the killer for me. Myself and my company did much of the millwork for "Project H" and the blood, sweat and tears that went into that place is all for naught. I remember the deadlines, the frustration, the long hours in order to make that place a reality. And because Disney just couldn't see the forest for the trees they couldn't fathom that this needed to be accessable to normal people at the cost of a longer return on investment. Atleast I have site photos of how fantastic our work was.

[@Xanman64-p6q]

Best thumbnail description for this I have seen! Kudos.

[@stevequincy388]

What went wrong? Well, if they had themed it after the OT instead of the crappy sequels and made it more affordable for a family to attend, I think it would've had a good chance to be successful. I mean, it doesn't even look like Star Wars, it looks like some generic sci-fi theme (more Star Trek than Star Wars). What an abysmal failure for Disney.

[@urktheturtle2988]

someone needs to tell disney that the Kotor Era exists specifically to provide a "pure star wars" experience. and that it would be the best era for this kind of thing... not the fucking sequel trilogy. you need a setting with lots of jedi, and lots of sith, and everything in star wars being available... no highly niche aspects of the setting.

[@Skye_Writer]

Dude, your Kashyyk idea is AWESOME! That's the kind of hotel I would go to. $4k-$6k for a TWO DAY stay in a concrete bunker was always a ridiculous idea when Disney already sells ACTUAL cruises for a week-long RELAXING vacation for half that cost. Or for a little less, you can buy a week-long vacation to the FULL park and, you know, spend that half day seeing Galaxy's Edge (all the time it actually takes) and the other half the day, like you said, by the pool. SW fans already pay to cosplay at Celebration, ComicCon, DragonCon, and elsewhere. They are not going to keep shelling out thousands of dollars to do it in this 2-day escape-room concept. For $4,000 dollars, I can go to a *true* luxury resort and be waited on hand and foot for a week. THAT is the kind of resort they should have built.

[@zerg6001]

I loved the idea for this years ago when it was announced. My mom was the one who told me about it. My first question was if it was based on the sequels. I would have gone and loved it if it wasn’t based on the sequels.

[@tessbolick6605]

I'm surprised they're flat out shutting it down instead of moving it to a seasonal experience. Make it three months out of the year kinda thing. Also yeah I was kinda interested, an official Star Wars larp thing sounds kinda neat tbh, but there was no way on earth I was gonna be able to afford it within the next decade lol

[@jacob_e_lynch]

I was really upset when Disney built this hotel. Especially because they canceled the Mary Poppins ride and Spaceship Earth refurbishment.

[@jkdbuck7670]

Astronomical cost. Set in the SUCK-QUEL TRILOGY era.

[@FLgurl100]

This is NOT the Star Wars I know. Didn’t recognize any of this

[@king_dot]

Why didn’t they just make it a Star Wars themed hotel, that sounds much more appealing

[@HighHeelKnight]

02:10 = I used to work at Walt Disney World. I never saw that area of the park from that angle. Interesting. The photo is like being in front of and behind the curtain simultaneously. 🤔

[@kalzium8857]

I mean they could have invested the money into another attraction at galaxys edge. For 6000$ for a two day larp you compete with tourist attractions outside of the usa. You could spend your vacation in europe/japan. Maybe visit their theme parks. Disney parks especially disney world are infamous for being a little bit overpriced for the value. I don't blame people for thinking the same for the hotel.

[@mcash232]

"Your arrogance blinds you, [Disney]."

[@swgriff1]

Other premium disney world hotel is the castle. The question is how the cost compares and what the experience is for each

[@subliminallime4321]

Nobody wants to hang out with miserable, depressed Jedi? No kidding...

[@greatazuredragon]

"What went wrong with the Galactic Starcruiser?" They used the New Trilogy.

[@terrified057t4]

$4000-6000 for an IRL Star Wars RP session? Nah no thanks I'll take that for however many armor suits that would get me. (also, Disney should stick to the smaller merch. I'd like to see more Hasbro, Nerf, Lego, etc merch than Disney building a 1:1 Tipoca City in the Pacific for people to visit for the low low price of $400,000...)

[@АлексейМомот-щ7о]

Disney building IRL Tipoca City at least would be cool.

[@ajhill6655]

Disney deserves nothing but bad karma!

[@karlphillips8310]

To the lifeboats and quickly! Didn't anyone talk to the fan base whilst the idea was being developed on the drawing board? Clearly no! A classic case of corporate greed before considering people and affordability. Luke, I'm not your sugar daddy, you're going to have to pay for this trip to nowhere with your own money, sorry son! A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...on the now forgotten and ultra expensive planet called No Hope, we can't even remember what we experienced there except we were robbed by a bunch of pirates and vagabonds.

[@PrinceofMacedonVlogs]

$6,000 for 2 nights. Everyone knew this would fail once Disney announced the pricing. Almost everyone said the pricing was too high, but Disney thought we were bluffing.

[@drchuck9]

It’s a bit ironic that Disney Star Wars shows and movies have practically vilified affluence (e.g. Canto Bite), and then they promote an experience just for those people. Could they be sending mixed messages?

[@deeanns1874]

Honestly I’m not surprised it didn’t work either…I am sad that they didn’t plan it to be more affordable to just us normal fans, I would have loved to do it at least once. Realistically though? I wrote it off as soon as I saw the price tag that went with it.

[@gman7497]

If they had to charge that much for it to be profitable then they built the thing completely wrong.

[@deeanns1874]

@@gman7497 you’re not wrong!

[@treystephens6166]

$6.00 would be too much.

[@deeanns1874]

@@treystephens6166 🤣

[@dony2852]

They tried marketed a simulator as a hotel and didn't do either very well. People looking for a hotel want to relax, see a nice view and be rested before being anywhere else but the hotel. People in a simulator are interested in anything but relaxing and will want somethung to drive, shoot or otherwise interact with

[@qwefg3]

What went wrong? Better question is what went right? Over priced tiny rooms. Expensive price to take pictures so more nickel and dime problems. Very tiny time spent with lots of complaints about how short it is. The idea is more trying to scam people with KK at the helm.

[@dondoesdoodles9726]

The main reason I was fundamentally opposed to this is simple. You are only allowed to dress up if you buy their licensed costumes. My friends and I are big enough nerds to have built film ready custom Mandalorian costumes. This also rules out a lot of the people from Yhe 501st, The Imperial Legion, The Rebel Legion, The Mandalorian Protectors and Mercs, and the Jedi Council. All these groups are made up of a majority of Star Wars OCs that would love to immerse ourselves in a weekend of Star Wars Larping. We are the core demographic for this and their own policies mean we'd never attend. Also the price means we'd only do it once and even then it's still to steep to justify for most.

[@АлексейМомот-щ7о]

Only Disney could find a way to monopolize cosplay.

[@vincentleone4021]

Disney made a Star Wars land and put none of the original trilogy in it. That alone should get everyone fired. That is how arrogant Disney is or aka Kennedy.

[@M167A1]

Prices and basing it on the awful sequels killed it Yes the sequels have fans and I understand they are both very nice people, but this combined with the price made for something that was obviously going to fail.

[@craigmcquiston9573]

Nobody likes the sequels and wants to spend time, effort or money on it. And, apparently ,the few that do couldn’t keep it afloat. Still waiting on Disney to admit they were wrong and recon the sequels.

[@Drifter2025]

Watch Universal Studios make a Mario vacation package that's reasonably priced and more fun. 😂

[@davidconnellan6875]

Who has money? Adults. Who doesn't have money? KIds. Who did they aim this at? Kids who liked the sequels. Who didn't they aim this at? Adults who love the original trilogy. Can we see the problem

[@АлексейМомот-щ7о]

KK doesn't see the problem 😂 back in 2015 she said they don't need dying 50-year old fans. Then proceeded to say there's more stories ahead of them than behind. Of course she didn't anticipate her stuff would be unpopular, at least parks should have been with proven popular stuff.

[@jasonpike5821]

Darth Vader: Mickey was right to hide the losses from me. His failure is now complete.

[@rector0455]

I've loved SW from the Phantom Menace when I was 12 yrs old, all the way up until seeing TFA in theaters in 2015. Almost every game, the TV series and movies, books, you name it I lived and breathed Star Wars. When I was made fun of in high school for liking it, Star Wars was always there to escape. I never felt one single ounce of desire to go to this joke of a cash grab. Not one. If Disney offered me a free trip, I wouldn't have taken it. Just because you're a fan of something, doesn't mean you have to be blind to it's faults and lose all of your senses. These people you speak about are mindless giga consoomers.

[@VietBotPDX]

i don't mind the price tag. Clearly there was a market for it and from what i've heard, people loved their experience. If you go the cash to spend, then no judgments from me! And i'd rather them shut the whole thing down rather than water down the quality of the experience and for that, I can respect. I don't consider it predatory since the pricing is all up front and I don't think anyone would feel *trapped* into spending this kind of money. On the other hand, the price is way out of my ballpark and given the money, I'd much rather spend a week in europe than 2 days in florida. And it looks like the number of people who 1) had that kind of cash and 2) wanted to do a SW experience was smaller than what the suits of Disney expected. Thus the free market has spoken.

[@istari0]

That they are shutting it down says there wasn't enough of a market for it.

[@seancrowley3142]

There are several issues with this project. First of all is the price. Second of all was the setting. The majority of fans don’t want to spend time during the so called sequel era. It would be very difficult to properly do a luxurious Star Wars experience. A star ship is not the correct setting. Maybe a luxurious high rise on Coruscant? That would be almost impossible to pull off. Maybe Naboo? Ala episode 1 and 2?🤔 That would be difficult too. I could see Alderaan being a possibility. Maybe fix up a acres of land, next level landscaping, with waterfalls, pools ect. The rooms must be large and luxurious as well. Then, maybe have the background story be something like you are a padawan, on Alderaan for Jedi training. You could have all sorts of Jedi quests, training activities. And for those who don’t want to do physical activities, they could just chill and relax and enjoy the pools/waterfalls of Alderaan. Then, at the end, you should get an exclusive lightsaber, one that’s higher quality than anything you can buy right now on the internet. Food must also be next level as well. Just my two cents…

[@Fangirl2102]

I would love a Coruscant Hotel! They could have it take place in the prequel era, have a replica of the Jedi temple down the road, and the Senate building. Honestly anything themed from the original or prequel trilogies would be better than the Galactic Starcruiser.

[@seancrowley3142]

@@Fangirl2102 I would love that too but where would you build it? New York City?🤔 Seems like it would be wayyy too expensive. Disney would literally have to build a high rise in the middle the city to give it the desired effect. Unless, you have a building without real windows which I don’t think you can get away with if you want to charge $1000s of dollars a night…

[@Fangirl2102]

@@seancrowley3142 I'm not sure how it would work in real life it's just a fun idea I thought of. If they (Disney) were to build a replica of Corsuant and the Jedi temple at the parks I don't think it would be very big.

[@StraightOtohGunga]

​@@Fangirl2102 hell, I'd take Sryl Karn's crappy Coruscant apartment over the Star Crusier

[@bigorange2082]

I’m an American living and working in Gifu, Japan. My wife and I flew home, stayed a week, and flew back to Japan for under 3K. 6K is insane.

[@sonicocr]

Any sequel product crash and fail. It’s insulting and cringe since the moment they post the first add. We all know why it fails.

[@TheAETHER22]

The sequels suck, that's what's wrong. Give me a galactic empire themed hotel and I'll spend the amount of money they're asking easily

[@StraightOtohGunga]

Absolutely. I want imperial officers and storm troopers with the opportunity to see Vader. The sequels feel like discount versions. We don't have Darth Vader but we have Kylo! He's cool right? 😂

[@billlange9408]

So, I'm a tremendous SW fan. I hadn't been to Disney since I was like, 7 back in the late 80's and frankly had no plans to go again. Then they announced GE. Well, I ended up going twice in a six month span. The first time by myself and I dropped about 1k on merch including sabers, holocrons, crystals, building my own saber, food and drink. I wasn't going to go again anytime soon, but a friend had turned 40 recently, and I told him I'd pay for him to make his saber as he was trying to do 40 unique experiences in his 40th year. So, back I went to GE in May when I first went in November. Both stays were just one day in the park and I spent it almost entirely in Galaxy's Edge. I rode both rides (Rise was INCREDIBLE, BTW), and built a saber each time and loved it. It downpoured the second visit, but it was still really enjoyable to experience Batuu that way. Having said all that, I'm clearly the kind of person Disney was aiming at for this experience. You'd think this would have been right up my alley, and it sure sounded promising...until they released the price points. There is literally no way in hell I could justify spending that much money for that experience. My two previous trips cost about 2k total including airfare, merch, lodging, etc. That would barely cover my trip on the starcruiser, let alone travel, merch, food, alcohol, etc. Even with 4 people, it's still wild. Better, but still wild. Then they had the soft open where they had all the influencers and KZbinrs come and stay for free to hype it up and see what it was about. Most reviews were decent to good. Like you said, everyone loved the actors. They were the highlight, and the missions were fun. Some people said the food was middling. I didn't really hear anyone crap on it, but no one really praised it either. All said, as much as I would like to have done this, I literally cannot justify almost a years worth of car payments just to spend two nights there. My hope is that they turn it into one of their regular resorts, do things like add a pool, a few other resort amenities, and make it like, $400-$600/night. That's honestly up there with some of their other resorts, so it's not out of line. This way, they can still keep it as a SW hotel, make use of some of the same characters/actors, and still offer transport to Batuu. The climate of Batuu is temperate, and they could EASILY add some more stuff to the outside and really make it like you're at a resort on Batuu with Black Spire Outpost nearby. I think they'd be silly if they didn't go this route, as they've sunk SO much money into it already.

[@jaredlocke4300]

This hits them in the wallet. Maybe now they'll finally listen.

[@presto668]

Except they wrote it all off and got a massive tax break. That's why it closed on Sep. 30th. The new fiscal year starts Oct 1st.

[@Jawn_Doh]

I hope they renovate the building into a proper resort. Expand it to fit more people and just retheme the interior to match the dirty grunge of Galaxy's Edge nextdoor. I stay at Disney resorts all around the world and I know they are very capable of making standout themed hotels (Art of Marvel in Paris and Toy Story Hotel in Tokyo) so I hope they do it for Star Wars. It'd be especially nice because anyone would at least be able to visit the hotel and check out its shops, restaurants and lobby areas without having to book a "passage" there. And even if it ends up being a high tier resort like the Grand Floridian, thats still monumentally cheaper and more feasible for people than what we got

[@mrk.8899]

2 words: expensive & sequels

[@luhedi6303]

Middle class people go do these events or occasions, not the Uber wealthy. Pretty simple economics.

[@GlupShitto05]

DAMN THOR, didn’t expect that from you 😂4:55