Disney! Wheeee!

[Stoosh]

At DLR, there are three entrances to Galaxy's Edge/Batuu. But at DHS there are only two..... with a third access point coming directly from Starcruiser (I think via an underground shuttle). There hasn't been any announcement made what will become of that property. It's across Cast Member parking; it's not a huge footprint, but it's physically about a quarter mile 'over the berm'. So I'm not sure if they have any plans for it, aside from writing it all off.

It will make for a nice auction, though, if you live in the Orlando area.

(I saw one suggestion that they should turn it into a regular old SW-themed hotel. That's a nice idea, but would probably be less worthwhile than simply eating the loss.)

Back in late June, Josh D'Amaro was asked what will be done with the property and he said, "No hints, but something will happen with it." I guess we'll find out down the road but it sounded like they were taking the loss on it.

https://www.wdwinfo.com/news-stories/jo ... arcruiser/

The Star Wars-themed hotel would be a terrific idea if they could do it on a larger scale. Honestly, back when all of this was initially unveiled in 2017 and before it's exact format was confirmed, I thought it would be more along the lines of a standard resort. I would love to know if they ever looked into that as a possibility. I also wonder if they're pulling the things Starcruiser did well and building on the themed "standard resort" idea.

To that end, I've spent some time the last couple of weeks watching some of the previous "voyage" vlogs on YouTube, and it's honestly a shame they couldn't find a way to make it all work at a cost-effective level for more people. The cast members were incredible. The design work that went into the place was really something, and it all combined to make for what many have said was the best Disney customer experience they ever had.

In some ways, it's still crazy to me that they decided barely a year after it opened to pull the plug. However, I don't know that it was ever sustainable. I think if they could have afforded to cut the price without affecting the experience, they would have done so. They either really bet big on the idea that Star Wars fans/families would pay the premium cost for this & they horribly misread their audience, or this was always doomed to a relatively quick fate.

[tifosi77]

Reducing the price wasn't really an option. It had to operate on the super duper premium pricing if it was going to work at all, and there just wasn't the demand they expected. Reducing the price to a level that would've maintained 100% booking would've kept it in the red.

Just to reiterate, it would've cost a family of four around $6,000 for a 48-hour 'voyage'. Phenomenal swing and miss. At least it wasn't on the scale of an entire theme park that needed a redo, like California Adventure.

[nocera]

And during those two $6,000 days, you only spend about 4 hours in the park… specifically only Batuu. I don’t know many people who would spend that kind of money to go to Disney, not experience the parks really, and instead spend time role playing. So, yeah I’m sure there were fun moments and the cast members are great, but you’d then have to shell out more cash to actually go to the parks and a couple more nights at a resort.

[tifosi77]

Honestly, that's 4 hrs more than I thought. I thought you spent the whole voyage 'aboard' Halcyon.

[nocera]

Yeah on day 2 you take a "transport" to Batuu where you ride ROTR and Smuggler's Run. You also get lunch at Docking Bay 7. There might be a story moment or two in there as well, I can't remember.

Side note but I hope they find a way to connect Star Tours with Batuu. It may not fit the story completely, but it's very odd to have a separate Star Wars ride outside of "Star Wars Land." I'd like to see Muppets 3D moved to the Lightning McQueen theater by Rock n' Rollercoaster. Retheme RnR to Muppets, maybe focused on Electric Mayhem, to create a little Muppets Land area. Then figure out a way to connect Star Tours and Batuu now that the original Muppets 3D building is gone.

[tifosi77]

Well the original 'pilot' droid from ST is the DJ at Oga's Cantina. I mean, it's a start, I guess.

[CBear3]

As long as the marvelous theming of the Muppets theatre goes with them I won't complain.

[LITT]

Yeah on day 2 you take a "transport" to Batuu where you ride ROTR and Smuggler's Run. You also get lunch at Docking Bay 7. There might be a story moment or two in there as well, I can't remember.

you are accurate on the story moment. some side quests occur in batuu. had a coworker that did it. ignoring the price, he said it was a very cool experience.

[NAN]

Just gave Disney more money to go on the Fantasy for a 7 night cruise.

[tifosi77]

Bear spotted at Disney World prompts closure of parts of Magic Kingdom

The bear that prompted partial closures at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom on Monday was captured without incident and is being relocated, according to a news release from Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“In most cases, it is best for bears to be given space and to move along on their own, but given this situation, staff have captured the animal and are relocating the bear out of the park to an area in or around the Ocala National Forest,” FWC said.

FWC added that the animal was an adult female.

Nearly a dozen attractions were closed on Monday at the time authorities were trying to locate the bear at Magic Kingdom, according to the My Disney Experience app.

At 11:17 am EDT, the attractions Swiss Family Treehouse, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Jungle Cruise, Enchanted Tiki Room, Pirates of the Caribbean, Country Bear Jamboree, Tom Sawyer Island, Walt Disney World Railroad, Liberty Square Riverboat, Hall of Presidents and Haunted Mansion were closed to the public, according to an official app screenshot shared with CNN by Craig Williams, executive producer at wdwinfo.com.

[nocera]

The bear:

[NAN]

Those f'ing bears scare me at the park.

[nocera]

[tifosi77]

I would pay Matt Gourley money out of my own pocket if he'd follow me around talking like H.R. Giger. (I mean, I'm guessing that's that Matt Gourley)

[LITT]

i feel like the sag-aftra strike screwed up my disney plans. last year disney released the narrators for the candlelight processional the last week in september. Our 60 day window opened up 10/2. i was holding off making the decisions on park reservations until that list came out. never came out. made our reservations. the day after we made our reservations, the schedule came out. NPH is scheduled on the day we ended up at epcot. we saw NPH last year. the other option is stamos who is the apple of mrs litt's eye so we did a switch but had to cancel our akershaus and CRT breakfasts. im certain we will have success picking it up closer to the date, just adds a layer of unneeded complexity. also of note, there were zero topolino breakfasts available the entire week we are there. we have a specific day we were looking for in order to go on our day off since a breakfast at topolino puts you back in the parks by 11 best case scenario from our experience but i checked every day and no availability which was odd

[tifosi77]

I don't believe theme parks and related engagements are covered by the current strike. In fact, I think the union actually put out a clarifying statement that they did not support picketing any such parks*. So if there was a delay in certain talent announcements, I don't think it was related to the strike.


* There were some shenanigans early in the strike at Universal Hollywood, because the theme park and the production studio/offices are the same place. So guests who arrived via Metro and had to take the shuttle up the hill to the main park entrance ended up having to cross the picket line at the studio gates on Lankershim Blvd. And the studio responded by pruning the trees along the sidewalk, eliminating shady cover for picketers. Which is just wonderfully petty.

[LITT]

its hard to believe that the strike didnt impact the engagements. why would they wait until some of the guests were in their ADR window to release? i dont believe in coincidences and operationally it would make sense to put it out when they historically did. the strike got resolved and the list came out

[nocera]

My guess is that it's more of a draw for passholders and locals. I think you're unique. I doubt many people book their trip based on the readers.

[LITT]

I think you're unique.

thank you, this is very kind

[tifosi77]

the strike got resolved and the list came out

The strike that got resolved was the writer's guild. (In fact, I think they just formally ratified their agreement yesterday) SAG is still on strike, and their strike doesn't cover the kind of work you're talking about.

[LITT]

whatever. just an annoyance and i stand by my umbrage

[CBear3]

LITT wants to be mad at something, so let him be mad at John Stamos's perfectly sculpted hair if he wants to.

[tifosi77]

Fair dinkum

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

[LITT]

in a strange turn of events - the new epcot firework display starts 12/5. the NPH day at epcot was 12/7. the stamos day at epcot is 12/3. we are switching everything back