So I am waaaay behind on responding to some of you. It teaches me not to “open my mouth” if I don’t have time to stick around to discuss!
But, since
@TheMaxRebo opened this thread, I will pick up the discussion.
ETA: I thought I should include my original post here, too.
I blame the die-hard SW fans for this. They didn’t show up; they pitched a temper-tantrum about how the land wasn’t based on a place in the movies; they constantly criticize it for what it isn’t and some root for its failure, etc.
Then, you hear from people like Kevin on The DIS Unplugged, who, while extremely hilarious in his retelling of events, got very annoyed when CMs *were* staying in character. My guess is that there are a large number of “Kevins” out there who just don’t want to engage in the immersion.
On a more personal level, we *loved* GE! My brother could not have been more excited by it! We saw characters roaming and interacting with guests every time we were there. (I even got sassy with a Stormtrooper.
) We thought the criticisms of MF:SR were way overblown.
The one place where we thought the immersion was fantastic, but could also go even further, is Oga’s Cantina. Our bartender was fun and engaging! We really enjoyed our two-drink, 45 minute time in there. But how awesome would it be if there were some characters in THERE?!? That is the perfect place for your reputation to come into play and to bring the immersion to the next level. People going there would be given a heads-up that the expectation is you play along with the story. I imagine the cost to WDW would be minimal - just the cost for talent.
It makes me sad/disappointed that Disney is softening/removing the playful elements, but again, what is a company to do when the people for whom this immersion was created don’t show up?
I agree with a lot of this - but I also think there is an element of "did Disney build the land the die hards want, or build the land they wanted and assumed the die hards would show up no matter what"? I keep going back to that comment from Iger when he said (something to the effect of) "we don't need to market Galaxy's Edge, we just announce it is open and people will come" - I think that was a mistake on their part and maybe a bit arrogant.
I do wish more people who were like Kevin (not to pick on him, but just as putting a face/name to the type of guest) were a bit more open to immersion and welcoming of the fact other people do want this and you have to start from a position of immersion and then move off of it, you can't go the other way. But also think the CMs could be better about reading the guest and moving off of immersion quicker when it is clear the guest is not into it
But comes back to trying to build a land for everyone and in the end making a lot of people unhappy - it's too immersive for some, and not immersive enough for others. Plus, we are going to see more of the negative things posted / discussed as it is just the nature of the internet - people who go and enjoy it but dont' feel super strongly either way aren't going to go out of the way to write passionate blogs about that
I COMPLETELY agree with your statement I bolded. I have often thought back to that quote as well and the arrogance of it.
I also agree with your statement and
@MissGina5 when you discuss “reading the room.” But, my guess is that some people just get frustrated from the get-go. They just
I don't think I understand your argument. You're blaming the hard-core fans for not liking what Disney built? Isn't the onus on Disney to build something that draws guests, whoever those guests may be?
This is just my opinion, but I am not sure that Disney could have built *anything* that would have pleased the hard-core fans. There are so many places and planets in the movies, how do you choose just one? So, I think they went with a neutral option that gives them maximum flexibility and room to evolve and the ability to add and remove various characters over time. It provides a way for everyone to discover something new vs. potentially having some avid SW fans who come into a place with a critical eye. Plus, I feel like they worked really hard to include major elements that *are* familiar and important to SW fans, e.g., The Millenium Falcon.
So I know this isn't the thread to talk about it, but I still think the isn't too much immersion or not enough immersion, it's giving the audience a land they are unfamiliar with. By setting it somewhere in the Star Wars galaxy we've never been - you go and it's neat and Star-Wars-y, but you don't get that kick of really being in a place right out of the movies. I'm not a huge Cars fan, but having been out to DLR this summer, from my view Carsland is more successful of land (design wise) than Star Wars land. And it's because of all the little touches right out of the movie. From Stanley's statue to the flashing yellow light to the white-wall tires in Luigi's shop, it feels like the movie come to life. Outside of Millenium Falcon and the ride with it, in GE, I felt like I was in the world of Star Wars, but I didn't feel that it had really made the movie come to life. This is where they really NEEDED the actors and droids that were supposed to make the land more familiar with us. Having 2 stormtroopers wandering around didn't cut it. They really need to have those characters to draw you into the Star Wars world and without it, I'm just like hey this is pretty neat but it's not something I'm familiar with. It's honestly IMO a fairly minor problem, as the land is pretty great, and I would say a solid triple, but not the home run that everyone was expecting.
It's like if instead of building Diagon Alley - Universal had said "Oh let's build Durmstrang! Nobody has ever been there!"
I don’t think we disagree. However, I guess we got lucky in that we did see characters interacting every time we were there. The droids would take it next level, for sure. And, as I suggested in the other thread, throw in a couple of characters/interactive drama at Oga’s...it would be really awesome.
Like I said above, the thing that makes CarsLand andHarry Potter easy is that there is only one major setting for those movies. Star Wars literally has a galaxy of planets. And the major settings/planets which have been in the movies have spanned generations. What is a company to do?
BUT given their decision to come up with a new place, Iger was definitely arrogant in his statement about not needing to market the land.
Moving on(?) having had some time to think more about renaming the food items, I also wonder how much having such a large population of international guests contributed to this, too? Though in typing this, maybe they could have added little icons (like a chicken, cow, plant, etc.) right next to the name to help out?
