The Star Wars universe IS a great fantasy realm that I love. But I'm also uber conscious of it as a movie franchise, product-generator, money machine.

I bet if Star Tours were an actual, Pirates-like attraction taking us through actual sets of Tatooine, and the Death Star and what-not, all my misgivings would have faded away. But a movie screen does not take me to a fantasy world at Disneyland - in fact it just reinforces that the world I'm experiencing exists only on film.


Weird, because when I watch an actual Star Wars movie, I'm transported. Same with almost any movie. But movie attractions don't do that for me. Star Tours was fun, but never made me feel like I was really fighinting the Death Star. It made me feel like I was really in the movie of fighting the Death Star, but that's not quite the same thing.

I don't really feel like I'm soarin' over California when I ride Soarin' Over California either. But I do feel like I'm soaring over a beautiful movie of a beautiful place. Not quite the same. Not that it's bad, it's just not as good as I've come to expect from Disneyland.

The lack of originality and imagination represented by choosing to go outside of Disney's world (or even outside worlds that Disney has purchased - *cough*Pixar*cough) is what killed it for me. Disneyland never felt it had to do that before. It was a precedent I've never liked. Fortunately, it was only repeated once.

I'm not pleased about Indiana Jones either, but I have a much more favorable reaction to that ride because it IS a physical attraction, and the situations depicted are reminiscent of the movies, not cribbed from them wholesale.

Star Tours failed on all those fronts, and I still had a lot of fun on it. I'm a big Star Wars fan, so how could I not? But I'll never believe it belongs in Disneyland, and imo it has nothing much more than America Sings had to do with Tomorrowland.

In Florida, it's perfectly positioned at the movie studio park. That's exactly where it belongs, and the type of attraction it is.


So we'll be getting another lame movie-simulator ride, but this time based on the Star Wars films everyone hates? Um, how is this progress?


Build us an E-Ticket Star Wars universe ride-thru spectacular, and I'll look past the stealing from outside sources. I'll ride it again and again, and squee every time. Motion-simulator? Ho-frickin-hum.

I would give up a cat to ride ATIS again.

Wow, now that is sayin' something.

I was fascinated by ATIS as a kid, rode it often. I suspect my Mom wanted to ride it to cool off. Probably part of why I loved it, too. The mighty microscope was pretty damn cool, though.

Which one? :evil: