Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Office Building

[warfelg]

I usually find myself agreeing with you @Unagi but I find myself thinking more along the lines of @Zachary here. I really think if they want to use this space they could and it would be popular.

Personally I would make some things about this really exclusive. I don't know what the expansion capabilities of this space is but I would expand it some, and open up a wall with each room to make it a little bigger. Take away the story line element of staying there, but make rotating shows that tell a self contained story at each mean and do set meal times. Then do exclusive transportation for GSCH only. I know that in GE they do the whole "bounty hunter" thing, I would do something fun with that to expand that to almost the entire campus, and based on the park you are going to that day, your bounty challenge is set and your success level effects dinner show, the activities in the hotel at night, and what you get to see on the screens at night.

 

[Celticdog]

The proximity would make this really good employee housing for Hollywood Studios.

 

[Zachary]

Nobody is gonna want to book a premium stay in those existing rooms considering they have no windows, no balcony, and are smaller (square-footage wise) than the rooms at the All-Star resorts. They're about the same size as Carnival Cruise Line's standard balcony rooms, which are small at roughly 180 square feet. The Park View Studios at the Contemporary are expensive because the resort is in easy walking distance to Magic Kingdom's front gate and the rooms themselves being situated on the upper floors where it gives you a nice view of the park from your balcony. The Galactic Starcruiser hotel is only about 3 floors tall and even if they were to modify the rooms and add windows, one side of the hotel might get crappy views of the DHS's parking lot and the backstage areas of Galaxy's Edge.

For the people interested in Starcruiser, windows, balconies, park views, etc would be a downgrade–they would actively harm the experience. I even think square footage is one of the last things on the mind of a theoretical Starcruiser guest. All of these downsides are in-theme for the experience. And hey, the direct park access to Galaxy's Edge is a nice benifit too.

Disney doesn't need to find a Contemporary-sized market for thing thing. They only need 90 to 100 people at a time who fit the niche. I wholeheartedly believe that there are, easily, that many folks who fall into this theoretical category at a price point in line with Disney's existing top end studio rooms.

 

[WDWRLD]

Theres some rumors it was closing in Dec for rewriting on the storyline anyhow, just my thoughts but could Disney have suddenly closed it just to get the vloggers to book a voyage before it goes away "forever", and at full price since all discounts will be eliminated when booking resumes? I mean ive seen many mention hoping to book that final voyage already. They love using FOMO anyhow for everything so why would this be any diffrent? I mean its their basic marketing for everything, build massive hype and limit product to drive people to do almost anything to get it.......lookat the popcorn bucket craze.

 

[Nicole]

There are other ways they could build in value, as well. Off the top of my head, they could give guests exclusive early entry; a guaranteed, free LL for Smugglers and/or Rise; an included light saber or droid experience; or something at Oga’s. I’m not guessing at the likelihood, just throwing it out there that this hotel has options for premium experience.

 

[warfelg]

There are other ways they could build in value, as well. Off the top of my head, they could give guests exclusive early entry; a guaranteed, free LL for Smugglers and/or Rise; an included light saber or droid experience; or something at Oga’s. I’m not guessing at the likelihood, just throwing it out there that this hotel has options for premium experience.

Yea there could be a ton of in park exclusives - you could add in preferred reservations at places. Keep the meals in the hotel exclusive to the hotel as well. I think it’s completely possible to build enough exclusivity into it that you can keep the value there easily.

Theres some rumors it was closing in Dec for rewriting on the storyline anyhow, just my thoughts but could Disney have suddenly closed it just to get the vloggers to book a voyage before it goes away "forever", and at full price since all discounts will be eliminated when booking resumes? I mean ive seen many mention hoping to book that final voyage already. They love using FOMO anyhow for everything so why would this be any diffrent? I mean its their basic marketing for everything, build massive hype and limit product to drive people to do almost anything to get it.......lookat the popcorn bucket craze.

I think that there was going to need to be continual rewriting of the storyline as well. I pontificated on this at the start - but it seems that part of the issue of filling out that I’ve heard from friends that went is the needing to do it on certain days hurts, and if you want to spend more time at the parks you have to pack up and move. So it deters you from wanting to go there in the first place (outside the money). I think making the storyline so it can be a “rolling” story so you don’t have set dates and timelines it needs to be done can really help them out.

 

[tursiops]

I think this is gone for good based on comments today. At a conference Josh D'Amaro said he expects the closure to lead to up to 300 million dollar write off. I'm not an expert on taxes, but I doubt you can turn around and reopen after that. Possibly down the line I suppose, but I'm guessing offices or something seems more likely.

 

[DJTLG]

 

[horsesboy]

Apparently Disney is sending out surveys to past guests asking what changes need to be made to it. This suggests that they are at least considering a reopening in some form.

 

[tursiops]

They just need to drop the stay length requirement, drop the over the top show and DROP THE PRICE. Treat it like any other luxery resort and it will do just fine.

 

[Nicole]

Can't agree here. I have yet to see the Tower, but Riviera is just a beautifully done resort (and there are lots of Disney touches). Also, somewhat separate... But DCL is putting waaaay more Disney theming on their ships versus ever before... And the response has been strong (even if the ship "design" leaves something to be desired).

Either way, my remark was mostly in regards to Stella versus Starcruiser. Obviously completely different resorts / experiences here, and I have hindsight... But take Stella, theme up the Star Wars, and Disney would have had a much bigger hit.

Starcruiser was intended to be an immersive experience, not just a hotel. They have plenty of very popular resorts with varying levels of theming, but this was a different concept. It may make sense for them to have a Star Wars themed resort and maybe they should have converted Starcruiser into that, but I don’t think it makes sense to compare Stella Nova to an multi-day, interactive experience.

 

[warfelg]

So I discussed with someone that went about Starcruiser and they said the following were misses:

• While there was a story, it wasn't well done.
• Being able to go in Galaxy's Edge was nice but not enough.
• Much of the time was just spent hanging out. It made the experience seem a lot longer than it really was.
• Because the experience was built to be an interactive experience in small scale, the building wasn't as big as it needed to be. They said they felt like they saw the entire space on day one.

They said if they had the ability to "Redo" Starcruiser the following needs to happen:

• There needs to be more expansive space. Put in a spa, an indoor pool/waterpark, things like that.
• Change the concept from on a ship to on a planet that needs to be indoors at all times.
• Build "windowless" busses that have 'exclusive' entrances to all parks to allow you to go everyone.

Basically the end result was they 'liked' the experience but said it just seemed shortcut on the execution so the result wasn't as good as they would like it to be.

 

[Murphy]

For those that haven't seen it already, this video is a riot. Very much worth the very long runtime.

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[paintervision]

Has anyone seen the “Art of Marvel” hotel at Disneyland Paris? It was a reworking of a former New York hotel. It’s got a themed bar and more importantly: windows and a pool.

I still contend that this is what Star Wars could’ve succeeded with for WDW - a themed hotel but not an “in universe” experience like Galactic Starcruiser. Add a dinner show and maybe they would’ve had something unique, without being costly to operate and getting guests on board with something experimental.

 

[I64 Trekker]

Has anyone seen the “Art of Marvel” hotel at Disneyland Paris? It was a reworking of a former New York hotel. It’s got a themed bar and more importantly: windows and a pool.

I still contend that this is what Star Wars could’ve succeeded with for WDW - a themed hotel but not an “in universe” experience like Galactic Starcruiser. Add a dinner show and maybe they would’ve had something unique, without being costly to operate and getting guests on board with something experimental.

I completely agree. I think Disney missed the mark with Starcruiser because who wants to spend a ton of money to travel to Florida and on Disney tickets to sit in a hotel, regardless of how grand the experience is.

 

[Unagi]

This hotel is being converted into offices for Disney Imagineering.

New Permit Info: "Demolition and Reconfiguration" of Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser into Imagineering Offices

New permit info reveals details about the demolition and reconfiguration of the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser for Imagineering office space

blogmickey.com

 

[Zachary]

Thread title fixed.

 

[Murphy]

 

[I64 Trekker]

Thread title fixed.

If the thread title is fixed, shouldn't it read "Imperial Office Building"?

 

[warfelg]

If the thread title is fixed, shouldn't it read "Imperial Office Building"?

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