A brief history of the future of Star Tours 2.0 at Disneyland
One of the longest-running Disneyland rumors got another boost this week when news resurfaced of an impending upgrade to the dated Star Tours ride, which debuted at the Anaheim theme park in 1987.
A look back at the many hints — always denied by Disney officials — dropped in recent years of the imminent arrival of Star Tours 2.0:
April 2005 – George Lucas announces at a “Star Wars” convention that Star Tours “will be getting an overhaul soon,” according to ComingSoon.net.
May 2005 – Mouse Planet columnist David Koenig gives a detailed scene-by-scene description of the pod race scenario envisioned for the Star Tours reboot.
June 2007 – Anthony Daniels (C-3P0) announces at a collectors convention that he has “just finished filming the new digitalized upgrade” for Star Tours.
February 2008 – Screamscape reports on the testing of 3-D capabilities in the Disneyland Star Tours attraction.
May 2008 – A LucasFilm/Industrial Light & Magic computer graphics supervisor tells CNet his next project is a “redo of the Star Tours ride at Disneyland.”
March 2009 – Mice Age columnist Al Lutz reports that Star Tours 2.0 will feature “randomly changing plotlines” and “facial recognition technology.”
May 2009 – Slashfilm details a top-secret Star Tours shoot in West Hollywood that includes an action sequence featuring bounty hunter Boba Fett.
May 2009 – Frank Oz (Yoda) reveals to the Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex blog that he has recorded new dialogue for Star Tours.
As always, Disneyland and Walt Disney Imagineering declined to comment on the latest round of rumors.
Three other Disney parks have similar outdated Star Tours attractions: Tokyo Disneyland (1989), Disney’s Hollywood Studios (1989) and Disneyland Paris (1992).
Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the Los Angeles Times Funland blog: www.latimes.com/funland. Follow Funland on Twitter.
— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer
Image: Jim Hill Media
2 Comments on “A brief history of the future of Star Tours 2.0 at Disneyland”
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May 9th, 2009 at 8:46 am
It is about time it gets an upgrade, enough of the rumors and let’s get to work.
May 10th, 2009 at 9:28 am
With all the smart decisions Disney (though Pixar) has been making lately in regard to DCA, a new Star Wars ride comes as a great disappointment. I mean, really, does anybody care about a Star Wars ride? Like Indiana Jones riding a refrigerator over the proverbial shark, nobody cares. A smart move would have been to bring back a technologically updated Adventures Thu Inner Space. Nostaligia for classic Disney is strong. At least, stronger then nostalgia for The Phantom Menace.