Last Tour to Endor: The Original Star Tours Experience, Part 5

Finally, there was de-boarding with travel posters, themed signage, and, of course, the merchandise location.

I’ll miss the original Star Tours, but the official opening of Star Tours: The Adventures Continue is today. While I won't be there any time soon, I am excited to ride as many of the 54 possible experiences the new attraction offers as possible on my next visit!

Last Tour to Endor: The Original Star Tours Experience, Part 4

Inside the cabin of the Starspeeder 3000, there were more video reminders to stow loose items and prohibiting flash photography and smoking. Then there was Rex, the Paul Ruebens-voiced droid pilot of your journey. I snapped some blurry, in-motion, low-light level shots during the ride, including the last shot of the George Lucas look-alike who ducks under the control panel. The ride was a classic.

Last Tour to Endor: The Original Star Tours Experience, Part 3

Here are some shots of the original Star Tours pre-show video. It’s all about themeing and that means immersion into the attraction’s world. Although certainly showing its age, Star Tours did that, in part, by creating a pre-boarding video incorporating everything from Ewoks and Chewbacca to the pre-show announcer’s funky hairstyles. Enjoy!

Last Tour to Endor: The Original Star Tours Experience, Part 2

Today we have some shots of the queueing area at Star Tours in Orlando. It was pretty well-known for all the easter eggs and hidden Mickeys. Things like the letters and numbers on the conveyer baskets representing the initials and birthdates of the Imagineers who worked on the attraction, and the arrangement of droid parts to create the iconic three-circle Mickey Mouse head. I always loved the atmosphere they were able to convey with the use of light and animatronics...

Last Tour to Endor: The Original Star Tours Experience, Part 1

I’m excited to experience the new Star Tours attraction at Walt Disney World. I’ve been following StarTours2Live.com and their Twitter feed for a while now, and with the official reopening of Star Tours: The Adventures Continue scheduled for the end of this week, I thought it might be fun to share some of our pictures from the Last Tour to Endor at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (though it'll always be "MGM" to me). The event was a part of Star Wars Celebration V that took place in Orlando, Florida, last August. Along with some key attractions like The Great Movie Ride and Toy Story Midway Mania, there was a special Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular that was reworked and retitled “Raiders of the Lost Jedi Temple of Doom: A Fan Film of ‘Epic’ Proportions” with all kinds of guest stars depending on which of the three performances you attended, and, of course, Star Tours was up and running.

I figured we’d start off with a couple of shots of the promotional diorama at the Disney booth at CV, and some event signage at the Studios…