PHOTOS – Disney Parks Blog Hosts Star Tours Party as Big As The Galaxy!

May 24, 2011 by wdwntadmin    5 Comments    Posted under: Disney's Hollywood Studios, Photo Reports

At midnight on May 20th, before opening to the general public, Star Tours was opened to select guests chosen by the Disney Parks Blog for a special meet-up. WDWNT Reporter Adam Roth attended the meet-up and has a number of photos of the event and Star Tours: The Adventures Continue to share with us:

Guests first gathered at Blizzard Beach, where they signed a waiver and were then loaded on to a bus

Guests were led in a back entrance near Star Tours to enter Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Through the smoke tunnel!

Some planets “floating” up in the sky

The event essentially brought guests into the media event after it was over

The fog was very thick, you could not see through at all…

The hosts of Hyperspace Hoopla welcome guests

Here we go inside Star Tours!

The highlight of the attraction has to be the super-cool baggage scanner in the second queue room

Bags roll in and are scanned, allowing guests to see inside as the Goose Droid comments on it

The first Goose Droid is once again voiced by Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald

The window where we once saw Captain RX-24 constructed now showcases recognizable passengers walking by

A ton of baggage down at the ground level

The screen in front of the droid also shows what is inside the scanner

The upper-part of the queue has a scanner guests pass through

Jawas were trying to steal the very expensive new 3-D glasses

The signage has maintained the same text style, but is much sleeker

The pre-show is a home run, even offering two slight variations!

The ride story is set-up perfectly: you get the idea of how poorly Star Tours is operated and see how C-3P0 ends up in the driver’s seat

C-3P0 and ACE go back and forth

C-3P0 is sealed in the faulty cockpit

The pit droids attempt to clean the windows throughout the pre-show

Only to discover there is a button that does it automatically

Spokes-droid Aly San San delivers the pre-show and is already a favorite among early guests

Don’t forget to store your personal items

Buckle your seat-belt

And look for the original pre-show star in the front row, complete with her crazy hair…

No crazy hair, but this character is a winner

The pre-show even explains how the vehicle gets from the first pre-show room to the loading area

They even show it lock into place for you to board!

Back outside, Imagineers host a Q & A session

Clone troopers!

Planets above Sounds Dangerous

Yes, Captain Rex (RX-24) is in the queue

Every now and then, he spurts a line from the original Star Tours

The second Goose Droid is voiced by Patrick Warburton of Soarin’ fame and has some very memorable antics

Updated Starspeeder graphic

Boba Fett walking above the queue

Greedo gets motion sickness, so he decided to leave

Leia and a Jawa shopping in Tatooine Traders

Imperial Probe Droid

Finally, a use for this building…

Back to Star Tours

The destinations board looks great and the new film sequences are incredibly well-done

The IC360 droid gets an ad on the board and is used to explain the camera shots on the side screen inside the Starspeeder 1000

Back to baggage

There are hundreds of hidden tributes and items in these bags, so let’s take a look at a few…

Wall-E!!!

VINCENT from The Black Hole! (Look it up kids)

A Figment plush!

There’s even an Imagination Institute logo inside

An Ewok finds a pair of R2-D2 mouse ears

The Sorcerer’s Hat and brooms from Fantasia

The Goose Droid thinks these are hair dryers…

Wall-E’s boot with the plant in it and tape of “Hello Dolly”

Some neat boxer shorts and a Star Tours hat

Droid hiding

Not quite sure what this is…

Stormtrooper gear

Space Mountain gear

Notice the World of Motion logo on the sneakers

droid parts

More droid parts

Chewbacca’s gear

Musical instruments

Lightsaber turns on

Droid hands

A pit droid

There is a ton more, so go see it for yourself!

The Goose Droids look and move better than ever

A lot of empty rides were held, lines during the meet were non-existent

A DJ entertained guests through the night as well

Some backstage areas were even themed to make sense

Stay tuned for more Star Tours coverage!