Star Wars Galactic Star Cruiser : Initial Thoughts

I watched most of the 3 hour long review of this:

The reviewer often comes across as stilted and awkward, as if he’s been leant on by Disney to only say good things (he has been). I hate to run against the narrative here but a lot of the experience looks really good – especially the involvement of all the actors. The missions seem to be very detailed, and very full on – the “not a review” reviewers mentioning several times how relentless they are. That part is the big plus.

What’s NOT on the plus side is the pathetic quantities of food it appears you get – after paying nearly £5000 for 2 nights. Quality over quantity is fine – if it’s an 8 course meal. But not when you’re paying a 4 figure sum for just 2 nights and it’s merely a 3 course meal. Some of the game execution, particularly of the lightsaber training, is pathetic. And the lightsaber duel ‘set piece’ between Rey and Kylo (both of which fail to evoke anything from the Disney Trilogy) is, yes you’ve guessed it, a third pathetic.

“Immersion” is gained from the suspension of disbelief. And watching the big scenes with the First Order, who’s taking “command of the whole ship” appears to involve 1 single officer and 2 Stormtroopers you feel like you’re watching a show, NOT an “experience”. Having a crowd of other guests shouting “booooo!!” and “horraaaay!” panto style really doesn’t improve that loss of immersion. Whether this will improve once the invited reviewers are gone isn’t something I’m going to be able to comment on.

But charging that extreme a sum for something billed as “an immersive experience” when it’s basically just an interactive show, is not a strong selling point, nor a good omen. Star Wars has a lot of iconic characters to draw on. Only one of them is (badly) represented here – a half-baked “Chewbacca” – who appears to be randomly running about on his own – something Chewbacca was never, ever known for in any of the 9 “Star Wars” labelled films.

As such, without any iconic characters, and even the appearance of one who is supposed to be iconic (Kylo) but yet doesn’t make any impact or have much presence (because it merely feels like John from down the street who’s just dressed up as Kylo and has an Ebay bought voice changer) is going to draw no one in – whether Disney Star Wars fans or not. I feel they’re going to be changing this hotel drastically because from watching all that footage, feeling involved in a show is not why you forked over £5000.