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Disneyland's Star Tours

© Shelly G. Hemig

Disneyland. A mecca of magical merriment for kids and grown-ups alike. Before the spectacle that is Disney World/Epcot Center, before the folly that is Euro Disney, there was Disneyland, now celebrating its 45th year.

Okay, now I know you're thinking, "What's Disneyland got to do with Star Wars"? I mean, 20th Century Fox is the studio that released and distributed all of the Star Wars movies. That's true. Yet, a small part of Walt Disney's vision has been devoted to a small part of George Lucas' vision. Tucked away in a corner of Tomorrowland is a simulator ride called Star Tours.

Star Tours has been a Disneyland attraction since 1983, the year Return of the Jedi was released. It hasn't been updated since then, either. So if you've "been there, done that," you may want to skip the rest of this article. Keep in mind, though, Lucas is planning a new movie for the ride with holographic projection within the next year or so. If you haven't been on the ride, yet, let me tell you a little about the experience.

You walk into the building housing the ride. As you move further away from the door along the line, the place starts to look more and more like a star port from one of the movies. There are some gaudy lights and glittery things hanging about, but there are also animatronic droids hard at work on, presumably, space ship parts. (Walt Disney sure loved his animatronics.) You'll recognize C-3PO and R2-D2, but you can see many others, as well.

At the end of the line, you wait in a room with several doors along the wall. When those doors open, you can see the StarSpeeder waiting for you to board. Once all the seats are filled and everyone's strapped in for safety, a little droid up front--your pilot, RX-24--starts talking about what you're doing.

He's taking you to Endor. But before he even gets out of the docking bay, he makes a wrong turn. This leads to a series of ever more dangerous mishaps, including being fired at by Tie Fighters and making a bombing run at the Death Star. (See the ROTJ influence yet?)

Finally, someone is successful (Lando, right?). The Death Star explodes, and you head back into port, never making it to the Moon of Endor.

What's fun about simulator rides is that you really feel like you went somewhere. With the combination of the movie's motion and the movement of the StarSpeeder your stomach drops as the ship goes into a free fall, you duck the laser blasts from the Tie Fighters, you brace yourself as your thrown this way and that, avoiding any number of different obstacles in space. It's a wild ride. A little hard on the neck, but I'd do it again.