New Space Terminals
On July 12, 1989 – two and a half years after the opening of Disneyland’s Star Tours – an expanded six-ATLAS copy opened in Tokyo Disneyland’s Tomorrowland (also sporting a one-of-a-kind extended queue). Japanese voice actor Yūji Mitsuya provided the Japanese dub of Captain Rex.
Six months after that, on December 15, 1989, Walt Disney World got a copy of Star Tours, too. But rather than being in Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland, the project was a headliner at the brand new Disney-MGM Studios (less than a year old at the time), housed in a studio-style soundstage with a water-squirting AT-AT at its entrance rather than in an immersive setting.
Finally, Disneyland Paris was the first Disney Park to open with a Star Tours built-in on April 12, 1992. However, there it was a non-sequitor within the park’s golden, Jules Verne-inspired Discoveryland – otherwise intentionally leaving behind the styles of Tomorrowland in favor of a European retro-future. As odd as Star Tours might’ve felt in Discoveryland, in some ways it brought the simulator technology full circle , incorporating it into a land of time machines, zephyrs, the iconic Nautilus, and even the Jules Verne-themed Lost Legend: Space Mountain – De la Terre a la Lune.
(We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the “fifth” Star Tours – a laughable roller coaster knockoff at Cedar Point borrowing the ride’s signature queue scenes and dash through space – the appropriately named Declassified Disaster: Disaster Transport.)
Star Tours was a hit. But there’s a reason Star Tours ranks among our lineup of Lost Legends. Out of four resorts where it was present, there are no longer any Disney Parks on Earth with this Star Tours adventure…
Prequels
From soon after Star Tours’ launch, fans were clamoring for more. They called for the ride to be updated and upgraded for years, and in 1998 – about a decade afer the ride’s launch – it almost happened. George Lucas contacted Imagineering to report that he had the perfect segue to update Star Tours at Disney Parks – an in-production scene from the upcoming fourth installment, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
Imagineers traveled to Skywalker Ranch to view rough cuts of the scene Lucas had in mind: the pod race on Tattooine. Disney’s designers got to work storyboarding the new adventure that would’ve seen Star Tours’ destination (but not its timeline) reset, with guests packing into a Star Tours flight to Tattooine to attend the Boonta Eve Classic.
On board, guests’ first clue that something was different about their experience would be when the Starspeeder (still piloted by REX) would depart through the correct launchway. Upon arriving on Tattooine, guests would enjoy watching the Podracers take their marks when (you guessed it) something would go horribly wrong, forcing the Starspeeder into the race.
From the start, this updated version of the attraction was imagined as a 3D experience, with guests wearing replicas of Anakin Skywalkers’s goggles.
Of course, this refreshed version of Star Tours never took shape. To hear Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald tell it, the reason is simple: designers knew they’d have only one shot at refreshing Star Tours to complement the highly anticipated prequel trilogy, so before Imagineers could retrofit the ride to the Episode I scene, they wanted to know what would happen in Episode II. Then, when Episode II debuted, they didn’t want to do anything to the ride until they saw Episode III.
It became clear that whichever route Disney took and whichever scenes they were inspired by, they’d run into a major hurdle: the ride would instantly date itself by being rigidly connected to one of the new films, and re-ride-ability would suffer. And by late 2003, as George Lucas finished filming Episode III, Imagineers had devised a perfect solution, and work began on a new take on Star Tours.
After a run of 23 years, Star Tours closed forever in July and September 2010 at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, respectively. While fans lamented the loss of the classic, the “Last Tour of Endor” special events weren’t your typical Disney Parks attraction funeral. Star Tours would return…
The Adventures Continue
“It has been a long time since the end of the Clone Wars, and the evil Sith Lord Darth Vader continues to tighten his grip on the Empire as the galaxy moves closer to the brink of a great civil war.
A new intergalactic spaceline, Star Tours, seeks to preserve the unrestricted intergalactic travel in this age of tyranny. Freedom fighter Captain Raymus Antilles has assigned two droids, See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo, to help launch the spaceline, fueling Imperial suspicion that Star Tours is part of the Rebel Alliance.
Star Tours is about to open its first intergalactic space terminal in the Earth System as rumors of a fearsome weapon of mass destruction dash all hope for peace and freedom in the galaxy…”
Star Tours – The Adventures Continue opened May 20, 2011 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and two weeks later on June 3 at Disneyland. The refreshed ride is all-new in both story and substance. Working with Lucasfilm, Imagineers also created just the right placement for the ride in the series’ intricate and carefully-studied timeline. Now set between Episode III (the end of the prequels) and Episode IV (the original) – earlier than the original ride’s timeline – the new Star Tours was essentially a “prequel” to the original, with guests riding in Starspeeder 1000s (compared to the 3000s-model from yesteryear).
Subtle changes mark the difference in the queue, from the sleek red Starspeeder 1000 being evaluated by C-3PO and R2-D2 to new droids conducting security scans of luggage and passengers (better aligned to modern air travel).
One of the packages being prepared shipment? A Droid being returned defective, spazzing out, sparking, and sputtering out, “I’m still g-g-geting used to my p-p-pr-programming.”
Among the ride’s noteworthy additions: the 70mm film of yesteryear was, of course, replaced with Dolby high-definition digital projection and new in-cabin special effects.
And since Rex can’t be our pilot (remember, this is a prequel, well before his “first flight” on the original), we end up with another: an unwitting C-3PO, stuck behind the wheel when the Starspeeder’s autopilot launch sequence kicks in while he’s on board to repair the drive system.
“Flight 1401, you are cleared for launch.”
“1401? That’s us! We can’t take off – the captain isn’t on board!”
But the ride’s starring feature now? The adventure itself. Along with a new motivation (a Rebel spy who’s snuck aboard, recruiting our no-frills flight into a rescue mission), the ride finally managed to accomplish what that Star Wars roller coaster envisioned 30 years earlier: the ability to explore new parts of the universe every time you ride.
The ride re-opened with thirteen segments (2 opening launch scenes, 3 main destination options, 3 potential hologram transmissions, and 3 possible ending segments) that were randomly shuffled to allow over 90 unique ride combinations, each blending seamlessly into the next. The wonderful randomization does more than just encourage re-rides; it makes the intergalactic escape feel legitimately wild.
So upon launching, you might be cornered by an Imperial probe droid who scans your vehicle to find that Rebel spy (cleverly, an actual passenger on board… it could even be you!) or Darth Vader himself may arrive, gripping your Starspeeder in a Force hold with a backwards blast thrusting you into space.
After escaping the port and launching to lightspeed, you may find yourself on Tattooine (locked head-to-head in a Podrace with Sebulba), slaloming through a snowy AT-AT battle on Hoth, or blasting through the treetops of the Wookie’s home planet Kashyyyk.
Similarly, your wild race to escape the Empire with the Rebel Spy onboard may take you to Naboo and the underwater Gungan city of Otoh Gunga, send you swerving through the traffic of Coruscant, or bring you face-to-face with the still-under-construction Death Star and the menacing Boba Fett.
Though naturally, fans will forever miss the original Star Tours, Rex, and its tried-and-true journey through space, The Adventures Continue expanded Star Tours to match the breadth and depth of the massive and ever-growing Star Wars universe! And in fact, perhaps it overexpanded… A major disturbance in the Force threatened to dereail the carefully-crafted universe Star Tours had adhered to. We’ll finished off this legend on the last page…