Star Wars Hotel Pricing

[disEAR]

YOU brought it up! You said, "I can do 5 crappy things for the price of this one thing." A strange point to make.

There are plenty of other good things you could do with that money, of course. But that's not the point.

People keep complaining, "I could go to Europe for this for a week! I could go to Hawaii!" etc.

Then DO those things. life is about choices. Some things cost a lot of money. Live your life, do what you want. I've been to Europe and Hawaii. I'll go to both places again. I'll also go to the Starcruiser.

Yes, it's pricey and that's a drag. Everything in life has a cost. It's up to you to make your choices. But doing apples and oranges comparisons is completely meaningless. I could buy $5000 packs of Juicy Fruit for the cost of this trip! So what?

Last I checked I’m allowed to express my opinion on these things. You’re absolutely right, that I have the choice to pay for this or something else. As I’m sharing my thoughts on this, I haven’t targeted anyone or derided anyone for expressing excitement, nor will I do that to you. You are allowed to disagree with those of us who don’t find the value in this experience, but please don’t let our differing opinions impact your excitement, it’s not worth the energy to waste.

But to address your first point. I did not start the conversation about the price compared to the experience. I’ve only commented on it.

 

[RamblingMad]

It's basically a LARP played by players that don't LARP. I don't get it. And you're basically stuck in a closet without a window for two days with some "excursions" to GE. What's the selling point here? Why do folks want to do this? I can see if a LARP group rented out the entire place. But I can't see why else you'd do it.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

I'm wondering what the cancellation policy will be...if any at all. I can see with so few rooms available that the standard 30 days before arrival/full deposit refund would be null and void. I can also see a lot of people on the fence just grabbing reservations months and years out with very little actual conviction to go...sort of like a "let me grab it in case somehow I feel the urge to blow $5000 on cosplay."

 

[squirk]

As a few others have noted, I find it very interesting that their "sample pricing" is for one of the slowest times of the year, when kids are transitioning back to school, and demand (and demand-based pricing) it at its lowest.

It's like when stores advertise a sale for "75%* OFF!!!", and when you look to see what the asterisk means, it says "* - sale prices anywhere from 10%-75% off for select items."

If this hotel were 1,000 rooms, I would say they would have a hard time filling rooms after the initial fervor wears off. But at only 100 rooms? I think they will be booking to capacity for a very long time.

And as @Jcruise86 said, even if they do hit price resistance on the 100 rooms, they will never admit they were too aggressive in pricing or otherwise reduce fares across the board. They will offer a new second option that is a "lite" experience for less money, or hold a promotion where kids "sail" free, like DCL used to do.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

It is basically cruise pricing. It remains to be seen how many will fork over that much for 3 nights.

If it were 3 nights, I would give it a hard yes! and be one of the first to book it. Sadly, it's only 2 nights.

 

[jarestel]

The Galactic Starcruiser isn't designed to be a "hotel" experience for the mass market. It would make zero sense for guests to book the star cruiser and then shuffle off to to MK for the day. It's a boutique experience for a very small subset of WDW visitors looking for something different. Pricing seems structured (intended?) to guarantee that most folks will opt out of the star cruiser adventure but Disney only needs a tiny fraction of WDW guests to sign on in order to make this a success.

 

[LanceQ]

The more I think about the pricing, the more it makes sense to me and it's all about perspective.

This may be hard pill for some to swallow, but I really don't think this experience was intended for children/families.

I don't think that kids, especially young kids, are likely to "get it" or have the ability to get the most out of the immersive/interactive elements of the experience. Sure, for a kid, it'll be cool to "be" in space and see a few aliens and maybe do a few activities. But a kid isn't going to really get much out of trying a sustained LARP for two straight days. I don't think young kids (generally) have the energy, attention span and sophistication to really "live" this experience like it's intended to be.

And that's why when you hear "$6000 for a family of four!" it sounds insane. Because, for a family, it IS insane.

But it's NOT insane for four adults.

Heck, look at the cheapest room they offer. You can fit FIVE people in the cheapest room! They are expecting people to cram as many people into one room as possible. But if four adults do squeeze into a room, the price becomes $1500 for each adult. And, of course, that'll go down if you bring another a fifth.

Which is a far easier thing to manage than a single family shelling out $6K.

The biggest, most expensive room can accommodate 8 people! While they haven't released pricing on that, it's obvious, of course, that the more people you cram in, the more the price dramatically drops per person. The pricing structure encourages people to bring as many people as you can squeeze into those small (or at least small-ish) rooms.

It's when you get together a small group of adults (maybe two couples, maybe a group of old college friends or work buddies or whatever) that the numbers start to feel much less intimidating and make sense.

 

[iZon]

I understand that with the hotel and Baatu Disney is going for new locations fitted into the Star Wars galaxy. Which is fine. But I still feel like I might reach for my wallet quicker if the rooms looked like Cloud City, or the Death Star, or even Yoda’s hovel! I need it to be more evocative of the Star Wars that I already know. And the rooms just look like rooms that could be in any sci-fi property. I think I will need to see videos and more pictures to really ”force” me to get excited.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

This pricing is similar to the cruise prices with the third and forth person being way cheaper.
I personally would rather go on a weekend cruise than a weekend cruise on land.... but it's all about perspective..

We dont stay in super expensive resorts but its apparent that a lot of people do. It also includes a meal plan just like a cruise where they tell you if you want anything besides water and tea there will be a charge for that.

 

[Nabas]

The Galactic Starcruiser isn't designed to be a "hotel" experience for the mass market. It would make zero sense for guests to book the star cruiser and then shuffle off to to MK for the day. It's a boutique experience for a very small subset of WDW visitors looking for something different. Pricing seems structured (intended?) to guarantee that most folks will opt out of the star cruiser adventure but Disney only needs a tiny fraction of WDW guests to sign on in order to make this a success.

The Galactic Starcruiser reportedly has 100 cabins and suites. WDW has over 22,000 non-DVC rooms, which means less than 0.5% of the rooms are at the Starcruiser.

This would seem to be catering to a very small subset of WDW Guests.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

If you dont follow universal, you really should they crack me up!

 

[MillauFr]

Hum, wonder what kind of wine they will be serving?

Skywalker wines of course.

 

[squirk]

I understand that with the hotel and Baatu Disney is going for new locations fitted into the Star Wars galaxy. Which is fine. But I still feel like I might reach for my wallet quicker if the rooms looked like Cloud City, or the Death Star, or even Yoda’s hovel! I need it to be more evocative of the Star Wars that I already know. And the rooms just look like rooms that could be in any sci-fi property. I think I will need to see videos and more pictures to really ”force” me to get excited.

With only 100 rooms, I don't think they need to "go wide" with Original Trilogy-themed rooms that make no sense with regard to the resort's theme. Plenty of people will pay for the Sequel Trilogy lite-LARP experience.

A Death Star room or a Yoda's Hut room would be what they'd use if they were shooting more for mass-market appeal. Which they certainly are not.

If you dont follow universal, you really should they crack me up!
View attachment 595555

That's clever, and I am not defending Disney's pricing, but you know that if UO ever decided to do a deeply-immersive Harry Potter-themed hotel in the same vein ("Spend two days attending Hogwarts!"), their prices would be on par with Disney's.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

Was lukewarm on it to start with and the pricing cemented that it's not for me. Oh well. I'm excited to see vlogs and details as it opens just to see what Imagineers have cooked up.

YOU brought it up! You said, "I can do 5 crappy things for the price of this one thing." A strange point to make.

There are plenty of other good things you could do with that money, of course. But that's not the point.

People keep complaining, "I could go to Europe for this for a week! I could go to Hawaii!" etc.

Then DO those things. life is about choices. Some things cost a lot of money. Live your life, do what you want. I've been to Europe and Hawaii. I'll go to both places again. I'll also go to the Starcruiser.

Yes, it's pricey and that's a drag. Everything in life has a cost. It's up to you to make your choices. But doing apples and oranges comparisons is completely meaningless. I could buy $5000 packs of Juicy Fruit for the cost of this trip! So what?

People are going to weigh their options and point out the alternatives. If it is worth it to you, great. As a shareholder I hope this thing is booked solid for the next decade.

 

[MillauFr]

With the pricing they are charging I'm surprised Disney didn't go forward with building a Star Wars hotel in Anaheim as well. I understand the plans fell through after Disney didn't a tax rebate from the city. At these prices why do they need any tax rebates to make the project pencil out?

 

[LanceQ]

With the pricing they are charging I'm surprised Disney didn't go forward with building a Star Wars hotel in Anaheim as well. I understand the plans fell through after Disney didn't a tax rebate from the city. At these prices why do they need any tax rebates to make the project pencil out?

This is MUCH more of a WDW idea than a DLR one.

 

[StuckInKS]

The largest rooms an accommodate up to 8. It probably won't work out to be that high.

Where can I get info on those? I have only seen information on the rooms holding up to 4.

 

[MillauFr]

This is MUCH more of a WDW idea than a DLR one.

Not sure I follow. If they can get people to pay those prices in Florida they surely could get Disneyland crowds to pay far more.

 

[DanielleC]

The more I think about the pricing, the more it makes sense to me and it's all about perspective.

Lance is correct. It IS all about perspective. Some people will think it's a steal at the price, some people will say No way will they ever pay that much for a hotel and people will be every where else in between. People with kids won't attend now because of those kids or will plan on a stay without them or come when the kids are older.

Some people have the money and some people will take out a line of credit. It's up to them. But to think they are crazy for going or not going is wrong. Each is correct in their own little corner.

I did say this resort is Disney Institute 2.0. Disney did learn a few things like having a limited number of hotel rooms. They did or didn't by having a packed schedule. I'm pretty sure as the resort experience plays out they'll adjust and make changes as Disney feels they're needed. I really can't see everyone doing everything. I really can't see everyone going to this experience and doing everything on the schedule. Some people may not want to learn Sabacc so count them out of the Sabacc tournament. Or they know how to play. so they don't need to learn. I'm thinking that based on feedback between now and opening the itinerary will change a lot.

What do people with motion sickness do during the 3+ hours? What I'm curious to know is what happens when some people decide they want to visit other parts of Hollywood Studios? All they need to do is walk from SWGE to another part of the park. How will they get back to the resort? If they want to immerse everyone you wouldn't be able to see where you're headed from the inside of the bus. It does run through or next to the HS parking lot.

It's going to be an interesting year.

 

[disEAR]

Some people have the money and some people will take out a line of credit. It's up to them. But to think they are crazy for going or not going is wrong. Each is correct in their own little corner.

I did say this resort is Disney Institute 2.0. Disney did learn a few things like having a limited number of hotel rooms. They did or didn't by having a packed schedule. I'm pretty sure as the resort experience plays out they'll adjust and make changes as Disney feels they're needed. I really can't see everyone doing everything. I really can't see everyone going to this experience and doing everything on the schedule. Some people may not want to learn Sabacc so count them out of the Sabacc tournament. Or they know how to play. so they don't need to learn. I'm thinking that based on feedback between now and opening the itinerary will change a lot.

What do people with motion sickness do during the 3+ hours? What I'm curious to know is what happens when some people decide they want to visit other parts of Hollywood Studios? All they need to do is walk from SWGE to another part of the park. How will they get back to the resort? If they want to immerse everyone you wouldn't be able to see where you're headed from the inside of the bus. It does run through or next to the HS parking lot.

It's going to be an interesting year.

There are certainly a lot of variables that will change people's minds one way or another. I think Disney needs to release more information and showcase the variety of ways people can spend their time. I hope this turns out being better then my own first impressions, as the value just isn't there for me as I have voiced. For those who spend the money and go on the starcruiser, I hope you get the experience you are looking for.