STAR WARS: GALACTIC STARCRUISER Official Information & Questions Thread

[wench]

Anyone reading WDWNT the last couple months knows he made up his mind on Starcruiser months ago. He’s just gonna go to hate-watch. People already predisposed to dislike it are going to cling to that opinion, people who want to like it are going to pick it apart, and he’ll get all the traffic to justify the expense.

It’s not only the people in Disney’s pocket that have a financial stake in this after all. It’s all about the clicks over the next week.

I disagree. I think he’s been very clear about how much he wants it to be amazing & he wants to love it. Will he still say it’s overpriced? Very likely. We he be honest about the things he doesn’t like? Yes. Will he give them credit where he thinks they got things right? Absolutely.

 

[carlosalonsor]

Honestly, this doesn't bother me in the slightest. Yes - it is a very low-tech solution, but does that make it a bad one? Thankfully, I do not suffer from claustrophobia in most circumstances, but if I did I think the last thing I would want to do was to be told, "Oh just wait a few minutes and you will go into this transport tube, and then in a few minutes you will be out on a planet..." No, it would be more like "Just get me the #@&% outta here!!"

Yes, I think that the very low-tech solution is bad because it breaks the experience (a very expensive experience by the way).

I think that the last thing someone with claustrophobia should do is make a reservation for an immersive experience that replicates the claustrophobic environment of a spaceship... in space...

For emergency purposes there are always emergency exits to the "real world".

 

[floribr1]

Yes, I think that the very low-tech solution is bad because it breaks the experience (a very expensive experience by the way).

I think that the last thing someone with claustrophobia should do is make a reservation for an immersive experience that replicates the claustrophobic environment of a spaceship... in space...

For "emergency" purposes there are always emergency exits to the "real world".

You're saying that anyone with claustrophobic tendencies shouldn't really be there in the first place. Following your logic, if this were the case Disney could have just skipped the whole "outdoor simulator" thing completely -- since there would be no people with claustrophobia. I'll have to disagree with you again. As I said, I am lucky in that I don't normally suffer from any kind of claustrophobia. But I am glad this feature is there, for those (potentially myself included) who might suddenly realize during the journey that being enclosed for this period of time is just too much for them.

And yes, of course there are emergency exists. However, what they have done with the simulator idea is light years better and less "breaking of the experience" than sending someone out through an emergency exit, in my book.

 

[PinkPixel]

The only question I want these vloggers/bloggers to answer is “Would I pay $5000 of my own money for this!?” If this doesn’t come up, then their points are moot.

Not sure how it's that relevant if they wouldn't pay for it, (or not in a position to) anyway. It's like asking wedding guests if the food was worth the price, even if they enjoyed it. I'm interested in real fans of both WDW and Star Wars who normally stay deluxe and pay for upgrades that are "not worth the price".

 

[Blueslegend]

That's their "climate simulator" room.. my understanding is that they put that there because they were concerned about having a space where guests could go "outside" if they started to feel claustrophobic or needed a break.

.....smoking area ?

 

[macnbc]

I disagree. I think he’s been very clear about how much he wants it to be amazing & he wants to love it. Will he still say it’s overpriced? Very likely. We he be honest about the things he doesn’t like? Yes. Will he give them credit where he thinks they got things right? Absolutely.

It's the same site that claimed "a massive wave of cancellations" for Starcruiser just because those dates stopped being shown as sold out on the site, when literally one person cancelling a trip can cause it to appear again on the calendar there. They also claimed that there were contract disputes leading to all the staff being fired and re-hired, when the next day they had to walk it back and retract the whole thing because it was simply one contract expiring and new ones being issued.. like what happens with contract workers regularly in all businesses.
WDWNT has been either purposefully misleading or extremely clumsy in their reporting on this, and I don't expect Tom's review to be any different.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

The climate simulator looks fine, in my opinion. The bigger issue I see, having watched the whole spoiler video, is that it really is paying $6.5K for two nights of dinner theatre and two rides. I thought it might be more personalized and atmospheric, but most of the story moments seem to happen in big groups where everyone is standing around watching a performer shout act. (Yes, yes, I know it's called "projecting" I once was a theatre nerd). It's not that it's bad, it's just that it really, really doesn't seem to be worth the price. If it was priced more on par with a regular Disney cruise, I think that would be acceptable. Something like $2K for 4 guests in a standard cabin would be fair, or maybe $2.5K to account for the value of the included park tickets.

ETA: And that moment when [redacted character] puts down the much-hyped retractable lightsaber to replace it with a regular one was so, so corny.

 

[_19disnA]

Clearly, Disney gives away free stays to the media to get them to write positive articles. I watched portions of the lengthy video included in the article posted to the right and it does nothing to change my view of not being interested and seems overpriced for a $5,000+ 2 night hotel 'experience'. I agree with the prior poster that it seems like a lot of the 'experiences' are large groups of people standing around watching the 'acting' going on. Thought that would be an issue several months ago when they first published the daily schedule and it mostly included blocks of time for various structured activities. I doubt everyone has the same interest level or attention span, so it will always be difficult to make that format work. Curious if those from the general public who go (not someone who does blogs or members of the media) would consider a second trip if the experiences are mostly the same. Not sure there are enough avid Star Wars fans willing to spend that much money to make this work on an ongoing basis.

Glanced at the booking calendar on the Disney website and seems like many dates in May/June, 2022 are still available.

 

[Lilias]

I thought it was interesting comparing Molly's experience (Youtube Allears) and Peter & Kitra's (Youtube Ordinary Adventures). Molly is more outgoing, so the experience worked perfectly for her. She immediately gets story elements going and has TONS to do. It looks like the actors mark her early on as someone who Gets It, so she's singled out a lot. Peter & Kitra are more introverted, and at one point they mentioned being overwhelmed with everyone having big story moments in the chaotic atrium while they just kinda sat there waiting for something to happen to them. So then they just went to the lounge and had a good time anyway. Characters still came up to them to try to engage them.

My husband would 100% not be into a 2-day LARP escape room, especially after seeing the cringey dinner dance (I don't know if other vloggers have cut that out, or if it's new, but it seems to only be featured in the videos from the 4 hr media event?). It looks like you really need to be into the LARPing/escape room teamwork to have the desired experience. Hmm.

 

[tiana1989]

The climate simulator looks fine, in my opinion. The bigger issue I see, having watched the whole spoiler video, is that it really is paying $6.5K for two nights of dinner theatre and two rides. I thought it might be more personalized and atmospheric, but most of the story moments seem to happen in big groups where everyone is standing around watching a performer shout act. (Yes, yes, I know it's called "projecting" I once was a theatre nerd). It's not that it's bad, it's just that it really, really doesn't seem to be worth the price. If it was priced more on par with a regular Disney cruise, I think that would be acceptable. Something like $2K for 4 guests in a standard cabin would be fair, or maybe $2.5K to account for the value of the included park tickets.

ETA: And that moment when [redacted character] puts down the much-hyped retractable lightsaber to replace it with a regular one was so, so corny.

I think this is right. One review that I saw had headings throughout the article with one being “the main event”, which was one show component on one night. My reaction was for this price, there best be more than one main event. There should be something major happening for the bulk of waking hours. That doesn’t seem to be the case (and why some of your time is spent playing Bingo and doing the cha cha slide). It all looks better than the prior videos and will probably be very fun for a lot of people, not to mention the food which is probably delicious, but on the major question of price, I’m still concerned by the seeming lack of substance.

 

[Helvetica]

The early press previews aren't really changing my opinions on the experience, but I guess we'll see what happens when paying customers start leaving their thoughts.

The biggest hurdle I have is the price. I don't think it's worth with a starting price of around $5k. For that I can go on a 7 Night Disney Star Wars Cruise with much nicer accommodations. For what they're charging, the rooms are too small and not nice enough to justify the price, especially since there are no deluxe amenities.

I'm glad Disney took the risk and it's something that I really wanted to like, but at this time I think it's a miss for me. If nothing else, it got me interested in doing a Disney Star Wars Cruise.

 

[ScubaCat]

Clearly, Disney gives away free stays to the media to get them to write positive articles

ya think? lol. I do appreciate them fixing the guns on Rise for the media preview, even though that won't last. I guess they CAN work sometimes.

 

[Nice Work Pal]

Watched the entire 2 hour and 57 minute DIS unplugged video (thanks for saving me $5k). Great job editing. Credit to the cast members for carrying the experience. Saw another video with line dancing and galactic bingo night. Big time pass from a huge SW fan.

 

[Best Aunt]

The bigger issue I see, having watched the whole spoiler video, is that it really is paying $6.5K for two nights of dinner theatre and two rides. I thought it might be more personalized and atmospheric, but most of the story moments seem to happen in big groups where everyone is standing around watching a performer shout act.

Bridget Carey wrote a piece for CNET which describes an experience which is the complete opposite of this. I'm not getting into the whole "Who should you believe" issue, but you might find it interesting reading.

https://www.cnet.com/news/disneys-g...rs-hotel-its-like-living-inside-a-video-game/

 

[Timbud2]

I am really interested to see what people who paid for it think. It is really hard to decide if something is worth it when you’re not paying for it.Review

 

[chezcurrie]

I may be the big outlier here - went to watch my fave disney bloggers get a free ride, never wanting to pay the $$$ to be forced to pretend play a live DnD (no shade to DnD, my 3 boys and hubby make me play every weekend, and as an actor in a previous life it just aint for me)… But *THIS*!!!! The best part of our Disney trips have always been interactions with characters, esp Star Wars. They would happiily spend all day in GE doing missions.

Now I have to figure out how to leverage all those travel pts from pre-covid business travel to make this work. Cause I’m gonna make it work for them!

 

[bookbabe626]

I’m glad that we rescheduled our trip from May to September. I think they will use the feedback from the first month or two to fine tune the experience. I’m hoping September will be the sweet spot, after the bugs are worked out but before it gets watered down.

We’re really looking forward to it. I’ve watched/read a bunch of the initial media trip reports, I don’t feel like the spoilers spoiled it and I’m still okay with the experience price tag, at least so far. DH has and will avoid all spoilers, that’s just the way he is. He won’t even watch movie trailers. However, I will add the disclaimer that we are huge Star Wars fans, with friends in the 501st, we are fairly involved in other reenactment stuff and have both larped in our younger days. So maybe we aren’t the best “neutral” guests since we are predisposed to like that type of thing.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

If I'm spending this kind of money, I am personally not watching any on this stuff. I will read thoughts about it, but as far as seeing how it looks inside, etc. I wouldn't

I can't justify spending that amount of money to go into the situation, basically knowing everything that's going to happen, songs sung, how story progresses, how all these experiences look. That's just me though

Obviously people will wanna know what they are getting into before spending that kinda money, but the surprise to me is what I would be paying for.

 

[wench]

It's the same site that claimed "a massive wave of cancellations" for Starcruiser just because those dates stopped being shown as sold out on the site, when literally one person cancelling a trip can cause it to appear again on the calendar there. They also claimed that there were contract disputes leading to all the staff being fired and re-hired, when the next day they had to walk it back and retract the whole thing because it was simply one contract expiring and new ones being issued.. like what happens with contract workers regularly in all businesses.
WDWNT has been either purposefully misleading or extremely clumsy in their reporting on this, and I don't expect Tom's review to be any different.

There were many many many cancellations. That is not a secret. It was obvious to anyone watching the calendar even semi-closely. As someone that watches their videos, I have often heard Tom stop & say, “but, seriously ….” & then go on to say how much he really hopes that they’re going to get this right. He wants this to be great. After the most recent video came out, he reviewed it in detail saying how much better everything looked than in the previous videos & truly seemed excited about that. I doubt that WNT would have paid for 2 consecutive cruises if they had already made up their minds. They could easily do that with 1 cruise & save several thousand dollars.

 

[ucf_knight]

There’s definitely going to be a difference once paying guests are on board but a 2 day larping experience just looked super cringy. I always thought of this as a hotel first and then Star Wars elements added to it and this doesn’t seem to be the case. This is more of a show that runs for 2 days while you interact with it and you just happen to sleep there. At least this is my take away after watching a few YouTubers videos.