Original

Star Tours!

Friday June 3, 2011Opening Ceremony Star Tours -The Adventures Continue

Our favorite event opened with a bang and never slowed down with 54 new episodes!

This photo courtesy of the Disney Co. but I am in it, can you see me??

We arrived for this event about 7:30 a.m. the stages were already set the sound system was wired and rehearsals were ready to start. Storm Troopers were out and about, the one pictured below stopped for my camera lends-you can see the yellow harness off his belt, this was needed because four of these guys went up on the old People Mover Track for part of the show. They were attached to a safety line per Cal-OSHA requirements.

You can see here how the technicians attached them to a cable.

Here they were in position for the battle, this added a very
nice touch to this event

This is a shot of the press box directly behind the white
chairs in front of the stage

When the event started a full battle ensued, I thought this was well choreographed and executed flawlessly, again the Storm Troopers overhead added a nice dimension to the show

These next three shots show the official opening, Tom Skaggs used a lightsabor to cut the ribbon.

Tom Staggs chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts addressing the media, he seemed a bit tired in the actual live broadcast and I thought he did better at the rehearsal -but why nit pick?? He did a great job all around and I am sure he was operating on very little sleep at this point. He had the pressure of pulling off a very important re-launch of the best attraction in Tommorowland.

Now onto the ride, this was just amazing- now enhanced with 3D effects this long overdue upgrade really hit the mark, we lined up in the shortest line probably for a long time to come and made our way to the 3D glasses pick up and then right the loading area. The attraction was so well done!! Different story lines, “transmissions” that appear right on the screen with your favorite characters from the story line. (see fact sheet below for details) Completely revamped and fresh, you must see this for yourself. On one of the second trips through the ride disneydreamer.com joined a local T.V. Station Crew who was filming the last 2 rows of Cabin 3 to get the reaction as the ride progressed. (Interesting note-Disneyland Security was out and about with dogs who were sniffing the cabin before we could go in…really..no kidding!) A metal round pipe system brace attached the Video Camera to a seat in the second row. The atmosphere was just electric as the crew were witnessing the ride for the first time! Nothing contrived here all the reactions were real and this made this trip especially fun.

DisneyDreamer.com was able to interview one of the builders of the ride. Peter a builder on this latest revamp told us that the new ride has 8 different “scenes” with the same potential middle beginning and ending. With 2 beginnings 3 middles, 3 ends and 3 “transmissions” he gave a 2x3x3x3=54 explanation. Confused, yeah we were too! All that to say you can ride the ride 54 times and not get the same show!! The shows go in random order so you never know what you are walking into. We rode the ride three times and all the shows were different.

Below are some shots of the ride itself. After the official opening of the ride the queue stretched to Main Street. When you go either fastpass-go when the park opens or is ready to close or during a parade. This might alleviate wait times. But this is another must see, Team Disney did it again, this time something really -really good!