For more than 10 years Star Wars has been the property of the Walt Disney Company. In that time, the studio have produced several hit films for the franchise, more than one popular TV series and even expanded the Star Wars universe through a brand new series of novels. But the biggest addition to the Star Wars universe may be in the theme parks. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland and Walt Disney World brought the galaxy far, far away to life for people in a way that movies never could, but the first Star Wars attraction, Star Tours, happened decades before any of that.
Ever since Galaxy’s Edge opened, many fans have wondered if Star Tours was not long for this world. But during the recent Star Wars Celebration it was confirmed that next year, new segments will be added to the popular attraction. Since this one isn’t going anywhere, let’s take a look at where it came from and the incredible history of Star Tours.
Star Wars Comes To Disneyland Thanks To Indiana Jones
The story of Star Wars at Disneyland actually begins with another franchise entirely, which wouldn’t make it to the park until years later. When Michael Eisner became the CEO of The Walt Disney Company one of his major initiatives was bringing young people into the parks. Disney was seen as a park for kids and their parents, but not so much for teenagers or young adults. The hunt was on for new attractions based on franchises that were popular with this demographic.
Eisner had previously been the President of Paramount Pictures, the studio behind the Indiana Jones movies, and so he had a relationship with George Lucas. The idea was floated of turning Indiana Jones, Star Wars and more into attractions at Disneyland, and Lucas was interested in the idea.
Walt Disney Imagineering and Lucas’ own Industrial Light and Magic came together to put together the attraction, which would use a motion simulator combined with a projection screen that would give the guests the feeling of flying through outer space. A number of technical hurdles had to be overcome, including the fact that the motion simulator wasn’t originally designed to do all the things Disney would need it to do in order to properly give guests a Star Wars experience. The projection system mounted to the front also threw off the system’s weight.
Eventually these issues were dealt with, a story and a film were put together, and Star Tours opened at Disneyland in 1987. And if you thought a new ride draws crowds now, Disneyland was open for 60 straight hours to accommodate the crowds for this one.
The Original Star Tours
The concept of the ride is that guests are tourists taking a trip to visit the forest moon of Endor. Unfortunately, the pilot for your journey, RX-24, also called R3X, is new at the job, so after taking a couple of wrong turns just getting out of the dock, he overshoots his mark and flies right by the moon. Numerous other unfortunate things take place, like flying through a comet cluster. The craft gets knocked around before flying through a large comet and barely escaping.
After that, the speeder is captured in the tractor beam of a Star Destroyer, but is freed by a fleet of X-Wings. The Star Tours ship then travels with the X-wings where they find a Death Star, and guests get to experience a trench run like the one we saw in Star Wars: A New Hope. After successfully destroying the Death Star, R3X returns the ship back to the dock so guests can depart.
The Star Wars Prequels And Star Tours The Adventure Continues
Roughly 10 years after the original Star Tours opened, George Lucas began working on his Star Wars prequel trilogy. Very early on, Imagineering began to consider updating Star Tours to tie it into the new trilogy, but eventually it was decided to wait until the new set of movies was complete before deciding just what story to tell or what world, or worlds, to visit.
After a decade, technology had progressed enough that some of the initial concepts that had been considered for Star Tours were able to be revisited. From the beginning, the idea that Star Tours could be updated or changed over time with new films had been on the wish list, but it had never happened.
With the advent of digital film, the massive projection system on the front of the motion simulator could be replaced with something less fragile. In addition, digital projection allowed for a system that could put together different pieces of film chosen randomly.
Opening on the same day at both Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the new Star Tours, Star Tours: The Adventure Continues, replaced RX-24 with C-3PO, who found himself in the pilot’s seat accidentally. From there, guests are treated to a story broken into four main segments, but each segment has multiple options, and what you get is chosen randomly. It's all focused around keeping a Rebel spy safe. The spy is a randomly selected person on the ride.
Guests may visit Tatooine during a pod race on one ride, and go to Hoth on another. A trip may end on Coruscant or it could go to Kashyyyk. It’s unlikely that you’ll have two rides that are exactly the same, and you'll need to go on the attraction several times in order to see everything.
The Addition Of The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
But the real benefit to the new Star Tours system came later, after Disney had purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas and began to make all new movies. Because with each new movie came a new addition to Star Tours.
A new addition to Star Wars was released more or less alongside each entry in the Sequel Trilogy. A flight through a crashed Star Destroyer on Jakku from The Force Awakens, a flight on the salt planet of Crait from The Last Jedi, (a part of the movie that was actually inspired by the original Star Tours), and a couple of different segments were added with The Rise of Skywalker.
Each of these new additions also includes cameo appearances by members of the cast of the films, so fans can see Rey, Finn and Poe as part of the ride. Each new segment was simply added to the existing ride, increasing the number of options and making the chances of getting the same ride twice even less likely.
The Adventure Will Continue For Star Tours
Since 2019, there had been no additional updates or changes to Star Tours: The Adventure Continues, and considering that both Disneyland Resort’s and Walt Disney World’s versions of Star Tours are in the same park as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, many wondered if Star Tours might eventually get replaced.
But it looks like that won’t be happening anytime soon. At Star Wars Celebration in London, Walt Disney Imagineer Scott Trowbridge revealed that not only will additional destinations be added to Star Tours in 2024, but the locations aren’t even places we’ve ever seen before.
Considering that we’re not expecting new Star Wars movies until at least 2025, it seems like we could be getting new destinations based on Disney+ shows rather than movies. Assuming we will see these worlds before the ride adds them, or at least at the same time, we could be talking about seeing a planet from Ahsoka or The Acolyte becoming part of this iconic attraction. And we could still see some new additions that we have seen before alongside those we have not, like Mandalore.
What’s clear is that after more than 35 years, Star Tours is still going strong. If the Disneyland and Walt Disney World attraction is getting fresh investment now, there are obviously no plans to retire it anytime soon. And with Disney continuing to expand the Star Wars universe, the opportunity for new additions will always be there. This adventure will continue for many more years to come.
