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Star Wars Prequels

Disney World is Having Trouble Selling Its $4,800 Simulated 'Star Wars' Space Cruises (sfgate.com) 89

$4,800 buys you a two-day "immersive" experience on the Star Wars-themed "Galactic Starcruiser" at Disney World — a pseudo cruise ship in space.

But one year after it opened, Disney is "cutting back" some of its bookings, reports SFGate: Earlier this year, it began offering its first sizable discounts to the general public. Now, the Starcruiser booking calendar shows only two voyages per week will be available for most of October, November and December. Only Thanksgiving week and Christmas week are offering three voyages....

"Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is one of the most ambitious, innovative projects we've ever brought to life and is unlike anything we've done before — it continues to be among our highest-rated guest experiences due to its immersive environment and incredible service provided by our stellar crew," a Disney spokesperson told SFGATE. "We learned a lot from our guests during the first year of operation and have made some adjustments along the way to continue delivering an unforgettable experience for everyone who visits."

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Disney World is Having Trouble Selling Its $4,800 Simulated 'Star Wars' Space Cruises

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  • by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Saturday March 11, 2023 @02:47PM (#63362057)

    Children don't have that kid of money.

    • by jbridges ( 70118 )

      In the photos I don't see kids, I see lots of adults all with smartphones in front of their faces recording "THE EXPERIENCE".

      • by ocean_soul ( 1019086 ) <tobias.verhulstNO@SPAMgmx.com> on Saturday March 11, 2023 @03:35PM (#63362179)

        You can get week-long cruise to Antarctica for about the same price, which I would think makes for better video material.

      • Re:That's normal (Score:5, Interesting)

        by dszd0g ( 127522 ) on Saturday March 11, 2023 @03:55PM (#63362221) Homepage

        The smartphone usage isn't just to record the experience, Galactic Starcruiser has a data pad app that you run on your smart phone (or they loan you one) that gives you all the quests, has messages from the characters you are interacting with, coordinates the onboard activities, translates signs, scans QR codes on items, etc. It has tabs for Events, Comms, Tools, Map, and Profile.

        You choose what you do during your stay, but if you enjoy RPG style quests, then you can spend a bit of the stay doing quests on your phone. There are usually at least a couple different activities going on at any given time; kind of like a Disney cruise, but there are only 200 cabins I believe so it's on a much smaller scale than a Disney cruise ship. There are gaps where there are no quests to do, or at least there was for me which gives some downtime to do other stuff. The quests seemed to stop progress around midnight also, so you wouldn't stay up too late working on them.

        • and its "only 5000 dollars" ? thats what we mean when we say "people living in disneyland" lol
          like a years money below the belt in plenty places
          • just to bust the "then stop being poor"-americans and before warren buffett comes over to tell me why i remain poor on youtube : if you have a part time job in "insert well known call center" or even in "insert something farming sector" you get about €12 of which you keep about €9 after taxes ... maybe in 2023 you have about €10 (? but maybe closer to 9.5 where it was 8) per hour. You have 4 hours per day, After public transport you keep about €30 per day, assuming you get to come every
        • by micsaund ( 12591 )

          There are 100 keys as it's known in the industry - aka 100 rooms, not 200.

          It's a 45 hour experience, of which a large portion takes place in DHS where you can purchase entry for ~$150/person and experience the same stuff.

          The value just is not there when you consider that you:
          1) Check-in at 4:00pm on day one.
          2) Spend a large chunk of day two at DHS, which you could purchase much cheaper even with ILL for Rise of the Resistance.
          3) You check-out by 10:00am on the last day.
          4) In between, you're sleeping

          Looking

          • Re:That's normal (Score:5, Informative)

            by dszd0g ( 127522 ) on Saturday March 11, 2023 @10:14PM (#63362851) Homepage

            You are correct it is 100 rooms, not 200. I think they told us there were around 200 people there, so I think I mixed that up with the number of rooms. Most of the people there for our stay were adults, not kids, although there were probably 20 or so kids. Everyone in my party really enjoyed it. It's not something we will likely do again anytime soon because of the cost, but as a one time thing it was definitely an awesome experience.

            Check-in was at 1:00pm, not 4:00pm for us, but your 45 hours is correct. They had activities starting at 2:00pm I believe. If you are up for a late night, you can do stuff from about 4:00pm-midnight on the first day. The second day you can do 7:00am-midnight if you have the energy, but there isn't much on day 3, just breakfast.

            Out of the 45 hours, there is about 30 hours of entertainment and meals and 15 hours dedicated to sleep and downtime. The food there is amazing.

            How long you spend at Galaxy's edge on the second day is entirely up to you. The Galaxy's edge experience is different as part of Galactic Starcruiser then it is if you just buy a park pass. You have quests you can do, there are some Disney staff interactions that only apply if you are on Starcruiser quests (e.g., you ask for something from an Oga Cantina hostess), and you can interact with parts of park that isn't available normally. For example, there are quests to interact with the droids outside of droid depot which to a normal guest are just decoration, but they activate for someone on the Galactic Starcruiser quest. One of the quests has you de-activate a machine that is normally running and your quest turns it off (for about a minute and then it reactivates). There are activities and quests available on the Halcyon for the second day; some of the quests send you to one or the other, but the app monitors your location between the Halcyon (hotel ) and Batuu (Galaxy's Edge) and adjusts your quests based on where you are.

            You get a coupon for a free quick serve meal at Galaxy's edge if you want to eat there on your Batuu's day as part of your Galactic Starcruiser, but a lot of people head back to the Halcyon for food, because the food is better or on par with the best park restaurants and the Halcyon food is an experience.

            As someone who has done both, Galaxy's Edge is not the same thing as Galactic Starcruiser and you won't get the Galactic Starcruiser experience just doing Galaxy's Edge. That said, Galactic Starcruiser is expensive, and I would recommend it more for people who enjoy RPG style quests, except doing them in person (It's probably considered larping, but way better than any larping I've tried). It's probably more fun for someone who enjoys interacting with staff in character, than someone who is shy. That said, what you do during Galactic Starcruiser is up to you; there are other activities to choose from if you don't want to larp. My son spent a lot of time just playing Sabaac at the table in the cantina, doing the Sabaac tournaments, and some of the kid activities like droid racing. There are some really cool part of Galactic Starcruiser like the lightsaber training, bridge training, and the "Taste around the Galaxy" dinner entertainment. Interacting with Star Wars characters as if you are in one of the movies was a lot of fun.

      • Maybe Disney should include a "Droid" to record the "experience". Lol
      • by rcb1974 ( 654474 )
        adult children
    • Manchildren do though...

    • by antdude ( 79039 )

      Children have kids? :O

  • by Anonymous Coward

    As a life long Slashdotter I can see the attraction of being locked away inside with no asccess to the outside world, not even windows, just computer graphics. But I can get that cheaper at home.

    • Yep. You can deck out your own star-wars themed basement for that much cash and live there permanently.

    • As a life long Slashdotter I can see the attraction of being locked away inside with no asccess to the outside world, not even windows, just computer graphics.

      You wouldn't happen to be employed at a lab in Wuhan by any chance?

  • by earl pottinger ( 6399114 ) on Saturday March 11, 2023 @03:15PM (#63362129)
    Unless it also includes a ride on the `Vomit Comet` I can not see it worth it.
  • by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Saturday March 11, 2023 @03:17PM (#63362135)

    needed unlimited bar at that price!

  • Not surprised (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Saturday March 11, 2023 @03:35PM (#63362177)

    I expect the demographic interested enough to spend $4800 on this is fairly small... and even they are probably not willing to spend that much very often.

  • A Disney trip for 4 is not cheap at all, even if you are just doing two days at the parks.
  • by Can'tNot ( 5553824 ) on Saturday March 11, 2023 @03:38PM (#63362187)
    A caption from the article:

    A First Order loyalist takes control of the ship from captain Riyola Keevan, right center, at the ship's bridge as the first passengers experience the two-day Walt Disney World Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser.

    Seems like it's based on the remake trilogy.

    • by dszd0g ( 127522 )

      The story that takes place on board the Halcyon for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser seems to take place between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. I believe it is basically set at the same time period as the Galaxy's Edge area at Hollywood Studios. Part of the Galactic Starcruiser stay is at Galaxy's Edge and it would be weird for the quests if they took place at different time periods.

  • Disney parks have always been about experiencing being inside the movies. That has usually required a good bit of imagination, but less so with some of their newer attractions. The Star Wars portions of their parks are really immersive. The "Rise of the Resistance" ride is perhaps the best they've done, but they've been working in this direction since the parks started; they just have better technology now.

    So people who are making fun of the whole concept are missing that this has always been the point o

  • by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Saturday March 11, 2023 @03:51PM (#63362211) Homepage

    There's already plenty of Star Wars themed stuff to do in Disney's Hollywood Studios park. Unless you're a crazed SW fanatic, after a day at that park you'll probably be ready to add some variety to your trip by visiting Universal Studios for their Harry Potter attractions, as well. Since they're a completely separate company (some people do get confused about that detail, I've frequently overheard guests at Magic Kingdom asking a cast member "where's the Harry Potter ride?"), you'll need separate admission. In a nutshell, there's a lot to do in the touristy part of Orlando, and you get better bang for your buck spreading your money around.

    The other reason that a simulated Star Wars space cruise is kind of lame is that being stuck on the "ship" is never the best part of a cruise, real or simulated. You take a cruise to sit up on deck and relax in the sun and explore the port(s) of call when you arrive. On Disney's simulated Star Wars cruise, you can't do the former because you're ostensibly "in space", and taking the "cruise" isn't an essential part of doing the latter (you're already on Disney property and could've just as easily stayed at a regular hotel instead).

    If I had to guess, I'd say at some point it will probably be re-themed to be a resort on an "alien planet", and booked just like any other of Disney's hotels. There's only so many people who want a simulated space ship experience and can afford to pay what Disney is charging.

    • >You take a cruise to sit up on deck and relax in the
      >sun and explore the port(s) of call when you arrive.
      >On Disney's simulated Star Wars cruise, you can't
      >do the former because you're ostensibly "in space",

      yeah, it was better back when.

      As a small kid, I got to go on the Rocket to the Moon at Disneyland, and you got to go out and run around on the moon, making thirty foot jumps.

      But then, to save costs, they replace it with the *fake* Mission to Mars, that never really left the ground.

      I wanna go

  • . . . The prices
    . . are from a
    . bank account
    Far Far Away

  • by Walt Dismal ( 534799 ) on Saturday March 11, 2023 @04:11PM (#63362291)
    For a family of four, you could spend the same money wasted on two days, on turning your basement into an arcade you have forever.
  • A couple of Harvard Academic published a paper in 1998 called "Welcome to the Experience Economy" [hbr.org].
    Their article begins with the example of a birthday cake for a kid but I find a better analogy is city transport.

    There is the free option, walking there. (Bake your own cake in that paper)

    Next option is to walk to a bus stop. The bus will get you near your final destination but you'll need to walk a bit more.
    This is analogous to the commodities economy.

    Then you have a taxi, which will pick you up where you are

    • Two voyages per week is only 2 working days a week for those employees.

      Insightful comment, but the cruises are two days long each, so that's four days for the employees. Assuming 8 hour shifts with downtime before and after (costume changes, practicing, etc) it could be more like 10 hour shifts, which is 40 hours a week. That's assuming they're running 3 shifts to provide 24 hour coverage during the voyages.

      • by seoras ( 147590 )

        It's a cruise? As on a ship? Or just locked up in a VR simulation for a few days?
        OK, well that makes sense from the employee retention perspective because reducing availability didn't seem feasible from the HR aspect of it.

        Measuring experiential quality and potential success is also extremely tricky as I discovered when I attempted to use Pine & Gilmores model.
        As is trying to find successful experiential offerings to use any model on to test it.
        I focused on the "eatertainment" businessness.
        Hard Rock Caf

        • Explora probably qualifies for a successful experience economy business. Theyâ(TM)re based in Chile and offer turn key travel experiences in South America (either at one of their 4 hotels, or on point to point âoetraviesiaâ experiences (for example travel across the Atacama salt plains to the rain forest, or cross country from Chilean Patagonia to Argentinian Patagonia.

          You need to get to the airport (or somewhere in the region) they pick you up and handle everything from there, travel, lodgin

  • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 ) on Saturday March 11, 2023 @04:39PM (#63362355)

    The least they could have done is deck out one of their cruise ships and actually visit "planets."

    When I was a kid I sometimes pretended the house was a spaceship and I couldn't go outside. Unfortunately my mother was in the habit of chucking people out airlocks for no good reason.

    • by dszd0g ( 127522 ) on Saturday March 11, 2023 @05:28PM (#63362437) Homepage

      Most of the activities are in the hotel (the Halcyon ship). At the price you are paying, it wouldn't make sense to leave the hotel and miss out on the activities you are paying for.

      For the second day, there is a "shuttle" ride to Batuu (Galaxy's Edge at Hollywood Studios) and you can go back and forth between the hotel and Galaxy's edge as much as you want during shuttle hours (was something like 8am to 4pm). The "shuttle" felt like a tram-type ride that took a little under 10 minutes each direction, but the windows show you riding between the planet and the Halcyon space ship (the windows are very small and up above you, so I wouldn't say the ride is anything special). On one of our rides, we got an impromptu quest to help smuggle a box back to the Halcyon.

      Obviously you can leave for an emergency. When we booked our trip, we only got a slot at Savi's Workshop slot for our son out of the slots reserved for Galactic Starcruiser, but my wife, myself, and one other person in our party wanted to do it also and were on the wait list. We actually got the wait list call back around 5pm which was after the shuttle stopped and we asked the staff and they gave us a behind the scenes ride and tour over to Savi's Workshop (we weren't allowed to take any pictures behind stage) and rescheduled our dinner from the earlier to the later time slot. They warned us that it would break the immersion experience, but we found it really fun. Galactic Starcruiser was expensive, but we felt we got a VIP experience.

    • When I was a kid, I would play "the floor is made of lava". It's not that different from Anakin and Obi Wan on Mustafar.
    • by shanen ( 462549 )

      Funniest comments in a long time.

  • ... for private group functions [swingeropenpoly.com]? Asking for a friend (or two).

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

    Or to listen to a recording of the adaptation that was made into a radio drama.

    https://ia600504.us.archive.or... [archive.org]

    https://metallicman.com/laoban... [metallicman.com]

    "This story was written right after World War II by Ray Bradbury, and presented here under Article 22 of China’s Copyright Law."

  • by jjn1056 ( 85209 ) <jjn1056.yahoo@com> on Saturday March 11, 2023 @05:48PM (#63362477) Homepage Journal

    It's on my retirement list for sure.

  • "For that price they should be able to jump through a flaming hoop onto a Wookiee's shoulders."

  • The prices they charge for anything at Disney World of Disney Land is crazy. While most kids might "enjoy" it, ask any kid if they would rather take a one-time trip there or have a brand-new top-of-the-line tablet that they could use for years and 95%+ would choose the tablet. Disney is nothing more than a money vacuum at this point. Even just the cost of parking is more than most other vacations cost.
  • I just looked up the maximum capacity and apparently it's like 100 rooms with up to 5 people each. I would imagine the typical occupancy is more like 1.5 to 2 per room, but even with 150-200 people it seems like it would be a very crowded space for the blogger video I watched. For $5000/2 days cost I'd expect a much higher ratio of extras to human passengers. If it was like 5:1 aliens to humans so walking around the public spaces it would feel like a lot more worthwhile cost, rather than a cattle car of

  • Disney was initially created to cater to children entertainment. Over time, Disney took for advantage the money people were paying and the prices rose over the years. Disney priced themselves out of the market. Then you factor in Disney's push for woke and deviant lifestyles and now Disney is starting to see the cost of their decisions.
  • Call in an exorcist or something.
  • I'm really not surprised that Disney can't fill the hotel. First off, it's far too expensive even for Disney. Bob Iger, the Disney CEO, came out over the weekend and admitted the parks are now too expensive. Second, they set the hotel and Galaxy's Edge era during the least by far popular trilogy of the sequel trilogy. Third, Galaxy's Edge location Battu isn't even in any of the Disney era movies. It's barely even visited in their crappy books & comics. Fourth, the video promotions for it were so cringe

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