Tag: Star Tours
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 140 – Me and the real C-3PO
At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the updated Star Tours ride officially opened today with a grand dedication ceremony. You can catch up on everything Star Tours here, including videos, audio, photos, reviews, interviews, and more.
And speaking of interviews… after the grand opening today, I had a chance to interview Anthony Daniels, better known as the guy who played C-3PO (in the suit and as the voice) for all of the Star Wars movies. He’s an incredibly nice guy with a great passion for what he does. You can watch my interview with him here.
And don’t ask why I wore a Muppets shirt to the Star Tours opening today. I was on less than 5 hours of sleep and somehow it made sense when I got dressed this morning. I suppose it’s not too much of a stretch…
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 139 – Star Tours flight 1401 now boarding
The new version of Disney’s Star Tours ride officially opens tomorrow morning but tonight, at midnight, Disney held a special meet-up for up to 500 people to preview the ride early. There were Star Wars characters dancing around, a Q&A with Imagineers who developed the ride, and of course plenty of chances to ride the new Star Tours as well. And it all began with a backstage walk along a red carpet!
After tonight, Star Wars fans will descent upon the Hollywood Studios theme park for Star Wars Weekends and lines for the new Star Tours will be extremely long. I’m glad I’ve ridden it plenty of times already. It was a fun night and a great special event.
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 134 – The Adventures Continue at Star Tours!
After two days of running around all four Walt Disney World theme parks, I was looking forward to simply sitting in a convention hall of Disney’s Contemporary Resort all weekend and enjoying the presentations from Destination D. But… today I received word midday that Star Tours 2 was going to open for the first time to guests. And that was too exciting to pass up.
So I hurried back to Hollywood Studios, arriving at nearly the same time I did yesterday for the final leg of the Great Disney Scavenger Hunt. But this time, I only had one attraction on my mind. A crowd had already gathered in front of Star Tours, but rain scattered everyone for a few minutes. A little while after it stopped, Cast Members finally dropped the rope and let everyone in. And it was glorious.
This ride has needed an update for many years and it is now once again incredibly fun. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, so I’ve posted a spoiler-free review.
And my first ride turned out to be extra special, as I ended up in the same cabin as Imagineers and Hollywood Studios VP Rilous Carter, who were riding in the back row.
After riding 4 times, I wanted to get back to Destination D in time for Imagineer Tony Baxter’s presentation, so I left the park and snapped the photo below on the way out. It was still raining off and on, so I didn’t get my own picture in front of the ride, but there will be plenty of time for that in the future. For now, I had a blast being one of the first guests to ride the updated Star Tours.
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 126 – May 20 is going to be a fun day
Today was a busy work day, but two items kept me thinking of some of the many fun things coming up in the next couple weeks. During the day, the Summer 2011 issue of the Mickey Monitor showed up in the mail, previewing Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, which opens May 20 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I’ll definitely be there for that. Then, after work was all done, Michelle and I played my review copy of LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean. I’m not allowed to post my thoughts on the game until its official release date on May 10, but it did keep me thinking of “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” which also opens on May 20. Blackbeard (from the new film) will be added to the Pirates ride at the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland on May 20 as well. It’s going to be a busy (but fun) day!
Oh, and I got an extra copy of the LEGO Pirates game to give away too. Click here to enter the contest.
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 122 – Intergalactic visit with C-3PO and R2-D2
I was going to post this as my photo of the day on Saturday… but I figured my new car made for a better picture. So then I was going to post it yesterday… but something slightly more important happened in the world.
Thus here I am today, on a typical Monday with little of importance happening, posting a photo that was actually taken two days ago in Jacksonville at the Star Tours 3D preview. It’s me with C-3PO and R2-D2. You can see more pictures and some video from this preview event here.
