0:00 Opening
0:32 Cast Member Preview Dates Starting in February for TRON Lightcycle Run at Magic Kingdom
1:09 Space Mountain Cleanup Continues Following Public Cleanliness Backlash at Walt Disney World
2:02 New ‘Castle Cake’ 25th Anniversary Hoodie at Walt Disney World
3:14 Disney Rewards Member Email Lists Fall 2023 Opening for Journey of Water Inspired by ‘Moana’
4:41 https://www.wdwnt.travel
4:57 Dates Announced for EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival 2023
6:09 Reservations Open This Month for New California Grill 3-Course Selection Menu
7:14 More Framed Ride Photos Added to Carousel Coffee as Disney Tries to Address Guest Complaints, Unthemed Terrariums Appear in BoardWalk Seating Area
8:39 Save Up to $700 on Walt Disney World Resort Hotel Stays Before or After Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Reservations
9:51 Disney Closing Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser During Summer Due to Low Bookings
11:02 Tom Previews Starcruiser Review and Rant – Coming Soon to This Channel
14:45 Sign-off
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Assuming I ever had the money, which is honestly a difficult place for me personally, it would be very hard for me to justify spending $3k-$7k for two nights. Even if I paid face value at Animal Kingdom Lodge I could get an awesome unique hotel for like $3000 for the week. So Disney's problem with this hotel, as you even pointed out, is its pricing point.
Disney's other problem is the length of time on the Star Cruiser. I can't believe that no other top executive considered that people really don't want to visit Walt Disney World for 2 nights. Assuming you book the Star Cruiser, you have 2 nights. Well, what little kid in all honesty would be fine with going all the way to Disney World and NOT seeing the MK/Epcot/or even Animal Kingdom? Think Disney. You're a mom. One kid wants to go to the Studios. The other child wants to go to MK. What are you going to do? The Star Cruiser is already out of the question. The Star Cruiser needs to be able to have more flexibility, as almost nobody just flies to Florida to go to the Studios for a day. The entire concept makes no sense.
Disney's problem with the 2 night Cruise dates is that you need at a minimum 4 nights to see WDW. If you are out of state, it flat out doesn't make sense to spend the money to come to Disney World and NOT stay for more than 3 nights, especially since tickets are priced the longer you stay the cheaper it is.
Plus, Galaxy's Edge is still accessible to the GP. Let's be honest. If you spend the $150 per day (or whatever it is now) to go to the Studios, you can get on both new rides if you simply wait in line.
I think Disney needs to be realistic, people come to WDW to see the castle, the Epcot ball, and the Tree of Life. It's part of the experience. A Cruise like experience in Disney World like this may work, but they'd need 4 nights at a minimum to make it even remotely worth the price (and including tickets). Plus, keep in mind, it's hard to make friends when you only see someone twice. If Disney made this a longer experience where you met the same people over and over again, it'd probably be worth it, as you'd probably come out of it meeting some friends.
Still, to me the theming looks cold. I'll admit it is in style and all that, but I'd feel claustrophobic. So, at the end of the day, Disney's problem is they only strengthened the sale of their already existing resorts instead of the Star Cruiser. However, people have to think of it from a consumer's perspective. If you have a family, where does that family want to go? They want to go to the Magic Kingdom or even Epcot, or animal watch at Animal Kingdom. The Studios, as much as Disney tries not to make it, is largely a thrill-based park with solid entertainment offerings. It is a decent park, but it is not neccessarily attractive to the same population as say the Magic Kingdom. Even as an adult, if you told me I had to go to Disney World and couldn't go to MK or Epcot, I'd throw a tantrum. I think the kids are right on this one.
I'm actually very upset with Disney over this resort. It was a lot of wasted capital that could've much wiser been spent on parks or existing resorts. Even with the Star Wars theme, I think they needed to aim more for the middle-class value resort demographic for this resort to ever have success. People aren't going to pay top dollar for this when the Polynesian, Grand Floridian, Yacht Club, AKL and WL exist. Yes, those resorts are pricy, but they are pricy for a reason.
I'm sure the interior of this hotel has some benefits, but is that interior worth the top price point? It would take gold on the ceilings to sell me on that one. I love Disney and want them to succeed, but this resort was a terrible idea from its inception. I'm not the biggest fan of Star Wars in the world, but even so, I feel like more fans could've been reached with a more modest budget and toned-down theming. All Disney needed to build was Star Wars themed rooms and they'd sell. They entirely overthought the entire business. Maybe you're right and if they bring the pricing down this can be successful. I hope you are right about that.
I believe Disney thought they could charge any amount of money for any experience they could drum up. Especially one with a dedicated fan base like Star Wars. I think they missed their guess. Even if I could afford this, I would avoid it.
Choose cheating your wife path
Wooo! I love when Tom rants! 🤣
It's too expensive! If they lowered the price more would be interested.
I think it's safe to say that the "Star Wars" resort that Kennedy had built has officially failed.
Thank Tom for expressing the same feels of frustrations as us fans!! I would love to try the star wars cruise but the cost definitely keeps us from going.
With all the money they have you'd think they would have designed a system that kept up with the cleaning of the outside of the building. Regular maintenance is easier than all the scrubbing they are doing now, not to mention it puts these cast members in more danger.
The moment I saw the succulents on the tables… 🤣🤣🤣
The next big thing Disney should do is allow dining reservations 180 days out.
So they have to close the Paycheck Hustle Hotel, err Cruise 😂
If they'd LOWER the prices, they wouldn't have that problem. Nobody with half a brain is trying to pay that much for two measly days. What idiots. I hate that they built something cool, and then ruined it by being so greedy. There is no way you can tell me it costs that much to run, to validate that price. I've known many people who have worked in the hotel business for years, including several managers and owners. They all said it's ludicrous. Who is staying the extra days at other resorts? Rich people.
Glad they're /finally/ cleaning up around the parks. Thanks for the news, as always.
As a side note, I'm over here laughing Tom, because you sound sooo underwhelmed and over it all. I think Disney burnout is happening with a lot of folks these days.
But, Tom… discounting the Starcruiser would be admitting they made a mistake! Or lots of them! That's the Disney way. It's the same way with entrance tickets. I don't understand the mentality as to why it's okay to discount "regular" hotels or vacation packages, but not these things.
This does make me wonder about some things:
1) How many vacancies are necessary before this thing starts losing money? Actors do increase the cost. Which leads to…
2) Was there ever an alternate plan created to cut costs if reservations were not footing the bill? Or were they THAT sure this would be a smash hit until everyone who worked on it was dead? (Having seen it several times, Tom, what could be cut to bring the price down?)
3) How is this affecting Disneyland Forward? Yes, it was presented as "park expansions" but anyone with a working brain knows this plot of land was being eyeballed for a Starcruiser and the Marvel version of that (Marvcruiser???). Is this now off the table, or do they think heavily-populated Southern California will keep these places full? (Personally, I think they won't get zoned anyhow. Just because every Disney fan site got all excited about a future that will clearly never come, the City Council doesn't believe a word Disney tells them. Regardless, considering this idea didn't even last a year in Orlando, it's dead. Disney will give up on zoning – proving it was never about expanding the parks – and will probably build uber-themed-but-experience-free Star Wars and Marvel hotels and will study the success of the Star Wars one before "transforming" the Starcruiser.)
I understand it's supposed to be is Star wars experience. I think they're better off scaling back some of the performances and that stuff and just using it as a hotel
How would you feel about them potentially cutting out/ limiting some of the experience for the potential of a big discount? I would be fine with it but only because i cant go otherwise if they don’t discount and have not been.
Boy, if there's one thing I love doing it's playing armchair creative and telling Disney what they "should have done" and how their market research wasn't correct and how they should price their ultra premium experiences.
It's just so much fun.
CLICK BAIT
You can be my guest Tom.
When Tom puts the 10 fingers down you know he's gonna get real with you.
I hope they come back with a more affordable price tag I'd love to do it even though it's in the new starwars universe I'll accept it I think the emersiveness would be super cool but I am not an local and that price tag with the cost of flying a family of 4 out there where I am the only one that really cares at all about starwars… cant do it.
If they're going to cancel cruises booked, that really stops me from booking a stay on the Starcruiser. I'm not booking flights from Australia to have my stay cancelled. That's a lot of money to gamble with. Maybe travel insurance would cover this, but it's not worth the risk.
When Disney eliminated the annual “Night of Joy” I eliminated Disney
He says, "I went a third time" (paraphrasing) to to the overpriced Star Wars hotel and my next review will be a rant. Way to stick it to Disney by giving them over $15,000!
It seems like there is too small of an audience for the Starcruiser experience. I love Star Wars, but have no interest in doing this experience at any price. I think they should just make it a themed resort open to regular stays. Sorry Tom.