A Lesson in the Failure of Marketing: Disney's Galactic Starcruiser
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ธ.ค. 2021
- I'm going to wait until actual media previews to pass judgement on the state of the Galactic Starcruiser. However, it's difficult to ignore how poorly the marketing has been handled with this project, leading to a largely negative outcry and even significant cancellations for the first few months of booking. Today, I want to talk about this marketing debacle, but also roll it into the other failures of Disney marketing and PR, ranging from the insulting corporate speak to the messy executive outbursts.
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“DEFUNCTLAND: Disney’s Failed Live-In Star Wars Experience”
The urban exploration opportunities though...
@@bonzupippinpaddleoxacoppil484 The DisneyQuest video from someone sneaking in after it closed was so cool
I cannot wait for the defunctland video covering star cruiser
We can only hope.
Hello past predictions and Greetings from the future.
Star Cruiser is currently laying off most of actors and staff. The hotel hasn’t been fully booked in months and it appears like it’s going to become a single-day dinner theatre with an option to stay overnight if you want.
Literally everything they created for the marketing looks worse than what semi-pro cosplayers do. There is no Imagineering here, just cynical cost management.
It's always a great idea until accounting gets their hands on it.
Honestly the Twi'lek was pretty dope. But otherwise, yeah. WTF was up with purple Barris?
@@MCLooyverse Too bad it makes it feel like a Star Wars themed Fhloston Paradise (5th Element), I mean, they had a wide range of colours, but nope, they had to make the Twi'lek singer close in shade and have her use similar gestures to the Diva... Between that and some aspects feeling more like a Star Trek set than a Star Wars one, it makes the whole thing feel like a discount knock off.
Els de ridder Hamme Wielstraar
You have such good points about how Disney has no idea who this seems to be for. My dad is a HUGE star wars fan, like has read every EU novel, plays the old star wars table top rpg which he adapted to work slightly better every sunday, and shows up to every new movie in cosplay. So the moment he heard about Galactic Starcruiser he immediately started saving, he is absolutely the kind of guy who would drop 5000 dollars for two days to live in star wars. He saw the marketing video and immediately went out loud "what the F**K is this"
I'm so sorry for you :(
Your father seems like a fine man of culture 🧐
@@Phaota weird flex
@@Phaota Eh. Lucas screwed the series with the Prequels. Disney did its own damage but has made up for it. To each their own. No True Scottsman and all that.
@@arandomnamegoeshere Lucas only bungled the prequels in how they were written and because he had nobody counterbalancing him. But, as Phaota said, the Prequels led to LOTS of great Expanded Universe content, such as the KOTOR series and both versions of the Clone Wars.
This is an excellent prologue to Jenny Nicholson’s 4 hour Star cruiser essay
Was looking to see if anyone else found their way here after seeing her video. :D
That “lightsaber” training crap should be available throughout Galaxy’s Edge after building a lightsaber just like the wand activities throughout the Wizarding World, not one of the primary attractions in a $6000 two day hotel experience (which includes an excursion to Galaxy’s Edge as part of the time being used lol)
Definitely agreed. The lack of interactivity is a huge detriment from Galaxy's Edge. Admittedly, I think that the wand magic is a bit gimmicky, but I suppose it's fun the first time around. However, now that I've seen how this concept has evolved into the interactive games of Super Nintendo World, the lack of activities like this in Galaxy's Edge becomes all the more glaring.
I wonder how many people that bar holds? Will Disney have a place to take your kids on the ship?:Cuz 2 days of being with your kids on an underwhelming vacation is into cause people to drink. LOL
They could've at least tried to make it seem better by making the training bot be a drone that moves around (like in a new hope)
@@lcr8962 a simple way to do this is by giving people a "blast helmet" aka a 3d headset so they can see the drones around them.
@@Marveryn Based on the headsets used in Las Vegas attractions, they'd get destroyed really quickly.
Disney: Overpromise and underdeliver
Universal: “It’s just a churro stand” *opens one of the best roller coasters in the country*
When you’re confident, you don’t need to bend reality to fit a narrative you want to be seen in.
Universal also understates how nice their hotels are, despite them all being better then 3/4ths of the Hotels at Disney FOR WAY LESS MONEY.
And if you went opening day, they gave you a churro when you get off the ride
Universals biggest issue is it feels like you’re in Orlando.
What makes WDW so great is you feel like you’re somewhere totally different due to its sheer size.
Totally agree on your other points though!
@@smith9808 that's just you falling into their corporate lies, cause its still florida weather all around the parks and all year...
@@smith9808 yep. I live in Orlando right by universal and I literally drive past Universal entrance when I go to the gym
I drove by the “hotel” yesterday and the building looks more like a jail from the outside rather than a Star Wars hotel… Disney has lost it.
The original concept art had more going for it. I don't know why they cheaped out and went full brutalist on it. Makes me wonder. 🤔
@@alienclay2 Bobby Paycheck.
I just can't imagine going to sunny Florida and opting to PAY $6k+ to be trapped indoors for most of your day-and-a-half adventure without any windows. It really does seem like jail.
@@wrh41 it’s funny because the hotel does have windows but they are small vertical rectangle windows that literally have the same vibe as those penitentiaries.
When I graduated high school, my parents said I can either go on a trip to visit our cousins or stay on the Galactic Starcruiser. After watching this drama unfold, I’m so glad we decided to go on the trip, which was MUCH cheaper.
where did u visit ur cousins?
I've just returned from WDW and i HATED the Genie+ / Linghting Lane experience. It is stressfull, and cost me a lot of extra money. If this is what they consider a "better guest experience", this Disney Marketing is completely disconected from reality.
it was the best thing we had when we were there. No kids fights waiting in lines, hit 90% of the rides. No down time. We'll worth every penny
Agreed. It sucked.
Plus, it doesn't work on every ride. some of the rides you still have to pay extra to skip lines, after you have already payed extra to skip lines.
Was their a glitch in early november. We had no problems at all. Worked great
It's a better way to drain the money from your pockets. Making you pay again for what you already paid for.
Personally I think the best line skip is single rider lines, just talk to your friend on the other side of the ride.
I also think it's terrible that only a few months from opening, most of what they showed was concept art. You show concept art years before something opens, to show what they plan to do. Not what you'll see in a few months. Gives the impression that they aren't even done yet, or rushing, or they don't have faith in showing you what they actually did.
its reminds me of Forumla One this year, 2 months before the new race in Saudi Arabia the F1 channel uploaded a video of them walking the track but you could see the offices and paddock was just a concrete shell and the areas around the track were giant building sites with machinery and equipment everywhere
This was already dead from the start before the marketing
1. The Price
2. It’s theme to the sequels, a very controversial trilogy and we saw that happened to Galaxy Edge
3. The concept art shows that it doesn’t feel like Star Wars
4. Feels more like an experience rather than a hotel, especially if you look at the rooms
Pricing it that obscenly high in the current state Star Wars as a franchise is in was just asinine.
It makes me laugh that they seem to not only be making the same mistakes as Galaxy's Edge (point 2), but doubling down on them, adding more mistakes (point 3) and then putting it behind an absurd paywall (point 1)
This is very Marketing 101 (I have a marketing degree), but the 4P's in Marketing are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. What most people refer to as Marketing is often just the "Promotion" piece of Marketing. That said, Disney didn't do enough analysis on whether or not the Price they would need to charge to offer this Product would result in long-term profits. Frankly, I don't see how this hotel lasts two years. They can't lower the price without impacting the experience. They can't add rooms for the same reason. I don't see this as something any family will do more than once; after you've experienced it, how do you keep it fresh? This entire concept should never have broken ground ... it doesn't (and can't) scale the way Disney has come to expect.
Yes, Disney is failing hard on the Promotion piece of it right now, but arguably the first two points also failing are why this concept is doomed.
It is literally sold out...
@@marcussheen what absurd paywall? It’s just slightly more expensive then a cruise. Any nice non shit cruise will be around a grand a person.
Disney continues to prove that it's obsessed with the "safe" option. Instead of creating an immersive, fully-themed adults-only experience hotel - which is what I think would've gone over the best - they went for the Diet Theming. And their attempt to appeal to Everyone has resulted in appealing to No One. It's so similar to when Galaxy's Edge opened. The theming in restaurants and cast member interactions when Galaxy's Edge opened was significantly more detailed, and Disney decided to "dial it back" to make it more appealing to more customers. Again, they picked the "safe" option, to the detriment of theming and guest experience.
Admittedly though, the park is founded on the idea that EVERYONE can enjoy the fun: kids, adults, seniors and everyone in between. I think they underestimated the need for more teen/younger adult audience needs for thrill rides, but they added a few good ones to make a good balance. Having it be adults only would suck a lot of the magic out. I can get behind more theming, but adults only is a bad direction.
That’s the thing. If they wanted a safe option why did they not bring one of the areas from the Tokyo parks or something? Like the frozen world or tangled world? The new beauty and the beast ride? Any of those would have been so much better!!! (And on the long run it would have brought them more money)
Both this and Galaxy’s Edge could be hugely popular if they based it on the OT instead of the most divisive trilogy produced so far.
@@poego6045 Oh I TOTALLY meant the HOTEL should be adults only, and maybe have specific kids weekends so that kids can still enjoy it, but the hotel isn't split on "who is the target demographic we're going for"
I give this about 2-5 years before it becomes the "themed rooms" section of a larger, better and cheaper SW hotel and they're simply label it an expansion as opposed to admitting the cruiser couldn't do the numbers they wanted.
Hey I watch you
These videos taking Disney to task for their screw ups have become like my morning cigarette
As someone who hasn't visited a theme park in more than half-a-decade, I sometimes feel like I'm only in the Disney Parks fandom for the sense of schadenfreude from all the terrible decisions Disney keeps trying to rationalize, but your videos are a great reminder that Disney needs fans who are also outspoken critics. Some Disney fans are so desperate to justify the thousands they drop on vacations that they pixie-dust everything, and I'm glad that more people now seem to be speaking up more against Disney as an exploitative corporation rather than treating Disney like a magical force that will always be good because of nostalgia.
Oh hey! This is how I feel about Disney too! (Especially recently)
I love the history of rides and learning all these cool things but just couldn't describe why I liked looking at the failure and bad ideas, but you pretty much bopped the nail on the head there!
Agreed. It's amazing how offended some get at someone daring to question Disney's decisions.
Rise colored glasses indeed.
We just spent a week in Orlando.
3 days at disney, 2 at universal.
I must say, we had a much better time at universal and this is coming from someone who has been to wdw 13 times and only 3 times to universal.
Disney best fix things and fast or universal will soon pass them, and especially so once epic universe opens.
A lot of Disney fans are so desperate to prop up the narrative that Bob Iger's Disney was so much better than Michael Eisner's that they ignore the many ways that Iger's Disney has become far worse than Eisner's.
Great explanation👌🏻
I think Disney's disconnect with the Star Wars fandom can be summed up in the twi'lek singer design
Twi'leks are known in as dancers, high movement, and yes I understand that family friendly Disney wouldn't give us the sexy costumes of Jabba's Palace, I still would expect a costume with more movement and more freedom in the fabrics. Instead, the preformer stands put, and with such stilted movement that I think her lekku would fall off if she turned her head. The dress is obiviously designed to cover the maximum amount of skin and ensure they have to do the LEAST amount of body paint.
Fans are expecting twi'leks who move and dance and have appealing costumes. Not... stationary, turtleneck, blandness
Just get some gymnasts/dancers in leotards, and make them Twi’leks.
Leotards are right on that balance between modest and sexy, and it wouldn’t look out of place
@@j.scottwigginsjr.3946 I'm picturing something like figure skaters wear - the skirt for some movement, gemstones for that elagent bling, and it's right up there with the leotards that you suggested.
There is so many options for a better twi'lek costume than what they gave us
And black. All black chicks look like dudes even in twilek makeup
@@jeancolley8908 There's an additional bonus to using leotards--an old stage trick for when you want the audience to think there's more skin on display than there really is...is to use a skin-colored leotard. That would let you cut down even more on the need for body paint and still get a better overall look; it might even be possible to make it so you'd only ever need to do the face, if you included gloves in her outfit.
MY GF use to do PR work for a lot of Child Actors. Everyone in the industry knew that Disney was lowest paying gig there is and preferred to keep away unless you are desperate for a gig.
Pretty sure one of Disney's top travel agents came out saying that, internally, Disney holds a disdain for their visitors. I'm pretty sure their press releases being so scrubbed and entirely comprised of corporatese is probably an overcompensation of that - they hold no respect for Walt Disney or their guests, but they want to make it seem like they do.
Starcruiser specifically is the victim of Disney losing both its creative and self-awareness. Most of the hardcore Star Wars fans, who would have paid top dollar for an experience like this, hate the Sequel Trilogy. Problem is they went all in on the Sequel Trilogy (in my opinion, that was a bad move, especially considering that they had no general plan for it). Knowing this, and with them likely not wanting to admit that the Sequel Trilogy was not selling, I think they tried to make it appealing to other audiences, with an attempt made to get kids in on it. However, this charges too much and eats way too much time for the average visitor. Why spend upwards of $4k for a day and a half of being locked in a building and only having 2-3 hours in a park (only about 2-3 rides + ROTR Lightning Lane), when you could visit the park for a full day or two and pay $15 for Lightning Lane on ROTR, and get a decent, potentially even Disney hotel for a quarter of the price?
Hotels that are their own attractions can and have worked. Great Wolf Lodge and places like it are a testament to that (even if they're typically helped by a larger attraction nearby).
It really is the culmination of Disney's questionable decision making - failed handling of Star Wars, the absurd cranking up of the price, and their issues connecting with guests. It's like they think their guests are idiots and/or children - some of them are, but most aren't.
Its long been known that “Have a magical day!” Does _not_ mean have a nice day ;)
“Everyone hates the sequel trilogy” *sequel trilogy makes over 3 billion dollars*
@@williamevans1708 With each film's box office *shrinking* from the previous film..
Let me remind you that Episode 9 - their grand finale of the Star Wars franchise - was outgrossed by Frozen 2. *In the same holiday season.*
Think about that.
@@mitchtellers2547 I don’t see why that’s a big deal. The Mandalorian was the rebound and hit big. Rise of Skywalker still made over a billion. A very small vocal minority whining about the films (then still seeing them) doesn’t translate to huge hits in merchandise revenue.
Disney is crazy with the Starcruiser, it's a LARP experience, by default it's a niche concept for nerds. There's only one direction you can go: an unabashedly immersive experience, and expect that they're going to alienate soccer moms. You can't go halfway with a fantasy LARP experience, especially one that costs more than most luxury vacations. It seems Disney has gotten cold feet with the initial idea and that's fine, but you have to drastically reduce the price and make the immersive elements completely elective and rather turn it into another Deluxe hotel for Disney World.
"These new bins are reminiscent of the same bins Walt Disney used to use back in his hometown and we hope they further the immersive experience of following in his footsteps to enable a better user life journey and facilitate greater experience retention"
I will never forgive WDW leadership for closing something unique and cool like Disney Quest only to replace it with a generic NBA-themed building that absolutely nobody wanted, made obvious by the fact that it closed less than a year after it made its debut.
I mean. Due to lack of new things no one was using Disney Quest much either. You didn't go unless Disney gave out a free ticket there near the end in my experience. Still, they could have just updated instead of making a lame NBA themed place.
Great video. I’m not hoping that Starcruiser fails, because that’s a lot of peoples hard work, but I hope public reaction to it has opened some eyes.
What will happen to these people’s work? Are you concerned about these people’s financial compensation or emotional payoff of people enjoying their work? Or do they miss out on some residual or passive income if Starcruiser does not succeed? Do you work in the industry or another one with similar type of compensation so you have more knowledge of how all this works? The reason I ask this is unless I’m missing some context, aren’t the people worked on these projects paid as their work is completed? For example, contractors who built Starcruiser rooms, aren’t they paid when the rooms are done? The only things I can think of that would be pity in regards to hard work would be lack of emotional fulfillment if people don’t like it (that happens to us all when we do a bad job though). I’m completely ignorant whether these contractors/builder/designers make residual income off every guest that stays at the hotel; it seems unlikely to me, so that would mean they are not missing out on any income then. If you know that to be different, please let me know. There is one concern that seems somewhat valid to me, the service jobs that are already hired or will be, they might be out of work if Starcruiser fails. But the thing is, these are potential jobs, they don’t start working yet as the hotel hasn’t opened. Sure some of them may be trimmed if this doesn’t go well, but we don’t know that yet.
@@andrewvillers6447 Not everyone was involved with the initial design of it. But many hard working people built the place and it’s not right to crap on them all.
If this crashes and burns, the Imagineers aren’t to blame. As we see with a majority of failed Disney ventures, it’s almost always a result of mismanagement leading to them doing the best they can with what they got.
Personally, I hope it does fail.
No one is though, they are leveling the critique at Disney mismanagement and miscommunication. I have worked in design and art, if a client messes up the promotion of a project, I’m bummed more people don’t see my work and it might not be a good idea to add a poorly received project to my CV. But the fact of matter is, I did what I’m hired to do and I am PAID. If people don’t like the way my client promoted the product, too bad. I’m not grasping why people would want to brigade to white knight for me if I was in that position.
When I was younger, there was this Tiger Electronics game where you fought with a lightsaber that I got for $40. That game was worth more than the lightsaber game being shown in the Galactic Starcruiser.
th-cam.com/video/fUA5ZzNY70A/w-d-xo.html
Great video as always man! You hit pretty much everything spot on that everyone has been thinking. The only thing I'd challenge you on is the ending- "If it fails the industry will think immersive and activity driven hotel experiences are inevitable financial disasters." I dont think anybody takes cues from Disney anymore, especially Universal. Imagine if they allowed the underwhelming nature of Galaxy's Edge to influence Epic Universe and its 4 immersive lands. In fact, I'd say they do the opposite; Disney overpromises and underdelivers. Universal underpromises and overdelivers. Disney releases genie+, Universal runs TH-cam ads promoting free fast passes while staying at their resorts. Its become night and day in every aspect
I take your point that other organizations aren't necessarily looking to emulate what Disney is doing, though I still think that the idea of an immersive hotel experience is something that could take hold industry-wide. As soon as the Galactic Starcruiser was announced, I immediately started to see people speculate about a Universal led Hogwarts Castle type of experience in the same vein. Realistically, I never expect Universal to build something like this, but the fundamental idea behind these hotels is sound and attractive. If the Starcruiser is a success, I would even be interested in seeing Disney themselves expand on this idea with other themes.
@@PoseidonEntertainment i agree and in general thats why Im hoping for the starcruiser to be an overwhelming success. However, based on how many steps ahead Universal has been in recent years I’m compelled to believe they’ve already not only developed but are land grading a plot for their own immersive hotel- just not for the wizarding world. Based on early concept art and rumors Id bet a super nintento hotel will be built and have direct access to the land. Just how immersive it’ll be im not so sure, but based on their work the last decade or so Im comfortable saying it should be pretty good.
@@PoseidonEntertainment my first thought was an Indiana Jones hotel might be an interesting idea. I, for one, might consider that more.
People criticize Disney for being late to the game. And sometimes they are. But Disney is extremely conservative in planning. They would rather under deliver, than flat out fail. Sadly, they were too conservative here. They really should have aimed to over deliver. But we know how much penny pinching they do lately.
Even if this hotel doesn't fail, there isn't enough to garner return visits. That alone will eventually sink the hotel.
I’m happy you’re willing to criticize the company.
They aren’t perfect. In fact, they’re downright awful and need to change.
Actually insane how such horrible marketing can come from a company that's been able to garner such a loyal fan base in the past. Hard to say what exactly is going on behind the scenes, but it does feel like everyone at the company are wearing rose-colored glasses. They just can't fathom how the company could do something wrong or be perceived in a negative light. But, it's honestly hard to blame them. If the money is still rolling in, and even reaching new heights, despite the increased negative feedback, anyone would probably feel invincible right?
Certainly, which is why I'm just waiting for everything to drop out from underneath them. Too many people are still going because they're curious about the new additions from over the last five years or because they have yet to experience the state that the parks lie in today, but I have a feeling they won't be coming back until things change.
@@PoseidonEntertainment I think that day will be when epic universe opens, everyone will go there instead and hopefully Disney will see they need to improve the parks
You have helped me to understand that my appetite for watching Disney collapse by self-inflicted wounds knows no bounds.
I started making more critical videos because I wanted to highlight these issues and get the public to realize what was happening. But, I have to admit that I do like to see Disney leadership sweat. When they hold such arrogant attitudes, it's so cathartic to see them fail so miserably.
This has been an issue with Disney for years. The broader DisneyQuest failed because of the same issue: no one at Disney knew how to market it correctly in the local areas that Disney built DisneyQuest locations. The Disney Store failed partially due to Disney being out of touch with what the consumer wanted out of those locations (the products for sale became too homogenized and lacked uniqueness from the products available at Walmart / Target / Amazon / Toys R Us, etc.) As for the Disney corporate speak? Have you looked at any of their higher level management, professional and technical job descriptions? Sometimes is maddeningly hard to actually decipher what the job is for. This has been around for decades and the Galactic Starcruiser is just the latest example.
Your comment on how this experience basically means that they killed DisneyQuest for nothing is 100% accurate. Very well said! This whole thing seems like a series of cheap screen based interactive booths that are packaged as a hyper luxury Star Wars larping experience.
DisneyQuest was cool 20 years ago but they hadn’t updated it in years - I went right before it closed down and it was painfully outdated - the games were like N64 graphics, PS2 at best
I continue to think this about most new Disney attractions. W.E.B. Slingers? Would've been great as an experience at Disney Quest, but definitely not for DCA.
The DisneyQuest concept is not bad, but is hard to do right. Maybe wasn’t the right time for that kind of place
@@RodrigoColimodio i think it WAS the right time for it - it came out at a time when arcades were still popular (in the US) - home gaming surpassed arcade gaming and there really wasn’t much reason to go to an arcade (or DisneyQuest) anymore, not to mention the advancement in at-home VR tech
@@weston407
You have a good point, I just think that the idea can be done again with new approaches, simulators and small rides that guarantee that people: first, spend more than a couple of hours there, and second, that they guarantee to return. A true and compact indoor park, as there are so many successful ones around the world.
It’s not that being critical is the key to success, but it’s that Disney has gotten so arrogant that people who don’t take their crap are seen as heroes. Look at people like The Critical Drinker, Nerdrotic, and you. People want to know they’re not alone in their thought. People want to know there are those articulating their thoughts. That is more so the formula for the success than negativity.
Ego is Disney's fatal flaw.
It killed them in the 70's and 80's.
It killed them in the 2000's.
And it's killing them again now.
I don’t know about the Critical Drinker
His whole routine is just way to extreme and needlessly obnoxious
Personally, I don't understand the point of putting so much work into theming a hotel stay, but leaving the theme park so barren of guest interaction: the theme park is literally a park THEMED after certain genres, tropes, and/or IPs, whereas the hotel is merely supposed to be where people sleep at night when they're away from home or on vacation.
Also, the choice of a galactic navy cruiser as the theme is EXTREMELY BAD for guest accomodations: in all ships (even cruise ships), space is at a premium, so sleeping quarters are usually small and cramped. If Disney was going to double-down on the Sequel Trilogy theme (despite the Sequel Trilogy horrifically damaging the Star Wars brand), they literally would have been better off theming it after a space station or a space resort (such as the space casino Canto Bight), since at least then the kids staying in the "family room" wouldn't be jammed into what is essentially a padded bookshelf.
But no, Kathleen Kennedy repeatedly cancelled all of the Imagineers' plans for Original Trilogy theming in both the park and the hotel, Chapek kept cutting costs left and right throughout both projects' development, and Disney marketing has increasingly shown how out of touch they are with their target audience (i.e. Original Trilogy fans who are now rich enough to spend several thousand dollars for less than 2 full days in a "Star Wars experience" that looks more like a Star Trek parody crossed with a cheap Battlestar Galactica knockoff).
As bad as this hotel looks, this whole idea that the sequel trilogy did some "horrific damage" to the Star Wars brand is just ridiculous to me. As if Star Wars was some hallowed, unsullied piece of pop culture ruined when its creator sold it away and not what it actually was in the last decade before Disney bought it: a piece of Gen X nostalgia that had created an online cottage industry of nerds bashing the prequels and fantasizing how the franchise could be "fixed."
If the sequel trilogy isn't made, Star Wars likely would have gone down the path that Doctor Who was on before the BBC brought that show back. In the early 2000s, Doctor Who was becoming increasingly irrelevant to a younger generation, pedaling comics and audio series to a dwindling number of hardcore obsessives. Gen Z wouldn't have had any attachment to Star Wars in any way. Abrams' films may have loads of problems, but Gen Z kids got hooked onto BB-8 and Rey and Finn and Kylo the same way David Tennant and Matt Smith became icons for a bunch of British kids when Who returned. Those films mean something to a bunch of kids, and whether we as adults like it or not, that's who the parks are aiming for...even if the execution is mixed at best.
It’s always “Kathleen Kennedy this and Kathleen Kennedy” that with you people.
@@chanhjohnnguyen1867 I know what you mean, but she is actually part of the problem and this post was fairly well-balanced in regards to criticism that didn't make me feel like it was in any way some bigoted thing and I am far from shy about calling that out.
@@jeremyfuster7570 my father, who first saw Star Wars in 1977, said he’d never watch a new star wars movie again after watching the disaster that is episode VIII. There are many more like him.
@@UncagedJDog89 Oh, please. People were saying that same melodramatic crap online back in 2002 when Attack of the Clones came out.
Would love to see universal follow this up with a Potter themed immersive hotel around the time of Epic Universe's opening. I also don't want to see the idea of these hotels totally scrapped if this fails. Everything's a learning experience after all. Just has to have the consumer's best interest in mind.
Harry Potter lends itself so much better to a hotel experience because Hogwarts is a living space for the characters, so having a Great Hall with meals, a sorting hat ceremony, etc. would fit perfectly and be selling points on their own. And you know it’ll look legit because Universal actually seeks out authenticity with set recreations.
While I think the idea for an interactive Hogwarts experience is sound, I just don't see any scenario where this will happen. I can see it would do well though.
I honestly think the immense cost of these experiences is never going to let them be truly viable in a theme park context. Potter is a better fit than SW, true, but it still has a lot of the same problems in creating truly effective immersion and the vast cost that will inevitably prevent most of the biggest fans from enjoying the experience.
@@Zveebo I disagree. There’s already a aesthetic for Hogwarts and Hogwarts students established through the books and films. The students and location are the main setting.
By contrast, Star Wars is a series of war movies featuring soldiers and war locations. There’s little aesthetic for civilian luxury living quarters in these films so Disney had to invent one from scratch and seemingly just used BB-8.
Hogwarts would be much easier to fulfill because they already did most of the work 11 years ago. It would just be a matter of expanding the experience beyond Forbidden Journey to allowing guests to live at Hogwarts or in Hogsmeade.
It’s rumored that Universal is moving the backstage operations that are currently between the Harry Potter lands to Epic Universe. If so, they could put a Hogwarts hotel experience right next to Hogsmeade.
The biggie I think that Galactic Starcruiser is "set in," meaning you gotta go thru the entire thing to experience it, and you can't get out of it unless there is an emergency or you do something that will get you kicked out.
Doing an "immersive" Hogwarts needs to allow the guests to have "time off" the area to do other things, like go to other places in the park or shopping/sightseeing off park. Yeah, you can have the hat sorting ceremony and the Banquet Hall meals, but the time in between needs to be given to the park goer to do whatever they want to do.
As someone who absolutely loves immersive theatre and has gone to many shows over the past five years I can confidently it's really too much for someone's first immersive show. It's not only seems to be a sandbox show, meaning you can choose where to go like a sandbox video game, but it also seems to rely on interaction to get the most out of your experience which is a lot for a first timer. It's even a lot for an introverted immersive fan lover like myself because you'll probably have to go up to characters to get further along in the story instead of them coming up to you. Also, the longest show I've been to has been 3 hours and this is 2 days! That was Sleep No More where even though Sleep No More is a sandbox show it's not dependent on interacting with characters to get the most out of your 3 hours. For a "fun" comparison I could go to Sleep No More about 40 times for the same price as two people staying in the most basic room and not getting any add ons like cocktails.
I can predict a lot of guests will leave disappointed and feel like they've been ripped off. That's not their fault at all, but Disney's fault. Probably 99% of people who go stay there will have never been to an immersive show so it can't be so dependent on interactivity to get your enjoyment out of it. If there are objectives are given out at the beginning of the show to each group, like go talk to the pilot about the resistance, then things might be easier. That being said there also needs to be a way for guests who don't want to interact at all or will not seek out interactions to have a good time. I don't think Disney is going to do that.
Quick note about the design of the ship, I've seen much better immersive set design by very small immersive companies that don't have a big budget. They might have $15,000 tops for the whole show. If a small immersive company that were also Star Wars fans got a hold of this project they could do it a lot better for a lot less.
If you watch the round table video they did, there are a lot of cool ideas in there. How well they are executed and how you initiate some of them I am very curious about. Its not like some MMO where NPCs are standing there with a '!' over their head. I'm curious how much of it will be pushed on you by the cast or if they will really just be going about their business until a guest interacts with them. From what I get though, there will be a lot of characters on the ship as staff and also acting as if they are guests themselves, and will also go into Batuu with you and carry the stories over there.
We get it, no company wants to get sued after somebody pitches an idea and later does a 180 . But there are legal ways to prevent this, and maybe just maybe start considering taking in actual feedback and not just feedback from the hardcore Disney fans, you know who only make up a fraction of your entire consumer base and will rarely hold you at fault
Even worse, hardcore Disney fan influencers who know full well they may loose access to special PR events if they say anything negative.
And now Disney has another class action lawsuit on their hands on behalf of all the Magic Key holders. At the very least, this should lead to Disney releasing some of their long-hidden numbers if they want to have a case. Wonderful video, Poseidon! Definitely appreciate holding back and only commenting on what's already been seen, rather than just speculating and adding fuel to the chaos.
The idea of an immersive themed hotel like this never seemed appealing to me anyway. I personally need a break from the immersion eventually. From what we saw of the hotel hallways, it looks like its too immersive for the average guest but not immersive enough for those looking for a full immersive experience
Lol there's already a Poseidon video about it and the hotel hasnt even opened yet. Can't wait for the Defunctland video to come out.
I’m hoping that this turns out well, but I canceled based on the promotional videos. At that price, I should be overwhelmed and excited the way I was when they opened Pandora. If I start hearing good things, I will probably go. But I sensed my future regret on this one.
I've reserved judgement because I've heard some supposedly leaked things about what the whole experience actually entails. If these leaks turn out to be true, then this might be the coolest thing ever. Yet, because Disney has revealed so little and what they have shown is so discouraging, they might have shot themselves in the foot when they could potentially have something exceptional.
You hit the nail right on the head when you mentioned how Disney marketing tries to tie even the seemingly mundane changes they make in the parks into something "inspired by Walt." This is an effort by upper management to distract their consumer base away from their efforts to undermine everything Walt stood for. The very reason he started a theme park was NOT to make money but to provide a space where parents and their children could have fun together. A $6000 hotel room, regardless of the LARP aspect, would make him spit out his chili in disgust. They know that, but because there are no more Disney family members active in decision making, the pencil necked bean counters always get their way. And since Chapek decimated the Imagineering Department by forcing all the experienced and most creative California-based Imagineers to that podunk town in Florida, the pencil necks also get to make the creative decisions, which is why Galactic Starcruiser looks the way it does. No imagination at all, and absolutely NOTHING like a Star Wars environment.
@@clarkkent7973 What an incredibly unenlightened thing to say. You really don't get out much, do you?
Let me provide a counter point based on "things I hear":
What if the California based Imagineers were actually the driving force behind the Starcruiser and SWGE being the way they are and not the bean counters? Seriously. For a long time, imagineers have argued they wanted to push the boundaries of immersive experience and have become increasingly concerned and motivated to essentially "prove" that theme park attractions are a viable storytelling medium. Ergo, to meet the needs of what they themselves wanted to do, they established an in-canon world set at a highly specific time period (not unlike WWOHP except that it isn't recognizable to most people beyond the spaceships parked!) and sold management on doing this immersive hotel experience.
As time went on with the development, lots of things the imagineers wanted to do ran into conflict with the realities of operating a theme park. Want to put tons of costume characters and roaming droids out there? Well, that certainly takes money, but there's also other things (traffic flow, the fact that alien outfits will basically melt in the hot Orlando or Anaheim sun and why you never see it outside nighttime HHN events) that suddenly produced operational issues that didn't fit the plan. The creature transportation ride that was cancelled was, depending on who you ask, either extremely lousy, too low capacity, or "not immersive enough", with the latter being something I hear frequently from contractors who worked on the project and also complain about the existence of the Yoshi ride at Super Nintendo Land. The sit down dinner theater concept was moved over to the Starcruiser (allegedly) because it needed something to draw people. I keep pointing this out too, but it bears repeating: the imagineers did not design the Starcruiser with a swimming pool. Is it possible that was over budget cuts? Maybe. But I suppose we've never seen a pool in the Star Wars universe, and much like SWGE (which is berefit of a lot of visual/lived in clues to the people who "live there" compared to Diagon Alley or Mediterranean Harbor, for example) introducing such things could be argued as "not being star wars" either.
Fundamentally the flaw is that Star Wars is a film series about a civil war told from the side of the resistors who intend to bring about a more equitable and democratic confederation of planets. The only time Star Wars shows "luxury" in films 4-9 is in a often despised sequence in Episode 8 at the casino. Naturally it all seems out of place and more generic sci-fi - you're probably the bad guy if you're on the Starcruiser! But was that thought explored in depth by imagineers to create an immersive hospitality experience? Probably not. So perhaps those people splitting and leaving WDI isn't the worst thing and will permit Disney to find fresh blood who's inspirations come from a wider selection of ideas.
@@zorndeslammes This is an excellent point.
We don't know how much of this company's f*ck ups are due to Corporate or due to Creatives.
Despite Corporate's nickel-and-dimeing, the Creatives seem to run amok and make things worse on their own.
So who's reigning in who?
We don't know - which is a *very* bad situation for a company to be in.
This aged like fine wine
I still can’t believe this Galactic Starcruiser was ever a thing
Feels ironic seeing this video pop up in my recommended videos the same day they just announced Galactic Starcruiser's closure later this year XD
As a former cast member that worked there for over 10 years wasting my prime years for that greedy ass company. Yes I looooove your negative videos! Keep em coming!
Lol
The good news is that HAD the Starcruiser been magnificent, then all of us who could not afford it would be sad. This is not a failure of marketing, it is a failure of product. The product looks cheap and does not have a Star Wars feel - it looks like a boys room with a space theme from Rooms to Go.
I’ve been a huge Disney parks fan, for a very long time. However, I’m getting much more excitement from what Universal Studios is proposing, for the future of their parks, than what Disney is offering. Seems the Disney people is going out of it’s way to minimize the once exiting Disney experience.
Great video. I’ve been in the business comm space for a while and the goofy awkward pr speak is usually an indication of turnover in the marketing, cr and pr areas.
People who have been with the company for a while tent to understand the heartbeat, but there’s this whole labor sector who is able to move/climb from company to company using pretty much the same techniques and buzzwords, regardless of what your selling.
Also experienced in PR/Communications, and fully vouch for this dynamic. New, mercenary tin ears are painful.
I last sent during the days of Fast Pass. That worked well. You selected the ride you wanted a Fast Pass for, we’re given your pass and time to return, and went to do other stuff instead of standing in line. You were limited to one active pass at a time.
And now they make you PAY more to skip the lines on top of the hefty ticket price? Not happening. I never minded DW’s high price, because you received such an amazing experience. Now it sounds like more money for less fun and more hassles.
The problem with waiting for the media is not just that they'll get the prime experience with a bias, but in some areas people have been told they can't film. That's suuuper shady.
I know that some media was already let in, but I was under the impression that there would be more closer to opening. Is that not actually the case?
@@PoseidonEntertainment if they're waiting to show people stuff they've waited too long. Plus from what they did show people backed out.
@@AmusementLabs Interesting. I could stay there myself and find out, but it also seems like such a high cost just for a single video. I will admit that I'm extremely curious though, whether it be good or bad.
@@PoseidonEntertainment I would just wait to hear what others are saying on Reddit or ones that will go on their own and be more honest. They still stand to gain much of their costs to go back from ad revenue by being honest about their experience. People want to know either way.
I love this video. "Discount Joe Rhode" is a classic insult. I really want to know what other Disney channels think about WDWNT. Tom is always poking Disney with a stick, and he's such a prickly individual, it's funny when Disney reopens closed Twitter accounts to bite back. (they did donate to cast members when the park closed down, which is more than Disney did, though)
If the Galactic Starcruiser fails, I hope they re tweak the concept and try again. The hotel is too small to be a regular resort, but maybe-at a cheaper price point and tweaked-it could bring about a new era.
I don’t know. Failure can bring about the best success sometimes
But can they separate the full reasons why? There's a lot of reasons why and the narrative failure of the sequel trilogy is part of this as well. This would get a far better chance of reception if it was more about Anakin/Luke/Obiwan or Vader then Rey and Kylo.
I have a difficult time conceptualizing what they'll do if this fails. Perhaps have it become a walk-through attraction as part of Galaxy's Edge? Knowing Disney, they'll probably just let it sit abandoned for decades with urban explorers breaking in.
@@PoseidonEntertainment at the same time it will be to public a failure to leave at rest like that. The sunk costs are already in and what is likely the largest ongoing cost being the large number of interactive cast. The most likely next step is making it more of a super deluxe resort without the expensive alien cast members, and a limited reservation dining location. It would still be expensive and exclusive, but more in line with the other resorts in price and without the live "invasion" or Jedi battle. Still a black eye, but with enough makeup not an embarrassing one.
Here is my idea: Make a set amount of time in a year for each Era of star wars, so like January to April the Prequels, May to August the originals, and September to December the sequels. During the time of Prequels, have some clone troopers as a type of ship security, like a Republic cruiser and occasional Jedi around like Obi Wan and others with maybe some bar fight shows and unscheduled entertainment, then with the OGs, make occasional imperial invasions occur and have the empire take over the cruiser then the rebels chase them out after some time, and have Era based characters like Chewbacca and Luke. With the sequels, mix it with the Mandalorian and have fight matches between aliens, bounty hunters around, and resistance running the place, again with surprise messages from, the first order and Palpatine, and with Finn and others walking around. I think just adding these characters would help a lot, and you could choose when to go based on which films you enjoy most, not restricting it to a set Era.
Hey buddy. It really isn't because we love when you are negative. It's not how we see it. You are being honest and speak for many of us! Not all of us are good with words like you are! So like I said before, its a relief to hear someone express our frustrations in a clear good way which on itself is comforting. I hope you understand what I am trying to say. Dutch here hehe . Thank you!
Hoi! Your English is very clear. Much respect, and I hope one day I can write as much in Dutch!
@@axie545 thank you so much Axie. Very kind of you! You already made a good start with your Dutch! Hoi back at you!
I really enjoy your videos because you’re offering critical analysis of Disney AND offering possible solutions, not just hating on them like popular social media tends to. Now, whether Disney listens to your ideas is another matter, but I think if things like this get shared around enough and talked about enough, Disney will feel the heat. I’m saying this as a person who LOVES Disney (I’ve performed in WDW several times, got engaged there, spent my honeymoon there…), but we can love something AND recognize when it’s going down the wrong path.
Just wait a few years when Universal opens a Harry Potter themed resort. The check in will have a Hat of Sorting, each building will have theming to each house. Each building will have interactive elements (more in depth then the ones already in the parks) to help earn points for your house, tracked by the wand you are given at the start of your "school year.". Winning the "experience" will give you a small keepsake with your house on it. Star Wars should have been a slam dunk, you have three sides (Resistance, First Order, Smuggler-yes I just used the 3 types of personality chips), interactive elements in Galaxy Edge, and a pre-determined early entry into the park for EASY specialty interactions with cast members. Will you give the Holocron or Khyber shards to Savi, Dok-Undar, Resistance, First Order, sell them, or keep them? Each option plays out differently and you are awarded with a special Disney trading pin. Wow, I just used pre-existing assets to make an unique experience.
I remember when I got my senior year, my whole school went to Disneyland at Grand night and it was an experience, now you have to be rich if you want to have that experience at Disneyland.
"The industry will take the wrong lesson from this" seems to be a constant problem in all businesses.
This video aged well
You see what happens, Larry? This is what happens when you let a creative enterprise like Disney be run by soulless corporate suits!
I’m a Disney world fanboy.
28 years old, DVC family, trip every other year, stay on property 2 weeks at a time in grand villa room.
My family of 7 is not afraid to spend $15k+ on our trip.
I’m mad because I miss live entertainment.
I’m mad because I miss general upkeep.
I’m mad because I miss nighttime parade.
I’m mad because I dislike projection screens and what animatronics.
I’m mad because I missed Disney quest
I’m mad because downtown Disney lost the Disney magic
I’m mad because the stores in Disney lost the Disney magic as they modernize.
I’m mad because Disney scalpers.
I’m mad because Epcot new firework show sucks.
I’m mad because Hollywood studios lost its Hollywood background.
I mad Disney needs to throw IP into everything.
I made Disney cast members are unhappy and overworked
I mad Disney doesn’t take risks
I could go on and on with complaints but it’s not gonna change anything. It’s not even the money or the new genie plus. I understand their business and they need to make money that’s fine. I’ll pay $7 for a coke and be happy. My issue is my experience is getting worse and worse. Makes me want to try Universal Studios and keep my childhood memories alive of Disney World. Seems like Disney started going down hill after 2008. And with the Covid it was able to cut everything it ever dreamed of to save money.
I just got back from my trip September into October for the 50th anniversary. Yes I enjoy it but it could of been so much better.
@TearingMeApartLisa last time I was at universal was 2015 when my company rented out the park for the night. It was a fun time, but it did not make me want to come back nor try out islands of adventure.
@TearingMeApartLisa I think universal SHOULD be the place for IPs. It was the place to ride the movies after all. Disney you expect more originality and creativity.
@TearingMeApartLisa disney built it's reputation not by doing what everyone else is doing but by blazing the path. They were never followers. They always were way out in front. Now they're backsliding closer to the pack and doing it badly.
Was waiting for your commentary on this - always glad to hear your honest opinion, positive or negative.
I think you (and many of your viewing population) wants disney to do well for their parks - sadly most actions by the company in recent memory have shown a disdain for their consumers, and you have done a great job calling it as it is
Re: Disney marketing speak, the worst for me was during the Avengers Campus preview video where they clumsily tried to connect the Dora Milaje show with "allyship" and social justice. Like....it's a dance show and a photo-op??? Disney has gotten so cynical with that type of marketing, and it always leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I hope the hotel isn't a failure, but I also don't like how a lot of the things they promised with Galaxy's Edge seem to now be exclusive to hotel guests. The interactivity that we got through the app is a joke. It also seems like the show that was planned on that platform above the junkyard vehicles area is now a show onboard the Starcruiser itself.
I actually got to speak to Josh D’Armo twice in California. The first time when Galaxies Edge opened and when the Inside Out Ride. I can say he does seem like a super chill guy who genuinely cares about what is going on in the parks.
Everything I have seen in regards to the Starcruiser makes me believe that "Litigation Architecture" is to blame for a ton of the disastrous decisions.
When your number one goal in designing an experience is avoiding lawsuits (and OSHA compliance may also play a part) you're going to end up with a bland, "curved edges," boring layout.
I kind of understand... you wouldn't want people getting splinters from real wooden railings in Frontierland, so changes like that make sense. Even Galaxy's Edge itself, for as underwhelming as I find it, still manages to feel gritty and grounded. That's why the design for the Starcruiser is so strange, because I know that Disney is capable of doing better. It's such a strange decision to design the consoles in an almost cartoonish way.
I love how Disney leaned into the secondhand embarrassment featured in the promotional videos for the starship experience to further cement guests discomfort in investing into anything to do with the company
This is really quite a Galactic fail
Even the name-- Galactic Starcruiser-- is so generic that it seems almost completely divorced from the actual SW universe.
Great video! I agree with every point you made in the video and have to add another point outside of just the marketing and promotion of the Galactic Starcruiser itself. I am a lifelong Star Wars fan with two young ones...this should be a no-brainer for our family someday. But, Star Wars, as an entertainment brand, is hurting. The sequel trilogy has really killed a lot of the passion star wars fans had for the brad. While things like The Mandolorian has helped, Star Wars just isn't it anymore. I myself have been simply driven to not care anymore. And that, coupled with an extremely expensive less-than-mediocre looking experience, means I have zero desire to stay at the Starcruiser.
That lightsaber training is better in VR. Seriously. I do lightsaber training in my own living room at home, completely immersed. With my Quest 2. It’s amazing. It feels absolutely real. That lightsaber training on the star cruiser looked so weak!!! No way!!!
I've been keeping tabs on changes over the last decade or so and it's pretty obvious that Disney are more interested in appealing to the ever expanding lowest common denominator rather than returning customers simply because the market is there. I find it incredibly difficult to care at this point.
As someone who enjoyed my first-time trip to Galaxy’s Edge and is mostly just a casual fan of Star Wars (heck, I even liked most of the new trilogy), even I’m going WTF at this marketing. That looks more like OG Star Trek stuff than Star Wars, and I’m young enough that Star Trek was before my time. It’s utterly bizarre to me that you can have Galaxy’s Edge, filled to the brim with winks and nods to Star Wars lore, and then that generic off-brand sci-fi nonsense for your official marketing videos. What, were all the previous Imagineers laid off in the move to Florida?
You are known in my mind as the negative critic of disney parks guy and even tho I love disney I love your vids cause nothing is perfect and the guests and public should be the sole determiner of "perfect" not the people that make it for money insentives. Honestly your take is a breathe of fresh air in showing how disneys creative department can be more "creative". These vids are great and why im subbed.
It amazes me, that they still hold on to the sequel trilogy, despite people being turned off by it. They lost half of their audience, sales continued to go down, the brand clearly isn't the number one anymore. The First Order is not considered cool or menacing, the universe of the sequels doesn't have a character. I simply don't want to touch this brand anymore at least not this part of it.
I do like the ship though, the Star Cruiser does look pretty good BUT it's set in the wrong time. I don't want to remember all the bad stuff of the past years again and again. And when the video mentioned "gritty" and we see a Twi'lek singer - they are known to be more.. well.. sexual? I mean she doesn't have to be Oola but Aayla Secura as a Jedi showed more skin as well. The word "sanitized" comes into my head again.
All in all, the handling of the Star Wars brand by Disney is really bad, which is quiet sad because some people in the artistic department create great looking ships and stuff. But that doesn't help if the soul is lacking.
Imagine being forced to engage in "light saber training" for a full 20 minutes
Ever since the beginning of the pandemic, the Walt Disney Company has gone through a crash course in business decisions.
~$5,000 for a two night stay in a Disney Star Wars simulator?
That's insane. A family of four could spend an entire week in Paris, London or Rome instead for that kind of money.
I've said it so many times. Disney as a whole is failing I'm their marketing. Especially with their recent animated films.
And those marketing videos made me feel physically uncomfortable.
Great video.
That Lightsaber Training “GAME” looks amateurish at best. What a joke…
Josh D’Amaro should’ve used Marketing Speak to explain all the reasons why they kept Chapek away from D-23…
If they’re smart, they’ll give every Galactic guest a $2000 shopping gift card as a rebate…
The glaring thing about the lightsaber training game is that people have seen lightsaber training, and it doesn't look anything like that. If you're going to lay out $6K+, you ought to expect an experience that mimics (to the extent possible) the places, characters and events from the movies as closely as possible. Chasing a laser beam with your lightsaber isn't anyone's idea of lightsaber training. The goal is to keep the lasers from hitting you. They'd have been better off firing Nerf foam blaster bolts that you could actually deflect.
The game we see in the video is just poorly executed, by someone who doesn't seem to get what lightsaber training is about. That makes it a huge fail right there.
Will have to say, this was another great video. It's another opportunity for people to discuss what's going on.
Personally, I'd rather spend less money and book a tour to Tunisia and be shown actual Star Wars sets... when Star Wars was actually Star Wars. You can spend 10 days there and have more of an actual Star Wars experience....than going to Florida and spending more to stay in a generic hotel that doesn't look, feel like what fans of Star Wars (which is who this should be for) would want to experience. It's a Star Wars hotel with zero Star Wars in sight. (The same thing is applicable to the entire land. **One exception is the Millennium Falcon).
I've noticed the Millennium Falcon is the one thing that seems to redeem Galaxy's Edge for most people. I can't say that the ship ever really did anything for me, though the interior is pretty cool.
@@PoseidonEntertainment it's pretty much the only Star Wars "thing" in the entire land. Yes there's some speeders and droids around, but that's it. Disney's interpretation of Star Wars isn't what the people who are fans want. And honestly, to the point of your video, being about the Starcruiser experience, when the video was released and it was made apparent what it is/was, people started dropping their reservations like flies. I only wanted to point out that a true fan of the original I.P. could get a much better and genuine experience for much less money.
Who has EVER walked into a club or bar, spoken to the bartender and been told to shut up as there is an alien trying to sing?
If an actual alien was singing, I would shut up.
I'm excited whenever you release a new video. Your thoughts are well delivered and your critiques are always fair.
The theming is more Hitchhikers Guide than Star Wars to me. If I ever go, I think I'll just wander around in my bathrobe, carrying my towel and asking for tea. Maybe Disney should buy the IP, start serving Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters, hire some cast to play Ford and Zaphod, and throw a party every night.
I wouldn't worry about being too negative; Disney, like every other major corporation, isn't above criticism, and considering how they are a family focused company, they should be held to high standards. And they deserve every ounce of criticism, since they won't use original trilogy concepts or characters, because that means they'd have to pay George Lucas.
Your videos are amazing. It's like you're in my head. Really glad you called out Disney on their corporate speak. Even "D'Amaro's" statement on the layoffs at the beginning of the pandemic were nauseating (referring to cast members as 'workforce', talking about the 'efficient operation' etc) and didn't reflect the person people say D'Amaro is. Disney just need to learn to sound like humans talking to humans. The way they talk is so corporate and clunky, it's like they don't even believe in their own product.
Totally agree with their over promising and under delivering too. So many things they announce at D23 simply don't happen. Half of the things in the hotel should have been in Galaxy's Edge, now they're behind a paywall, and even then, still no sign of roaming droids etc.
Also agree about them trying to appeal to everyone and therefore appeal to nobody. I do actually love the idea of immersive hotels, but they need to immerse us in an environment that reflects the films we grew up with. That's why I love Wizarding World because it brings the films to life (and I'm not even a huge Harry Potter fan)
The ending of the Disney's Magical Express is yet another example of "how they're going to keep cutting things and charging more. Putting the burden on the consumer..."
My take on the Disney Marketing failure is just a result of our current College schooling system. The people graduating college don't learn much except how to follow orders and do what they are told. That companies are also pressured to hire the "right sort of people" doesn't help matter as well. For years companies have hired based upon hitting a check box and not ability or skill in the field in question.
Kathleen Kennedy exist after all.
I honestly don't know why people like Disney parks and products so much. Stop giving them you're money and they'll soon change their ways.
Some of us have. After many annual trips in a row, I canceled this years and have no plans to return.
Well, that was the point of this entire video... unless I'm ignorant (which is possible). The people who are true fans, could never afford this experience. And those who can, are beginning to back out now that they've let the cat out of the bag and shown a glimpse of a Star Wars experience with no Star Wars in it. It woke up who it needed to when the reservations were cancelled. Do I think it's going to change anything? No. No I don't. Disney could make money hand over fist if they priced the experience reasonably and provided the correct theme for said experience.
they made it look generic so they would not have to pay George for it. they cant even hide their contempt for their customers anymore, just like their contempt for George Lucas. i can think of a dozen things that could have made that experience amazing. they thought of nothing that even looks interesting. they have been creatively bankrupt for a long time now. its sad to watch.
Always enjoy your perspective. I hope its a success as well. Looking forward to your video discussing what gets revealed!
I have been following the "nich theme park community" for awhile and while I don't think all of your "hot takes" are that awesome I do appreciate your critical eye when it comes to theme parks. Quickly becoming one of my favorites of these theme park channels.
Pretty easy here since nearly everyone hates the Starcruiser since the price was announced.
Theme park lands based on IP are "fan service" by definition. They are intended to have people live out their dreams and fantasies within these worlds. WWOHP's wands permit the "muggle" visitors to become wizards themselves - that is the appeal and it works because that's what the audience wants. SWGE and the Starcruiser never actually do these things. They don't provide people the interactions with the characters that are most beloved either. Let's be real, that's the original trilogy characters around which the first six movies are essentially built and for which the return in the most recent trilogy for that precise reason. That's primarily why it has never taken off and become the sort of "Potter/Universal killer" that it was argued it would be. The push for this level of hyperimmersion has also led Disney to go down the path of presenting screen based or screen heavy rides to compensate given the obvious fundamental challenges in making animatronics do physical acts consistently and repeatedly. I never thought I'd see Disney fans tell me things like "theme parks should consist of nothing but simulators and dark rides" but I have literally been told that.
That goes for the Starcruiser as well, since you're basically just playing large versions of arcade cabinets or ticket redemption games in lieu of anything tangible or physical. That's radically different than the mostly tactile nature of Meow Wolf's installations and the art installations they've inspired elsewhere. The revolution happened already and is taking off, it just isn't in Orlando.
To be honest, it feels like the Imagineers are either lack creativity, or are held back severely by budget constraints and corporate BS. I mean, look at every dessert that Disney releases and tell me there's a god.
I think it's the latter because I think a lot of Disney's offerings would be MUCH better if they gave the Imagineers the money and if they allowed them to create works of art rather than sterile products.
Disney marketing has been out of touch with their fan base and the public for awhile. I remember when I was younger, for example, when Brave first came out. It was a great movie but afterwards Merida was pushed as a doll and her pictures as having the princess dress she hates. An obvious sign that Disney marketing has no idea what people actually want. And that was even before Chapek. So interesting that there's such a disconnect there.
If disney would just abandon the sequels and focus on the original trilogy theyd do so much better
I dont wanna see kylo ren i wanna see darth vader
Look at how one of the best scenes in the mandalorian is luke skywalker fucking shit up
Exactly. The sequels were cheap knock-offs of the original trilogy, and Galactic Starcruiser is a cheap knock-off of the sequel movies.
I am PUMPED for this video. This guy always does the best research and analyzations on parks
babe wake up, poseidon entertainment dropped a new disney video
i wonder how many time bob chapeck has told the disney team that ""quanity over quality wont matter. its the disney name that brings paying customers to our parks.
You can tell just by the marketing when something was made just for the shareholders benefit.
Great video essay! Well done!
Nice job. I agree, when i went to disneyworld last month, no one in our group of adults and kids was able to find something they wanted to do in any of star wars areas... that honestly made my heart feel sad.
I like that this video is about something you haven't already talked about in a bunch of other videos. Your original videos are so good.
Galactic Star Cruiser looks like they used leftover parts from the new Space themed restaurant in Epcot.
Love the video. Killing it as always. This just made me think of the Disney ads I saw as a kid. All of the new Disney park stuff reminds me of an old Disney adverts Id see that are then themed to the IP as opposed to the actual IP turned into an attraction.