Star Tours 3D Officially Open!

[MOJoe]

Cast Members at DHS were able to ride the new Star Tours this weekend. Those who have tweeted have given great reviews. The ride apparently, is better in all the ways we were hoping for!
Also, Today, Star Tours 2 has opened to the general public for "test rides." Not certain if ST2 will be open all day, but it opened with the rest of the park.
Details and Spoilers to follow!

[Melanie]

Not just Cast Members over the weekend - we got to ride it two times yesterday!!!! It soft opened on Saturday for a few hours, and was open most of the day yesterday. Waits were under 20 minutes each time. We totally lucked out!

Loved it!!!! The screen is crisp and clear, and I can't wait to experience all the different storylines. One we enjoyed more than the other yesterday, but there is a new interactive element that totally ROCKS and my DS was the chosen one on one of our flights. :D Indeed, the ride is markedly improved.

John is going to and representing INTERCOT at the media event on Thursday, so I will leave all the details and of course pictures (since they weren't allowing anyone to take them over the weekend) to him. :thumbsup:

[MOJoe]

O.K. I am soooooo jealous, Melanie. And your son is the Chosen One? I am green with envy!:D
Hope this doesn't lead me to the dark side. :darth:
Instead, according to the Jedi way, i will ask your permission to post more ride details as they become available, as i will wait patiently for my turn to ride ST2 this weekend. :yoda:

[faline]

All last week, we were hoping for a soft opening but it never happened! Oh well - next trip!

[Buttercup]

I want spoilers!!! :thumbsup:

[ThanxForNoticin]

Sounds awesome. I probably should know this, but when is it scheduled to be open for real and available to all guests? Has that been announced officially? We'll be down in 2 1/2 weeks - be nice if it's open! Thanks.

[WDWfanatic742]

It opens officially Friday afternoon :mickey:

[ThanxForNoticin]

That works for me! Something new to enjoy in a couple weeks. Thanks.

[sgdisney]

For anyone with an iPhone or smart phone, there is a really cool free app that has all kinds of info on it about soft openings, fast pass times, wait times, etc. Just search the app store for Star Tours 2. They also have a FB page with very frequent updates.

[BrerGnat]

Mel, how cool that your DS was chosen! I read a spoiler online, so I know what you mean. ;)

We are hoping for soft openings at DL this week. They were open for CM previews yesterday.

[Fangorn]

My source in Darth Vader's office reports that the Sith Lord was given a ride on Friday. He was quoted as saying, characteristically, "Most Impressive."

Unofficial ureports are that the soft opening is resulting in some last minute tweaks - minor stuff.

Steve

[WDWfanatic742]

Did they ever finish that last simulator, or are they still working on it as planned a few months ago?

[jimsgal05]

yes it was open this past weekend and yesturday... from what everyone has said it is great...much better than the 1st in many ways...I won't spoil it for those ...I just hope to ride it once on sat or sunday...

I need the force to be with me... they also said some wait times were only 15 mins and some times were 45.... this weekend more like 3 hrs...I am sure with the heavey crowd levels

[MOJoe]

Did they ever finish that last simulator, or are they still working on it as planned a few months ago?

There have been at least 5 simulators working during this soft opening. Since ST2 is no longer a hard hat zone, either all 6 are installed now, or they are waiting to install the last one at some later date. But i'm guessing all 6 are in place.

[Imagineer1981]

SO JEALOUS, wish I lived closer so I could camp out there and wait for the test rides!

[joanna71985]

I've riden 27 times now, and I absolutely love it! The new ride is awesome

[Melanie]

I've riden 27 times now, and I absolutely love it! The new ride is awesome

Kudos to you Joanna, cause I'd be :ack::ack::ack: by then. After my 2 rides on Sunday, that was definitely enough for one day. Love the ride, but it is still a simulator after all. :D

How many times have you gotten the same storyline?

[joanna71985]

Kudos to you Joanna, cause I'd be :ack::ack::ack: by then. After my 2 rides on Sunday, that was definitely enough for one day. Love the ride, but it is still a simulator after all. :D

How many times have you gotten the same storyline?

Heh, that's funny (because everyone keeps asking me how I was able to ride so many times in a row without getting sick- one day I rode 17 times in a row, over a 4 hour period). It doesn't really affect me, luckily.

For the most part, I've gotten different rides (either all 4, or 3 out of 4 different). But on 2 different occasions, I had the same exact ride back to back times. And I have had several times where 3 of the 4 were the same back to back

[Mufasa]

If you wanted to experience all 54 possible variations (and you were assured that each time you rode you would experience a unique combination) it would still take you a bit over 6 hours to experience them all (and that is just taking into account the ride cycle time if you could ride back to back with no waiting in line)

To have an attraction that offers multiple branching storyline possibilities and can offer a potentially different experience each time is quite a challenge and has been a goal for a very long time.

Until now when there has been some sort of option of branching it usually bookends the ride (implemented either at the beginning such as the Indiana Jones Adventure at DL or choosing your ending such as Horizons) but otherwise had no real bearing on the core events of the story.

You can experience the new Star Tours at least a dozen times and likely experience something new on each journey (there are also lots of visual details to keep watch for the biggest Star Wars fanatics and even a few references for those Disney park fans to spot during your journey) so that should definitely keep things fresh for a while.

[Melanie]

I'm actually really surprised at the wait times I'm seeing posted on Twitter. Right now it's only sitting at 35 minutes standby.

I'm sure that will increase significantly with the weekend.

[KylesMom]

The crowd this morning looked overwhelming!

[brivers222]

i am amazed its only 55mins at 4:30pm on a friday!

[darthmacho]

How exciting! I can't wait to go in 2012!!!!!!

I've been obsessed with Star Wars since the day it came out and my Dad took me. WDW and Star Wars together should be a dream come true. I hope this version is better than the last, which disappointed me on some level. :ewok:

[Melanie]

I hope this version is better than the last, which disappointed me on some level. :ewok:

I don't think you will be disappointed.

[Christine]

I want spoilers!!! :thumbsup:


;)
http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=181979

Scroll to the bottom :)


The crowds are incredible! Last night around 10pm I was at DTD buying a bday present for a friend and DHS was open til midnight. It was a NIGHTMARE driving on lake Buena vista drive anywhere near DHS. If wait times are accurate at 35 minutes I'm stunned and that must mean there's a whole lotta other stuff going on (parades, shows, etc) that has folks' attention :)

Joanna I'm surprised that that many rides didn't bother you too ! Wow! I was sitting at the Writer's Stop for a coffee after my ride last weekend and all of the sudden my head would just "tingle" or spin for a minute. It wasn't awful but my head definitely noticed just one ride! :blush:

[Melanie]

Joanna I'm surprised that that many rides didn't bother you too ! Wow! I was sitting at the Writer's Stop for a coffee after my ride last weekend and all of the sudden my head would just "tingle" or spin for a minute. It wasn't awful but my head definitely noticed just one ride! :blush:

Not that we're old Christine, but I know for sure that I have some years on Joanna. :D I USED to be able to ride and ride and ride. Not anymore. :unsure:

[EpcotChic23]

We got to ride it last Wed night. With no wait. It was pretty cool. My DH went on it twice and experienced 2 diffrent story lines. He asked a cast member how many diffrent stories there are and she said 54 or 56 (sorry I can't remember). I don't know if she was pulling our leg or telling the truth b/c that seemed lik a whole lot.:confused:

[Fastpasssteve]

I hear they have 5 (possibly 6) simulators currently running and that waiting times aren't too crazy for opening weekend.

How many simulators did they have running before the rehab? Perhaps they have greater capacity now. ???

[WDWfanatic742]

It's the same amount of simulators. There are six total, I know for sure 5 are running right now, don't know about the sixth.

For whatever reason when I was young my family never really went to MGM so I can't say for certain, but in the past I don't think they ran all of them at the same time. I've never seen it myself to be honest but I'm sure they did when it first opened.


Add in that:

The ride has really good capacity
Not everyone in the family can and will ride it
Living down here in South Florida, I haven't seen a single advertisement on TV or anywhere for the ride
It's not a brand new ride, just a refurbed one
I don't think the lines will be too crazy. I still think more people will line up for TSM first (Which I think is crazy but that's just me).

Also I think the sequence is 2-3-3-3. So there are four different sections. Two different sequences in the first section and three different sequences in the other three sections...

[Mufasa]

We got to ride it last Wed night. With no wait. It was pretty cool. My DH went on it twice and experienced 2 diffrent story lines. He asked a cast member how many diffrent stories there are and she said 54 or 56 (sorry I can't remember). I don't know if she was pulling our leg or telling the truth b/c that seemed lik a whole lot.:confused:

There are 54 possible combinations that can be sequenced together in 4 parts-

1.) Opening sequence (2 variations)
2.) Destination A (3 variations)
3.) Middle Sequence (3 variations)
4.) Final Destination/ending (3 variations)

So 2x3x3x3 = 54 (or if you draw it out as a tree, starting with 2 choices at the top and seeing that it can branch off amongst 3 variations at each point after, you'd find 54 total possible paths).

[WDWfanatic742]

There are 54 possible combinations that can be sequenced together in 4 parts-

1.) Opening sequence (2 variations)
2.) Destination A (3 variations)
3.) Middle Sequence (3 variations)
4.) Final Destination/ending (3 variations)

So 2x3x3x3 = 54 (or if you draw it out as a tree, starting with 2 choices at the top and seeing that it can branch off amongst 3 variations at each point after, you'd find 54 total possible paths).

I think I was editing the 2-3-3-3 part in my post when you posted yours lol

[Stitch98]

If you wanted to experience all 54 possible variations (and you were assured that each time you rode you would experience a unique combination) it would still take you a bit over 6 hours to experience them all (and that is just taking into account the ride cycle time if you could ride back to back with no waiting in line)

Thank you for that interesting piece of information.:hi:

[LudwigVonDrake]

I can't wait to ride this in 45 days!! :mickey:

[Christine]

Not that we're old Christine, but I know for sure that I have some years on Joanna. :D I USED to be able to ride and ride and ride. Not anymore. :unsure:



Crazy kids and their rock music and 3-D simulator rides!! :D :old:

[joanna71985]

Joanna I'm surprised that that many rides didn't bother you too ! Wow! I was sitting at the Writer's Stop for a coffee after my ride last weekend and all of the sudden my head would just "tingle" or spin for a minute. It wasn't awful but my head definitely noticed just one ride! :blush:

It seemed everyone was surprised. But I didn't notice anything at all. I could have kept on riding, in fact!


Not that we're old Christine, but I know for sure that I have some years on Joanna. :D I USED to be able to ride and ride and ride. Not anymore. :unsure:

:blush:

[lylahsmommy]

We rode it twice on Friday! It was awesome. Got Darth Vader on both of our open sequences and got Princess Leia on our second trip. That was really helpful because my 5-year-old hated "being in space," PL was a nice distraction for her. :)