http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/hollywood-studios/attractions/star-tours/
Ride spoilers ahead....
The redesigned Star Tours attraction opens on Friday at Disney's Hollywood Studios, in Orlando. Which is also the first day of this year's Star Wars Weekends. Combine that with the fact that the new attraction has 54 ride possibilities, and it will be a Mad. House.
So we went by today, on the chance that they would have a "soft opening", as Disney often does for new attractions, to work out the kinks before the big press day. And it was open!
We rode it twice, and here's how it went (final warning, spoilers ahead!)...
Queue Area
The first part of the queue is largely unchanged. Threepio and Artoo are still there, servicing a Starspeeder vehicle. Only now it's a Starspeeder 1000, not 3000, as this is a prequel to the original ride. The original took place after the fall of the Empire. This one takes place during the Rebellion. The injokes, like a page for the person who owns landspeeder "THX1138" are still there.
The second part of the queue is different, though. It used to be the Droidnostics room, with all kinds of tinkering going on and parts moving to and fro. Now it's a baggage handling room. On the left side as you walk in, you can see the old RX droids (Captain Rex from the original Star Tours, voiced by Paul "Pee-Wee" Rubens) being boxed up. As a nice injoke, you can hear one of them occasionally quietly stuttering it's last line from the old ride, "I-I-I'm still getting used to my programming, hey!"
The G2 (goose) droid is still there, but instead of repairing a droid, he's monitoring luggage being scanned. This area is so much fun to watch. As bags go through the scanner, we get to see what's in them on a scanner, making for some good laughs. In one bag, you can see an Ewok. The droid comments what a cute Ewok toy it is. Just before the bag moves on, the Ewok moves! Another bag contains a bunch of blasters, and the droid incorrectly identifies them as hair dryers, speculating that the bag must belong to a Wookiee. He clears the bag for loading.
Load Area
While you're waiting to board, you can see security video of your vehicle being prepped. Threepio goes aboard to aid the droid pilot in troubleshooting something, and advises the pilot that his ship is departing soon as it leaves on a break. Once boarded, an auto launch sequence engages, leaving you with a flustered Threepio as pilot.
First Ride-through
As we started to launch, we got stopped by stormtroopers and a probe droid who were looking for a Rebel spy. They provided a pic of the spy, and it was a real photo of a kid in the cabin. The Millennium Falcon, also in the bay, made an abrupt and violent departure, and we followed them out. We jumped to Hoth, where we flew in and around the AT-AT battle and plummeted through an icy gorge before leaving the planet. We were contacted by Yoda via hologram, who asked us to see the spy safely to his destination. We then jumped off to Coruscant, where we had a wild ride through the busy thoroughfares before having a rough landing at our destination.
Second Ride-through
In the second ride, we were stopped by Darth Vader, who held our ship in his Force grip (again showing a pic of a kid in the cabin) and called upon some TIE fighters to detain us. We escaped by launching from the bay IN REVERSE as we fired our turbolasers at Vader, who deflected them with his lightsaber.
We jumped to Tatooine and flew in the Boonta Eve podrace, at one point colliding with a racer and getting his engines tangled on our ship, which gave us the extra boost required to win the race. We again received a hologram, this time of an Episode IV-styled Princess Leia, telling us that we're her only hope. We jumped off to Naboo to deliver the spy, appearing in the midst of a Trade Federation battle group, then crashing down into the ocean and flying to the Gungan city. We were directed to follow a craft through the planet's core, where we got snapped at by a giant sea creature, which licked our windshield, lol. Surfacing, we wildly skipped across the surface of the ocean to a hangar bay, where we had another rough landing, crashing into a Naboo starfighter, its pointed tail smashing through our windshield. A 'stooge' droid hanging on the tail chattered at us and Threepio said, "WE broke your ship? I think YOU broke OUR windscreen!" The droid fell off the tail into the pilot compartment, and Threepio added, "And I did NOT give you permission to board!" lol
The second ride-through was much more fun for me, I think because it had more humor. I can't wait to see the other 52 possibilities.
Ride spoilers ahead....
The redesigned Star Tours attraction opens on Friday at Disney's Hollywood Studios, in Orlando. Which is also the first day of this year's Star Wars Weekends. Combine that with the fact that the new attraction has 54 ride possibilities, and it will be a Mad. House.
So we went by today, on the chance that they would have a "soft opening", as Disney often does for new attractions, to work out the kinks before the big press day. And it was open!
We rode it twice, and here's how it went (final warning, spoilers ahead!)...
Queue Area
The first part of the queue is largely unchanged. Threepio and Artoo are still there, servicing a Starspeeder vehicle. Only now it's a Starspeeder 1000, not 3000, as this is a prequel to the original ride. The original took place after the fall of the Empire. This one takes place during the Rebellion. The injokes, like a page for the person who owns landspeeder "THX1138" are still there.
The second part of the queue is different, though. It used to be the Droidnostics room, with all kinds of tinkering going on and parts moving to and fro. Now it's a baggage handling room. On the left side as you walk in, you can see the old RX droids (Captain Rex from the original Star Tours, voiced by Paul "Pee-Wee" Rubens) being boxed up. As a nice injoke, you can hear one of them occasionally quietly stuttering it's last line from the old ride, "I-I-I'm still getting used to my programming, hey!"
The G2 (goose) droid is still there, but instead of repairing a droid, he's monitoring luggage being scanned. This area is so much fun to watch. As bags go through the scanner, we get to see what's in them on a scanner, making for some good laughs. In one bag, you can see an Ewok. The droid comments what a cute Ewok toy it is. Just before the bag moves on, the Ewok moves! Another bag contains a bunch of blasters, and the droid incorrectly identifies them as hair dryers, speculating that the bag must belong to a Wookiee. He clears the bag for loading.
Load Area
While you're waiting to board, you can see security video of your vehicle being prepped. Threepio goes aboard to aid the droid pilot in troubleshooting something, and advises the pilot that his ship is departing soon as it leaves on a break. Once boarded, an auto launch sequence engages, leaving you with a flustered Threepio as pilot.
First Ride-through
As we started to launch, we got stopped by stormtroopers and a probe droid who were looking for a Rebel spy. They provided a pic of the spy, and it was a real photo of a kid in the cabin.
The Millennium Falcon, also in the bay, made an abrupt and violent departure, and we followed them out. We jumped to Hoth, where we flew in and around the AT-AT battle and plummeted through an icy gorge before leaving the planet. We were contacted by Yoda via hologram, who asked us to see the spy safely to his destination. We then jumped off to Coruscant, where we had a wild ride through the busy thoroughfares before having a rough landing at our destination.Second Ride-through
In the second ride, we were stopped by Darth Vader, who held our ship in his Force grip (again showing a pic of a kid in the cabin) and called upon some TIE fighters to detain us. We escaped by launching from the bay IN REVERSE as we fired our turbolasers at Vader, who deflected them with his lightsaber.
We jumped to Tatooine and flew in the Boonta Eve podrace, at one point colliding with a racer and getting his engines tangled on our ship, which gave us the extra boost required to win the race. We again received a hologram, this time of an Episode IV-styled Princess Leia, telling us that we're her only hope. We jumped off to Naboo to deliver the spy, appearing in the midst of a Trade Federation battle group, then crashing down into the ocean and flying to the Gungan city. We were directed to follow a craft through the planet's core, where we got snapped at by a giant sea creature, which licked our windshield, lol. Surfacing, we wildly skipped across the surface of the ocean to a hangar bay, where we had another rough landing, crashing into a Naboo starfighter, its pointed tail smashing through our windshield. A 'stooge' droid hanging on the tail chattered at us and Threepio said, "WE broke your ship? I think YOU broke OUR windscreen!" The droid fell off the tail into the pilot compartment, and Threepio added, "And I did NOT give you permission to board!" lolThe second ride-through was much more fun for me, I think because it had more humor. I can't wait to see the other 52 possibilities.
