The following is a quick review I did for a Star Wars Collecting forum I belong to:
I just got back from Orlando with my family. We spent a week at WDW. Of course Star Tours was very high on the list for attractions to do. I ended up riding ST seven times throughout the week. However for a random experience for what planets I would get while riding I kept feeling like I was in some Groundhog Day like sequence when I kept going on and very little had changed:
1) Stormtrooper/Falcon Intro->Hoth->Leia->Battle of Coruscant
2) Stormtrooper/Vader Intro->Hoth->Ackbar->Battle of Naboo
3) Stormtrooper/Vader Intro->Tatooine->Leia->Battle of Naboo
4) Stormtrooper/Falcon Intro->Hoth->Leia->Battle of Coruscant
5) Stormtrooper/Vader Intro->Hoth->Ackbar->Battle of Naboo
6) Stormtrooper/Falcon Intro->Hoth->Leia->Battle of Coruscant
7) Stormtrooper/Falcon Intro->Hoth->Leia->Battle of Coruscant
The ride itself was lots of fun from start to finish., From walking through the queue and seeing all the details (the interplanetary arrivals/departures screen/the Mon Calamari flight controls/R2 & 3PO Banter around the Speeder and the Security Droids) to the preflight movie I was totally impressed.
There were no lines and the longest I think we ever waited to board was 5 minutes,
The video on the ride was very crisp and the 3D was what you would expect it to be..good. Although I thought the 3D at Mickey's PhilharMagic was better. In the Mickey's PhilharMagic attraction it seemed to had stood out better than Star Tours as the action wasnt moving as fast so you got to appreciate it more. In Star Tours everything is happening so quickly that I think some of the 3D gets lost in the process.
The Mos Espa Traders (aka gift shop) was nothing to write home about as a collector. However they were doing a brisk business and I did end up picking up a few misc. items (Snow globe, coffee mug and a Donald Duck figure as Bespin Han with Carbonate slab) One of my kids bought the light up R2D2 that makes the R2 noises as its head spins around.
I bought one of the exclusive Star Tours figures sets for a friend and almost bought one for me (The
Travel Agency set) but at $40 I decided against it.
For those of you who are sticklers about continuity I am going to paraphrase a line from the intro from the old MST3K show:
If you're wondering how the attraction fits into continuity
and other Star Wars science-fiction facts (la la la),
Then repeat to yourself, "It's just a ride,
I should really just relax
For its Star Tours 2.0!"
(The same can also be used to calm those down about the Blu-ray changes. Itll be alright, no need for the vein throbbing from the forehead routine).
A very fun time on Star Tours 2.0 but my favorite attraction was Toy Story Mania. Now that was fun and really made me feel like a kid again.