Star Wars Hotel Price - Disney has officially lost their minds

[NotUrsula]

Absolutely. If people fear “enormous crowds” then why does Disney World do any business at all.

People waited for hours and hours to ride the new Hagrid ride at Universal. Theme park enthusiasts are NEVER afraid of enormous crowds.

From things I've heard over the years, conventional wisdom seems to be that DL guests have less tolerance for long lines than WDW guests do. Perhaps because DL is mostly marketed as a daytrip or weekend experience, while WDW is consistently marketed as a full multi-day resort vacation.

 

[Chuck S]

Absolutely. If people fear “enormous crowds” then why does Disney World do any business at all.

People waited for hours and hours to ride the new Hagrid ride at Universal. Theme park enthusiasts are NEVER afraid of enormous crowds.

Yes, but there is a difference. The Hagrid ride is a roller coaster with some very unique cars. Coaster enthusiasts WILL often wait through long lines, and sometimes travel in large groups to a park with the sole purpose of riding a coaster. They are a different demographic from Disney theme park guests, which are mostly family groups including all ages from grandparents to young children.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

People waited hours and hours when Wizarding World opened as well.

They didn’t for Star Wars. Even the fall bookings at WDW are soft enough to bring Free Dining offers back into the picture. I’ve been listening to the podcasts.

It’s ok to admit that the land isn’t the greatest thing ever. And that maybe there’s just some Star Wars fatigue as well as less interest in this new Disney Star Wars. That doesn’t mean it’s awful just that its not what it used to be.

 

[Sandeep1]

People waited hours and hours when Wizarding World opened as well.

They didn’t for Star Wars. Even the fall bookings at WDW are soft enough to bring Free Dining offers back into the picture. I’ve been listening to the podcasts.

It’s ok to admit that the land isn’t the greatest thing ever. And that maybe there’s just some Star Wars fatigue as well as less interest in this new Disney Star Wars. That doesn’t mean it’s awful just that its not what it used to be.

There was an article recently that mentioned today's youth just isn't as interested in Star Wars as their parents are. Are there any 5 year olds out there begging their parents to go see Obi-Wan Kenobi? I doubt it.

 

[LSUmiss]

I also wonder if it has to do with how things were rolled out with having to have reservation & all that.

 

[Chuck S]

There was an article recently that mentioned today's youth just isn't as interested in Star Wars as their parents are. Are there any 5 year olds out there begging their parents to go see Obi-Wan Kenobi? I doubt it.

That may be partly due to the fact that even with all the TV channels available, there is little really good space-based Sci-Fi on TV. Even the Orville is rumored to be moving to Hulu from Fox Broadcasting channels for its third season. Add to that that NASA and the space program in general is just an underfunded shadow of what it was in the 60s and 70s. The ISS is old news, the moon landing was 50 years ago. That's like it happened in the age of the dinosaurs to modern kids.

 

[DebbieB]

The imagineer spoke at D23 this morning. It will be like a cruise, it’s 2 nights and everyone checks in at the same time. There will be an “excursion” to Batuu. They didn’t mention prices but I assume it will be like a cruise where meals on the “ship” are included and entertainment is interacting with the “crew”. This isn’t a hotel where you would checkin and then hit the parks. I assume people who book it will split stay to somewhere else for actual parks time.

“Immersive experience” was a common theme this weekend.

 

[Sandeep1]

The imagineer spoke at D23 this morning. It will be like a cruise, it’s 2 nights and everyone checks in at the same time. There will be an “excursion” to Batuu. They didn’t mention prices but I assume it will be like a cruise where meals on the “ship” are included and entertainment is interacting with the “crew”. This isn’t a hotel where you would checkin and then hit the parks. I assume people who book it will split stay to somewhere else for actual parks time.

“Immersive experience” was a common theme this weekend.

Thanks for the additional info. Definitely not my cup of tea.

 

[NotUrsula]

The thing that most ties modern kids to SW are the online games; not the films or TV shows. (In fact, I really don't know why they are bothering with a live action TV show.) The cartoon shows are popular with kids because they provide canon backstory for the games, in a way that live-action cannot do without expensive motion capture work.

SW primary market is adolescent gamers and adult collectors; many of whom came to the franchise through the games as well. Those of us who are the right age to have been the primary audience for the film franchise (I was 15 when the original was released) are mostly kind of past it for intensive gaming, if we ever took up the hobby (mostly that was the guys; women of our generation were very seldom seriously into gaming.)

Little boys (especially) still love the lightsabers: I have 2 grandnephews aged 6 & 4 who pester their dad constantly to play lightsabers with them, but at that age the mythology is way over their heads: at their ages, SW boils down to simple swashbuckling: bad guy against good guy. Smartest thing Lucas put in that film was the swordplay, at least from a marketing POV.

 

[4Mickeys]

just made my decision to take the kids to Italy or Australia much easier !

Not sure either of those trips will be any cheaper.

My last two trips to Europe with a family of 4 cost $12000 each. Each trip was 10-16 days. When traveling that far, the trip needs to be longer to get value for the dollars spent.

Yes definitely come down to Australia

@kdonnel - your holiday at $12k was much longer than that equivalent spend would be for you family of 4 to stay at the Star Wars hotel. And yes travel time is a consideration - not everyone who will come to Star Wars hotel live within the US - so for some travel distance, and the cost of getting there, will still be a factor for such a premium price. If you divide your total spend by days and people it averaged you approx. $187 per day per person compared to $1-1.5k per day person.

I spent around $17k for a family of 4 to fly from Australia to California for 21 nights - we had 11 nights Anaheim with a 10 day Disneyland pass, 5 nights Hollywood and 5 nights Santa Monica - the cost of the hotels we stayed in varied but certainly nothing close to the Star Wars hotel - heck we didn't even stay on property at Disneyland and that included our food and other activities. And yes - If I was flying 14 hours one way I was staying for a minimum 2 weeks - it wasn't the $ value though it was more the I couldn't face getting on another 14 hour flight back home after only a week - it was the jet-lag, enjoyment factor that resulted in the length of our stay.

I know I won't be staying at the SW hotel - if you can afford it and it makes you happy go for it. Its kind of like watching Island Hunters and seeing people spend $30k on a week long holiday - clearly there are lots of people in the world for whom this is within their financial capacity - but within that group is there really that many SW fans?

I wonder if it’s as big a surprise to Disney as it seems to be for some of the Star Wars Superfans that the IP is definitely no longer what it once was.

I was also thinking along these lines. My DS18 is a SW fan and would probably love to stay there - is he likely to? I don't think so. There was a huge movement amongst the fans in the past year or so where they have not been happy with the quality and direction of the movies and have boycotted seeing the last few releases. Believe me I was surprised when DS stuck to it and said nope not going - he hasn't even watched them on streaming sites now that they are there.

As a side note I was astonished in that article that people were crazy enough to pay $2k to see Beyonce and JayZ - sorry if you are a super fan - but as an Aussie I just don't get the obsession with them and think she hasn't put out a really good song in quite some time and find the hype a little over-rated - just MHO though.

 

[Hikergirl]

So the price point at this time is just a rumor? I'll wait till Disney actually announces the prices before I comment about whether they have lost their minds.
As for the experience, it is definitely not my thing but I know some die hard SW fans that would have no problem dropping a couple thousand on a few days of a fully immersive SW experience. To each their own.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Disney update on the experience.

https://www.wdwmagic.com/resorts/st...ll-live-at-star-wars-galactic-starcruiser.htm

 

[Sparkly]

So the price point at this time is just a rumor? I'll wait till Disney actually announces the prices before I comment about whether they have lost their minds.
As for the experience, it is definitely not my thing but I know some die hard SW fans that would have no problem dropping a couple thousand on a few days of a fully immersive SW experience. To each their own.

Yes, the only other place I've seen reporting this price point is the (unreliable) WDWNT. I don't trust them anymore after the Country Bears.

 

[lifesavacation]

I kinda think it’s brilliant. There will be people (not me) who will pay for these immersive, virtual reality type experiences.

 

[skyblue17]

That looks like a lot, but it also seems like it's a pretty limited, immersive and detailed experience. It's going to have a pretty specific target audience, and if people think it's appealing and worth the money, then that's who it's for. Not every experience is for everyone. I get the frustration for those who would be interested in this being priced out, but it also seems like they would not be able to achieve what they are aiming to do with large groups, and if the price point was significantly cheaper, they would not be able to come close to accommodating everyone. So they're starting with dynamic pricing. Perhaps it will go down if the interest isn't there.

 

[DLgal]

I told my husband about this yesterday. The details about boarding and being on there for 2 days with the feeling that you are on a spaceship. He brought up a good point, that it will be like being on a submarine. It will probably freak some people out to not be able to see to the outside and that is likely why it's only a 2 night experience. He said that it is mentally difficult to be in an environment like that for a prolonged time. I suspect this is the reason for the visit to Batuu as well. People tend to sort of freak out when they can't see daylight every day.

I admit, I wouldn't like it. It would be quite disorienting.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

I told my husband about this yesterday. The details about boarding and being on there for 2 days with the feeling that you are on a spaceship. He brought up a good point, that it will be like being on a submarine. It will probably freak some people out to not be able to see to the outside and that is likely why it's only a 2 night experience. He said that it is mentally difficult to be in an environment like that for a prolonged time. I suspect this is the reason for the visit to Batuu as well. People tend to sort of freak out when they can't see daylight every day.

I admit, I wouldn't like it. It would be quite disorienting.

This is an interesting point. Even on a cruise ship, which I see this experience often compared to, you get the outside and also the wonder of the ocean to ease your mind. I guess this is just a gamble on Disney’s part. I don’t dislike seeing them take some chances, it’s just that I think they proceeded with Star Wars because everyone assumed it was a can’t miss. I just don’t think that assumption is correct.

 

[RamblingMad]

This is an interesting point. Even on a cruise ship, which I see this experience often compared to, you get the outside and also the wonder of the ocean to ease your mind. I guess this is just a gamble on Disney’s part. I don’t dislike seeing them take some chances, it’s just that I think they proceeded with Star Wars because everyone assumed it was a can’t miss. I just don’t think that assumption is correct.

I agree.

There’s a reason why Clone Wars is coming back.

Disney hasn’t cracked the Star Wars egg yet. And I’d rather watch the Expanse.

 

[NotUrsula]

You know, the more I think about it, I suspect that there will be discussions in marketing about whether or not to have "shore days" in between the scheduled stays, that allow visitors to tour the interior of the "starship" when it is "in port". They could sell passes to that at somewhere around $100/head, and a LOT of people would pay it.

As for the IP, I said it a while back on another thread: as a shareholder, I am pleased with the SW IP purchase, because the franchise is a solid, steady earner that left to itself, will always remain in the black. However, I have no illusions that this 45 year old story is still a blockbuster property, so ROI is a factor with relying upon it too heavily to drive visitor traffic onto the property. Sure, anyone who is already at WDW will go to see it, but the number of people who will come JUST for the SW connection is a much smaller slice of the tourism market.

 

[Floridaman999]

Wonder if any space operas will be involved?

Barbie and Ken visiting the Death Star could be interesting.