That's it, Star Tours 2 is now officially open at Tokyo Disneyland Tomorrowland and Walt Disney Imagineering just released a video to celebrate the event, and WDI Imagineers explain the changes they did in this new version! Among the new additions, the hitchhikers droids robots above.
Georges Lucas couldn't be here but he sent a video message to TDL fans!
TDL did several fun TV spot to announce Star Tours The Adventures Continue, among them the two below.
Let's end with this video filmed by a fan on opening day.
Picture and TDL videos: copyright Disney - Oriental Land
Last week was HKDL Mystic Manor's week and this week will be probably the one of Star Tours 2 which will have its official opening at TDL early May. But the attraction is now already in soft opening at TDL Tomorrowland and thanks to two TDL fans - François Couperin and vinylmatiOn - who posted videos on Youtube you'll be able to have a full look at this new Tokyo Disneyland version.
The ride movies are obviously the same but as we will see it seems that TDL had a special treatment and got some new pre-show movies and a new"hitchhiking droids" scene too. There we go for a complete tour and we begin by a video of the entrance concourse.
The next videos show the pre-show room with C3PO , R2D2 and the Starspeeder.
Always in the same room, the pre-show movie, and this one looks the same than in the U.S versions.
However, it seems that they've introduced a new segment with the storm troopers calling to join the empire. In the video below it starts at 1.30 min and, as i unfortunately didn't did the ride in U.S theme parks, please let me know if this storm trooper part already exist in the DL and WDW versions or not, thanks.
Others pre-show movies are showing the spaceport and different destination planets. The two first videos below probably exist in the U.S versions but i wouldn't be surprised if the others below showing different planets with animated movies would be exclusive to TDL . And the animation style looks specially for japanese too. Thanks, too, to let me know if these are TDL exclusive or not.
Let's have a look now to the droids all along the pre-show and the first one is the droid of the security area, the one scanning luggages. In the video below you have the full sequence in "real time" with the different luggages.
Another droid this one apparently checking the guests.
Hitchhiker robots! Now the Hitchhiker ghosts of the Haunted Mansion are not the only ones! And these droids seems to be a TDL exclusive too...
The Droid customs and chinese shadow scenes.
A video of the thermic image security process.
It's time to embark in a Starspeeder and apparently TDL Star Tours boarding area has now a different lighting with new colors...
The video before boarding in the Starspeeder looks the same than in the U.S.
We'll end the tour with this travelling showing Star Tours 2 exit after the ride.
Thanks a lot to François Couperin and vinylmatiOn for all their videos!
You were the first to learn about it when i've announced it last month on my Disney and more web site and today it's officially confirmed by Oriental Land: Star Tours 2 is coming to Tokyo Disneyland and will open Spring 2013! Here is the official press release.
(November 16, 2011) Tokyo Disneyland Park announced that its attraction Star Tours in Tomorrowland will be revamped, reopening with the new title, Star Tours: The Adventures Continue. The new version of the attraction will open in spring 2013. The current Star Tours is an immersive motion-based adventure that lets guests experience the thrills of space travel in the world of the Star Wars film series. The attraction opened at Tokyo Disneyland in 1989, and now after more than 20 years, it still remains popular among guests of all ages.
The main feature of the revamped attraction is that guests can enjoy the thrills of a new and unpredictable experience with every ride. The ride is comprised of several scenes, each with multiple scenarios for each scene that are selected at random. This means that guests never know what they will encounter out of the more than 50 possible story combinations for every ride. The attraction will also feature 3-D images for the first time, allowing guests to feel like they’ve truly entered into the world of the Star Warsfilm series.
Star Tours: The Adventures Continue promises manifold fun and thrills for guests of all ages – for fans of the Star Wars series as well as those unfamiliar with the film. The attraction will create a whole new world of excitement in space travel at Tokyo Disneyland.
Attraction Facts
Opening date: Spring 2013 Duration: About 4 minutes 30 seconds Capacity: 40 seats per cabin Number of cabins: 6 cabins Investment: About 7 billion yen Note: In preparation for this renewal, Star Tours will close as of April 2, 2012.
As you may know the original Star Tours pre-show decor at TDL have some differences with the one at Anaheim, Orlando or Paris. As a matter of fact, and although the Starspeeder exist in the Starspeeder - C3P0 room TDL has another one, the one you can see on the picture below. There is no doubt that this pre-show scene will be updated too and i'm curious to see how will be the changes. Anyway, TDL fans can be happy as they will be able to enjoy ST2 in a year and a half from now.
Now, the only Disney theme park which is still waiting for its Star Tours 2 update is Disneyland Paris and i'm afraid we might have to wait a bit more to get it. I'll let you know when i will hear anything new for DLP!
Here is a Randie Soul pictorial report of Tokyo Disneyland. We will have a look to TDL Tomorrowland, and more precisely Star Tours. All pictures are in hyper high-res and almost all of them would make great wallpaper for your computer. As always, double-click on each to enjoy them in big size!
Below, the entrance of Tomorrowland...
...with Space Mountain in the background.
Around the Star Tours entrance...
TDL Star Tours pre-show is probably the biggest of all.
What is great at TDL is the park's maintenance. The attraction looks as new as it was on opening day.
And what a great lighting!
Finally, the hall when you exit the Star Speeders.
All photos: copyright Randie Soul, whom I thanks a lot!
