Star Tours: An Experience
Star Wars is one of the most beloved pop culture and holy nerd franchises to ever enter existence. The highly successful franchise gave birth to a motion simulator attraction at Disneyland titled Star Tours: Adventure Thru Inner Space in 1987 but was closed in 2010 to make way for the brand new Star Tours: The Adventure Continues. On May, 2011 the brand new Star Tours opened and this past weekend I got to sit my ass in the Starspeeder 1000 three times and made my way off into the familiar locations found in the Star Wars Saga.
Just a note to you readers my trip to Disneyland was my first legitimate time at the park so my whole time there was an experience all in itself. To me the folks over at Disneyland are there to provide the park attendees a pure experience either reliving their favorite movies or something else all together. Star Tours: The Adventure Continues is no different.
The ride offers a combination of sequences that offer roughly 50 different adventures. Your time on the ride takes you to two different planets found in the Star Wars Saga that take the most memorable moments and allows you to relive those moments through your own eyes. I was lucky enough to ride Star Tours 3 times and each time offered something different.
The ride has only been open for about a month and has been packed the whole time. You will wait anywhere from an hour to two hours depending on what time you get there. Disneyland offers a “fast pass” which will allow you to cut the massive line if you return at the specific time the fast pass states on it. Unfortunately the popularity of Star Wars added with the newness of the attraction has the fast passes being completely tapped out 2 hours as soon as the park is open. My suggestion is head over to the ride as soon as the park opens and have a friend run over to the fast pass machine while you hold your places in line.
Waiting provides you with a unique experience all on its own. As soon as you get inside the waiting areas while you are in line you will be hit with all kinds of Star Wars music. The closer you get you will be treated with videos that put you into the ride’s scenario. More on that later. The videos shown are all part of the interactive nature of the ride. Animatronic C3P0 and R2D2 are in full force ensuring that the Starspeeder vehicle you will board is prepared for lift off. Before you get close to boarding another animatronic robot interacts with the crowd acting as a member of a space TSA minus the inappropriate touching.
Now about that scenario… it’s damn creative. If you don’t want me to spoil the story for the ride you are S.O.L. because I’m just about to do just that. Someone on your flight is a rebel spy and depending on where you sit on the ride it may just be you. The starspeeder you board has been hijacked by the Rebel Alliance in hopes to get the rebel spy to safety away from the Empire. The hijacked flight starts off with you taking off from the port where you could either encounter a security droid or Darth Vader himself searching for the Rebel. The result of the security check shoots you off into space in hopes to escape the Empires clutches.
After the great escape you will venture off to two different planets. I managed to visit Hoth, Naboo, Tatooine, Coruscant, and Kashyyyk. Easter eggs and guest appearances are all over the place. Chewbacca, Jar Jar Binks, the Millenium Falcon, Admiral Ackbar, Darth Vader, and Princess Leia made their way into one of my three times on there. By far the most enjoyable ride came as a surprised as they were pulled from the the Episode 1 movie. The Tatooine and Naboo scenarios are by far my favorite as in Tatooine you will enter a pod race with all the twists and turns to make the motion simulation enjoyable. Naboo’s scenario makes use of the 3D aspect of the ride which will have surprises hitting you at every turn. The other planets visited (Hoth, Kashyyyk, and Coruscant) were enjoyable but compared to the coupled Episode 1 scenario planets they didn’t seem just as fun.
For any self proclaimed Star Wars fan this is the ultimate Star Wars experience. The ride doesn’t just recreate the fan favorite or most memorable scenes from the movies and have you rewatch them. This ride puts you into those scenes and makes you an active member. Disney completely pulled off putting you into the Star Wars universe even though if it was just for a few minutes. The hour to two hour wait is more than worth it and I highly suggest you buy a ticket and so you can sit your ass in that seat and enjoy the ride.
