Theme park lovers and Star Wars fans in Fresno and all over the world yesterday have been given news they probably didn't want to hear. As reported by Leigh Caldwell of Gadling.com, On July 27, the "Star Tours" simulator ride at Disneyland will be closed down for renovation so it may reopen in May 2011 as a new, more up-to-date attraction using 3-D technology. The ride at Walt Disney World will close on September 8.
In a way this might be a good thing; "Star Tours" was considered cutting-edge when it first opened at Disneyland about twenty years ago to replace the previous attraction "Adventure Thru Inner Space". But as we enter the next decade of the new millennium perhaps an update is in order...and this is coming from an examiner who has loved the original ride since he first experienced it as a child.
The plot of the original "Star Tours" put visitors to Disneyland and Disney World in the intergalactic tourist vehicle the Starspeeder 3000 which, under the piloting of a bumbling droid named Rex (voiced by Paul Reubens), is intended to take guest on a flight to the Forest Moon of Endor seen in Return of the Jedi. Instead, Rex leads the guest out the wrong exit, passes the moon, sent us into a cluster of comets, and ultimately finds itself among the Rebel Alliance as they battle the Galactic Empire in an attempt to destroy the Death Star.
The full plot of the new version of "star Tours" is still not fully clear, but a teaser trailer and image released for the D23 Expo shows an orange-trimmed iteration of the Starspeeder taking part in a podrace on Tatooine similar to the scene in The Phantom Menace.
For fans of the original "Star Tours", Walt Disney World and fan convention Star Wars Celebration V will hold what they call the "Last Tour to Endor" party on August 14 at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Getting into the party requires a special event ticket, which is on sale now for $75. The party itself will have Star Wars shows, a "Death Star" Disco, and a special Star Wars themed fireworks show.
Comments
Have you considered hiring some copy editors? Or even running a spell check? Seriously, how does
<<the "Last Tour to Endor" party or !ugust 14>>
make it onto the final article?
Sadly, the browser I'm using does not have the Publishing Tool's spell check available on it. I should really start writing on Internet Explorer from now on.
Lame! I hear they're going to make it a pod race! Sounds lame to me, those pod racers were a time waster in Phantom menace:(
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