Admit it, you've always wanted to fly through the Star Wars galaxy. Well at Disneyland in California and Disney MGM Studios in Florida, you can get the next-best thing at a little ride called Star Tours.
*NOTE: Since I have only been to Disney World (I live on the East Coast - it's a shorter trip), this page will focus mostly on Star Tours at Disney MGM Studios. If you have pics or info from Disneyland that you'd like to share, by all means, email me.
Star Tours is a motion simulator ride, but it's best to forget that the vehicle never actually moves, which is rather easy. You're going into space, not just riding a theme park ride! Anyway, the story is that you're an intergalactic tourist who's going aboard the new Starspeeder 3000, on vacation to the peaceful (??) moon of Endor, but we all know that in this galaxy, things very rarely go as expected.
No, your pilot isn't Han Solo, but it's someone almost as reckless. This is Rex, and you have the honor of being passengers on his...very first flight. Not just the maiden voyage, the first flight he's ever made. In other words, forget about the vacation - you'll be lucky if you don't end up in traction.One wrong turn leads to missing the Endor moon completely, barely avoiding being crushed by comets, nearly getting captured by Imperials, and then finally getting caught in the Death Star fight. But that's the easy stuff - the hard part is having to resist going back on the ride over and over again.
It may appear to be simple, but Star Tours is a ride to experience many times (which isn't too difficult, since it's addictive). Depending on how long your line is, you may experience different things every time you wait in line. There's a really elaborate script for the queue line that keeps in interesting. Also, you may be seated in a different row each time and thus experience a wilder or tamer ride (the first row is the tamest, the fifth row is the wildest). Even little things, like the attendent's spiel before the ride, can remain interesting with repetition. I like to listen to how they deliver the final line, "May the Force be with you, cause I won't." Sometimes they say it without a breath ("MaytheForcebewithyoucauseIwon't"), sometimes they use a pause for effect ("May the Force be with you...cause I won't"), and sometimes they use inflection ("May the Force be with you, cause I WON'T"). Things like that keep the ride fresh.
STUFF TO LOOK (AND LISTEN) FOR:
*Director's chairs labeled "C-3PO" and "R2-D2" (though R2 would have no use for his since he can't sit down).
*Blaster notches on the AT-AT walker (that armor's too strong for blasters, remember?).
*A voice giving announcments in Huttese.
*A voice paging a Mr. "Egroeg Sacul" (which is George Lucas spelled backwards!).
*Video travelogues for Endor, Hoth, and Tatooine.
*Anything familiar about the comet scene? It's almost EXACTLY like Han's trip through the asteroids!
*Chewie, Admiral Ackbar, and several Ewoks in the preshow.
*Rex saying the trademark SW line, "I have a very bad feeling about this."
*Darth Vader and some stormtroopers occasionally hang out at the ride and pose for pictures - keep an eye out for them.
*Concept art from TPM in the gift shop.
*The red astromech that Owen almost buys - G2-19 is fixing him in the queue line.
G2-19 saying, "Wasn't I in your service a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away?"
*Droid birds (no, I'm not making this up).
After the ride, be sure to check out Tatooine Traders, the gift shop for all your Star Wars needs. You'll find the action figures you see at your stores back home, but you'll also find more unusual stuff. Here are some of my favorites.
*Dolls of Mickey Mouse as a Jedi and Goofy as Darth Vader.
*A shirt that says, "Judge me by my size, do you?" on the front and shows Yoda in Mickey ears trying in vain to reach the minimum height for the ride on the back.
*Earmuffs that are meant to look like Leia's famous buns (eh, her HAIR buns).
*Toy cars that look like SW characters.
*An interactive R2-D2 that responds to voice commands.
*Character lithographs autographed by the actors (which are VERY expensive).
*A Darth Vader shirt that says "Who's your Daddy?"
*A Jabba the Hutt air freshener (WHO came up with that one??).
*And something that all SW fans should try. You can get your picture taken and then have your face put on the body of a SW character. Sounds creepy? You bet it is, and the results are hillarious. I did it myself, putting my face on my favorite character, and since my favorite character is male, it turned out a little...er, scary. If you can stomach it, here it is.
See, creepy.
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