DAVE DAVIES, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. One of the most talked-about documentaries of the summer isn't on Netflix, and it's not screening in theaters. It's a four-hour YouTube video that charts the rise and fall of a "Star Wars"-themed resort in Orlando, Fla. "The Spectacular Failure Of The Star Wars Hotel," as the video is called, digs into the disaster of this resort, which was built by the Walt Disney Company and closed after just 18 months. Contributor Carolina Miranda couldn't stop watching it, and she says the video gets right what the hotel got hopelessly wrong.
CAROLINA MIRANDA, BYLINE: I did not expect to spend four hours watching a YouTube video about a hotel that closed over a year ago, but "The Spectacular Failure Of The Star Wars Hotel" is no ordinary online video. It's a detailed assessment of all that went wrong at the hotel, officially known as Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. The video was produced by popular YouTube creator Jenny Nicholson, and its underlying premise makes it a draw - a young YouTuber lays bare the poor creative decisions that led to the demise of a very expensive hotel.
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JENNY NICHOLSON: That's the dirty secret behind the Galactic Starcruiser. It wasn't an idea conceived to explore a new frontier and immersive experiences. It was just a lot of ideas they already had, had already promised us, some which they had already implemented.
MIRANDA: Part of what makes "The Spectacular Failure Of The Star Wars Hotel" so compelling is that it's more than a run-of-the-mill internet rant. Nicholson makes perceptive observations about the nature of fandom and why some fans continued to defend the hotel, even when it was clear it didn't live up to the PR.
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NICHOLSON: If you book a $5,000 theme park experience and then mention it to a random co-worker, they're probably going to be like, you're nuts. Everyone is talking about how this thing is way too expensive and will never be worth it. So once that's out there, you now have to enjoy this experience, because if you go and then come home and are like, it wasn't that good, or even, it was just OK, you worry that you'll look like a fool - and to that, I say, I don't think any of you guys are fools. I mean, you were fooled, in a literal sense, but that's not embarrassing. It's Disney that should be embarrassed for taking advantage of their fans.
MIRANDA: The story begins in March 2022, when Nicholson and her sister booked a room at the "Star Wars" hotel shortly after its ballyhooed opening. Designed to resemble a spaceship, the hotel included an immersive live-action component, which made staying there like inhabiting a play for a weekend. Guests were trained how to use lightsabers, while Jedi fighters and Imperial villains faced off in live battles. Guests could become part of the story by joining up with one faction or another. This experience did not come cheap. For a two-person, two-night stay, Nicholson says she shelled out more than $6,000.
Of course, she filmed everything. And it's clear from the moment she lands that there are shortcomings. Arriving guests have to wait in long lines in the Florida heat because the spaceship design doesn't include a lobby. The hotel's smartphone app, which drives some of the action, doesn't reliably work. There is no detail that escapes Nicholson's eye. She deconstructs the limitations of the architecture, and she punches holes in the live-action narratives.
But what held my attention over so many hours was her unorthodox presentation. Serving as backdrop to her fast-paced monologue are dozens of stuffed animals. She also appears dressed up as an array of "Star Wars" characters, including a porg. Those are the adorable, puffin-like creatures that appeared in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" in 2017. The cuteness is balanced by a biting wit, whether she's going after additional fees or deconstructing the slapdash nature of the experience.
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NICHOLSON: It often felt like they were doing the least. Like, we'll build pretty rooms, but we won't put anything in them. We'll do one droid. We'll build one alien, and we'll stop there.
MIRANDA: She cleverly sums up the hotel's most glaring problem.
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NICHOLSON: The Starcruiser feels like it was designed to have just enough cool stuff to put in a TikTok.
MIRANDA: Nicholson got her online following as co-creator of an animated parody series called "Friendship Is Witchcraft." And on her YouTube channel, you'll find deep dives on subjects like "The Vampire Diaries" TV series. But these aren't as long or involved as her piece on the "Star Wars" hotel. The video has proven wildly popular. At last count, it had more than 9 million views.
Nicholson brings the zeal of a fan to her video. She loves "Star Wars," but she isn't blinded by her fandom. The video ultimately serves as a clear-eyed indictment of a company that thought it could warm up a few franchised leftovers and feed them to fans at astronomical prices. Nicholson saw through the spin. And in a video that functions as a remarkable fusion of documentary filmmaking, cultural criticism and kooky social media performance, she lays bare Disney's half-baked idea. Above all, she knows how to tell a story. And over four entertaining hours, she reminds us of what Disney forgot - that a good story well told is everything.
DAVIES: Carolina Miranda is a culture critic based in Los Angeles. She reviewed "The Spectacular Failure Of The Star Wars Hotel" on YouTube.
On tomorrow's show, as the Democratic National Convention approaches, we take stock of the historic transformation of the 2024 presidential race. We'll speak with New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos. He's been traveling with the new Democratic ticket on its swing-state tour. I hope you can join us. To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram - @nprfreshair.
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DAVIES: FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Roberta Shorrock, Ann Marie Baldonado, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Susan Nyakundi and Joel Wolfram. Our digital media producers are Molly Seavy-Nesper and Sabrina Siewert. Thea Chaloner directed today's show. For Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, I'm Dave Davies.
(SOUNDBITE OF DAVE MCKENNA'S "WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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