When things do not go well in a spectacular fashion, why not blame your frequent enemies?
This article is based on uncorroborated rumor and speculation from an inside source knowledgeable of the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser failure and Disney Parks response.
The Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser was an unmitigated disaster for The Walt Disney Company and Disney Parks. Located just outside Hollywood Studios theme park in Walt Disney World, the ultra-pricey Star Wars larping experience failed to last even two years before it had so few guests that it simply could not be sustained. As a result, the entire experience had to be shuttered. Parts of the hotel were soon appearing at Disneyland Resort for sale as souvenir specials.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser via Theme Park Review
Now an inside source is coming forward with information that points to just how Disney is handling the horrible (and very public) black eye. According to this person with knowledge of inner communications, President of Disney Parks and Experiences, Josh D’Amaro, is well-aware that the general public was not keen on the experience. It did not poll well, it was not received well — and although those who came aboard the stationary “cruise” experience often enjoyed the Halcyon, that demographic was far too tiny to sustain the attraction.
Attempts to change the hotel from a sequel trilogy Star Wars experience to something based on either The New Republic or the original trilogy were scuttled. There was no good way to salvage the attempt without likewise putting another PR disaster square on the face of Lucasfilm and Star Wars. After all, which is worse: declaring that your hotel didn’t work, or declaring that your Star Wars efforts for the last decade are ultra-unpopular?
Adam Driver as Ben Solo kisses Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Lucasfilm
Now, internally, it was time for the blame game once the last “voyage” was complete. As we’ve reported previously, Lucasfilm didn’t want the blame on them. Neither did Walt Disney Imagineering have a desire to take the fall. And, of course, Disney Parks and Experiences were very uninterested in having this placed upon their shoulders. So who could be the group that gets “whipping boy” and “whipping girl” status?
According to the source, it was Walt Disney Imagineering Florida that is taking the blame… and the impact.
Concept art for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser
Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek had seen the value in The Walt Disney World Resort. It is the crown jewel in all of Disney’s profit-successful endeavors. The final dream of Walt himself drives an incredible one-third of all of The Walt Disney Company’s profits as of our most recent public records for 2023. It therefore made all the sense in the world to Mr. Chapek that Disney should send more “Imagineers” to the resort and create all sorts of unique experiences there.
Unfortunately for him and Central Florida, Walt Disney Imagineering under the DEI guidance of Carmen Smith has become a hotbed of partisanship. As a result, WDI folks working in Glendale were so angry that they threatened to quit rather than be forced to live in a “red state” like Florida. Ultimately the entire plan had to be thrown away, just like the Star Wars Hotel.
Bob Iger is back, of course, and he has different thoughts on Disney, Florida, Parks and more. According to our source, now that Iger is fully in-control again (if he ever wasn’t), power has shifted dramatically to WDI Glendale and away from Florida. The Floridian workers who were given the task of creating a two-day sequel trilogy hotel experience are blamed because relatively nobody wanted a sequel trilogy extravaganza. Had they been allowed to create a hotel experience centered on Luke saving the audience from Darth Vader, it may have succeeded beyond Disney’s wildest imagination. But, of course, WDI Florida was the supplier, not the client.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser via Theme Park Review
As a result of all this, internally it isn’t Lucasfilm or Josh D’Amaro that take the blame for the Star Wars Hotel. It isn’t Bob Iger, it isn’t even Imagineering at large. Rather, according to the highly-placed source, it is the state of Florida and the Imagineers who live there who are at fault. And that means Hollywood and Bob Iger ultimately will use this opportunity to have even more control over attractions in the future. It doesn’t matter that they were always at fault for this from the very beginning.
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How could overpriced windowless pods possibly be unpopular with people? Must be desantis’ fault.
That seems convenient. Blame Florida when Disney was pulling the strings and hamstrung good ideas like using the Original Trilogy instead of the Sequel Trilogy failure that continues to disappoint. Who would have known? Just about every Star Wars fan. Woke means everything get replaced for worse results.
they can place the blame on Godzilla for all anyone cares everybody in the public knows why it failed, the prices alone were set at extortion amounts, and was based on the most divisive trilogy of stars wars films.