Backlash to Disney's $5,000 Star Wars hotel grows: 'Poorly executed idea for the rich'

[Dial H For Hero]

https://www.sfgate.com/disneyland/article/Backlash-grows-to-Disney-Star-Wars-hotel-16695226.php

For years, Disney has been hyping up its mega-expensive, hyper-immersive Star Wars hotel in Walt Disney World. But now, as its opening date approaches, sneak peeks have fans concerned the luxury space resort is the latest Disney dud.

The Galactic Starcruiser is Disney's most ambitious hotel concept yet. Guests must book two nights — which will set you back nearly $5,000 for two people or $6,000 for a family of four — and will spend most of their time inside the spaceship resort, much like a cruise. There's an "excursion" into the Galaxy's Edge part of Disney World, while the remainder of the stay includes interactions with characters, lightsaber training (more on that later) and exclusive restaurants.

With the big price tag and big promises from Disney, Star Wars fans were expecting a mind-blowing, life-changing experience. As the March 1, 2022 opening day grows closer, however, glimpses of the finished product have been underwhelming. The look and feel of the hotel has been criticized as looking plastic and cheap, and reception to one sneak peek video was so bad, it has since disappeared from Disney's YouTube channel.

The video showed actor Sean Giambrone of "The Goldbergs" being given a tour of some of the ship's features, which look pretty bare and antiseptic for the Star Wars universe, and listening to a strange musical performance. (Another user uploaded the deleted video here.) The promo prompted one Twitter user to comment, "Bro this isn't Star Wars, this is 'Space Conflicts.'"

(excerpt)

When I first learned of this project I was quite enthusiastic about it. I've been playing roleplaying games for almost half a century, love Star Wars (well, the original trilogy at any rate), and I'm also a huge Disney fan. All three of these converging into a single experience?



But a couple of recent revelations have put made unwilling to spend any significant money on it:

1) It's not priced with single adults (such as myself) in mind. They'll be charging the same for a single person as they will for two adults, and given that I don't know anyone who would want to shell out this kind of money, it would cost me $5K for two nights. Throw in the cost of various extras, and it's even more. Ouch.

2) Even if I were willing to pay that much for so short an experience, we've now seen a couple of videos (as described above), and they look terrible. Check out stills from each one:





Welcome to your $5,000 experience, folks!

[SWBTATTReg]

1. must have gotten ahold of djt's recipe for his cheap a&& service at his hotels...if he still has any

left...

[mainer]

2. Hey, I love Disney World, but a hotel without a view?

That would make me claustrophobic. Yeah, I understand that's the space experience, but I think I'd rather go to the Polynesian resort.

[Dial H For Hero]

5. That's actually one aspect that appeals to me. Keep in mind the rooms do have windows,

but they show (simulated, of course) views of outer space, with the "scenery" changing as ship makes its way to various destinations. It sounds very immersive.

[Haggard Celine]

3. I always thought Star Wars was plastic and cheap.

I think I was about 12 when that shit came out, and I said I would pass. I don't think I've ever sat through the whole movie, end-to-end. It was a lot of hype, but that's life in America.

[Dial H For Hero]

6. Star Wars is a lot of things, but cheap isn't one of them.

The most recent films in the series cost around $300 million each.

[Haggard Celine]

7. I meant that it looked that way. I know they spent money on it.

Star Trek looked at least as real as Star Wars. Just something about Star Wars didn't look very real to me, not sure what it was.

[Dial H For Hero]

10. If anything, Star Trek looks less "real" to me than Star Wars. It's antiseptic.

Star Wars has much more of a used, "lived in" aesthetic.

[Haggard Celine]

11. The plastic looked cheap to me,

like the model airplanes they used to sell back then. And the robots! God, I hate robots that look like walking hunks of metal. Those were some piss-poor robots for that far into the future. They could hardly even move around!

[Dial H For Hero]

14. A limitation of the special effects of the time. Klaatu and Robby weren't exactly light on their

feet, if you'll recall. In more recent films there are droids that move much more quickly and in a more "life-like" (so to speak) manner.

Those were some piss-poor robots for that far into the future.

[Haggard Celine]

17. Oh, now I get it!

They had shitty robots back in the Roman Empire days, too. I read that it was so uncomfortable to have sex with your robot back then that people were reduced to having sex with their lovers for pleasure. Caligula had to have sex with his sister!

[kysrsoze]

4. This is exactly what I expected Disney to do with the Star Wars franchise... beat it into the ground

No company knows how to over-run markets and beat intellectual property to death like the Disney corporation. Too many sequels, too much merchandise, and gouging fans of the series for ever possible dime they can squeeze out of it. They destroy the art of it in the name of profit, and they are doing the same with the Marvel property.

I did the Walt Disney World college program back in the 90's, and it really opened my eyes. They take advantage of consumers and employees as well - terrible wages and benefits, but so many people are willing to deal with it because they "love Disney" and can get into the parks.

[Dial H For Hero]

9. If "too much" product results in some it being worth watching, I don't see a problem.

It's not as if Disney is holding a gun to the fan's heads and making them watch any of this.

As for the parks, I do really enjoy them...to the point that I've now visited all six at least once.

[AngryOldDem]

12. I HATE Disney.

There. I said it. Yep, I too knew it was going to run Star Wars into the ground once it got its greedy hands on the franchise.

We had friends (adults, with no kids) who actually MOVED to Orlando from Ohio (with no jobs waiting) so the wife could go to Disney World whenever she wanted. When we visited them in Orlando, back in the early ‘90s, they took us on a tour of the periphery of the property and were just gushing about how great Disney was, and how it was planning on developing (basically) its own city — houses, and I think even a hospital. I remember being more and more repelled and disgusted as the trip went on. I told my husband later that if Disney wanted to do that shit, then Florida should make it incorporate and assess taxes. I have no idea if any of this came to pass.

If I ever go to Florida again, I’m staying the hell away from Orlando and spending my time on the Gulf side of the state.

[Initech]

13. They didn't need Disney to do that, Star Wars fans did it for them.

I love the Star Wars franchise but I loathe Star Wars fans. They are easily the most intolerable of any fans of the major movie franchises. You can't just hate something anymore. These days you have to have a crazy, violent, fiery passion of hate to murder whatever it is that you hate. You have to hate it until it's dead, buried, burned, and dissolving at the bottom of the ocean. And that's exactly what they do.

[TheRealNorth]

15. Yeah, you can really identify the Incels in the Star Wars community

...when you discuss what is right/wrong with the last 3 films.

[Initech]

16. Yeah especially the ones that went after Kelly Marie Tran.

That was certifiably insane to watch.

[Torchlight]

8. Suck ever last dime out of an adequate story.

Dreams are often the fist victim of the free market.

[jmowreader]

18. It looks like something I would enjoy, except for the $2500/day part

Not too crazy about the Opposing Force being the First Order rather than the Empire, but I'm certain the Disney people wanted to use the enemy that was in the films they made. I checked out their website, and you have to sign up to be either a First Order member or a Rebel Alliance member while you're there. Being a Stormtrooper for a couple of days sounds like it could be fun.

[ZonkerHarris]

19. I'm pretty sure the future is going to be made of plastic and look pretty crappy.

[tanyev]

20. Really seems odd that they wouldn't have pricing for singles.

Seems like families with kids and singles really into Star Wars would be their prime targets.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

21. I just got back from a trip to Walt Disney World

I am not interested in this hotel or experience