Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser

[Parkscope Joe]

have grown to really dislike the trend of obscenely long Youtube video essays. I will hard pass on any of Quinton Reviews' 27 hour Nickelodeon deep dives. But I've found that when Defunctland or Jenny Nicholson post a multi-hour documentary they really mean it. I wouldn't completely dismiss it for the length.

 

[GA-MBIT]

HBomb and some others also rock but I mostly tried to keep it to theme park creators haha

 

[Clive]

I got u.

Can't wait to talk to @Clive about it.

Now that I'm back from Europe, gonna find some time to check this out this week...

Immersive fans in the Sleep No More discord are not happy with her assessment, as I'm sure you saw.

 

[Brian G.]

The video is done well enough that it earns its 4 hour runtime. A very thorough exploration of every aspect of the experience, highlighting what little went right in addition to so many things that went wrong. But that's the first 3 hours. The fourth is an expert take-down of influencers and online theme park commentators and a solid argument that the hubris of the Starcruiser is a metaphor for TWDC's current theme park philosophy in general. If you know the hotel backwards and forwards, still worth skipping ahead to that.

I was just having this conversation recently about how reviews are done, at large, by the community. How a lot of non-media folk combat those who are invited by being negative or nitpicky but hiding it under the guise of "honest" or "real". At the other end of the spectrum, the invitees not offering any sort of critique out of fear of being dropped. There's a way to be critical without being a jerk about it.

 

[SeventyOne]

I was just having this conversation recently about how reviews are done, at large, by the community. How a lot of non-media folk combat those who are invited by being negative or nitpicky but hiding it under the guise of "honest" or "real". At the other end of the spectrum, the invitees not offering any sort of critique out of fear of being dropped. There's a way to be critical without being a jerk about it.

A big thing she touches on is that a thing can be incredibly cool, but if only 3% or even 33% of guests will get to experience it, a review needs to take account of that. It doesn't make the thing any less cool, it just means it can't really be considered in the value proposition.

And also she calls out influencers for the "worth it if you can afford it" cop-out, when the refuse to make a value-assessment for fear of angering the Rat.

 

[Brian G.]

A big thing she touches on is that a thing can be incredibly cool, but if only 3% or even 33% of guests will get to experience it, a review needs to take account of that. It doesn't make the thing any less cool, it just means it can't really be considered in the value proposition.

And also she calls out influencers for the "worth it if you can afford it" cop-out, when the refuse to make a value-assessment for fear of angering the Rat.

Out of the bits I did see, that was one of them - and wholeheartedly agree (I got a chuckle out of the Taco Bell comparison). "Value" is going to be different for everyone, but we as reviewers need to paint that picture better; specifically what guests will be getting with their money. Admittedly, it can be hard when things are provided complimentary and the experience during media days will more likely be as close to perfection as anything.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I think Len Testa offered the best one-line review for it... (not an 100% accurate quote)

"If you've visited every continent/seven wonders of the world/every national park in the US/Alaska/Disney Cruise/etc., then I would recommend the Starcruiser"

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Now that I'm back from Europe, gonna find some time to check this out this week...

Immersive fans in the Sleep No More discord are not happy with her assessment, as I'm sure you saw.

I was talking to my bud David last night had similar issues. Going to watch and make my own opinions on it since I like her work.

 

[Tbad556]

Finally finished the video and what a perfect takedown of this catastrophe. The last hour is masterful work. It's impressive to discover just how much worse this thing truly was compared to the disaster I had already considered it.

 

[deadbydawn]

I watched the video this week. I'd known about Jenny for a while, but I can't recall ever seeing one of her videos. This was excellent. I have seen a lot of criticism online about it not being fair, or people defending the experience because they personally had a great time.

I felt that her critique was extremely reasonable and honestly, it felt much more like an "every persons" review which is kind of refreshing. The last few minutes of her video is a wonderful breakdown about the current issues with Disney as a company at least at it pertains to its theme parks. Brilliant work.

I never had an interest in this thing, even as a lifelong Star Wars and Disney Parks fan. Her review highlights what could have gone wrong (as much of it did for her) and why it should never have happened on something that is billed as a premium experience. As she put it, they basically built this hotel and gameplay around a broken app.

 

[rhino4evr]

I watched the video this week. I'd known about Jenny for a while, but I can't recall ever seeing one of her videos. This was excellent. I have seen a lot of criticism online about it not being fair, or people defending the experience because they personally had a great time.

I felt that her critique was extremely reasonable and honestly, it felt much more like an "every persons" review which is kind of refreshing. The last few minutes of her video is a wonderful breakdown about the current issues with Disney as a company at least at it pertains to its theme parks. Brilliant work.

I never had an interest in this thing, even as a lifelong Star Wars and Disney Parks fan. Her review highlights what could have gone wrong (as much of it did for her) and why it should never have happened on something that is billed as a premium experience. As she put it, they basically built this hotel and gameplay around a broken app.

The “missions” inside the park were also laughable. Scanning QR codes must be the most lazy and boring idea you could possibly have. It’s also the cheapest so it makes sense.

It’s crazy to me how dumbed down the experience was. I was almost certain hotel guests had priority at Olga cantina. Instead they give you a free drink coaster ? lol.

Thought is was funny she also caught the droid operator who is disguised as a tourist.

I enjoyed the part of the video where she breaks out the cost of the hotel vs an actual Disney cruise. One of my first criticisms was the rooms were way too small, for such an incredibly high price point. For the same price you basically had the balcony suite on the cruise. Cruises have way more activities , live shows, and a much better vacation destination.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

or people defending the experience because they personally had a great time.

I mean, they did go and have a good time. I'm not one to say that their viewpoints are not valid, just as it's not theirs to say Jenny's points aren't. I've been talking to some folks who went and found Jenny's video frustrating but I blame Disney for not telling people what the interaction model was, not Jenny.

 

[Skold]

Yeah, it is crazy how lazy the missions were.

Especially compared to Agent P, Kim Possible, and Pirate's Adventure in the MK - all of which had puzzles that involved more than scanning codes, and all had real animatronics (or some type of other movement at least), when one was solved.

 

[ReelJustice]

I’m on #TeamJenny. I wanted to do this *someday* but thankfully, Disney saved me from myself.

It’s wild that everything went wrong for her, right down to the torrential rains during the “excursion”.

I think it’s telling (in more ways than one) that Disney didn’t even try to salvage it.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I’m on #TeamJenny. I wanted to do this *someday* but thankfully, Disney saved me from myself.

It’s wild that everything went wrong for her, right down to the torrential rains during the “excursion”.

I think it’s telling (in more ways than one) that Disney didn’t even try to salvage it.

The closure feels personal.

 

[wutisgood]

If I had seen Jenny's video while starcruiser was still open I would have never booked it. If I had seen some of the curated influencer videos that lamented how it was closing soon and how great it was. I would have been tempted to (although it would have been booking that 5 person room she thought was crazy).

What people do not understand in a lot of these videos is people like Ordinary Adventures are already independently wealthy (and now more wealthy on the people donating which they prob still don't even need due to sponsorships) will still not ever seriously criticize Disney outside of negative food reviews. I specifically remember one of their videos going to I think the 3rd time when they had a solo experience moving those force rocks. That is the kind of thing (with Kitra crying) that is going to move sales. If you think Disney does not know who these level people are when the characters on starcruiser literally have access to everyone's info as part of tacking story data you are crazy. Someone previously posted here this was an extremely slim chance of ever happening.

Jenny booked one of the early cruises and got seated at the worst table. They did not understand who she was.

I also find her experience with being critical on starcruiser online cathartic. I love Disney as I do universal, but talking with people who make excuses all the time for (mostly the Disney side) failures feels like trying to be the sane one attempting to fix an abusive relationship.

I always felt like universal expansion actually was to expand more guests while Disney "expansion" was to extract more money from the same guests. I appreciated her comments on the company as a whole.

 

[wutisgood]

If I had seen Jenny's video while starcruiser was still open I would have never booked it. If I had seen some of the curated influencer videos that lamented how it was closing soon and how great it was. I would have been tempted to (although it would have been booking that 5 person room she thought was crazy).

What people do not understand in a lot of these videos is people like Ordinary Adventures are already independently wealthy (and now more wealthy on the people donating which they prob still don't even need due to sponsorships) will still not ever seriously criticize Disney outside of negative food reviews. I specifically remember one of their videos going to I think the 3rd time when they had a solo experience moving those force rocks. That is the kind of thing (with Kitra crying) that is going to move sales. If you think Disney does not know who these level people are when the characters on starcruiser literally have access to everyone's info as part of tacking story data you are crazy. Someone previously posted here this was an extremely slim chance of ever happening.

Jenny booked one of the early cruises and got seated at the worst table. They did not understand who she was.

I also find her experience with being critical on starcruiser online cathartic. I love Disney as I do universal, but talking with people who make excuses all the time for (mostly the Disney side) failures feels like trying to be the sane one attempting to fix an abusive relationship.

I always felt like universal expansion actually was to expand more guests while Disney "expansion" was to extract more money from the same guests. I appreciated her comments on the company as a whole.

I general Jenny made the points inside and outside of the main points of the video I would want to bring attention to as a fan for years. She is so special on quality criticism and long format essays.

 

[deadbydawn]

I mean, they did go and have a good time. I'm not one to say that their viewpoints are not valid, just as it's not theirs to say Jenny's points aren't. I've been talking to some folks who went and found Jenny's video frustrating but I blame Disney for not telling people what the interaction model was, not Jenny.

I feel the same way. I would never say that someone's experience wasn't valid, one way or the other. I know people who went and had a good time. But for that price point there shouldn't have ever been an option where one of the big selling points doesn't happen for you. The interaction model was flawed plain and simple. She definitely had bad luck, to the point where it seemed like just about everything that could go wrong did.

 

[rhino4evr]

Scanning QR codes off fake crates in the pouring rain may be the saddest thing ever.

 

[NotPennysBoat]

In my opinion, it doesn’t matter how good or how bad it was, the simple fact that for the majority of the people it was just too expensive. Even if it would have gotten rave reviews from everyone and everyone said it was the best thing ever…. if you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it. I’m a huge Star Wars fan, but I couldn’t afford it no matter how badly I wanted to give it a try.