Disney can’t figure out why its $3K a night ‘Star Wars’ hotel flopped

[Kirby101]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/new...ped/ar-AAYjcUj

It seems like a no-brainer. Build an immersive two-day experience for Star Wars fans in the most popular amusement park in the world, fill it with world-class amenities and interactive play, then sit back and let the fat tourist dollars roll in. But what actually happened with Disney’s Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser experience was a painful lesson in price point economics.

While the Galactic Starcruiser experience may have seemed like a license to print money, the reality has proven to be quite different. Fans are staying away in droves, and the obvious cause would seem to be the resort’s astronomical sticker price, beginning at $899 a night for a two-night stay which totals out to a staggering $6K bill for a family of four. With gas and grocery prices rising significantly over the last year, “A Galaxy far, far away” is separated as much by the family budget as it is by light-years.

Sorry about the name at the end of the title. The copy and paste grabbed it.

[godisawesome]

Most of the problem come down to both concept and execution - if you’re going to wall your customers up in a giant, windowless building for an immersive experience, it had better come with balls-to-the-walls immersion and activities of the highest interest, not cheaper, less immersive ideas based off the conceit that people desperately want to see Rey continue to pine for Kylo for no real reason with nothing else for them (the customer) to do.

[ChrisIII]

Pandemic probably didn't help. Also it doesn't seem like it didn't really fit the tone of Star Wars. Sure they were luxurious locations in the films at times, but usually that was cosmetic for the uglyness underneath. Coruscant and Canto Bight for example.

[godisawesome]

Pandemic probably didn't help. Also it doesn't seem like it didn't really fit the tone of Star Wars. Sure they were luxurious locations in the films at times, but usually that was cosmetic for the uglyness underneath. Coruscant and Canto Bight for example.

Honestly, I’m kind of surprised they didn’t hit on the idea of a regular cruise with all the regular amenities just pallet-swapped to Star Wars, then make some Imagineer-type of immersive experience of a fun-to-watch underbelly on a lower deck.

[Frontier]

It seemed like a cool idea, but at that price point...jeez.

Most of the problem come down to both concept and execution - if you’re going to wall your customers up in a giant, windowless building for an immersive experience, it had better come with balls-to-the-walls immersion and activities of the highest interest, not cheaper, less immersive ideas based off the conceit that people desperately want to see Rey continue to pine for Kylo for no real reason with nothing else for them (the customer) to do.

From what I've seen there really isn't much of Rey pining for Kylo in the actual show.

[thwhtGuardian]

Eh, I think this only failed because of the pandemic and inflation during normal times I bet there would be plenty of people with too much money looking to throw it away who'd fill this up.

[godisawesome]

It seemed like a cool idea, but at that price point...jeez.

From what I've seen there really isn't much of Rey pining for Kylo in the actual show.

Any amount of “I want to redeem you, Ben!” is too much Reylo, because the entire idea emerges from “Fuck paying attention to what’s actually happening, Ben Solo is a thing!” as the only idea LFL has.

I doubt it actually had that much of an impact on this hotel, mind you… I just also think the inherent intellectual and emotional laziness and idiocy behind Reylo is consistent with the inherent intellectual and emotional laziness people have noticed with the actual hotel.

[Frontier]

Any amount of “I want to redeem you, Ben!” is too much Reylo, because the entire idea emerges from “Fuck paying attention to what’s actually happening, Ben Solo is a thing!” as the only idea LFL has.

I doubt it actually had that much of an impact on this hotel, mind you… I just also think the inherent intellectual and emotional laziness and idiocy behind Reylo is consistent with the inherent intellectual and emotional laziness people have noticed with the actual hotel.

Yeah, but that feels less like shipping and more like normal Jedi stuff, on top of it not getting dwelled on that much. It just didn't come off too egregious.

[WebLurker]

Any amount of “I want to redeem you, Ben!” is too much Reylo, because the entire idea emerges from “Fuck paying attention to what’s actually happening, Ben Solo is a thing!” as the only idea LFL has.

I doubt it actually had that much of an impact on this hotel, mind you… I just also think the inherent intellectual and emotional laziness and idiocy behind Reylo is consistent with the inherent intellectual and emotional laziness people have noticed with the actual hotel.

As I understand it, the hotel had nothing to do with that plot thread, so I don't get the relevance here.

[godisawesome]

As I understand it, the hotel had nothing to do with that plot thread, so I don't get the relevance here.

The only relevance is I'm pointing Rian Johnson’s bad taste still impacts ST-affiliated products; that's all. Yeah, I’d joke that a lazy person thinking Rey would want to redeem Kylo is lazy enough to come up with this idea, but it’s strictly me getting a burn in on trash. She should hate him and have her story focus more on how that threatens her soul, and I’m just annoyed we have to pretend that’s not the case.

I would more seriously argue, though, that choosing the ST as the setting may have inherently limited both what they could do with it and how appealing they could make it; the PT probably fits a bit better in terms of spectacle and story, and you’d probably have an easier time filling out the movie/Tv show characters.

Overall, it’s mostly just a poorly thought out attraction compared to what it likely will become.