Would you stay at the Galactic Cruiser if it was transformed?

[MickeysPal49]

I keep reading that the number of visitors taking the Galactic Cruise is going way down to the point of cancelling a meal and cutting cast members. Assuming that the "ship" could be revamped to be more of a regular resort and less expensive, would you consider staying on the Galactic "hotel"? There wouldn't be a pool, but if they could include a pass into Epcot for each day of your stay, and maybe passes for all the Star Wars Land attractions, I might convince my family to stay for 2 nights.

 

[gmi3804]

It's a pretty ugly building, designed to be an indoor experience. There'd have to be massive renovations to both the building and the surrounding land for it to be a decent resort. And it's really small, by resort standards, so its size alone would probably prohibit any kind of renovation; it'd have to be expanded quite a bit.

 

[Chupaca bruh]

We would give it a try. We don't usually swim so don't require a pool. We almost alway stay at two resorts on our trips so 2-3 nights here would be good. Since it would be a regular resort we would come and go to the parks as usual but might spend a bit more time inside the resort for the atmosphere. The exterior of the building wouldn't matter as long as you really don't see it while coming and going. It would, then, all come down to the the nightly rate.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Probably not for an overnight stay. I would be interested in some sort of separately ticketed day pass where we could maybe sign up for bridge training, lightsaber training, engine room tour etc., visit the bar, dine in the restaurant, play sabaac, maybe do a mission in Batuu etc.

 

[ucf_knight]

Probably not for an overnight stay. I would be interested in some sort of separately ticketed day pass where we could maybe sign up for bridge training, lightsaber training, engine room tour etc., visit the bar, dine in the restaurant, play sabaac, maybe do a mission in Batuu etc.

I would for sure do the dinner show just like you can do hoop dee doo revue but not stay at the fort.

 

[gmi3804]

Probably not for an overnight stay. I would be interested in some sort of separately ticketed day pass where we could maybe sign up for bridge training, lightsaber training, engine room tour etc., visit the bar, dine in the restaurant, play sabaac, maybe do a mission in Batuu etc.

Its small size would make it financially unfeasible for management to charge what they'd need to charge to make it accessible to a larger market and still be profitable.

 

[RoseGold]

This was probably always the backup plan, I'm sure they can run this as a profitable hotel. Probably not a price I would pay, but this price exists. It's not like they are going to tear it down if they take out the actors. But honestly, if you could rent this thing out for a wedding and pay add on actors or missions or whatever, it would be booked solid. I'm surprised Disney isn't doing that yet, actually.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Yes. I have often wondered if the current model was sustainable long term. If the price was somewhere above a deluxe (you get direct park access which no other hotel at WDW does), but lower than now, along with a few other changes like more opportunity to go into the park, I would be a lot more interested. They could still keep it exclusive to staying guests which would drive demand and be a really interesting Epcot area resort option. I wonder if they could even rotate different kinds of itineraries with some more immersive dates than others.

 

[_19disnA]

Always thought they would have trouble keeping this placed booked. It is the most expensive hotel on the property and seemed like a one-and-done sort of experience even for those who could afford it. How many repeat visitors they get seems the main issue to me. I think the majority of Disney visitors go for the parks. Far fewer want to be tied up at their hotel with a live action event. I believe it only has 100 rooms, so it isn't like they could do much else with it.

 

[Darthbane2007]

If there were options like maybe a day or so, I would bite..

 

[Lewisc]

Check in at 4. Dinner show experience. Overnight stay. Breakfast the next morning. Reduce the number of full voyages to match demand.

Try to market group buyouts of an entire voyage

 

[RoseGold]

Try to market group buyouts of an entire voyage

It has about 100 rooms, great size for a corporate buy-out or a wedding.

Make some corporate-y team building program or something. Companies have spent this much on less.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I keep reading that the number of visitors taking the Galactic Cruise is going way down to the point of cancelling a meal and cutting cast members. Assuming that the "ship" could be revamped to be more of a regular resort and less expensive, would you consider staying on the Galactic "hotel"? There wouldn't be a pool, but if they could include a pass into Epcot for each day of your stay, and maybe passes for all the Star Wars Land attractions, I might convince my family to stay for 2 nights.

No, not likely. Even if the building was made into a traditional resort. I am not enough of a SW fan to really want to stay there. I also can't see spending this much time on SW activities, it's just not for my family. And it's obvious that even the biggest fans aren't willing to pay the ridiculous amounts given it's at been at 25% capacity. Disney missed the mark on this and even the incredibly high travel demand early and into summer 2022 couldn't keep this hotel full. I get the price is reflective of a whole role play, fully immersive itinerary with real star-cruiser accommodations, but this type of trip could not be any further from what I consider to be a vacation. I get it, there are people who love it but it's a terrible value. I also wonder once you do it once, do you need to to go back? I don't know. However, forced, uncomfortable interactions with total strangers....no thank you; just not my thing. I don't think there's any hope for this building since it literally looks like a prison from the outside but architects can do wonders I suppose. If it closes, it will be become something in a future park expansion to make up for the $$ lost. I'll be interested to see what happens to it down the line.

 

[DodgerGirl]

I think the main reason why Disney wanted to build a Star Wars themed resort was to see how successful it would become because for a long time Disney has always had a dream to do more with Star Wars and starting with the debut of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge land Disney knew that it worked miracles and little did we know that a development of a Star Wars oriented resort would soon be happening. But instead of making it an actual Star Wars themed resort they decided to make it an experience and a Star Wars version of the popular Grey Wolf Lodge chain set on a "spaceship". I think why this hotel isn't doing well is because Disney hasn't promoted it well because you don't see one commercial of it on TV and I agree that for the price they should offer Star Wars themed activities such as making Lightsabers playing Star Wars board games character breakfasts and dinners and in the daytime have meet and greets with Star Wars characters as well. Disney has had smart ideas in the past when they created Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Art Of Animation Resort but I agree that Disney missed the mark with Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser and they should've done more improvement before opening and this is who I think Disney was trying to attract with this resort,
A. Star Wars fans,
B. People who view this as something to remember on their first Walt Disney World vacation,
C. People who think it might be awesome to role play in a Star Wars experience,
D. Families that view the experience as a one time thing for their vacation,
E. All of the above,
Now when you look at the general picture the most possible answers to this question are A and E or A and C. But had they put in more Star Wars themed activities and based the storylines from the movies themselves it would've been great Now if Disney were to add a Marvel themed hotel like they have in Disneyland Paris I would be in heaven because if Disney opened a Marvel themed hotel in America it would do better if it were to exist. But I can see the Galactic Starcruiser turning into a regular resort just like The Disney Inn changed to Shades Of Green in the 90's

 

[squirk]

I went last March, and loved it, but even though I am a huge SW nerd, I don’t feel compelled to go again at that price point.

My hope was that after a year or two, the hotel would have recouped its sunk costs (the construction, the technology, etc.) and could revamp pricing to cover just ongoing costs (cast, maintenance, etc.). But it sounds like they’re not even getting that far.

I’d just be amazed if it turned out that P&R missed the mark on this project so badly. For all of the armchair marketing we laypeople do, surely more than one person behind the scenes - with considerable expertise and analytical resources at their disposal - knew this was not a sustainable business model. If not, that would be a massive, massive mistake for a business known for its marketing skill.

And the unlikelihood of Disney dropping the ball that badly for a project this big makes me wonder if there has been a Plan B, or a Phase 2, for this hotel all along……