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Star Tours
Tomorrowland Disneyland |
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Introduction | Attraction | Touring Tips | Kids/Characters | Dining | Shopping | Interesting Facts Presented by Energizer, this flight simulator ride was inspired by the original Star Wars movie trilogy. Board the StarSpeeder 3000 for a flight to the Moon of Endor which takes an unexpected detour into the epic space battle between the Rebel fleet and the Galactic Empire. Star Tours is located at the entrance to Tomorrowland. Queue: The queue winds through the hangar area of Star Tours - a noted intergalactic travel agency. Travel posters on the walls advertise exotic destinations like the cloud city of Bespin and the desert wonders of Tatooine. Audio-animatronic characters, including C3PO and R2-D2, are engaged in various tasks like equipment maintenance while overhead a variety of parts and pieces are transported from place-to-place in small baskets. Before boarding their StarSpeeder 3000 guests will view a short safety video describing loading procedures and seat belts. Star Tours: Designed by teams from both Disney and George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic, the 40-seat flight simulator combines motion with an action-packed video to send passengers soaring into hyperspace. Pilot RX-24, or Captain Rex, is a droid on his first solo flight, and isn't yet used to his programming, which turns a normally uneventful trip to the Endor moon into a turbulent flight in an out-of-control starspeeder! The four-and-a-half minute ride is full of thrills as it travels past comets and icy asteroids, dodges Imperial fighters, gets caught in a Star Destroyer's tractor beam, zooms through the trench of the Death Star, and helps to vanquish the evil Empire, all before nearly crash-landing back home in the hangar bay. Read about the Walt Disney World version of Star Tours HERE.
The height requirement for Star Tours is 40 inches. Children under 7 must be accompanied by an adult. Because the motion simulator can be fairly rough, pregnant women and people with other medical considerations, including motion sickness, are advised not to ride Star Tours. There is less motion in the middle of the vehicle near its center of gravity. Those wishing to experience the widest range of motion will find it in the back row, especially on the ends. Cast Members will usually accommodate seating requests if possible. There is a net bag under the seat to secure loose items during the flight. Guests using an ECV must transfer to a wheelchair to travel the queue of Star Tours. Guests in wheelchairs must transfer out to ride this attraction. Reflective Captioning Available. Guest-activated captioning is available at this attraction. The nearest restrooms are located between Star Tours and the Plaza Inn. This attraction is quite popular with most kids who have seen the Star Wars movies. But others may find it scary, and those who are prone to motion sickness probably should not ride. Unfortunately the Star Wars characters do not appear at Disneyland. Check your daily Times Guide for times and locations of other character meet and greet opportunities. The Plaza Inn, offering homestyle fare like pot roast and fried chicken, is located just outside Tomorrowland. Redd Rockett's Pizza Port, serving pizza, salads, and pasta, is located next to the entrance to Space Mountain. The Star Traders gift shop located at the exit of Star Tours offers a variety of merchandise based on all of the Star Wars movies, including t-shirts, action figures, Lego kits, books, and posters. Star Tours opened on January 9, 1987. The flight simulator used in the StarSpeeder 3000 is the same used by the military to train pilots. At the end of the film, as the transport comes to a standstill, there is an actor in a control booth who resembles Star Wars creator George Lucas -- but in fact he is just a look-alike. Paul Reubens, best-known as comedian Pee Wee Herman, is the voice of the droid pilot Rex. In the queue area you'll hear C3PO and R2D2 talking. The Star Tours film was made by Lucas' special effects company, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). The work crews shown in the docking bays and control rooms of the film are supposedly members of the ILM model shop staff. The boxes circulating over you in the queue area are all stencilled with letters and numbers, such as "PAD 61257" and "KMS 81850". These stand for the initials and birthdates of Imagineers who worked on the attraction. While waiting in line at Star Tours, there are several humorous pages announced: 1) one page is for "Egroeg Sacul", which is "George Lucas" spelled backwards; 2) another page is for Mr. Tom Morrow, a pun on the word "tomorrow;" 3) a final page calling, "Will the owner of the speeder with the license number THX 1138 please move their vehicle, you are in a no hover zone." THX 1138 is significant in that it's the name of the first movie that George Lucas ever made. Star Wars fans will recognize the line "I've got a bad feeling about this," uttered by Rex at the beginning of the flight. This line has been used in all of the Star Wars films by various characters as part of a running gag. Star Tours is located in the building occupied by the former Adventure Through Innerspace attraction.
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Star Tours utilizes FastPass on busy days, and the standby lines can get
fairly long. To avoid a long wait, ride soon after park opening. The
entrances to Star Tours, AstroOrbitor and Buzz Lightyear are all located
in the same area so be aware that it gets quite congested.