The Adventure Has Continued for 25 Years

Twenty-five years ago today, Star Tours, a collaboration between George Lucas and the Disney Imagineers opened for business at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

The ride vehicle, a Starspeeder 3000, was a cutting edge simulator meant to take "passengers" on a journey to Endor. Unfortunately, hijinks ensued as the bumbling rookie pilot- your captain, Rex, voiced by Paul Reubens- came out of hyperspace too late and took the ship through a comet and inadvertently participated in the destruction of the first Death Star. The motion on the screen matched the motion of the seats so jostled park attendees got the feeling they had physically entered the world of Star Wars.

Star Tours became one of the park's most popular attractions so the mission to spread it to other parks began. In July of 1989 a second Star Tours debuted at Tokyo Disneyland and later that year Star Tours was opened at the fledgling Disney MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) in Orlando. In 1992 a fourth came to Disneyland Park in Paris.

A Starspeeder 3000 at Disneyland Tokyo

Rumors of an update to the attraction began going public in the late 90s as the film seen in the Starspeeder that had been state of the art in 1987 looked increasingly dated. As Star Wars: Episode I came to theaters there was hope that a podrace might be the setting for a new version of the ride. Star Tours remained a top attraction at each park so Disney executives decided to leave well enough alone and didn't fully commit to any change for almost a decade.

The end of an era

This finally changed in 2010 and the event was commemorated in Florida during Star Wars Celebration V at The Last Tour of Endor. Between July and September Star Tours in California and Florida were closed to begin a complete renovation of each attraction.

The new Starspeeder 1000

The ante was upped this time around and when Star Tours: The Adventure Continues opened at both parks last May it featured different destinations and segments that could take each group of guests on one of 54 different combinations, all in 3D with upgraded motion simulation.

The original Star Tours is slated to be be updated in Tokyo later this year with Disneyland Paris following eventually.

Princess Leia and the Beatle

At the tender age of 21, Carrie Fisher was still playing a teenager. From a certain point of view. During the period when she was dating Paul Simon she appeared in a television special for another musical luminary, Ringo Starr. In this rather creative 1978 short, Ringo dances around with Fisher covering the song made famous by Johnny Burnette in 1960.



Interestingly, the song was written by the Sherman Brothers, the Disney collaborators responsible for the songs from movies like Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book. The original version of the song was also featured in George Lucas's second movie, American Graffiti.