Orlando Sentinel

Review: Disneyland's new Star Tours ride is light-years better than the original

By Brady MacDonald

Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

6:51 PM EDT, May 20, 2011




Photos: Concept art of Star Tours: The Adventures Continue at Disneyland and Disney'sHollywood Studios

Dubbed Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, the "Star Wars" -inspired ride officially debuts June 3 at Disneyland in California and opened Friday at Disney'sHollywood Studios in Florida.


Spoiler alert: Star Tours 2.0 ride details below

The queue area features the same layout as the old ride with new layers of details and plenty of sight gags (including a few hidden Mickeys). C3PO, the accidental pilot of our Starspeeder, sets up the storyline of the Empire's search for a Rebel spy during the pre-show.

My favorite new character in the queue area is the thermal-scanner droid who doubles as an interstellar stand-up comic: "What did the droid say to the human? One zero one one zero one zero zero zero one one. What, you don't speak binary?"


But that's where the similarities between the old and new rides end.

The new journey takes riders on a sightseeing tour of the "Star Wars" galaxy, with possible stops at Hoth, Kashyyyk, Tatooine, Coruscant, Naboo or the Death Star, depending on which of the random storylines your flight crew draws.


So far I've been to five of the six possible destinations. My favorite was Naboo, where the Starspeeder dives underwater and encounters a slobbery sea creature that shakes the vehicle with a big 3-D finale that's startling even when you know it's coming.

If I could request my favorite storyline, I'd choose the storm-trooper launch sequence with the Tatooine pod race (the inspiration for the Star Tours reboot), the Yoda emergency transmission and the Naboo finale.

But then again, I still haven't seen the Death Star sequence or watched the Princess Leia transmission. My preferences could change. I guess I'll just have to ride again.

I found only two faults with the new ride:


And if you're prone to dizziness, the 3-D imagery may mess with your equilibrium.



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