(5/16/11) A detailed review from the CM Preview of Star Tours II at Disneyland can be found posted to MiceChat today. It does contain some spoilers from the queue and the ride… but this is only 2 versions of the many different possible ride combos available. Overall, the review is very positive and mentions lot of very cool new effects added to the attraction.
(5/12/11) CM Previews of Star Tours II are said to be taking place on May 13-14. So the big question is if we will see any kind of soft-opening of the ride between then and the May 20th grand opening. Stay tuned.
(5/4/11) Insiders report that a special CM ride preview of Star Tours II at Disneyland took place on Sunday night. Essentially, they opened it briefly and welcomed any and all CMs who were nearby and available at the time, to come give it a try. After all, the only true way to test out of the simulator programming is barf-proof is to have a bunch of human test subjects to try it out on. The early word is that the randomized sequences are truly going to set this ride apart from any other… as you will never know what to expect.
(4/22/11) Star Tours fans… you’re going to like this one. Disney has launched the official StarToursPassport.com website, which will aid you in keeping track of just what destinations you visit during your journey on the ride. There are 54 random variations in the new ride, so the site may be a big help in trying to figure out just exactly when you may have finally seen every single frame of sweet digital goodness.
With the help of the site, you can create you own Galactic Passport book, which you can even print out and take to the parks with you to log your travels.
(4/18/11) Inside the Magic has posted a look at a promotional tour Disney is doing for the new Star Tours ride at various malls. They caught up with the tour in Miami to see what kind of goodies they had to show off about the new ride, which includeds an interesting backdrop of what may be the Star Tours hangerbay area, which features a few other famous Star Wars universal starships. They have also posted some great looking new promotional poster artwork for the new ride, which Walt Disney World is now promoting at Star Tours 3-D and not Star Tours II.
(4/13/11) Anthony Daniels talks about Star Tours II and his role as the voice of C-3P0.
(3/8/11) A special event at Disney World reveled some upcoming new Star Tours II themed pins that give us a clue as to some of the other destinations we may see in the new ride when it opens. The eight pin series includes pins for Geonosis, Coruscant, Kashyyyk, Hoth, Tatooine, Bespin and Naboo.
(2/21/11) I missed this the first time around, but the Disney Blog post about Star Tours II confirms a number of hero characters who will be appearing in the new attraction as well. The list includes Master Yoda, Admiral Ackbar (It’s a trap!), Princess Leia and possibly even Chewbacca.
(2/18/11) We now have an official answer about those mystery new Storm Trooper figures. According to Disney Blog, the ride will feature a new class created just for Star Tours II called “SkyTroopers” who will accompany Vader and Boba Fett at some point during the attraction.
(2/17/11) While no one seems entirely sure what they are, there has been some interest in those new mystery Storm Trooper outfits seen on the upcoming Star Tours action figures. While one reader thought that these could be some kind of ‘Space Troopers’, I looked around the Wookieepedia and found a listing for something called an EVO Trooper, a particularly nasty highly trained version of the Storm Troopers with “enhanced armor and breathing tubes”. They also look like they could have Boba Fett style jet packs. The concept artwork there sure looks close to these new action figure Troopers I think.
(2/16/11) During a toy convention earlier this week Hasbro was showing off an interesting photo of two special “Star Tours” themed acti
on figure assortments. One is called the Star Tours Ambush Pack and features a couple of interesting new Storm Trooper variants I’m not familiar with, as well as Darth Vader and Boba Fett. The second is the Star Tours Travel Agency Pack and features 3-CP0, ACE, Aly San San, a ground crew droid and another unknown character. (2/7/11) Disney has announced the dates (and some special guests) for Star Wars Weekends which will be held ever Friday, Saturday and Sunday starting May 20th through June 12th. Oh... and May 20th is also the same date that was announced as the official opening date for Star Tours II a few months ago.
(2/4/11) George Lucas dropped by Disneyland to check out the progress on Star Tours II, and get a test ride. (You’re so jealous right now… I know, I am too.) Of course, Lucas on site made for a great photo op… and just check out special picture posted to the Disney Parks Blog showing of Lucas standing next to C-3PO who is sitting in the pilot seat of the Starspeeder 1000, with the controls in his golden hands.
“I’ve got a very bad feeling about this…”
(1/27/11) We’ve heard a few interesting rumors about some events that may take place on some Star Tours 2 flights. Given the promised ‘random’ nature of the story that will guide this new ride experience, I can’t even guarantee that these will be something you see on your first ride, but here we go… after this word of warning.
WARNING: While the following may simply be unfounded rumors, it may also contain some major plot spoilers to the story(s) being told on Star Tours 2. If you want to keep it all a surprise, read no further.Still here? Good…
Our first rumored plot point sounds like it may be something that happens in the very early portion of the ride, as I was told that this particular event will happen to each shuttle ride. Apparently your shuttle comes into contact with Darth Vader somehow, who performs a scan (not sure if electronic or by using The Force) of the passengers aboard and determines that one of you is a rebel spy. I can only assume that this moment will be the classic “when something goes wrong” moment that acts as the catalyst for the rest of your high speed perilous journey aboard the Starspeeder.
Next our source touched upon three major other plot points, though I do not know if they will be part of every ride experience, or if these are some of the random elements that you may or may not see.
1) Pod Racers - An entry into the Pod Races by the Star Speeder is a given at this point, as we’ve seen this used over and over in the promotional videos. Going back to when Episode 1 was released in the firs
t place, Disney was already dreaming up a new version of Star Tours that would be entirely themed to Pod Racing. 2) The Death Star – a moment sure to excite any true Star Wars fan will be some kind of encounter with the original Death Star while under construction. This does take place before Episode 4 after all…
3) Jar Jar Binks – Yep… I hate to break it to everyone but I’ve been told that Jar Jar Binks will get some quality screen time in this new ride somehow. In addition to the mixed feelings I have about listening to Jar Jar whine, “Wheeza Gonna Diiie?!” one more time, I’m told that an encounter with the rest of the Gungan race (on Naboo) is also to be expected. I’m not sure if this means an underwater portion of the ride that will take us to the Gungan city, past those “Big Gooberfish”, or perhaps we may experience another battle between the Droid Army and the Gunguns.
And finally… this scene will not be part of Star Tours 2… but it’s still funny.
(1/19/11) Disney has confirmed that Star Tours II is on track to make its galactic debut on May 20th at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
(10/29/10) In a big peek behind the curtain it’s been let slip at that C3PO will actually end up being your pilot for Star Tours II. According to this article at InsideTheMagic, the previously announced ACE pilot droid will begin the trip but before too long something will transpire requiring C3PO to take over for the remainder of the flight. “I’m starting to get a bad feeling about this…”
(10/19/10) You can see a couple of pictures captured last year during a shoot for the queue videos for Star Tours II at MousePlanet this week where they built part a good part of a Starspeeder 1000 to scale for C-3P0 to interact with.
(9/25/10) Disneyland has posted our first peek at the new Starspeeder 1000 pilot on Star Tours II. Click here to meet ACE, who looks to have a similar head as REX, but with a body more like a cross between C-3P0 and Tweekie from Buck Rodgers. Ace’s personality is said to be as different from Rex as you can imagine. They also show off the new “spokesbot” for Star Tours named Aly San San.
(9/9/10) According to the latest reports, John Williams apparently turned down the offer to score the new Star Tours II ride film. This isn’t unusual however, as apparently he turned down offers to do Star Tours I as well as the Indiana Jones attractions. Instead Michael Giacchino has been tapped to create the musical score for the new attraction, and will keep the signature Star Tours theme intact. You can find Michael’s vast resume of previous work here.
(8/18/10) I’ve got a few new interesting items about Star Tours 2 this week. The interesting new rumor is that despite the latest video promoting tours to Alderan, Endor and Bespin, I’m told that none of these locations will be in the actual ride.
Also, we’ve been told for some time now that the ride will feature randomly inserted sequences to make it so you experience a new ride every time, in new locations. However I’ve also heard that they are looking into adding special “easter egg” versions of certain scenes that will play up to various Holidays. For example… visit the park during the Christmas season and you just may fly past a Wookie wearing a Santa hat.
In other news, MouseSteps has posted nearly 300 photos taken during the Last Tour to Endor event at the Studios.
(8/16/10) Want to see what a ride on the Last Tour to Endor was like? Check out the video embedded below.
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