On my sainted mother, only movie I have walked out on in my entire life and swore I’d never return. Promises kept.Quote:
Originally Posted by tigerpiper
Just awful.
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On my sainted mother, only movie I have walked out on in my entire life and swore I’d never return. Promises kept.Quote:
Originally Posted by tigerpiper
Just awful.
I've never seen any of the star wars movies, original, prequel, Disney, my faggot friends think I'm weirdQuote:
Originally Posted by SanlmarOn my sainted mother, only movie I have walked out on in my entire life and swore I’d never return. Promises kept.Quote:
Originally Posted by tigerpiper
Just awful.
Just wanted to congratulate you Garrett. When is the due date ? My educated guess is sometime in February.
Hello everyone. Druff asked me if, via my connections at Disney, I could find out anything about the Galactic Starcruiser debacle. My connections there do not work on the theme park side of Disney, so my reach is limited, but I did get a few tidbits.
This project came to be under Bob Chapek, the controversial former Chairman of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, who was ironically promoted to CEO before this poorly conceived project was opened. The idea for this was conceived in 2017, and once greenlit, was slated to open in 2021. It ultimately opened in March 2022 due to COVID related delays.
Chapek was a very controversial figure, and he made a number of bad decisions for Disney during both his reign as Chairman of Parks and Resorts, a job he got in 2015. One of the screwups, for example, involved the costly and unpopular shortening of the convenient Disneyland railroad and iconic Rivers of America attraction. This was done in order to make room for a new Star Wars themed attraction where guests would ride on the back of a giant wooly beast. Then, for reasons unknown, the wooly beast ride was cancelled, leaving two long-running Disneyland attractions somewhat gutted, and nothing in their place. Chapek was also criticized for scaling down publicly announced plans for interactive characters and live entertainment in the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge section of Disneyland and Florida's Hollywood Studios. Indeed, a visit to either of these parks will reveal a Star Wars themed area which, while visually impressive, does not have much to do aside from going on two major rides.
I won't even go into the various mistakes he made during his two years as CEO, as I am getting off track.
From what I am hearing, the biggest mistake with Galactic Starcruiser was the price point. Despite the fact that the project began in 2017, the price point was not decided upon until sometime in 2020. This was after Chapek's February 2020 takeover as Disney CEO. You can see the problem here already. The idea itself wasn't bad, but there needed to be a sanity check on the market and the price point's effect on the overall Disney brand. This would be where a good CEO would step in and provide guidance. Unfortunately, the person behind the project was promoted to CEO while the project was in the later development stages, thus you had Chapek overseeing Chapek's project.
The word inside Disney is that Galactic Starcruiser is an embarrassing disaster. The experience itself is fairly well liked by attendees. However, the price point has both angered Disney/Star Wars fans, and set unreasonably high expectations which it does not meet. Picture a new restaurant opens in your area with a well known gourmet chef. If the price-fixed meal is $200 per person and is very good but not amazing, you can still walk away satisfied. If the same meal is $1000 per person, and is very good but not amazing, you walk away feeling ripped off and underwhelmed. Someone needed to step in before Starcruiser's pricing was released, and realize how this was both unrealistic and a brand embarrassment.
The high price point put a new focus upon areas which wouldn't have gotten as much attention if things weren't so expensive. For example, the rooms have been panned as small, spartan, and cruise-ship-like. It is true that you're expected to only use the room to sleep, but it boggles my mind why they did not provide a luxury experience for such a price point. As Druff noted in his writeup, they had the space to make the building as big as they wanted.
Another criticism involves the experience largely revolving around new characters who did not exist in the expansive Star Wars universe. The captain of the ship is Captain Keevan, a middle-aged female character, who was invented for this Starcruiser attraction. While you do have contact with some characters you know, there are not enough of them. Much of this was due to the decision to avoid the hassle of attempting to hire lookalikes to the Star Wars actors, which some in Disney felt might fall flat with fans if they did not look or sound enough like the originals. This is already a challenge when replacing departed actors on high-budget films, but especially challenging in hiring for what is not a highly-compensated or highly-coveted position at a Disney park. However, this decision also annoys fans, as they feel they are part of a third-rate Star Wars spinoff, rather than part of a story in the universe they know.
What I am hearing is that, unfortunately, none of this has an easy fix. Expanding the size of the rooms would involve a costly renovation and lengthy shutdown of the hotel. You cannot have the sound of construction noise and the ever-presence of guys in hardhats during an expensive, immersive Star Wars experience. Even if the rooms were expanded and improved, the price point remains an almost unfixable issue. The entire experience was built with a fairly high operating cost, and a serious slashing of the price would necessitate a degradation of the offerings. Disney does not want to scale it down to be a lesser version of itself, nor do they want to bring the price down to where it will barely be profitable.
Bob Iger sees Starcruiser as a Chapek-era headache which he wishes never came to exist. He can't entirely blame Chapek, as he was CEO while Starcruiser was conceived and being built. Iger had stayed hands-off enough to believe Chapek knew what he was doing with Starcruiser, and it turned out that much like many of Chapek's other projects, he really did not. At the moment, my source tells me that the soft plans at Disney involve a shuttering of Galactic Starcruiser, slated to occur after winter 2024 concludes. This means it has approximately one year left, if these plans do not change.
Disney has already elected to shut down Starcruiser on certain unpopular summer dates, and guests have been asked to pick replacement dates if already booked. They are not shutting it down immediately because it is still generating a profit on most dates, and they do not want the embarrassment of such a quick closure. It is already understood at the company that the project cannot exist long term, and that even a halving of the price point might not be good enough to avoid much of the same criticism.
It didn't have to be this way. The mistake was an unprecedented high price point which immediately branded this as a luxury experience for rich people, and yet at the same time this established luxury expectations. Druff mentioned how he might do this for $2000, and he's not alone. Upon looking at some Disney and Star Wars fan forums, I have seen many cite $2000 or so as what they feel this is really worth. Additionally, $2000 puts this experience into the recreation budget of most middle-class Americans, whereas $6000 does not. This probably would have gone differently had they built a 300-room hotel and charged $2000 per family, rather than 100 rooms at $6000 each. It would have required a bigger structure and more staff, but could have been long term viable and profitable. Here they made the bizarre decision to keep it small and charge an exorbitant rate to cover that exclusivity.
Finally, it is unlikely you will see a significant price drop before it closes. Deep discounts are not the Disney way. They will much more likely do their best to fill it as much as they can, perhaps with some small discounts, and then quietly shut it down after 1st quarter 2024.
I want to state one more thing before I depart for the day.
It has always amazed me how some of the worst corporate blunders could have been avoided with simple market research. Innovation is tough, as people are creatures of habit. Sometimes people do not know they want something before realizing they actually do. Market research answers people's feelings today, but not necessarily their feelings tomorrow.
However, you can still get an idea of what people's reactions will be, and if the response is overwhelmingly negative, you know you are doing it wrong. When Starcruiser was first announced at the D23 expo (a Disney fan event), in 2019, there was a lot of excitement about it. The excitement quickly waned when it was revealed how expensive it would be, and what people would be getting for it. The excitement further waned when people saw the pictures of the rooms. It was immediately panned and a subject of hate and scorn on Disney and Star Wars fan forums. This is not the word of mouth you want for your new project!
Do you guys remember Cop Rock from 1990, a musical series featuring singing cops, by Steven Bochco? As soon as I heard this announced, I wondered what drugs Bochco was on. This was the same Bochco behind the highly successful L.A. Law, Doogie Howser, M.D., and Hill Street Blues. How could he thrust such a travesty upon us?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9puOuTaGPc
After 11 episodes, Cop Rock failed. I knew it would happen. You knew it would happen. My colleagues all laughed about it with me. All of us wondered why network execs didn't just laugh Bochco out of the room when he presented it to them, and gently tell him to go back to what he was good at doing. A little market research would have put this to bed before it saw the light of day.
The public has an opinion. It often foreshadows what will occur. Listen to them.
Hello everyone.
Earlier in this thread I predicted, "Finally, it is unlikely you will see a significant price drop before it closes. Deep discounts are not the Disney way. They will much more likely do their best to fill it as much as they can, perhaps with some small discounts, and then quietly shut it down after 1st quarter 2024."
While no shutdown date has yet been leaked to anyone I know, I see that the beginning of my prediction has already come true.
Starting October 6, they will only be booking these two-day stays on Friday and Sunday. The Galactic Starcruiser will go dark from Tuesday through Thursday each week! Prior to this, it was running every single day, with a new 2-day slot beginning every other day. Now it will only run 4 days per week.
They do have additional Tuesday bookings on November 21 (Thanksgiving week) and December 26 (Christmas week), but other than that, looks like they've reduced capacity by 43%. Not a very positive sign for sure!
Also, with few dates selling out, they have started offering discounts to Disney employees, of up to 50%, depending upon the need to fill spots. They are still avoiding offering any kind of real discount to the general public, as Disney is very averse to doing things like that.
What about 2024? Are they allowing bookings past March 31, 2024, which would blow my theory of closure by April 1 out of the water? At the moment, they are not. In fact, you cannot book 2024 at all. Bookings cut off at the end of 2023, which is quite interesting to me, because we are almost into April, and many people like planning vacations more than 9 months in advance. This lack of being able to book 2024 really speaks well to my theory that we will not see very much of Galactic Experience in 2024, aside from perhaps the first few months.
Have a looksie for yourself at the availability calendar.
My source at Disney says that Bob Iger regards Galactic Starcruiser as a gigantic headache and embarrassment, and one of the worst parts of the Bob Chapek era, even though Iger himself was at the helm when it was first conceived.
Disney has also just announced a planned layoff 7,000 employees, so it appears a trimming down is on the way. Expect Galactic Starcruiser to be on the chopping block rather soon.
I would like to leave you tonight with a laugh, rather than all this doom and gloom about a failed hotel.
Sean Giambrone is a nice kid. I have only met him once, but I have spoken with others more acquainted with him, and they all have good things to say. He was perfect for the role of Adam Goldberg in The Goldbergs. Not only does he play very well as an 80s geek, but he's one of those guys who seems to be stuck win a perpetual state of teendom. Think Ralph Macchio, who still appears youthful at the age of 61. Sean's voice never even completely changed, and still sounds about 15, despite now being 23. He could have gone on playing Adam as a high schooler for 10 more years and we'd never be the wiser.
Sean currently has a niche appeal to the geek demo, and he is wise to take whichever reasonable job offers come his way, in order to capitalize upon this. Sean's everlasting boyhood will be much less cute when he's 45, so he needs to fatten up on work now, rather than later.
I assume Sean will never read this, but if he ever does, my advice to him would be to be at least a little bit selective when offered commercial spots. The last thing you want is to become known as a has-been actor who will hawk anything for a little bit of cash. That's a sure comeback-killer for your career. Not that Sean is in the stage of his career where he needs a comeback, but he should not give off the vibe of desperation.
I am sure it sounded like a good idea to take a job promoting Galactic Starcruiser to the middle-aged Star Wars geeks who loved him in the nostalgia-packed Goldbergs. Who could turn down a Disney commercial? That's very bankable and not embarrassing, or at least you'd think that. However, this was pretty bad, and Sean should have turned it down.
Go to the 37 second mark below to see it. It lasts about 3 painful minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDJwUbVhMu4
I'm so embarrassed for everyone involved in this ad!
This internet-only teaser commercial was briefly posted in 2021, in order to give fans a taste of Galactic Starcruiser, far in advance of its opening date of March 1, 2022. It landed very poorly. The strange alien bar singer at the end, singing in English and without a stage, was especially not well-received, and fans immediately assumed that this much-hyped project would be amateur hour. How could this substandard lounge act generate excitement?
After the bad reaction, Disney pulled the ad. This was one of a few different promos which Disney posted and then pulled. Nobody had any clue what the fans wanted to see, or were expecting. It's like they never heard of market research. Someone should write a book about all the mistakes made with this project, and teach it at business schools around the USA.
Druff, please change the title of this thread to “Extreme Star Wars Fandom is a Mental Disorder”. TIA
RIP… Closing down this fall. can’t imagine why I mean 6k seems totally reasonable for a Star Wars fan family to spend right?? Disney taking the L here.
Wow.. not just the fall. Looks like it is shutting down in September.Quote:
Originally Posted by ftpjesus
This is earlier than Harry predicted (notice he was correct about the imminent closure, though!)
I thought Harry's writeup was the best explanation of the entire situation than I've seen anywhere -- and I read a bunch of Disney fan blogs about this. None were as detailed as Harry's explanation on the whole matter. He told me privately that he has more info on the whole thing, but couldn't post all of it because it would probably get back to him if the "wrong people" read his post.
Gigantic misstep to price this thing at $5k-$6 per cabin, especially since they wanted this thing to run long term. It was an even bigger misstep because they oddly cheaped out on the room size, room quality, and alcohol offerings. If you are going to hit people for that kind of money for a 2-day stay in a windowless hotel, you've gotta give a lot of included stuff so people feel it's a really special experience. The fact that they charged for alcohol and only gave people one free additional "quick grab" meal in addition to the scheduled meals was a big fail. If you're gonna pretend you're a cruise ship, you need to give people the freebies of a cruise ship.
Nobody knew what the fuck they were doing on this. According to this Daily Mail article, they spent $2 billion on this idiotic idea. Morons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan DruffWow.. not just the fall. Looks like it is shutting down in September.Quote:
Originally Posted by ftpjesus
This is earlier than Harry predicted (notice he was correct about the imminent closure, though!)
I thought Harry's writeup was the best explanation of the entire situation than I've seen anywhere -- and I read a bunch of Disney fan blogs about this. None were as detailed as Harry's explanation on the whole matter. He told me privately that he has more info on the whole thing, but couldn't post all of it because it would probably get back to him if the "wrong people" read his post.
Gigantic misstep to price this thing at $5k-$6 per cabin, especially since they wanted this thing to run long term. It was an even bigger misstep because they oddly cheaped out on the room size, room quality, and alcohol offerings. If you are going to hit people for that kind of money for a 2-day stay in a windowless hotel, you've gotta give a lot of included stuff so people feel it's a really special experience. The fact that they charged for alcohol and only gave people one free additional "quick grab" meal in addition to the scheduled meals was a big fail. If you're gonna pretend you're a cruise ship, you need to give people the freebies of a cruise ship.
Nobody knew what the fuck they were doing on this. According to this Daily Mail article, they spent $2 billion on this idiotic idea. Morons.
They should have dropped $750M on a premium Star Wars themed Resort and attached it to the backdoor of hollywood Studios. Open star wars land and hour early every day for people staying there. Could have been a lot of fun.
I went to Disney World about a month ago. Now, I am an old guy now pushing 50, but we went for my young kids. We stayed inside the park, Polynesian Village. Room was $700 a night. Yes, I am not joking and this was really like a Holiday Inn type room you'd get for $90 anywhere else.
The lines were outrageous everywhere, and just not the lines at the rides. There is a hot dog place right outside that princess building or whatever the fuck it is called in the Magic Kingdom. Waited nearly 20 minutes for 4 hotdogs at the counter and they were fucking cold when we got them. Even in 2023 there will still people wearing masks and social distancing which added to my pissed off attitude I just wanted to take the fat guy in a headlock next to me and pull his mask back and snap it in his face, but walked away.
Pirates of the Caribbean, fucking ride stopped, yeah it was only 5 minutes but fuck you start panicking hearing all those fucking elfs are whatever they are and that goofy music.
Epcot was even worse you talk about a dated amusement park.
Our next stop after Disney World was Universal. Guess what, my son said no more fucking lines (LOL he heard me say it and repeated it) so we all stayed at the pool both days with the family. Saved literally nearly $2K on tickets, and trust me it would have been a waste if you have been to either of those places lately with the lines.
Send all the Mexicans there. I don't understand how they are being shipped to hotels in nyc and hotels have to put them up.
Funny you mention this.Quote:
Originally Posted by DalyQuote:
Originally Posted by Dan Druff
They should have dropped $750M on a premium Star Wars themed Resort and attached it to the backdoor of hollywood Studios. Open star wars land and hour early every day for people staying there. Could have been a lot of fun.
Some of the Disney/Star Wars fans in the comments sections of blog/video posts about this failproject said pretty much exactly what you did.
Many felt that the 2-night immersive experience was overkill, unless it could be done cheaply enough to where a $2k price point could be achieved. Since it wasn't, either out of greed or due to overspending, many felt a better use of the project would have been to make it an expensive (but not outrageously expensive) themed hotel, where you can come and go normally.
Yes, they'd lose all of the mission bullshit, but I think Star Wars fans might really enjoy staying in a hotel which had a complete Star Wars theme, with all employees in character. And the rooms could have windows which also double as space windows, where the guest could press a button and remove the fake space window and replace it with a real window, if they so desired. (This would fix the issue of it being claustrophobic, for people who are upset by that.)
They could also have made it way bigger (this one was only 100 rooms), thus bringing down the price point needed to be profitable. I think this could have been a big hit, and people would have paid the inflated prices to experience it. To believe they'd get a steady stream of guests at the $5k-$6k price point was just insane. If this were a killer, technological marvel type experience which could truly emulate the feeling of being on a cruise ship in space, I could see where maybe the word of mouth would be so good that maybe they'd find enough takers at $5k-$6k for awhile. But not here. This was mainly just a cosplay experience which was interesting, but not amazing.
When I rode "Rise of the Resistance" at Disneyland in November, I thought to myself, "Wow this is very cool, and way better than anything they could have done 10 years ago." It felt like modern technology and creativity at work. Great ride. Actors were in character, and while I didn't actually feel like a prisoner on an Empire ship, it was fun -- both the pre-ride experience and the ride itself. Set me back $25 per person so I could stand in a shorter line than the schlubs who were too cheap to pay it to save an hour. Totally worth it, as it was a memorable ride. Benjamin loved it.
Disney needs to get back to creating shit like that -- memorable experiences which the masses can do, not this boutique super-expensive shit which falls short of expectations.
Seeing How Disney wants to go woke and adult themed with shit why dont they turn it into the Bo Katan Mandalorian experience and call it the 2% experience.. Imagine the money they could rake in bet it would get more business. roflmao.. Couldnt resist.
Two articles about the closing of the Starcruiser.
This one from Forbes is interesting during the first half, but then they couldn't help themselves and turned it into (unrelated) DeSantis bashing: https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzanne...h=672cc8ed34b4
This one from SFGate discusses plans for the building. It has not been announced what will happen to it, but it was noted that there's a shuttle connection between Disneyworld Hollywood Studios and the Starcruiser. Thus, it is possible to make this an "excursion" sort of add-on adventure from Hollywood Studios, such as a dinner plus adventure -- a sort of abbreviated version of what they had setup for Starcruiser.
However, the big problem with repurposing it is the size. Disney Hollywood Studios gets a ton of people each day, and Galactic Starcruiser was built for 500 people, so it might just be too small to be worth operating. It might simply be wrecked or abandoned.
There would likely be substantial interest in an (expensive) abbreviated version of the Starcruiser, but Disney might not find it worth doing.
Dan Druff just texted me and asked me when I would give my remarks regarding the Starcriuser's closure. I had planned to do this but got very busy.
I did manage to reach an old colleague who now works for Disney, and he gave me some information. I cleared with him that I could post this publicly on a small poker forum, without him getting in trouble.
I have to start being more careful. I had to ask Dan Druff to delete a recent thread I made because a co-worker found it and pointed out that certain industry people would be able to deduce who I am. This thread was not about the Starcruiser or Disney, just wanted to mention that I had to ask for something to be deleted in order to protect my job.
It is somewhat cathartic to post here. I spent so many hours every day with industry people, it is nice to be among a different community who are nonetheless interested in my stories. It does sadden me a bit that if somehow I get really lucky and make it far in the WSOP Super Seniors tournament, I will be unable to share it with you, as it will give away my identity. However that is probably unlikely as I am not a good poker player and am just doing it for fun.
Looks like I have already wasted too much of the page rambling so I will end this post and post the Starcruiser stuff next.
The Starcruiser's failure has been covered extensively in mainstream media. In fact, the closure has gotten far more attention than the project itself ever got, which is rather fitting. I have read some various obituaries for the project, and was rather disappointed how light most of them were in both details and facts.
The astronomical pricetag and the lack of potential for repeat business was the basic reason for failure. That is being repeated all over the web and the news, and that narrative is generally correct. Those were indeed the two largest factors leading to its lack of success, and the most curious because both were easily avoidable blunders. This has already been talked to death on the internet, and I already covered it in a previous post here, so I will not really focus upon that.
Instead I will focus on information which is not being reported anywhere I can find, but told to me by my old friend now at Disney.
Here was some concept art created for one of the hallways of the Starcruiser:
https://blogmickey.com/wp-content/up...-concept-1.jpg
Does that look cool? I think it does. I found it on a 2021 blog about the Starcruiser, prior to the disappointing revelation of the actual hallway in promotional videos. I would enjoy staying at a themed hotel where the hallway looked like that. Unfortunately, the actual hallway built looked nothing at all like this. Instead it was bland and flat, more resembling a set from a bad 1950s sci-fi movie. What happened? How could the construction of a hallway be so expensive to where corners would have to be cut?
In reality, it was attorneys cutting the corners, not Imagineers or their bosses. It was determined that hallways like above were too busy, too prone to people tripping, and too likely to result in more serious injuries in the case of a fall. I was told that Disney attorneys instructed Imagineers to seriously tone down the plans, and make every feature of the Starcruiser safe for the elderly, those in wheelchairs, and rambunctious children.
This resulted in the tamping down of the innovative design of the hallways, the bridge, and just about everywhere else on the Starcruiser. This unfortunately gave rise to the justified criticism that the hallways and bridge looked like 1960s Star Trek, and that the screens and controls throughout the ship also looked lifted from bad old school sci-fi.
As I mentioned earlier, the lightsaber training activity, seen as the pièce de résistance of the Starcruiser's innovative activites, was a complete dud. Here was what it was supposed to look like, again found from concept art posted on a 2021 blog:
https://www.belloflostsouls.net/wp-c...oncept-art.jpg
This was a technological marvel, which shot simulated lasers at a realistic-looking lightsaber, and where the lasers would reflect around the room in the direction they were blocked. Notice the man holding a circular item at the very right side of the picture. That was supposed to be a shield, which would allow those waiting or observing to still have a part of this action. The shield would block laser beams and reflect it back in the opposite direction, sometimes creating an extra challenge for the person or people wielding light sabers!
Unfortunately, this system was extremely buggy and they could not get it working properly. They tested this system in 2019 via market research with an NDA, and there were all kinds of problems. The lightsabers broke easily, the lasers sometimes went off in random directions, and some claimed it was cool yet not challenging enough. Additionally, nobody seemed to enjoy the usage of the shields, calling it "pointless" and "unsatisfying".
On the plus side, almost everyone walked away very impressed with the tech, and the general consensus was that this would be a super cool activity if it just worked properly and made to be a bit more difficult. While this was being retooled in early 2020, Covid hit, and work stopped for awhile. By the time things got going again, Disney executives had ants in their pants, and did not want this light saber activity holding up the entire launch of the hotel, which had already been delayed.
Executives hauled in the designers of the lightsaber system and asked a very basic question: "What would need to be changed to where we would be guaranteed to have a working system by the end of 2021?" The response was that a basic, highly simplified system could be created using already-reliable technology, but that it would lack all of the innovations of the original system. Executives told them to go ahead with the simple version, and to put emphasis upon reliability, robustness, and a predictable delivery time. The embarrassing result was this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48zQGqrX2EI
Does the lightsaber wielded by executive Josh D'Amato look like the toy that your dad bought you for Chirstmas in 1980? If it does, you're pretty much on the mark. It actually is a toy lightsaber, and the light part is simply a thick plastic tube with a simple lighting system inside. The sound effect is built in to play when it's moved. The lasers you see are of the old school variety which could have been generated 40 years ago, and as you see, do not react with the lightsaber or anything else in the room. Can you imagine paying all that money, and this is the big event?
If you want to see how antiquated and boring the bridge looks, wait until the lightsaber training ends in the short video above, and you will see an example of how the attorneys neutered the project.
I will conclude in the next post where I will discuss why people still rated the Galactic Starcruiser highly, and why the above disappointments still mattered.
I still remember in the early 1970s, I was with my parents on a road trip which looked not too different from the one depicted in National Lampoon's Vacation. We were in some very touristy town, I don't remember where. We ate at a restaurant which was expensive, the food was bad, and the servers were very rude to my dad. When my dad asked for the manager, he was rude as well.
When we got back to the car, my teenage older brother remarked, "How does that place stay open? Why would anyone ever go back there?"
My dad quietly replied, "They don't. They're passing through just like us."
Even as a preteen, those words stuck with me. I can still hear my father uttering them. I realized that they didn't need to worry about repeat customers, as it was aimed at people who were likely to only eat there once, whether they liked it or disliked it. It left me with an uneasy feeling, like an early lesson that life was simply unfair.
Now let's fast forward half a century to the opening of the Starcruiser. Recall the incessant discussions regarding it being too expensive and not offering enough variety to where repeat business would be unlikely. Whether the guests had a lousy time or a great time, they wouldn't likely be back. It was much like that lousy steakhouse in a bumfuck tourist-supported town on our 1970s roadtrip.
There is a difference, however. In the early 70s, there was no internet. There really wasn't word of mouth for bad tourist trap restaurants like that. They didn't have to worry about people learning in advance to stay away. With the Starcruiser, they not only had to deal with word of mouth, but they had to deal with highly judgmental internet nerds scrutinizing their every move. Both of these had to be good in order for an expensive project like this to succeed. If the word of mouth was good but the experience looked cheesy via the promotional material, the overall impression would be the stench of failure and disappointment.
Tourists will often lie to themselves. They do not want to feel like they wasted their precious vacation budget, so they will rate mediocre hotels as good, flawed activities as fun, and decent restaurants as amazing. The Starcruiser was not all bad. The staff was friendly, the actors were engaging, the ongoing storyline of the adventure was decent, and the small capacity led to what many felt was an almost personalized experience. This made it easy for some to overlook the tiny rooms, the disappointingly bland ship design, and the boring lightsaber experience. People walked off the Starcruiser feeling like they had fun, and had just done something unique. It wasn't amazing, luxurious, or exhilarating, but it was good enough for people to overlook that they probably paid $5,000 or more for an experience worth $2,000.
Unfortunately for Disney, they also had the internet to impress. They failed there on all fronts. It had a high bar to clear, because there was already resentment among Star Wars and Disney fans regarding the price point. This had to look and appear really spectacular in order to clear that bar, and it didn't even make it halfway to doing so. The marketing was bad in part because there was nothing amazing to show off. It was an interesting concept which was executed in bland and mediocre fashion. There was no wow effect, no I-gotta-do-this reaction from the audience. Overwhelmingly, the response was, "$5,000 for 2 nights of this???"
That is why the Starcruiser failed. Lawyers literally smoothed out the edges, the innovative tech was never good enough to release, the project got interrupted by covid, and the rooms were maddeningly small and claustrophobic. The word of mouth could not save it, especially because even the biggest lovers of the Starcruiser could not articulate what particularly impressed them. It wasn't the rooms, it wasn't the creatively presented but mediocre tasting food, it wasn't the lightsaber training, and it wasn't the look and feel of the simulated ship.
One of the articles Dan Druff posted mentioned that Disney is taking a $300m writeoff for 2023. That is not particularly helpful, as the company is huge, and this will be a drop in the bucket for them. This is more a failure of optics more than anything else. They attempted to get greedy with the price, and it failed. They attempted to base this upon new Star Wars, and it failed. They got cheap with the room design, and it failed. The marketing was amazingly bad. The internet wanted it to fail, and boy did they get the schadenfreude they were looking for.