Star Wars: Galactic Starship (resort experience) News

[amberpi]

I also wonder about the unisex appeal. Kathy Kennedy clearly has this "thing" going there...but the attraction is still far from proven.

Go to any sci fi convention and tell me about the unisex appeal

Personally - have multiple Leia costumes - will travel.

 

[Owl X]

I believe the survey indicated there would be 5 included meals and entrance into Star Wars Land.

So a possible schedule might be:

• Day 1
  • Arrival
  • Evening Dining with Entertainment @ Resort
• Day 2
  • Breakfast Buffet @ Resort
  • Travel to Star Wars Galaxy Edge (with Anytime Fastpasses)
  • Lunch @ Star Wars Galaxy Edge
  • Evening Dining with Entertainment @ Resort
• Day 3
  • Breakfast Buffet @ Resort
  • Departure

The above would work like a Cruise with "Galaxy Edge" being the port.

I think they will eventually have actual cruise packages that include a Star Wars resort excursion.
There are already Disney cruises out of New York that include a day in Orlando with a Park Hopper.

 

[cadien]

Go to any sci fi convention and tell me about the unisex appeal

Personally - have multiple Leia costumes - will travel.

My husband and I met at SDCC. So yeah. Female enthusiasm is definitely being underestimated. My in-laws couldn't drag me to Disney until they added Star Wars-themed attractions.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

1) How dare you? and 2) How DARE you?!?

I'd suspect a substantial portion of the fanbase actually lives OUTSIDE their parents' house and actually have $$ to spend or are willing to save for a while for this sort of thing.

I loved SW as a kid. DD10 loves it, as do many of her female friends. I don't know what the breakdown of the fanbase is, but I doubt it's as skewed these days as some might think. Also, don't underestimate the power of the SW Geek to drag his/her significant other along for this sort of thing...

The point is it remains to be seen.

The Star Wars Fanbase is not 50/50...but it started out at about 90/10...so it's a work in progress

 

[Owl X]

Note that the 2017 Star Wars Celebration convention in Orlando had over 70K attendees:
http://www.jedinews.co.uk/conventio...o-2017-sets-new-attendance-record-70000-fans/

With that type of fan base, the resort will be booked year round.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Go to any sci fi convention and tell me about the unisex appeal

Personally - have multiple Leia costumes - will travel.

That's a CONVENTION...

You're joking, right?

Do they get 50 million annual visitors to a comic book convention?

 

[amberpi]

That's a CONVENTION...

You're joking, right?

Do they get 50 million annual visitors to a comic book convention?

I think a convention demo would be the same in terms of unisex appeal. The numbers are just larger. The number of men and women, by percentage who are interested in a convention seems like it'd be the same that would be interested in this experience. Conventions aren't 50/50 though, nor are they 90/10. Not part of the type of statistics I use professionally, and anything I'd offer on attendance would be purely anecdotal, and let's admit, probably very boozed soaked.

 

[TygerHawks]

That's a CONVENTION...

You're joking, right?

Do they get 50 million annual visitors to a comic book convention?

I think the point is, that is the crowd this hotel is marketing towards. This resort will attract people that would never step foot into Disney World if not for the fact of the resort experience. This resort is LARP (live action role-play) with Disney technology. Everything about it is geared towards the Star Wars convention goer. And there are a lot of females at those events.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I think the point is, that is the crowd this hotel is marketing towards. This resort will attract people that would never step foot into Disney World if not for the fact of the resort experience. This resort is LARP (live action role-play) with Disney technology. Everything about it is geared towards the Star Wars convention goer. And there are a lot of females at those events.

That remains to be seen. Granted there will be a lot to watch on the demographics.

But disney world people are disney world people in many ways. They aren't the cross section of SDCC.

And what they do and how they do it will determine a lot from the cynical, comic con crowd.

Don't forget: what type of fans have been the most critical of how disney has handled Star Wars? Or that lucas sold to them in the first place?

...uh huh...is that the Star Wars celebration type?

 

[cvjpirate]

I believe your true Star Wars fan, non Disney person will be all over this resort. I will give up my WDW yearly trip to take advantage of this experience if it lives up to it's building. Heck, I'm not sure I will go to another park after Galaxy's Edge opens.

 

[jlundeen]

I love this idea, and we will see about the price.
I cant believe that no one has made a West World connection. Is this where we are going?
If so very cheap at the prices we are discussing.

I thought of West World right away....

 

[Owl X]

That's a CONVENTION...

You're joking, right?

Do they get 50 million annual visitors to a comic book convention?

If the Star Wars resort experience lasts 2 nights, they could only get in 182 events in a year.
If there are only 400 rooms, they only need 72,800 bookings to fill the resort year round.
At double occupancy, that is only 145,600 people.

Well over a million people attend Sci-Fi/Comic conventions each year.
Every major city has Comic/Sci-Fi conventions.

• New York Comic Con - 180K in 2016.
• San Diego Comic Con - 167K in 2015.
• Fan Expo Canada - 128K in 2016
• Salt Lake Comic Con 120K in 2016
• Denver Comic Con - 114K in 2016
  
• Phoenix Comic Con - 106K in 2016
  
• MegaCon in Orlando - 100K in 2016
  
• Emerald City Comicon in Seattle - 88K in 2016
• Dragon Con in Atlanta - 77K in 2016
  
• Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo - 71K in 2015
• Comikaze Expo in LA - 70K in 2015
  
• Gen Con in Indianapolis - 61K in 2015
  
• WonderCon in Anaheim - 60K in 2016

There are enough convention attendees to fill the resort year round.

 

[TygerHawks]

Don't forget: what type of fans have been the most critical of how disney has handled Star Wars? Or that lucas sold to them in the first place?

...uh huh...is that the Star Wars celebration type?

Actually....yes. Look at the box office. These are the fans that go see it, love it, see it again, then run to complain about it on the internet. All the haters of The Force Awakens will be at The Last Jedi, many multiple times. They may still hate it, but they will be in those seats. Those same people will come to this resort as Star Wars harkens back to childhood fantasy, pure and simple. The idea of living in that universe is too strong of a temptation.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Woah woah...I don't want to debate the Star Wars hotel...

But here's what ima thinkin:
1. Will it get booked? Of course...at least for awhile:
2. Cost is gonna be an issue...is this the kinda thing that will be cost prohibitive or repetitive that there's a one and done angle? We don't know yet.
3. The Star Wars hotel is still gonna be male slanted at least for now...we'll see how it goes...
4. Now here's the kicker...outside of pro-disney circles...like say THEDISBOARDS...there is some disagreements amongst the legions of Star Wars zealots whether disney is "saving" Star Wars...or destroying it.

Look at the 60,000 comments on movieweb or other film type social media...there's a lot of descention...

Lots of debate about force awakens and Abrams...as I feared the morning of 12/17/15...because it had a huge gross...like the prequels...doesn't mean it's adored.

The idea that Star Wars and Disney in the same sentence is adored by hardline Star Wars fans is a bit naive.

Whether that will affect this hotel is a different question.

But it seems comic con fans, Star Wars fans, and disneyana fans have morphed into one here. My contention is thats too simplistic of an idea.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

But it seems comic con fans, Star Wars fans, and disneyana fans have morphed into one here. My contention is thats too simplistic of an idea.

I don't see this as one customer "morphed into one" here. I see this as essentially three different -- yet overlapping -- market segments. I'd guess they act somewhat differently wrt price sensitivity, repeat or not, etc.

That can be a recipe for success... akin to income diversification of sorts.

A lot remains to be seen for sure.

 

[amberpi]

Actually....yes. Look at the box office. These are the fans that go see it, love it, see it again, then run to complain about it on the internet. All the haters of The Force Awakens will be at The Last Jedi, many multiple times. They may still hate it, but they will be in those seats. Those same people will come to this resort as Star Wars harkens back to childhood fantasy, pure and simple. The idea of living in that universe is too strong of a temptation.

They'll be the ones complaining about the kids and that the dark side isn't dark. And they'll most assuredly be the the ones returning over and over

I will definitely not be one of those...

 

[rungoofy]

I believe the survey indicated there would be 5 included meals and entrance into Star Wars Land.

So a possible schedule might be:

• Day 1
  • Arrival
  • Evening Dining with Entertainment @ Resort
• Day 2
  • Breakfast Buffet @ Resort
  • Travel to Star Wars Galaxy Edge (with Anytime Fastpasses)
  • Lunch @ Star Wars Galaxy Edge
  • Evening Dining with Entertainment @ Resort
• Day 3
  • Breakfast Buffet @ Resort
  • Departure

The above would work like a Cruise with "Galaxy Edge" being the port.

I think they will eventually have actual cruise packages that include a Star Wars resort excursion.
There are already Disney cruises out of New York that include a day in Orlando with a Park Hopper.

I think it would be inverted from what you are suggesting. The illusion is busted if I pull in front of the "Star Wars Resort" in the magical express, car, uber or bicycle. I don't think, as a guest, you should ever see the building from the outside... again, because I'm not supposed to be in a building.

I would arrange it such that all of the "flight crew" are dropped off at a "training facility" separate from the resort. Your bags are taken here (like magical express) and you "check in."

Everyone is then taken to Galaxy's Edge where you are given a brief tour and you board your "shuttle" to the starship on which you live for two nights (effectively just one full day on the ship) to go through the role play. After your voyage, you would again take a shuttle down to Galaxy's edge to enjoy your last day of immersion.

 

[amberpi]

The idea that Star Wars and Disney in the same sentence is adored by hardline Star Wars fans is a bit naive.

Whether that will affect this hotel is a different question.

But it seems comic con fans, Star Wars fans, and disneyana fans have morphed into one here. My contention is thats too simplistic of an idea.

I've been saying this. This hotel has the rapid con going crowd foaming at the mouth. Its not Disney folks. They come to WDW for SWW. Loads could give 2 poops and go to MGM, and maybe Epcot. It'll be bringing a whole new demo to WDW. I think that the behavior at this hotel may have some people on this board seriously clutching their pearls. This thing is BEGGING for parties. I mean, lots of people spend thousands to turn a normal hotel suite into the Cantina for a night or 2. I can't wait to see what happens!

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I've been saying this. This hotel has the rapid con going crowd foaming at the mouth. Its not Disney folks. They come to WDW for SWW. Loads could give 2 poops and go to MGM, and maybe Epcot. It'll be bringing a whole new demo to WDW. I think that the behavior at this hotel may have some people on this board seriously clutching their pearls. This thing is BEGGING for parties. I mean, lots of people spend thousands to turn a normal hotel suite into the Cantina for a night or 2. I can't wait to see what happens!

Right...I could see more of a Vegas..."has anyone seen my...?" Type of deal

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I don't see this as one customer "morphed into one" here. I see this as essentially three different -- yet overlapping -- market segments. I'd guess they act somewhat differently wrt price sensitivity, repeat or not, etc.

That can be a recipe for success... akin to income diversification of sorts.

A lot remains to be seen for sure.

I don't disagree...so we shall wait and see...

Somebody, however, said that this is "for the hardcore fans"...

...the hardcore fans like the EU and are still a bit ticked at the Rat Lord...

So maybe it's not for them?