Why Disney Closed the Star Wars Hotel

major news this week that incredibly

immersive and Incredibly expensive Star

Wars hotel in Disney World is closing

why is Disney World bringing to an end

one of their most ambitious and unique

projects to date there's a lot more

going on than just that six thousand

dollar price tag

[Music]

hey everybody it's AJ for Disney food

Blog the Star Wars Galactic star Cruiser

may only have celebrated its one year

anniversary two months ago but this

experiment will be short-lived as Disney

has announced that the two-day immersive

Experience slash Hotel will be closing

later this year so what happened is this

a major failure on Disney's part did

they misjudge Their audience we're

taking a look at what went wrong and

what went right

so the facts are in the final voyage for

the Star Wars Hotel will be September

28th to the 30th 2023. here's the

statement a Disney spokesperson has

released on the matter Star Wars

Galactic star Cruiser is one of our most

creative projects ever and has been

praised by our guests and recognized for

setting a new bar for Innovation and

immersive entertainment this premium

Boutique experience gave us the

opportunity to try new things on a

smaller scale of 100 rooms and as we

prepare for its final voyage we will

take what we've learned to create future

experiences that can reach more of our

guests and fans that's a direct quote

from Disney so what is or was the

galactic star Cruiser let's start with

that this question might be one of the

main reasons why this thing never really

caught on it's really hard to understand

what you're gonna get Star Wars Galactic

star Cruiser is a two-day two-night

all-inclusive totally immersive part

Murder Mystery Dinner Theater part

escape room part cruise part Choose Your

Own Adventure game and it's all set

within the Star Wars Universe

specifically the events happening

between the last two films of the sequel

trilogy but if you ask people who've

been on it that explanation doesn't

really capture what the experience

really is it's something really hard to

explain especially to someone who isn't

interested in role play games or

immersive theater the marketing

surrounding Galactic star Cruiser didn't

quite manage to show you what to expect

especially in the first few promo spots

Disney actually scrapped their initial

first look promos due to the incredibly

negative backlash and the reputation of

the star Cruiser never really recovered

after that so why is it closing well

number one let's talk about that

negative publicity the galactic star

Cruiser got a lot of flack starting back

in August 2021 when they first announced

pricing for the two-day trip before that

though people were excited but that four

thousand to six thousand dollar sample

pricing shocked a lot of us and the

reality of how much you'd end up

spending to step into the Star Wars

Universe for two days suddenly made this

potential future vacation a pipe dream

or a bucket list trip for a lot of

people those initial promos made matters

worse when things didn't fit into what

people expected to see from this

experience so Die Hard Star Wars fans

were worried it wouldn't live up to

their expectations the hype and that

price tag and critics lambasted the

design for looking cheap and not very

starworthy things improved a little once

the galactic star Cruiser actually

opened in March 2022 but it became very

clear pretty quickly that this is a very

specific vacation for a very specific

group of people even if that group is

absolutely loving it this hotel still

wasn't for everyone also it's very Niche

so having gone on the galactic star

Cruiser I will say that the group of

people who would enjoy this experience

is probably larger than you'd think I'm

an introvert and would consider myself a

casual Star Wars fan but I still had a

great time if you want to see more about

my experience check out our the truth

about the Star Wars Hotel video right

here but the main audience for this

hotel is the major Star Wars fan maybe

they won't bat an eye at that price tag

but a lot of them had to save up since

that initial 2017 announcement of this

project alongside those super fans

you've got the hardcore Disney fans the

Curious people who have money to burn on

a vacation like this and lots of folks

in between the star Cruiser had to be a

lot of things for a lot of different

people and with a focus on higher end

dining few activities for the little

kids and a fast-paced fomo-inducing

storyline that you had to arrive ready

to experience or be okay with missing a

lot of value there's practically no way

it could tick all the boxes for such a

varied group of people and at that price

tag it's pretty crucial to tick as many

boxes as you can or risk gaining more

negative feedback so let's talk about

that price point without a doubt the

star Cruiser was expensive we've

compared it to a Disney cruise priced

out how much the components of the trip

would cost individually and while you

can definitely make the argument that

this vacation could 100 be worth it a

six thousand dollar two-day trip for a

group of four is still a tough pill to

swallow Disney's been offering discounts

for some Affinity groups Disney Vacation

Club Disney Visa card holders and annual

pass holders all had offers of 30 off

for dates into September this may have

been a test to see if lower prices could

actually help fill bookings as this is

Disney's bread and butter group of

vacationers who are more likely to take

advantage of a discount than a wider

audience reduced pricing paired with

reducing the number of sailings was

already starting to sound some alarms

that this hotel might not be doing quite

as well as Disney had hoped originally

the star Cruiser had check-ins

throughout the week but that got bumped

down to just a couple of sailings a week

earlier this year and cue the negative

publicity once again fact of the matter

is this is an incredibly complex

operation to run and the costs for

Disney were likely starting to become a

stress point plus when you have a

Groundswell of negativity around this

particular Hotel it's very very hard to

overcome that and finally let's talk

complexity the star Cruiser experience

spans technically three days you check

in at 1 pm on the first day spend two

nights at the hotel and check out by 10

am on day three the entire cast

including most if not all of the wait

staff guest relations cast members

basically anyone you would interact with

during your stay including the cast of

main character actors was the same for

the entire duration with stories that

take two days to tell and a full cast of

eight main characters it's tough to

ensure continuity for the guests and

create a sustainable work schedule with

enough backup performers to keep the

whole thing running the Walt Disney

Company is in the midst of some rough

times right now in addition to this with

streaming and general Film Production

Revenue down in the past few quarters

the theme parks are still the same money

makers they've always been but demand

for Disney World Vacations is starting

to weaken Disney World may be tightening

the belt for a time to prepare for the

immediate future when fewer people may

be visiting the theme parks and so the

galactic star Cruiser was first to The

Chopping Block and don't forget Disney

promised investors earlier this year

they'd be cutting costs by 5.5 billion

but with stock prices continuing to fall

streaming continuing to be a loss leader

the company doesn't have room to be

running more operations at a loss right

now in the wake of 6 000 employee

layoffs and the decision to cancel

Disney's Lake Nona office project in

Orlando Disney is definitely reigning in

spending and reducing budgets across the

company even in the theme park sectors

which have traditionally performed well

and kept the rest of the company afloat

so what's next many people are going to

Brand the Star Wars Galactic star

Cruiser of failure and there are some

points to back that up but let's look at

what else happened Disney dipped a toe

into something incredibly complex and

interesting and new and exciting this

was 100 an experiment that didn't work

out exactly as planned but how many

Innovative envelope pushing nobody's

ever done this before shots do they

tried something huge and they learned

from it Disney now knows the

shortcomings the troubles and

potentially how to make something like

this happen again in the future on a

more sustainable level but a lot of fans

and critics have voiced the opinion that

Disney had it wrong from the start that

the way they handled this concept was

never in line with what Star Wars fans

wanted and it never had a shot of

succeeding the truth is probably

somewhere in the middle an interesting

experiment that missed the mark on what

the Star Wars super van was actually in

the market to pay okay and to suspend

reality to accept now Disney has made no

announcement yet of what may become of

the hotel itself the actual physical

hotel that they built for this purpose

could it become a regular hotel that

anyone can book for a single night or 14

nights without all the story lines and

characters could the restaurant inside

open as an immersive dinner theater

could it just be a regular restaurant

with a Star Wars Flair and maybe blue

shrimp could Disney Try Again with a

different franchise or a different

storyline within the Star Wars Universe

we'll have to wait and see what Disney

does with this space but I think this

level of innovation on Disney's part is

something we should commend even if the

galactic star Cruiser will no longer be

sailing if you're itching to go on one

last trip aboard the star Cruiser

booking will reopen on May 26th for

those final dates scheduled for this

summer remember those discounts if

you're with any of Disney's Affinity

groups and reach out to our friends at

Small World Vacations if you need any

help with booking they are wonderful and

very experienced travel agents if you've

already booked for dates after the final

voyage Disney will be reaching out to

you with opportunities so let us know in

the comment that's what you think did

you stay at the star Cruiser would you

have stayed again do you think it was

worth the money or do you think this was

definitely a failed experiment on

Disney's part and they shouldn't do

something like this again thanks for

listening everyone and thanks for

watching as always this is AJ for Disney

food blog and we'll see you real soon