Disney: "Why won't people spend a ton of cash for our fan experience that has nothing anybody cares about?"
According to Disneyland News, the company is looking to understand why their first fully immersive hotel experience was so bad that no one wanted to book a stay. Now, some guests who had previously stayed at Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser and completed a survey after their stay are being asked to join a paid focus group so Disney can learn more about their experiences.
Essentially, they're paying even more money to try and find out why their Star Wars hotel was, seemingly a flop.
Look, if you're not a Star Wars fan, that's fine.
And if you're not a fan of Mouse House groomers, that's even more fine.
But Star Wars is a tale that matters within our society. It's an epic story that speaks deeply into the objective truths of the human experience and suffering, the cosmic struggle between good and evil, and the nature of those two opposing sides.
Will it still be relevant half a millennia from now like Hamlet or MacBeth? Probably not.
Is it as enduring as the Greek epics of Homer that underpinned the beginnings of Western civilization, or the Judeo-Christian account that allowed those and many other epics to flourish by framing truth and reason itself? Definitely not.
But for kids everywhere over the past 50 years, it has represented a microcosm of the battle that rages within us all – the light versus the dark, sacrifice versus selfishness, the tug and pull of different voices that tell us about the nature of power, and the hope for a future even in the bleakest of times.
Disney has never understood this. To them, Star Wars is just a fun universe filled with various adventurers that they haven't taken the time to study. They do more market research on their customers than they do the lore of the cosmos as created by George Lucas.
The focus group they're being asked to participate in is a 90-minute virtual session that will take place during the last week of June. Participants will be paid $175 via Disney Gift Card for their time. The publication points out that the location noted on the survey doesn't match the location of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser but wondered whether the email was incorrect or if it's pointing to early research into a similarly immersive experience at Disney World.
Either way, it's probably smart that the company is looking for feedback on its immersive hotel. There was early criticism when first look photos were released ahead of the hotel opening. The concerns stemmed from small hotel rooms and the whole experience of being indoors. And that's ultimately the criticism that was heard when the hotel opened on March 1, and bookings stalled.
Bookings didn't stall because of the size of the rooms. They stalled because no one cares about Disney Star Wars.
The deeply emotional plot of Star Wars is made even more brilliant by the genius of composer John Williams, wrote theme music for each of the characters that told you what they were feeling in their souls.
And that's what Star Wars is about. It is profoundly spiritual – theological if you will. Contrary to what a secular, woke company like Disney believes, Star Wars is made Star Wars by speaking into the spiritual yearning that we all have. Lucas blended together his Christian upbringing with Buddhist and Taoist influence, to be sure, but at the core, Lucas is presenting spiritual questions about how we live, our ultimate destiny, and our purpose in the grand scheme of things.
In Star Wars, there is a cosmic power that Disney rarely talks about, or if they do, it is given a side role as some kind of supporting character that allows the characters to go Ironman whenever they need a cool CGI scene.
Through this cosmic power itself, we are invited into a larger world. The aliens, distant planets, and cool spaceships are just the backdrop for this world.
It is through this spiritual struggle and power that we see the rise and fall of an evil Empire as the cosmic power itself – not the individual characters – ensures that justice is met.
Within Christian theology, God speaks repeatedly of stepping in to direct human history – the entire Bible is a metanarrative of how He does so. In times when men are too weak or evil to save the poor and the oppressed, He himself steps in to see justice done. Without Him as the main character, there is no story.
In eastern mythology, this sense of justice is focused on the yin and the yang – the balance of light and dark – and the harmony of energy found in all living things. While this is contradictory to Christian thought, George Lucas found a way to blend these elements into a sci-fi narrative that still leads to compelling spiritual truths about the things our hearts care deeply about – friendship, love, decisions, betrayal, suffering, hope, and redemption.
The central character of Star Wars is Anakin Skywalker. Disney does a great disservice in ignoring that fact. Through Anakin, we see what it is like to be a child, then to grow up and fall horribly short of our hopes and dreams.
Anakin believes he can work against the will of the cosmic power, and in his hubris and desperation becomes the monster Vader, who ironically kills everything and everyone he loves.
But in the end, what Anakin worked for evil, the heavenly power worked for good. Through no effort of his own, Vader was turned back to the light and brought balance to the Force, fulfilling the prophesy of the chosen one. The spiritual power won the day.
As humans, we feel these mystical elements in our bones. We know they speak of our own journeys and our own conflict. Anakin Skywalker is us.
But Disney doesn't understand that. They think lasers and gimmicky comedy and expensive special effects, combined with a healthy measure of woke preaching, will fill the void.
Let Vader himself school the Mouse House on why their expensive hotel failed. In this scene, Disney is the rebellious officer talking back to the Dark Lord:
Your fancy building and massive marketing budget is insignificant next to the power of the spiritual elements you've chosen to ignore, Disney!
Ironically, the Magic Kingdom doesn't seem to understand magic anymore. If they did, this "experience" wouldn't start at $5,000 to wander around a fake cruise ship in space interacting with characters that no one cares about. It would be an adventure that invites someone into a much greater world and story.
But if Disney doesn't understand that (and I imagine they never will), then just focus more on the dang space wizards and less on random background characters. I guarantee you that'll bring you more of the money you so desperately seek!
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