Funny definition of "discount" for Galactic Starcruiser

The usual suspects are calling out Disney's Star Wars cosplay camp again, alleging soft demand. This time it's because they're offering money off on hotel rooms before or after the stay. Even The Points Guy is in on it. Getting someone to spend more money and stay longer is a funny thing to call a discount.

I did assume that the pricing would come down eventually, but clearly they haven't reached everyone in their market. I also suspect that the margins are crazy high and they certainly don't need to book the whole resort on any given "voyage." On the flip side, I have heard that it has been pretty hard to keep staffed, because they're looking for a certain level of capability for servers and performers.

There's also this.

Apparently they're closing the place altogether on certain dates.

Those already booked are being offered 50% off to go on a different date when there is more occupancy.

Maybe it's staffing, if they have a core group of people they can give them all the same days off and operate with their A-crew on all operating days. Still it seems that if there's good enough demand that they shouldn't have that much availability to be able to move so many people and give them so much of a discount.

I'm not sure that's the case. Their business model is basically that of a cruise line. They do stuff like that all of the time. I've had an itinerary moved with 50% off, and it's mostly demand management. Unlike the cruise line, they can't hire internationals on six month contracts to work every day stuck on a boat in international waters.

I still think the demand is way softer than they anticipated, leading to all these changes. Even running it like a cruise line with limited sailings, that giant building is still sitting there, using resources.

I am not anywhere close to enough to a Star Wars nerd to appreciate it, and I’ll be honest - I half forgot it even existed. I can’t be the only one with that mindset.

I'm not sure "giant" is fair; there are only 100 guest rooms. Even if they ran year round, they only need about 18,000 rooms booked per year to sell out at place that draws tens of millions of people over the same period. It's not supposed to be a mass-market thing.

Looks pretty big, to me.

https://ibb.co/LvPqfY0

I’d even go so far as to call it giant, especially with that lobby there.

And I never said it was supposed to be a mass-market thing. No one did - but if they can’t even fill 100 rooms for a single cruise and have to move people around so that they have a full ship, I’d point to demand being less than expected.

I guess it makes sense to me that they started at this price point, given that they sold out for about a year now, but I have to imagine the lack of demand is at this price point. Anecdotally, pretty much everyone I know who was remotely interested (and a handful of people who were very interested) looked at the price and immediately balked. Does Disney really think this price point is sustainable in perpetuity?

Raven-Phile:

Looks pretty big, to me.

https://ibb.co/LvPqfY0

A picture with no other context isn't particularly convincing.

If I look at the building's outline on e.g. Google Maps, it looks roughly the size of the Art of Animation lobby building--excluding all of the buildings with guest rooms. It is probably a little larger, and has an extra floor or two, but in the universe of "Walt Disney World Hotels" it doesn't rise to the level of "large".

If we ain't arguing about politics we're arguing about the definition of large.

I mean, we have to argue about something. Right?

I’ve had enough of this

I mean, it's smaller than the attraction buildings for Rise and Smuggler's. But I don't know if that's relevant... it's a hundred rooms regardless.

Like I said, if we think about this like a business, there's likely a margin and revenue target that they would like, and it's not as simple as the room rate. The cost of the building is a capital expenditure that depreciates over time, and it's different than the operating cost. There is "onboard" spending on drinks and merch. They inevitably have more spending going on before or after, and if they don't, well that explains the "discounts." DCL has done packages like that, too.

I just think the armchairing is oversimplifying it. My wife and I definitely want to do it, eventually, but we're already giving the rat money for two cruises, including one across Northern Europe. And we're going for the new Pearl status on DCL. 🙂

I do wonder how big the market for this experience really is, even at a lower price point. I don't think Disney is losing any money on this but how many visitors would do this experience again?

I can imagine that at some point in the future, there will be a variety of packages and price points you could choose from. If you just wanted to stay in the Star Wars Hotel one or two nights, without missions and so on, you could do that. At other times they'll have the full galactic cruise. And other options. It's not like they're going to have to turn it into Discovery Island II because they ran out of people to pay $6,000 a pop.

I would say it’s giant because it’s bigger than a house, but I’m sure someone would find a listing of a mansion somewhere..

You mean there’s no outdoor pool? At those prices?
No thanks, I’ll stay in Kissimmee.
But I will admit the port-a-potties at the porte cochère is a nice touch.

Those aren't port-a-potties. You step into those to make the jump to lightspeed.

If Disney needed Galactic Starcruiser to have higher occupancy, they'd have already built it

This destination has come up a few times in our house, mainly because I'm the biggest Star Wars nerd I know. But I don't know. There's nothing about this that really makes me say "OK family, this is what we need to do".

The cosplay factor creeps me out a little bit, as that crowd generally ruins everything I like about Star Wars on a level that makes me want to single-handedly murder all of them with as much mercy as Anakin showed the younglings in Revenge of the Sith. I have stories, and I'm not sure I want to spend a lot of time with those people.

The price is just stupid expensive. And I say that as someone who is both 1) a big SW fan, and 2) someone who could afford it. I guess I'm just not the target SW fan they are targeting, and I'm not exactly sure who that is. But that's fine. I'm not mad, in fact I couldn't care less.

As a curiosity, does the story change or evolve? Or do they just constantly replay the same storyline over and over and over? If it's the latter, it would absolutely be a one and done.