I am not surprised. Paying $6,000 for a standard cabin at the Starcruiser makes staying at the Grand Floridian look affordable in comparison.

The absolute failure of Starcruiser is Disney not knowing their customers, or ignoring their customers.

Disney unknowingly started competing with themselves when they built Star cruiser. The price point made families choose whether they wanted to spend a week at Disney World or a weekend at Star Cruiser. Wanting to do both in the same vacation would double your vacation costs. Disney forgot who their fan base is, and created an experience that was out of reach for most Disney fans.

They limited the audience so severely, there was no way it could succeed.

I think it was wild that Disney thought there was a continued supply of people with $6000 to spend on 48 hours who also love to larp.

Disney has done a really great job at burning franchises to the ground over the past few years. They need to take a step back and reevaluate what they are doing. Star Wars was a guaranteed money maker. They fudged it up big time.

I’m glad it failed. Disney tried to lock Galaxy’s Edge content behind a paywall, confident that the fandom would throw money at the project regardless. Turns out people aren’t just gullible and rich cash cows. If Disney are going to survive the economic downturn, they need to remember what made the parks great to begin with - the artistic generosity and ingenuity of imagineering. And I mean REAL imagineers. Not nepotistic freshmen straight out of Yale or Harvard with their Corporate Business Management degrees.

I feel ya, Tom, but let's be real. You're sad that more people won't see it? It is closing because most people don't care to see it (at least without a substantilly lower price point). It was one of the most well executed, interesting, immersive, and groundbreaking experiences that was designed to appeal to an excruciatingly narrow audience. This necessitated being financially well-off, enjoying not only Star Wars, but Disney Star Wars, being a fan of LARPing, AND having enough disposable vacation time that you could commit 2 days of your vacation time to this. That is one hell of a narrow audience lol. Without taking away from the quality of the Imagineering, performances, etc., this was always going to fail. The only thing that surprises me is how the average Disney fan could understand this, but Disney executives could not.

Disney didn't just 'kinda' price people out, they literally priced most people out. And the closest most would get to this experience is through KZfaq (thx for your reviews btw). Great concept? You bet. But just because you can doesn't mean you should. Voice of reality and common sense would have created a truly themed hotel, and made it affordable to most, not the select few. That is longevity.

I really feel for the cast members. They put their best into it. They are the true stars. Its not their fault Disney leadership sucks and ruined this. Disney leadership needs to be booted out and start over with new people that have Walt's vision. Appreciate Tom congratulating the cast members.

Converting it into a 6 hour long Star Wars version of Medieval Times with two showtimes a day would make it booked solid.

The Starcruiser WAS a test. It was a test to see where the ceiling is for gouging their fans. It's an ongoing test that's been happening for well over a decade. "How much will they pay for the parks? For food? For souvenirs? For ticketed events? To get on ride that they probably won't get to ride otherwise?" For many they hit that ceiling years ago. Tom is right. This was a great idea ruined by greed. But that's pretty much the Disney Parks at this point...

Unfortunately I think I have to disagree with you on the Lake Nona decision. Imagineers have fought this move from the beginning and with the latest financial results Disney is using the “politics” of all of this to cancel the project when in reality Disney had no intentions to follow through even with all the state incentives because of the huge cost in this climate, it makes Iger look like a hero to the imagineers and make him look good to shareholders so this was inevitable

When Disney made their own content, they were great. It seems now they would rather buy the competition instead of crushing them. It also seems that they intend to use income from the theme parks to fund their laziness. Alienating the core supporters (annual pass holders) in favor of milking one-time newcomers. If they were smart, they would arrange it so the newcomers could afford to come back time and again and perhaps one day aspire to be an annual pass holder. Instead of building a well to drink from, they prefer to drink from disposable bottles. This not only limits the amount available but also creates the issue of garbage as well. They would have you believe that this is all Bob Chapek's fault, but the truth is Bob Iger was the one who wanted to be the media mogul buying up everything he could get his hands on and diluting it while charging as much as possible for less and less. The theme parks are the only entity of Disney's entire portfolio that is profitable. They pay for all of the other non-profitable Disney ventures. Perhaps Bob should make some major investments in the parks to keep funding his other losing ideas.

Tom - let's face it, at $6000 (or more) for a family of four is outrageous. The 2021 median annual wage in the US was $45,760 (before taxes are deducted). How is a median annual wage earner expected to afford this? Have you looked at the people attending WDW or DL? They don't Look rich to me. They look like hard working families who either save for years or plop the cost on their over-extended credit card (terrible idea) to visit these parks. Average CC debt for 50 yo is over $8000. For 40 yo the debt is in the high $7,000s. While I can't disagree with you that the experience is outstanding, especially for those uber-dedicated Star Wars fans, Disney shot themselves in the foot with the pricing. I am happy you got to visit multiple times (funding from your patrons I am assuming?). Unlikely you put $18,000 worth of visits on YOUR credit card. This didn't need to happen, Disney got greedy.

Don’t mistake, I’m sad to see the galactic star cruiser experience close. But it was something I was never going to get to try myself nor any member of my family. It was so far beyond our budget as to be in another galaxy far far away. I personally, would like to see some of the entertainment moved to Galaxy’s edge in the park itself. As it stands, galaxy’s edge feels more like a movie lot than an actual experience. Perhaps, adding more entertainment, more creatures, more sounds, more smells appropriate to the area, would make the experience more immersive.

I thought it sounded awful the first time I heard about it, before I heard how expensive it was. Two day bossy escape room with no escape. It felt like a stressful team-building corporate retreat thing that you dread but can’t escape. Millions of people don’t go to Florida and Vegas every year to cosplay. It’s a niche thing the vast majority of people DO NOT WANT TO DO even for free. Then it costs as much as a weeks vacations and burns days of your annual leave. It’s just sounds awful top to bottom. All it takes is one introvert in your family to veto going.

Starcruiser was doomed to fail from the beginning, and that price tag for a 2 night stay was beyond ridiculous!

GSC represents the height of privilege and the big problem with current decision making from execs... very wealthy people don't really give a sh*t about Disney parks...to the few who can afford to travel the world, it's tacky and plebian and they won't support any endeavor long term. STOP TRYING TO COURT THEM.

You didn’t mention that they were already down to only two “voyages” a week, not in the fall RIGHT NOW. You also didn’t mention that Disney shot this in the foot as soon as the very first PR video dropped, and it never improved. If you’re going to list the good things, you should also list the bad things as well. Because this had a LOT of bad associated with it.

You feel like I did at the tragic end of the Adventurer's Club on formerly Pleasure Island. That Cloob was the most unique, themed environment ever and is still sorely missed by so many of us. Rumor was that it wasn't bringing in the revenue - but all they had to do was charge tickets at the door. People who weren't buying drinks - the tickets could have included the cost of a couple. Easy fixes. But they demolished it instead. /cry Bring back the Adventurer's Club!

Tom, I am a California native and Disneyland is my home park. However, I watch many WDW channels because I love “all things Disney”, even though I will probably never make it to WDW. This video and your heartfelt opinion on the Halcyon experience is perhaps the best Disney video I have ever watched. Your sincere reviews and humble appreciation for the innovation that went into the creation of this experience speaks volumes to the deep love you have for the Mouse. Bravo, Tom! I hope you get your final voyage because I love I’ll be watching with bated breath!

But they limited the discount to the minority of people who could take advantage of that discount. Tom, the company hasn't been kind to either California, Florida or it's employees

I followed the project from the sketches and I was very excited until the day the prices were announced and it was as if Disney was shouting at my face "Dear a lifetime fan, you don't care for us. We only want wealthy people for our best experience." A kind of "club 33" but less exclusive. Honestly for someone who continues to pay the loan for his visit in 2017 to fulfill a dream, this project was a punch in the belly. I feel your loss and I hope that the workers relocate but I am glad with all my soul that the play has gone badly for Disney.

They never even delivered what was initially promised, erasing any reason in spending 6k, let alone justifying it.

You have to remember you are recognized by cast members all throughout Disney because of your blogs…you are going to be treated differently than someone else. You are going to get the 5 star treatment!

I just have to say as a Disney and Star Wars fan they completely priced me out on this "cruise". I live in SoFlo and have gone to Disney countless times since 1972 and cruised the Fantasy twice. This is just too much money for penny counters like me. I was turned off from the beginning with the price but gave way a little after seeing positive videos like yours. STILL! It's just too much. I have family and friends that are avid fans but cannot afford this trip. Staying at a moderate resort is "luxury" for me. It's just too much money. I'm a person that would have been interested, but I know of many who just do not like Star Wars at all.

The calculation was actually very simple. 6 k for two nights on a fake cruise. Or 6 k for two 7day actual cruises on an actual boat. It wasn’t brain science in this household. The price showed just how out of touch with reality Disney is. They overestimated the wealth of their fandom. They underestimate the degree to which fans dislike Disney Star Wars. The Venn diagram of rich, RPG playing, Star Wars fans just doesn’t overlap as much as Disney thought. ¯\_(°_O)/¯

The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser was a colossal waste of money.

1) KK lied right to George’s face and didn’t make the trilogy that Lucas gave her the treatments for. This pissed off fans. 2) Lucasfilm humiliated Luke in TLJ. Further upsetting fans. 3)Lucasfilm employees publicly called upset fans all kinds of names. Further alienating them. 4) Starcruiser does not have Luke, Leia and Vader. No one cares about Rey and Kylo 5) price is too high for casual Star Wars fans. Summary: you pissed off hardcore Star Wars fans who refused to go, and you priced it too high for the casual fans. A recipe for failure.

I'm not entirely sure the Lake Nona cancellation was all that much of a surprise. I think it was another bad Chapek idea that needed to be stopped. The move was quite unpopular with Imagineering, causing a number of cast there to resign or retire rather than agree to the move. Which was one of the possible reasons for the move - to accomplish just that. These long-time (and expensive) imagineers could be replaced in Florida with summer interns and new hires much more cheaply. There's also the optics of building a new Billion+ dollar corporate headquarters when thousands of rank and file cast are being laid off to cut costs. That looks simply terrible. As to Iger saying it was still on a while ago - it was probably still on because it was a lower priority item on his plate and he simply hadn't had the chance to take a look at the project. Of course, Iger is a smart enough guy to spin things a bit and include the recent silliness as part of why the project was cancelled. But I think it would have been cancelled even if there were a more Disney friendly person in the governor's mansion.

Kennedy needs to face reality and realize her new trilogy did a ton of brand damage. No one wants her self imposed, Rey Palpatine. This stood a chance with the OG trilogy. Of course the pricetag really destroyed any chance of success, but they also underdelivered in what the promised. Disney on a whole is a complete mess. The only sector excelling is the foreign parks because it's removed from this dumpsterfire of "leadership".

Tom, your initial detailed review of the Starcruiser really sold me on the amount of effort and talent that went into the experience, and sold me on the idea of it more than the blindly fawning "reviews" by people who got a free ride through the weekend. But even then, you ended the review with a strong, reasoned damnation of the price structure and the restrictive structure of the weekend. Your intense love for the experience didn't stop you from saying "it's not worth it." It really stinks that the time and effort of the cast members are being lost, but it's like making an amazing hamburger that costs $400. At some point, "cost prohibitive" veers into "cost insulting."

Honestly I'm not jealous that I never had the opportunity to experience it. Harry Potter Land emulates Harry Potter, Nintendo World emulates Nintendo. Even Disney's Toy Story Land and Avatar themed Land hit it on the nail. The Galactic Star Cruiser doesn't emulates Star Wars atleast from what I've seen. I see nothing to connect to. Like...you could take that same hotel and change it to a Lost In Space hotel overnight. It has no real distinction that connects it to the intended theme.

Wasn't even just the price. It's the type of experience you had to go through on Star Cruiser that is totally unappealing a lot of people. I would have happily taken a free two nights at All Star Sports versus Star Cruiser. Being herded around to role-play is not even close to my idea of a vacation.

That’s how I felt when they demolished the horizons at EPCOT centre. And I would imagine that people also felt the same way about the rainbow caverns at the original Disneyland being closed.

Disney put a lot of effort and spent a lot of money on the Starcruiser that few fans could afford. The characters and droids that were promised for Galaxy's Edge were put behind a pay wall. Greed and lack of understanding of what long time Star Wars fans were looking for is what caused its demise.

Nope, you’re wrong on the Disney/Lake Nona story: Disney pulling out of Lake Nona is about money. They have to cut 5.6 billion $ like Iger announced. 7,000 jobs lost is part, but not enough. Besides business losses, the $18/hour is costing them also. All the discounts, cutting reservations, closing SW hotel, bringing back dining plans…all to bring more people in to make MONEY. Building a big place in Lake Nona is too expensive for them right now. THAT is why it was cancelled. It’s about the $MONEY$.

The sad part is the cast members pay the price for Disney's mistake of overpricing.

Universal will buy the box truck to transport the huge sums of cash it will make when EPIC Universe opens.

I don't feel your pain. Conceptually, it was great! But the economics were never there. For $6K, I can do a really nice Disney cruise and get a lot more for my money and we all know that Disney cruises aren't the cheapest.

They should have put the money spent on this to really make Galaxy’s Edge what they promised. Have characters throughout the land and had a story happen in the land. After reading the companion Black Spire novel, there should be so many more characters in the land. Shop vendors should be aliens, Olga should be in the cantina. Savi should make an appearance during the saber build. Etc. I’m sad that it was the pricing that killed Star Cruiser. Heck all the money spent on this and Harmonious could have gone into the EPCOT reimagining as was intended.

I heard others bring this up earlier, and it kind of makes sense, being I have an MBA in accounting. Walt Disney Company’s fiscal end of year is September 30. This is going to be a need for them to do a big write off and accelerate depreciation of the building and equipment. This is the reason for the abrupt announcement because somebody made that decision to drop the hammer and end the program.

Tom is wrong about the pricing- (the damage was done when the story followed the sequel) yet at least he’s starting to realize that Iger is the problem and not chapek.

It's sweet how much you care about the Galactic Starcruiser ☺ Seriously though, the price point was definitely a major issue, but without knowing the basic operating costs, it's hard to know what was "gouging" and what was necessary to make a profit. Really seems like the kind of experience that's too small-scale and requires too much overhead to be profitable unless the price is very high.

I think Tom is 100% wrong on the Lake Nona thing. I think Disney wants you to believe it has to do with DeSantis, and I don’t really think DeSantis needs to insert himself into this matter… but Tom even said that this move was VERY unpopular, and was frankly a way for Chapek to potentially fire Imagineers. With the amount of schools in the reach of the campus, they likely would have outsourced to students for cheap labor in Imagineering. So add that to bad financial times at Disney (Tom glossed over that, too)… they’re looking for a PR win, so that’s why they’ll try and pin this on DeSantis. The truth is a lot of bad decision making over the past five years is coming home to roost.

So sad to hear they are closing the Galactic Starcruiser before I could try it out. I was hoping that they would drop the prices for everyone and not just DVC members. Then they would get the crowds. I am curious to understand how they came to the pricing they did. I remember getting a survey about if I would be interested in this type of vacation and I was very excited about it, but the survey never asked how much I was expecting to pay.

The cost made this hotel so irrelevant that I am not even sure why I am watching this video.

Soon as I saw the news broke, I thought to myself: Tom's gonna have a field day with this.

It was such an ambitious project that didn't deserve to die so unceremoniously. However, like most recent Disney projects, the execs didn't let experienced Imagineers go 100% of the way on this project. I'm not saying I have any better ideas than Disney, but imagine if they had properly themed the building to feel like actual Star Wars. Imagine if the story was set during the original trilogy timeline. Imagine if the cabins were a bit roomier and more comfortable. Imagine if the dinner-show portion was actually located in Galaxy's Edge (like it was supposed to), so the trip to Batuu included the dinner show and then regular park guests could attend the dinner show on the nights when Galactic Starcruiser guests weren't. So many ways to have made this thing more sustainable. It is even sadder that this is now a trend; Disney is removing original shows like The Mysterious Benedict Society from Disney+!

"Those of us who got to go have street cred over other Disney Fans." There is the entire problem with this business model. This was built for the instagram crowd and general snobbery. Problem is they did it during an economic downturn.....oops.

I sure hope Disney will develop it into something else: Create a dinner show, convert the sleeping quarters to small lunch dining areas and have droids bring the food, have Cast Members and special characters (that you can ONLY see at this venue-OG Star Wars characters, anyone?) roam around and visit guests, keep it the exclusive way to buy/wear the cosplay clothes to Galaxies Edge. An experience that lasts 1-2 hours and adds hundreds of dollars to a vacation (instead of thousands) might work better. Change it up and keep the Cast Members!

Their advertising doomed it. All the initial advertising was so cringy and showed the corners they cut (the lightsaber training, the bridge) as opposed to how the event itself actually was.

And that was the crux of it really. Greed. There was no way for it to ever build up a good rep and good word of mouth when so few mouths could afford to experience it in the first place. This was as close to halcyon days of immersive experiences as we were gonna get and they blew it.

“This is def worth it!” … 30 secs later “its a small basic room with the worst bed at any disney resort” As much as tom loves the star wats actors. Its never worth it to stay 2 days there instead of a week on a disney cruise!

Honestly it is very bittersweet for me. It was a feat of storytelling and engineering for sure, but it was full of things originally promised for galaxy's edge, and locked behind a paywall too high for most. It's not lost on me why it cost so much, it must have cost them a fortune to build/run the thing, but at the end of the day a high concept ~ $6000 sci-fi role play hotel was not long for this world. Especially in this economy.

One of the biggest surprises I'm shocked they never took was giving guests the ability to experience Batuu at night- to give guests the ability to sort of LARP their way through a land that was built on that same sort of experience (in the beginning, at least.) This could have been wildly successful not only to Star Wars fans but to people that enjoy that sort of dinner theater that is themed, to LARPers, or to people that would just love to have a sort of 'personalized' Star Wars experience. I don't know why they couldn't stick it out and have something different from what other parks offered. They literally had it all right there in their hands, but I guess because it wasn't pulling the numbers they wanted consistently it was just doomed from the start. What a shame. We wanted to get a voyage in within the next year. Watched the reviews, was genuinely excited for the potential to geek out in an overpriced hotel, but have fun with it. They didn't let this idea run, they cut it at the knees and killed it before it ever had the chance, and that's a shame.

If it was in the OT timeline it would have been more successful. Most Star Wars fans (not all) do not appreciate the sequel era done by Disney. Plus the price was prohibitive.

Growing up my family was blue collar. Dad would put the family in a car in summer and drive down to Disney from NJ. We didn't have reservations there would be cheap motels nearby and you just looked for a vacancy sign. I am now white collar. I flew my parents down and stayed on Disney property. But I am still sad that other families can't do what I used to do. I was told by a Floridian that the motels you could just drive to were turned into welfare hotels and of course I've noticed how expensive the entrance tickets are. I do think that Disney's greed has priced out a WHOLE lot of people. I never went on the Starcruiser because I haven't been able to go to Disney since the pandemic started but I hoped I might do it in the future although the money was not something to sneeze at. Even for me I'd have to save and then splurge but I would have considered it as a ONCE IN A LIFETIME kind of thing, and now I won't have that option. I'm not against Disney making profit but making so many things out of reach of Joe America is just stupid in the long run.

Thank you Tom. My husband over herd what you said about the Star Cruiser ( he is one of the imagineers who worked on it). They are all terribly upset about this. They are in mourning too. We like you are going to try our hardest to get on one more time :(

Should’ve made it the classic SW era. They’d attract more millennials who would pay to do this.

Is there any chance they could turn this into a premium dining experience for Galaxy's Edge? Something like Space 220? They already have the shuttle to transfer guests between Galaxy's Edge and the Starcruiser. They already have the menu and dining room (Could perhaps expand on it even). And maybe have the dinner include a musical act like they already have. They could have a reservation desk in Galaxys Edge where they check you in for your reservation and have the shuttle transfer people to the Starcruiser restaurant? Honestly this would still be a premium experience but would be accessable to so many more people than before.

Being someone who paid over $6k to take my family to the star cruiser it definitely was not worth it. The room was small, the ac in the room didn’t work well & was very stuffy, the beds were extremely uncomfortable, the food was not good. My kids didn’t understand what was going on & didn’t have a good time. For the price, it was not worth it. I knew this would end soon, it might as well open as a regular hotel & a dinner show so anyone who didn’t want to pay the thousands of dollars can experience it, just don’t bring your young children, they won’t understand what’s going on. It’s definitely not for children.

Tim Tracker was recently there and they had one dinner service. Maybe 1/3 of the dining room was occupied... even with the discount. It was doomed from the start.

Disney has completely lost touch with the public. Greed and Sloth now run the company.

disney really shot themselves in the foot with this one. they refused to listen to what the guest really wanted and insisted on forcing new trilogy which the majority of legacy star wars fans dont like and charged insane prices. their being so stubborn is gonna lead to more decline in the company

I agree with Tom even though I did not stay at star cruiser. Maintenance and neglect go so far. I noticed my latest trip last week that Disney cast members are truly great, but people are darn hogs. Being a decent human being helps more than they know and being a hog ruins experiences for other people. It is ridiculous.

Ah, I've been waiting for your analysis! It does make me sad, especially since I would've never gotten the chance to go at that price point. In the 60+ years that I've been going to Disney, since my parents first took me to D'Land in 1961, there have been large periods of time when I didn't get a chance to go, and missed so many things. I look at the history of the Disney Parks and see all the missteps and experiences that are now closed. And you know what? I've enjoyed the times I've gone and the times I've had. But yes, this news is sad. But then again, in my career I've worked for some fantastic companies who did some things that were very unfortunate, as well. In the end, Disney is a company that sometimes does things right, and sometimes does things... wrong. Asi es la vida.

Always thought this would be an unbelieveable Day Experience, with a meal. No overnight needed. Many would pay to make this a tour type add on to Galaxy Edge. Well said Reaction.

"we been out of the chapek era long enough... I dont see this thing turning around..." Iger turned things around FAST when he took over after Eisner. But things arent turning over this time. Because its MORE then chapek being the problem, iger is just as at fault. Things took a turn for the worse when Iger started focusing on steering the company towards ESG mandates so that he would get the good boy points he needed with the Democrat party when he wanted to run for president. The fact nothing is changing for the better anytime soon just shows Iger is NOT the hero people kept thinking he was. The bobs together ruined disney.

We just got back from Disney and we felt things are getting much better. Cleanliness, food, transportation were all better than 1 year ago. Maybe not back to 2010 standards, but still better.

“We’ll take what we’ve learned…” Sounds like a teacher saying “You failed and will have to repeat 8th grade but just think how much better prepared you’ll be if you ever do make it to high school.” But yes I’m bummed. I would really get a kick out of this if it wasn’t out of my price range and I’m sorry others won’t get to do it.

Tom was ripping this as an inevitable failure when Chapek was in charge. But now Iger is in and he thinks it’s great and should stay open??? I’m sure this is great, but not only is it limited to fans of the new Star Wars franchise which is likely a younger audience, an audience that is less likely to be able to afford the exorbitant price tag. It was destined to fail from day one.

It wasn't what fans of the original Star Wars trilogy expected and thankfully found that out Before paying $6000. George Lucas's work could've been included for a price but they chose not to go that route. Hopefully someone will create something with the Cantina Band - iconic

They fully missed the mark of it being Star Wars. It could reopen as just a "Space Voyage with Aliens". Just never actually used proper Star Wars established scenery.

Once again, Disney management sabotaged the magic & threw cast and fans under the bus.

To me, the closing of the star cruiser is the big symptom of a bigger problem that I am shocked that no one is talking about how Disney has been designing their new zones. I have a lot of friends that go to both Disney and Universal. Everyone that I talk to who have gone to Galaxy's edge and avengers campus finds the area incredibly boring. And all of them have the same thing in common. They are moms and or dads with small children. And the problem that I see with galaxy's edge and avengers campus. If this is the direction Disney's going in is that they've literally designed it for millennials. They are giant shopping malls. You go. You experience two high pace high concept themed rides. You eat some fancy food. And you buy a crap ton of merch. That's it. There is absolutely nothing for a five or seven-year-old child to do at these places. And you look at universal with Super Nintendo world and I have friends who have families who just can't stop going back to either Tokyo or Hollywood. From why I understand it's because when Nintendo help designed it, they prioritize that they would be something for everyone there and that the whole idea with the wristbands and the fact that you can literally run around and explore and find stuff every inch to do in that land was for the small kids. They also insisted on having that Yoshi ride because while boring, it's a great kid, friendly sensory friendly compliment to the bigger thrill ride. That is the Mario Kart and the upcoming donkey Kong roller coaster. And I think this has rubbed off on Universal because I'm looking at that how you train your dragon area and I'm floored of the amount of variety in it that if you are a little kid or a edgy teenager or a young millennial adult or a old ass parent, there is something for you to enjoy there. So in my opinion, what they should do with the star cruiser is tear most of it down and make it a proper expansion to Galaxy's edge and have it round out all the problems that they've missed. Naked area that's a Jedi temple training area. Kind of like the Jedi Temple challenge that little kids can run and explore in activating force things along the way, which is also a way that could possibly repurpose the lightsaber training. Make the theater show into a proper cantina maybe arrival to Olga's that just recently opened up. Involve more errors of the Star Wars world. Maybe add a new mini ride where there is an old Confederate of independent systems droid outpost that never went off line and so the droid depot wants you to destroy all the battle droids in rogue robots to collect more parts and you can actually fire blasters at battle droids and droid dekas. That's what universals doing with the expansion to Super Nintendo world and that's what they're doing with epic universe and they have been doing with the Harry Potter land. I also just want to add in that as a Star Wars fan closing the star cruisers really awkward because Disney insisted on that all of the marketing for the past 2 years had to involve that star cruiser. So we got things where Han and Leia had their honeymoon there. It's featured in the high republic series. It's featured in obviously the sequel trilogy. It was like everywhere you go and now it doesn't exist. So is it like not Canon anymore like that? This whole everything has to be canon is just harming everything. It's basically grown up Star Wars fans who have now taken their hobby way too seriously and it's like with Halo choking all the fun out of it.

I doubt this failed because of the high cost. This failed because it had to cost this much due to higher operating cost. Disney thought people would pay it. When they didn’t they discounted with hopes of increasing demand. That didn’t happen over time so they had to cut their loses. There was no chance they could keep the experience where it was and still profit at discounted rates

Y’know, I think I figured out the vibe I got from this whole experience. It’s like if you went out of your way to drive for 6 hours to get to the birthday party of the richest/most popular kid in your school, but then when you got there the only thing to do was lame party games but the birthday person thinks it’s the funnest party ever and also you HAVE to stay for the whole thing because of how much effort it took to get there. Weird comparison but that’s really what it feels like lol

A $6000 price tags would have been easily paid if the experience was built around actual Star Wars

Well, Disney has been going down hill for years. We love the parks. We just got back from a Disney trip today. We were disappointed with the Tron ride(guardians is the best). Some cast members were rude for no reason, no consistency with security at all. This is just one more thing to add to dismal Disney.

I started ranting once the initial fandom went that they needed to rebrand this “attraction.” It is way over priced for your average fan. I have been a hard core OG Star Wars fan for 46 years and have passed that love down two generations. But, this was a one and done for your average fan who doesn’t live in Orlando and are part of the Influencer community. As I stated last year, they should have went to “a trip to orbiting Halcyon from Batuu” and make it a lunch without show and dinner show with hotel accommodations with a significant price drop. And we need to quit reconning this to a “two and a half day experience” implying a 60 hour experience when it was a 44 hour, get your bag breakfast, and get the hell out last day event. I am glad to see it fail; their attempt to appeal to the higher end Star Wars fan / Influence community was the wrong operating plan. They need to reevaluate the plan going forward and make sure your average vacationeers have an opportunity to enjoy the Star Wars Universe.

1 week long vacation to Europe - 2 week long vacations almost anywhere across the country, or a 2 day trip In a windowless hotel. Easy decision.

Most of America is living paycheck to paycheck, $6000 for a family of 4 for 2 nights!?!?!? I know of a Cast Member who is devastated and a family member who was sacked from Disney Corporate last month so that is sad........but What is Disney thinking?!?!?!?!?

if they were making a profit even at the discounted price, they could afford to lower the price more to keep it open. This tells me they were likely not making a profit, and were losing money at the discounted price.

This is all Bob Iger fault. Chapek was the fall guy

This is not how Disney has operated in the past, they would find a way to make it work including cutting prices!

During the "voyage" you can choose to help the Resistance or help the First Order, but the finale will always be the same. Maybe now Disney can sell Rey's retractable-beam lightsaber to fans (the one she ignites before quickly swapping it for another that can safely clash with an object)

I've gone from loving Disney to absolutely loathing them. I hope they fail completely

UrbEx folks, looks like you’ve got yourselves a new Discovery Island…

Memories are priceless with your parents. Cherish that.

Should be a warning for a jump scare before that picture of Christine McCarthy

I disagree they were running at a profit. It wouldn't be closing if they were. Low occupancy rates at a tiny hotel with a presumed huge running cost means it was almost certainly running a loss, especially once they had to discount it. I think they just missed the mark on this one. If they'd opened a themed deluxe hotel with a prix fixe dinner show, it would be booked solid. But a 48 hour LARPing experience is an extremely narrow audience, no matter what price tag you stick on it.

The galactic star cruiser was doomed from the start because it place it’s only emphasis on Disney, Star Wars, and not on the original trilogy. The original trilogy is beloved by those who have the money the Disney trilogy is at best seen as mediocre to Paul the fan bases.

As a professional artist the imagineering didn’t cut the mustard for the price. For the price of a used car I’m expecting production design spearheaded by Doug Chaing and ILM. There is no lived in feeling based on the footage. Where is the patina on the walls? The lived in feel, the aging of certain parts of the cruiser that haven’t been repaired as recently? Everything is shiny and new:

It was too expensive to be viable

The rooms looked kind of meh especially for the price point. I think they needed to add more hotel stuff. A pool, spa, gym, play area for kids, an xwing or tie fighter simulator would be cool, themed laser tag would be cool. Except for strong star wars fans, I'm not sure if the immerse character experience was enough for broader appeal.

It was special to the few who could spend that kind of money on it. The reality is that this had such a very small audience that it was never going to be sustainable.

The saddest thing about the GSC closing is that here are so many what seem to be easy solutions to making it sustainable while keeping the price point. 1 quick easy solution: Cruise is 5 days. The live show story happens the first 2.5 days. The remaining time it reverts to being a docked ship going down to Disney World. With 2 day park hopper tickets included.

I went with my family a few months ago. I am 14 and I absolutely loved it. When somebody asks me what my favourite trip was it would without a doubt have been this! My family adores starwars and we all agreed it was executed perfectly. Many of what people in this comment section are saying is “looking at the concrete wall is not as special as visiting a park.” But there was always something to do and I actually felt as though I was somebody else actually in the starwars universe. From the unique dinners, to the look of the ship, it all felt so real to me. The story made sense, and there was nothing better than being invited to secret meetings my parents and sister weren’t. The cast members were amazing at what they did and one of the sajas really sold the trip for me as real, I was in the outdoor simulator and stacking some rocks when she came in and talked to me for 20 mins, before instructing me to hold my hand out and think about some things, the rocks all fell and pulled toward me. I’m sure it’s magnets but it felt so real and special. I forgot what the bad dudes name was on this, but he kept making an effort with my sister (who was playing the bad side) which was special to her. The cast was awesome, the ship was awesome, the park was awesome, I loved the whole thing and I’m so upset it’s closing.