Galactic Starcruiser - what is next for this space?

[DebbieB]

One problem is location, it sits backstage.

 

[GoingSince1990]

They didn’t demolish River Country until they needed the space. (Which is on hold now, haha.) How many pavilions sat empty in Epcot for a long time? I don’t see them spending the money to demolish it until they need the land.

River Country didn’t need to be climate controlled and dehumidified to prevent mold growing out of control. Even if the building was being used for nothing at all, keeping it safe and sanitary in Florida’s climate would be a significant ongoing expense.

 

[RivShore]

I would convert it into a business retreat, team building, seminar, small convention space.

So your going to put me in a building with no windows and few doors with a bunch of coworkers I was so happy to get away from during work from home times...ahhh no thanks!

 

[HopperFan]

One problem is location, it sits backstage.

I guess backstage from a park ..... but easily accessible by vehicle. Literally a right turn off a major road. It would be easier to get there than some Disney hotels.

So your going to put me in a building with no windows and few doors with a bunch of coworkers I was so happy to get away from during work from home times...ahhh no thanks!

There are lots of companies that do "isolated" retreats and team building experiences. Not saying all folks love it but it is a thing and employees attend.

And who knows they may retrofit the building to be more traditional but I think for the uses I mentioned they could keep it as it.

 

[Moliphino]

I guess backstage from a park ..... but easily accessible by vehicle. Literally a right turn off a major road. It would be easier to get there than some Disney hotels.


There are lots of companies that do "isolated" retreats and team building experiences. Not saying all folks love it but it is a thing and employees attend.

And who knows they may retrofit the building to be more traditional but I think for the uses I mentioned they could keep it as it.

If I remember right, there are actually windows in the rooms. They were just hidden behind the screens.

 

[RivShore]

There are lots of companies that do "isolated" retreats and team building experiences. Not saying all folks love it but it is a thing and employees attend.

Just to be clear, I was joking and I thought the play on HM's classic line made that clear.
Your idea is as good as any other.

 

[rstevens333]

it'd be a hell of a wedding venue for the billionaire nerd class.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

I would convert it into a business retreat, team building, seminar, small convention space. Without all the actors and extras the cost to operate comes down. Could even do some Disney Institute type programs.

If my boss sent me to Disney and told me I would be locked in a windowless building the entire time I was there, I'm not sure they would get the expected reaction out of me....

Maybe some of you would enjoy a prison like expeirence...... I'm pretty sure I would not

 

[Kestryl]

The real answer is no one knows.

They’re taking some kind of tax write-off. Recent guests have been involved in long surveys- unsure if it’s a re-tooling or just market research to see what went right (and what went wrong). Josh D’Armo has said something will happen.

It could get abandoned. It could get destroyed. Maybe it’ll reopen at some point, though that isn’t as east as some people seem to think. (It’s tiny- 100 rooms. Valet parking only, no spots in walking distance (at least accessible by guests). It’s not attached to Hollywood Studios, so there would need to be a shuttle service. This cannot just be magically converted into a hotel or a dinner show- not without a LOT of work.

 

[Jwaire]

"The Disney chairman estimates that Disney has approximately $300 million remaining on their tax basis. This notion means the company can expense the entire $300 million undepreciated cost to reduce other taxable income on its 2023 tax return. Given that Disney pays a corporate income tax rate of 21%, the decision to abandon the assets will yield a net tax benefit to Disney of $63 million. It is important to note that the asset abandonment rules only apply to those assets that are being abandoned. Disney has not been forthcoming about the exact plans for the individual assets that comprise the hotel. For instance, if Disney simply moved the beds from this hotel to another hotel on its property or if it sold some of the machinery, those assets would not be eligible to be treated as an abandoned asset. Thus, that portion of the hotel’s property could not be written off. Based on the publicly available information, it is not clear how Disney came up with their $300 million amount for write-off, and what their plans are for the individual assets that comprise this hotel."

"While a $63 million tax benefit sounds appealing, recall that they spent $350 million on the property, and these tax savings reduce the total out-of-pocket cost. Thus, ignoring the tax savings from prior depreciation, the $63 million Disney will receive in tax benefits also means that it will have $237 million that is essentially not recovered ($350 million minus the tax benefit of $63 million less any prior depreciation incurred). This statistic means that the unprofitable investment cost Disney a substantial amount of money."

https://poole.ncsu.edu/thought-lead...onment-of-the-galactic-starcruiser-adventure/

By the far, the best analysis of what Disney's trying to do.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

This cannot just be magically converted into a hotel or a dinner show- not without a LOT of work.

I think they could’ve made it into a dining venue pretty easily, but it would have had to be an add on to DHS. They could have used the shuttle to take guests from DHS out to GSC where they could have enjoyed a meal and some time in the bridge and light saber rooms and then been shuttled back after a couple of hours.

But apparently they decided against that.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

The big downfall of this hotel was focusing it solely on the Disney ST. If they had all the eras present on alternating days it could have worked. OT fans are older and have the most expendable income, so it was stupid to not give them what they wanted and taken their money. Two days of OT theme, two days of ST theme, and two days of PT theme, one day of Mando theme. I believe it could have worked, but Disney is too darn stubborn. Tried to shoehorn the ST that is not well liked by all Star Wars fans. Just bad business decisions IMHO.

 

[Kestryl]

I think they could’ve made it into a dining venue pretty easily, but it would have had to be an add on to DHS. They could have used the shuttle to take guests from DHS out to GSC where they could have enjoyed a meal and some time in the bridge and light saber rooms and then been shuttled back after a couple of hours.

But apparently they decided against that.

Maybe, but I’m wondering how much they would have to charge to make it work.

They have two shuttle vans, each a capacity of 16. It’s takes about 10 minutes to make that drive. So they can bring over 192 in an hour. This could be increased with more vans.

I cannot for the life of me find the capacity for the Crown of Corellia. The room capacity gives about 502 guests, but the actual capacity has been theorized to be ~370 (because of the muster in the atrium). So… I tried to count tables from a photo, and came up with a capacity of 280.

Lightsaber training held 20 (4 sets of 5). It ran for 25 minutes.

Bridge training ran for 45 minutes. I think the capacity is 48, based on 12 people at shield and 4 different station types.

I guess they could shorten lightsaber and bridge training, but they can’t change the physical limitations without building new spaces.

Can they pump enough guests through in a day at a price that makes sense? How do they balance lightsaber/bridge training with the dining capacity? If they do a dinner show, they’ll have to figure out the transport issue.

Maybe it’s not impossible, but my wager is if they did this, they’d have to price it pretty high and people would still complain.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Maybe Disney realizes pouring good money into bad is not an effect business strategy..

Look at the body pavilion at Epcot, that state mostly empty for more than 20 years…

Yes I know they used it as exhibition space sometimes.

I think they will abandon the structure in place until they have. a plan that makes “cents,” as in money!

 

[KrzyKtty101]

So, cost for guest experience must have been out of this world to not just discount it?

I am assuming the cost of the actors for 3 days, combined with the small nature of the hotel, is what drove the prices so high. Since they don't have 500+ rooms, the operating cost per person would have been high. They probably had no way to drop the price without severely cutting back on some of the experiences, which would have been its own problem. That isn't even talking about the fact that they would have had to recover the development/building costs as well.

 

[KrzyKtty101]

Maybe, but I’m wondering how much they would have to charge to make it work.

They have two shuttle vans, each a capacity of 16. It’s takes about 10 minutes to make that drive. So they can bring over 192 in an hour. This could be increased with more vans.

I cannot for the life of me find the capacity for the Crown of Corellia. The room capacity gives about 502 guests, but the actual capacity has been theorized to be ~370 (because of the muster in the atrium). So… I tried to count tables from a photo, and came up with a capacity of 280.

Lightsaber training held 20 (4 sets of 5). It ran for 25 minutes.

Bridge training ran for 45 minutes. I think the capacity is 48, based on 12 people at shield and 4 different station types.

I guess they could shorten lightsaber and bridge training, but they can’t change the physical limitations without building new spaces.

Can they pump enough guests through in a day at a price that makes sense? How do they balance lightsaber/bridge training with the dining capacity? If they do a dinner show, they’ll have to figure out the transport issue.

Maybe it’s not impossible, but my wager is if they did this, they’d have to price it pretty high and people would still complain.

And not to mention, the cost to operate an entire building when only 1/10th of it is being used.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

And not to mention, the cost to operate an entire building when only 1/10th of it is being used.

The front half of the building includes the atrium, bridge, dining hall, lightsaber training room, shuttle entry area, and engineering room. The back half are the guest rooms. I’m pretty sure they could close off the back half and wouldn’t have to operate it if all the action took place in the front half.

 

[KrzyKtty101]

The front half of the building includes the atrium, bridge, dining hall, lightsaber training room, shuttle entry area, and engineering room. The back half are the guest rooms. I’m pretty sure they could close off the back half and wouldn’t have to operate it if all the action took place in the front half.

Without building an insulated wall, they would still have the electrical costs to cool that side of the building though... Not sure the cost on that.

 

[Jwaire]

If we've learned anything from Disney is they love a good piece of unused property.

Up until all the food festivals, The Odyssey sat empty for how many years? Wonders of Life, 1/2 the Imagination Pavilion, 1/2 of Tomorrowland, Horizons was closed most of the time, the EPCOT lounges, etc. If that wasn't enough, they built World Showplace, which they rarely use. There's a ton of offices and space at MGM Studios (never forget). The resorts have all sorts of places that have just sat there for years like Tangaroa Terrace at the Poly.

 

[RivShore]

"The Disney chairman estimates that Disney has approximately $300 million remaining on their tax basis. This notion means the company can expense the entire $300 million undepreciated cost to reduce other taxable income on its 2023 tax return. Given that Disney pays a corporate income tax rate of 21%, the decision to abandon the assets will yield a net tax benefit to Disney of $63 million. It is important to note that the asset abandonment rules only apply to those assets that are being abandoned. Disney has not been forthcoming about the exact plans for the individual assets that comprise the hotel. For instance, if Disney simply moved the beds from this hotel to another hotel on its property or if it sold some of the machinery, those assets would not be eligible to be treated as an abandoned asset. Thus, that portion of the hotel’s property could not be written off. Based on the publicly available information, it is not clear how Disney came up with their $300 million amount for write-off, and what their plans are for the individual assets that comprise this hotel."

"While a $63 million tax benefit sounds appealing, recall that they spent $350 million on the property, and these tax savings reduce the total out-of-pocket cost. Thus, ignoring the tax savings from prior depreciation, the $63 million Disney will receive in tax benefits also means that it will have $237 million that is essentially not recovered ($350 million minus the tax benefit of $63 million less any prior depreciation incurred). This statistic means that the unprofitable investment cost Disney a substantial amount of money."

https://poole.ncsu.edu/thought-lead...onment-of-the-galactic-starcruiser-adventure/

By the far, the best analysis of what Disney's trying to do.

Any idea what happens if they decide to repurpose parts of it/all of it, after they take the full write off? Just repay the taxes and move ahead or are there penalties or restrictions on reversing the write off?