[EDV] 50 Glorious Years: Star Tours

[Kristof]

Star Tours opened in 1987 at Disneyland California.  This much beloved attraction all over the world is a creation by George Lucas and two of the best Imagineers, Tony Baxter and Tom Fitzgerald.  
A complete new film was edited by George Lucas' ILM (Industrial Light and Magic).  New scenes where shot and some where re-done especially for the attraction.  Several ILM employees feature in the film as rebel pilots and workers in the stations.  
Star Tours replaced the Adventure Through Inner Space attraction, in which guests were shrunk to microscopic size for travel through a snowflake. When the Star Speeder 3000 exits the station, the Mighty Microscope from "Adventure Thru Inner Space" can be seen.
After opening in Anaheim in 1987, a clone of the ride went to Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando the same year, July 1989 to Tokyo Disneyland and it opened with Disneyland Resort Paris in 1992.

There are no differences between the rides in the US and Paris, except the language (Rex speaks only French in Paris).  Both exteriors are not that impressing, except for the Parisian version featuring a lifesize X-Wing, located in front of the building.

Star Tours Paris used to feature the Astroport postshow with lots of interactive computers.  But everything was cleared out in 2004 to make way for a (paying) arcade.  


Star Tours at Tomorrowland, California


Photo by Joël


Star Tours at Discoveryland, Paris




My favourite Star Tours press photo

[Disneyana]

Thanks for that revision again. Great to read about it! I like both exteriors, but of course the Paris one looks a bit more gigantic because of the X-Wing. I guess at WDW MGM Studios they have an other Star Wars prop at the exterior, right ?

[Anthony]

Thanks for that revision again. Great to read about it! I like both exteriors, but of course the Paris one looks a bit more gigantic because of the X-Wing. I guess at WDW MGM Studios they have an other Star Wars prop at the exterior, right ?

Yeah, they have an "AT-AT walker":


(Source: allearsnet.com)

It doesn't look very impressive to be honest, mainly because the forced perspective doesn't work very well.  Despite what I've said before about disliking the exterior of Paris' Star Tours, it actually does seem to be the best of them all, in terms of "impressiveness".  :wink:

Personally I still really love Star Tours and have never found it boring at all (as many people seem to).  I have only been to DLRP 5 times, but I think for 99% of guests it's still fun and exciting - just those 1% who go to the park almost every week find it boring!  :wink:  Of course, Star Tours 2 would still be good, since the ride is technically quite outdated now, however much fun it still is.  The Star Wars concept is so massive as well that now the films are complete they've got so much more to work with...

Thanks for the article, Raptor!  

[Anthony]

JimHillMedia.com has got the first in a series of new articles about the creation of Star Tours online today:

Jim Hill finally delivers on the first installment of his long-promised series about this popular Disney thrill ride. In Part One, Jim talks about how it was Ron Miller who tried to get George Lucas to help the Imagineers create a simulator-based attraction.

 :arrow: http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/articles ... hp?ID=1498