Star Tours soft open
 

Word on the street is it's open today, or at least was open a couple hours ago.

We're headed there to see for ourselves.

We saw for ourselves....and it was great! Totally enjoyed the refresh. I'm sure as I go on to ride it more, I'll start to pick the nits, as is my want, but this first ride was fun fun fun, big grin the whole time.

CP rode twice, and said she enjoyed the first iteration better than the second, in terms of [minor spoiler if you've been keeping a total black out, but I'm not revealing any content] the particular variations of the changeable scenes she saw. But some scenes being better than others is to be expected.

I will say I was hoping for more dramatic changes in the queue. There's a couple good things in there, but on the whole not much to speak of, and in at least one way they made it less interesting. That's disappointing.

I have nothing useful to contribute since it will likely be many years before I experience it for myself, so in classic internet tradition: wont.

Wont, or cant?

Cont?

In that same tradition, the great writers in the history of language didn't follow arbitrary grammatical rule and made up their own words with their own meanings. You antiquated, restrictive, pedantry stifles my creative genius.

:D :snap:

I will be seeing it on the night of June 1st, having won an AP preview ticket.


How long were the lines?

Your.

"antiquated, restrictive, pedantry" = "prescriptivist"

Here's $5, go buy yourself some vocabulary efficiency.

I have never even heard of pedantry. I'll need $10 to get caught up.

Thats easy, Bob - a Pedantry is where a person who is excessively concerned with formalism and precision, or who makes a show of their learning, keeps their food.

Ah, I see! :D

I was at Disneyland last night when we decided to check out Star Tours at about 7:00 PM. The first thing I noticed was that all of the exterior lighting was off. A cast member informed us that the entire building had lost power, and inside I could see the emergency lights were on. The rest of the area still had power and was operating as usual. I did not return to see if power had been restored that night. This is why they have soft openings, to work out the bugs, but to have a catastrophic power failure on an attraction that has been operating for over 30 years seems a bit unusual.

24 years, but who's counting.

Evidently you are. ;)

Didn't get to ride Star Tours today, but 3 rides on Little Mermaid made us happy. That's a fun little dark ride.

Star Tours 2 is rad. A bit heavy on the prequels, but we had So.Much.Fun. Our first ride was geektacular, and I laughed my head off. Second had only one departure from the first, but also tons of fun. When heading into the building, choose to stand in the left-hand queue if you can. That side's much better in the second queue room. Other than that, apparently the ride branches are luck of the draw. Overall, I think it helps a bit to be a bit of a Star Wars geek - but not necessary for your enjoyment.


Fun. :D

Ride it again, hopefully you'll get luckier.

Not a matter of luck. There's only one O.T. planet option available. It's a hoot, but not good odds. We got it both times, but I'd still say the new Tours is heavy on the prequels, since all the other possible destinations are Prequel Planets.

Sounds great! I'm going for the AP preview Wed. night. Can't wait!

We really liked it. So much fun to not know what's going to happen next.

*jealous*

I really need to get a date to go to DL before our passes expire.

Yes, do that. It was giddy having FOUR new things to see, two of them actual rides and attractions. It was bizarre, in fact, but so much fun.


(Though you've already seen the Disneyland Hotel stuff, if I'm not mistaken. So THREE new things.)

Why? Does Chris not want to go?

I'll pick you up at 7:30. Should I park a few doors down?

;) :D

:)

:D

So, I'll be going, and hopefully trying, both Star Tours and Mermaid!

I won a Star Tours AP Preview time slot from 4 p.m.-8 p.m. today, Wednesday, June 1. I can bring guests, so anyone here at Lounge of Tomorrow is invited to come along. For today, Star Tours: The Adventures Continue will likely only be open for those who won Disneyland's contest/lottery preview -- and not open in general to other Annual Passholders.

The plan is to ride Star Tours repeatedly from 4 p.m.-8 p.m. You and anyone else you know are welcome to join myself and others anytime, but each person must have an Annual Pass.

If you're interested, send a Private Message here on LoT and we can meet up at the parks.

Side note: AP Previews of The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel's Undersea Adventure also take place today, June 1. No sign-ups needed; just show up at The Little Mermaid building with your Annual Pass. Lines for yesterday's AP Preview of The Little Mermaid went between 30-90 minutes -- it was a long line, but it does keep moving steadily, so the line wasn't too bad.

Sorry about the late notice about the Star Tours preview opportunity (since I was not originally sure about being able to be there today).

Park hours for June 1: Disneyland is open until midnight. Disney California Adventure closes at 10 p.m.

Also, FYI - they did not check our reserved party size at all when we went during our contest-winner window last Sunday, and so we rode with more than our stated number of people with no problem. Also, they don't advertise that you can get another fast pass for the ride 30 minutes after you got your last one, for the entire four hour length of the window. That means that as long as you're with a contest-winner, you can go on the ride as many times as you like in that 4-hour span.

You don't even need to have an AP. We used regular park tickets and cast-member IDs to get fast-passes for Star Tours 2. You simply have to have that printed-out email with the correct time window and date. Have fun! Star Tours 2 is a hoot!

Thanks, iSm! Yes, I know about some of "what they don't tell you" because I've accompanied other AP friends who won the Star Tours preview contest already. The only difference was the "door policy" in which each person entering the queue had to present both a Star Tours Fastpass and Annual Pass before being allowed in line.

Beside the amazing ride itself, it's great fun to keep looking and listening for all the inside jokes and hidden references.

I went, I saw, I approve.

I enjoyed both rides, and even though I didn't change the "1" to a "2" so my daughter could go on Star Tours she still rode with me (Thanks Steve!!). The wait for Mermaid was 45 min when we got there at about 6:30, and was at 75 min by the time we left!

Over the weekend I saw the last two floats, and today I saw the first two floats of the new Soundsational parade. Of what I have seen, it looks quite good. And last weekend I saw the Memories projection on IASW. The effects are amazing, but the theme of the show is a bit cheesy. It's wonderfull what they can do with the tech & equipment. and hope they put it to better use in the future.

Couldn't get in. Contest winners only. Sad cheese.

Sorry, but yes- only contest winners. But it will be open tomorrow!

It was funny seeing the CMs tell people "Sorry, the ride is not open yet" to regular guests followed by "Boarding pass? Ok, go on in" to the APs.

its actually kind of freaky for me to read about a new ride/redone ride here and have so many actually in favor of it.

downright frightening in fact

Little Mermaid was good, too. Soundsational Parade also good. Disneyland Hotel improvements nice, if a bit inadequate for demand. All in all, pretty astounding and yes, even frightening!

Right now the line is about 4 hours for Star Tours. I'd recommend waiting a while before trying to ride again.

The Sword in the Stone was a nice touch. Very cool. :snap:

We rode Star Tours and The Little Mermaid last night and loved them both. The line for Mermaid was a little over an hour, but we hopped in line just a little before the start of World of Color and got to see that for the first time as well. Wasn't impressed with the show, but it made the time pass quicker, that's for sure. Then we headed to DL and hopped in line for Star Tours at 9:45 pm. We exited the ride at 12:15am to find the previously packed Disneyland empty.

Two rides in 4 hours, but totally worth it. :)