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AVP
04-03-2011, 10:18 PM
This item will be in the Disneyland Resort Update set to publish in about 45 minutes, but here's a preview for the night owls on MousePad right now:

I'm labeling this with a big "RUMOR" notice because this information has not been officially announced by the Disneyland Resort: Reliable sources have told us that Disneyland's Star Tours is reopening for "soft opening previews" on Friday, May 20, which happens to be the same day the ride officially reopens in Walt Disney World. This soft opening continues on Saturday, May 21, and Annual Passholder previews are scheduled to begin on Sunday, May 22. Officially, however, this Disneyland version is not set to reopen for another two weeks, sharing a June 3 debut date with the new Little Mermaid attraction at Disney California Adventure.

Again, this is a rumor, and has not been confirmed by Disney; you should not make any travel plans based on this information, since soft openings can be offered just a few hours a day or cancelled altogether if problems are discovered, and thus are never officially announced. The Annual Passholder previews should be announced by Disney much closer to the actual dates, and we have not heard how Disney plans to control attendance to those previews.

What Disney did officially confirm last week, however, are the new destinations you might visit when you ride Star Tours: The Adventures Continue. Posting on the Disney Parks Blog (http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/03/new-star-tours-destinations-to-be-announced-soon/) on Tuesday, Walt Disney Imagineering Executive Vice President Tom Fitzgerald shared an image of the departures board for the new ride, listing the destinations of Tatooine, Coruscant, Endor, and Alderaan, all written in Aurebesh, a Star Wars alphabet. Devoted Star Wars fans will appreciate the flight status for the Alderaan as reading "see agent."

On Friday, Fitzgerald posted an English-language version of the image (http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/04/star-tours-where-in-the-galaxy-are-we-going/), and confirmed six destinations:


Kashyyyk – described by Fitzgerald as a "Wookiee planet"
Geonosis – where Star Tours will visit the Death Star
Hoth – icy planet from The Empire Strikes Back
Naboo – home planet of Queen Amidala and Jar Jar Binks
Coruscant – site of the speeder chase in Attack of the Clones
Tatooine – site of the podrace in The Phantom Menace

Fitzgerald concluded Friday's post saying, "these destinations will be combined in more than 50 different story adventures, so you’ll never know where the Force will take you!"
To repeat, this is a RUMOR. It's a reliable rumor from reliable sources, but it's NOT OFFICIAL. Don't call in sick, take vacation days or make non-refundable travel plans based on this rumor. I find it to be credible enough that I'm willing to print it (as opposed to a lot of rumors that we never run because we can't get additional confirmation), but it's definitely not to be considered an official announcement from Disney.

And now let the speculation begin...

AVP

MadasaHatter
04-04-2011, 12:27 AM
I heard a rumor LAST year that the new ride was to open on May 4th and the slogan would be MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU. I'm sorry but that was GENIUS! I would have actually bought a T-SHIRT or SOMETHING with that on it as I love a pun. I think Disney was stupid for missing that opportunity. Of course......I am mad.....

olegc
04-04-2011, 06:26 AM
very cool - though I love the ride I can't ride it... motion issues. I wish they had a "non-illness" version...

IllusionOfLife
04-04-2011, 08:27 AM
Am I the only one who is worried by the fact that, despite being set during the time between trilogies, this attraction seems much more influenced by the vastly inferior prequel movies? For example, only two of the six destinations appear in the original trilogy (Tatooine and Hoth, no I'm not counting the cameos of Coruscant and Naboo at the End of the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi) while five out of six appear in the prequel films (all but Hoth).

Imagineering consistently does great work, and I trust them, however, George Lucas has increasingly been gaining the reputation of turning everything he touches to crap, and I don't have any faith left in him. I'm just not sure at this point which feeling I should be focussing on more…

Disneylandfanguy
04-04-2011, 08:36 AM
Am I the only one who is worried by the fact that, despite being set during the time between trilogies, this attraction seems much more influenced by the vastly inferior prequel movies?

The problem with the prequels was the writing. The visuals were not necessarily the problem.

The original Star Tours was never so much about story and continuity, it was more about the experience.
After all, the original ride took place after Return of the Jedi, and yet we were still fighting a Death Star.

I am looking forward to the ride. Knowing what ILM is capable of today, the ride's visuals should look phenominal, and the experiece should be very fun. And the imagineers have their say in this too.

nowen1
04-04-2011, 08:37 AM
i just hope they keep the pod racing stuff to a minimum, focus else where, not the over done not very important part of a movie.

IllusionOfLife
04-04-2011, 08:44 AM
The problem with the prequels was the writing. The visuals were not necessarily the problem.

The original Star Tours was never so much about story and continuity, it was more about the experience.
After all, the original ride took place after Return of the Jedi, and yet we were still fighting a Death Star.

I am looking forward to the ride. Knowing what ILM is capable of today, the ride's visuals should look phenominal, and the experiece should be very fun. And the imagineers have their say in this too.

Yeah, you have a point, and I'm definitely excited to see it, I'm just a bit worried by some of the things I'm seeing. Not only the prequel heavy focus, but also the fact that they seem hell bent on including every single fan service character from the films. While fan service is certainly important I'm just worried it'll become a slide show of "oh look, Boba Fett! Hooray! Oh look, Yoda! Hooray! Oh look, C-3PO! Hooray!" at the sacrifice of being a fun and coherent ride.

Yes, I'm probably being way too cynical here, but time has taught me to approach anything new related to Star Wars with skepticism lest I be disappointed again.

SigalTchelet
04-04-2011, 08:46 AM
I am soooooooo hoping this will happen! We will be there May 19-23!

Berit76
04-04-2011, 09:16 AM
so does this mean that the "soft" opening is only on the 20th?? or can they do it anytime after the 20th. we will be there 24th-26th

letshavefun
04-04-2011, 10:39 AM
Olegc- I too get motion sickness and love to ride everything so for the last few years I take Dramamine before I go to bed (it does make me drowsy) and I can ride Stars Tours no problem. It does take a day to kick in so I start before we even leave the house for Disney. I don't know if this is good advice but it works for me.

cstephens
04-04-2011, 10:45 AM
so does this mean that the "soft" opening is only on the 20th?? or can they do it anytime after the 20th. we will be there 24th-26th

It means that at any time between May 20 and June 3 (the official opening day), there can be a soft opening. Keep in mind that a soft opening can sometimes be only for an hour or two. During a soft opening, if it's open now, that doesn't mean it'll be open in 3 hours, and if it's NOT open now, it's possible it might be open in 3 hours. A soft opening isn't necessarily an all-day thing.

leota's necklace
04-04-2011, 11:21 AM
Yes, I'm probably being way too cynical here, but time has taught me to approach anything new related to Star Wars with skepticism lest I be disappointed again.

I am right there with you. Here's hoping it's worth the wait.

bennette
04-04-2011, 12:21 PM
I make no claims as to the actual validity of this approach but I've been very successful in "winning" spots at AP previews in the last few years and I *feel* that keeping my password number up to date on the Disneyland Annual Passholder portion of Disneyland.com has something to do with it. Whether it helps me get selected for lottery pool, win an actual slot, or just feel good about my efforts, I don't know, but it can't hurt, right?

To register, go to Disneyland.com and log in to the Annual Passholder site that is near the top right of the screen. If you've never done this before for any Disney service/product, you may have to first create an account with an e-mail and password.

Once you've logged in, there is a menu of services on the left middle of the page. Go to "Update Disneyland.com Account." From there, select "Edit Annual Passport Information" and fill in the name and passport number for everyone in your household. (The number is the long string of digits on your Passport; you can't miss it.)

If you try this today, however, you may have to log in at the top left of the screen like a "regular" user and then select the AP tab. The AP login has been a little wonky since yesterday and a nice CM finally gave me this alternative.

Mermaid
04-04-2011, 12:36 PM
ooooh that would be awesome if it was open earlier in the week of the 3rd! It sorta makes sense to have it open Memorial Day weekend. It has a easy visibility to walk by a few times a day to check on it.

ShelbyH
04-04-2011, 02:45 PM
Olegc- I too get motion sickness and love to ride everything so for the last few years I take Dramamine before I go to bed (it does make me drowsy) and I can ride Stars Tours no problem. It does take a day to kick in so I start before we even leave the house for Disney. I don't know if this is good advice but it works for me.

I do this too--actually I take the "less drowsy" version and don't feel like I want to curl up and nap all day. It really does help. Still can't do the Tea Cups though.

letshavefun
04-04-2011, 03:23 PM
I did the tea cups and was actually able to make them spin ( not much though) Space mountain was another one that I would get feeling queasy on. But not any more.

mkraemer
04-04-2011, 03:58 PM
I am crossing my fingers and keeping a heap of faith, trust, and pixie dust that we'll be able to ride on Star Tours when we're there on May 21 and 22. Believe!!

olegc
04-04-2011, 07:23 PM
Olegc- I too get motion sickness and love to ride everything so for the last few years I take Dramamine before I go to bed (it does make me drowsy) and I can ride Stars Tours no problem. It does take a day to kick in so I start before we even leave the house for Disney. I don't know if this is good advice but it works for me.

i've tried the dramamine and it's not too effective for me. but I will try again...

SigalTchelet
04-04-2011, 07:29 PM
I am crossing my fingers and keeping a heap of faith, trust, and pixie dust that we'll be able to ride on Star Tours when we're there on May 21 and 22. Believe!!

We will be there at the same time! Keeping my fingers and toes and everything else crossed. lol

megzrg
04-04-2011, 07:39 PM
Olegc- I too get motion sickness and love to ride everything so for the last few years I take Dramamine before I go to bed (it does make me drowsy) and I can ride Stars Tours no problem. It does take a day to kick in so I start before we even leave the house for Disney. I don't know if this is good advice but it works for me.

I also get motion sickness bad and even with the dramamine I still have to take a seat on the bench that is immediatly at the ride exit to recover after Star Tours. I will have to start taking it a couple days before vacation to see if this works.

The non-drowsy formula is pretty hard find in some locations, but there is a significant lack of sleepiness with the non-drowsy compared to the regular.

MadasaHatter
04-04-2011, 09:15 PM
So me and a buddy went to Disneyland for the opening of Indiana Jones in March. It OPENED on a Friday. We arrived for a three day trip. WED, THU FRI. We walked by the queue on rainy Wednesday morning( I have never seen the park that deserted in all of my trips) and they had all the ropes up and signage up about opening on FRIDAY. Later that day we walked by and all the signage and ropes were down. We thought that was odd. THen we walked by it a little later and asked a CM what we going on and she casually and calmly said, " It's open if you want to ride it." We were beside ourselves and rode it. Then we did it a second time right away.

On Thursday morning it was closed again so we thought we were styling. That afternoon it was open. That time they announced they were having technical difficulties and we could wait if we wanted to. We did and we waited about 30 minutes in total. I think we did ride it one more time a bit later but it was closed on our way out of the park. THe next morning on FRIDAY the line snaked into Tomorrowland and was a four hour wait. Needless to say we didn't ride it AT ALL on Friday because a four hour wait just seemed silly having done INDY four times.

With that said....this was before TEXTING and TWITTER and CONSTANT interweb bombardment. So I imagine if Disney were to do that now they would do it for small spurts so as not to have AP folks rush the gates in the evening. Maybe someone on here knows about another soft opening as of late but the only BIG ride I can think of is FINDING NEMO if they did a soft opening at all. At any rate me and my pal THE DUDE will be in Disneyland the week prior to the opening so I hope we get to sneak on both STAR TOURS and THE LITTLE MERMAID.....of course ....I am mad....

Disneylandfanguy
04-04-2011, 09:25 PM
I am right there with you. Here's hoping it's worth the wait.

Let's just hope for the best.
Its like I said before...



The problem with the prequels was the writing. The visuals were not necessarily the problem.

The original Star Tours was never so much about story and continuity, it was more about the experience.

By the way, its important to note that the descriptions of Naboo and Corusant in this thread did not come from the official DisneyParks blog. Just in case anyone hasn't read the actual blog post yet.

Disneylandfanguy
04-08-2011, 06:04 AM
For anyone who is interested, here is an article in which Anthony Daniels talks about the new Star Tours;
http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/04/07/star-tours-2-0-anthony-daniels-explains-c-3pos-role-in-extraordinary-new-disney-ride/

candles71
04-08-2011, 11:01 AM
Hatter, I remember people posting about Toy Story soft openings.

MadasaHatter
04-08-2011, 11:50 PM
OOH. Candles! Don't tease. WHAT did they post in this moderne age!

Me and the DUDE are going to Dland the WEEK before the official openings of Little Mermaid and Star Tours 2.0 and really want lightning to strike twice and then thrice. What were the words on TSMM??? Do tell.....don't drive me MAD!!!!!