Star Tours randomizer

[Quartermistress]

Does anyone know if the ride sequences on Star Tours are truly random, or if they are selected by a CM or dependent on which simulator you get? I rode ten times in two days and got Yoda 7 times, Leia once, and Admiral Ackbar twice. I never saw Kashyyyk, went to Hoth at least half of the time, and Coruscant only once. I was disappointed by the uneven distribution! If there's any trick to choosing certain simulators to get certain scenes, I'd like to know so that I can maximize my chances of getting my favorites and finally see Kashyyyk so I don't have to go ten times next trip!

 

[JPGonzales]

Interesting....I'm curious about this too.....

 

[iheartdisney]

Yeah... I think the whole "54 different experiences" is the biggest oversell in the history of advertising! A more honest description would be "6 different destinations"
I can't comment on WDW setup, but we rode 5 times, in 3 of the 4 simulators, and never saw Hoth. So I want to say that the simulator has nothing to do with it.

 

[Technosavant]

They're random. Purely luck of the draw. They've said there's 54 possible variations.

2 potential start sequences
3 possible first destinations (Hoth, Kashyyk, Tatooine)
3 possible "you're our only hope" (Leia, Yoda, Ackbar)
3 possible end destinations (Naboo, Coruscant, Death Star)

2x3x3x3=54

I've seen all the scenes, and they were in the same simulators. Only had to ride 5 times to see them all.

 

[LilyWDW]

Welcome to the wonderful world of randomization. Really, to get a true feel for how random it is, you would have to have a much larger sample. Technically, ride by ride, you could end up having it be exactly the same. It would be rare, but it could happen. That is just the nature of the beast.

 

[doconeill]

There is no reason to leave it up to the CM - with digital projection, etc. it is easily done within the computers and could be assembled on demand.

As for the "oversell" of the 54 different experiences...I posted a long time ago when they announced that number that it would be done this way. Yes, there are only 11 unique scenes, but there are 54 unique variations of the experience. They didn't say anything that implied otherwise.

 

[tndisneyfan]

They're random. Purely luck of the draw. They've said there's 54 possible variations.

2 potential start sequences
3 possible first destinations (Hoth, Kashyyk, Tatooine)
3 possible "you're our only hope" (Leia, Yoda, Ackbar)
3 possible end destinations (Naboo, Coruscant, Death Star)

2x3x3x3=54

I've seen all the scenes, and they were in the same simulators. Only had to ride 5 times to see them all.

This is interesting info, I'd never thought of it as simple as this. We went on Star Tours several times our last trip trying to get as many different experiences in as we could. IT was odd, about four times in a row that we rode it(not back to back, and not even the same day, just the 4 times we rode it) we got the same start, first destination, and end destination. The only change was the "you're our only hope". I don't remember how many times we rode it but I would say at least 8 times. We only saw Tattoine once and Naboo once. We saw Hoth and the death star many, many times.

 

[Technosavant]

Yeah, I was expecting more, but then I sat down and did the math. Seeing identical versions except for the "you're our only hope" counts as seeing two variations out of the fifty four.

I admit to some disappointment that so many of the scenes are from the prequel movies, but it was all well done, so it could have been worse. It isn't like they cut out Figment entirely...

 

[tarrbear]

Out of the five times I've ridden it, I've seen everything in fair amounts except The Death Star, I have yet to go there!

 

[kaybird]

Still excited to see this ride and the new additions. Can't imagine being disapointed, newly refurbished, cool changes, having to ride mulitple times before being suprised again. Sorry folks, don't see the downside on this!

 

[FireDancer]

Also keep in mind that anytime you have a defined set of possibilities you can't have true randomness, you have pseudo-randomness. It is the first thing you learn in computer cryptography.

Many people get random and alternating confused. As LilyWDW stated you could have a limited random set, which this ride is, and experience the same ride over and over because the particular scene isn't eliminated from the algorithm.

I think that each of the 4 data sets are chosen with an algorithm and then pieced together but that is only speculation.

 

[DIS_MERI]

We rode 15 times over a 5 day period and it took us 9 rides to get Naboo (and 13 for one of the 4 of us to be chosen as the single person picked from the "audience"). We did have a cast member tell us that there are 11 different scenes available. We seem to hit heavy on the Admiral, Hoth and the Death Star scene, but we loved it even when it was a repeat It was the first ride we rode and I was afraid it would be too scary for my 4yo. She gripped the armrests the whole time (to keep from sliding around), but when it was over she turned to me and said "That was AWESOME! Can we ride it again???"

 

[doconeill]

Also keep in mind that anytime you have a defined set of possibilities you can't have true randomness, you have pseudo-randomness. It is the first thing you learn in computer cryptography.

Many people get random and alternating confused. As LilyWDW stated you could have a limited random set, which this ride is, and experience the same ride over and over because the particular scene isn't eliminated from the algorithm.

I think that each of the 4 data sets are chosen with an algorithm and then pieced together but that is only speculation.

Wow...I think you are making it far more difficult than it needs to be...

[geek mode on]Although no computer has a truly random number generator, the pseudo-random number generators involved coupled with some decent seed selection code yield decent results. For all intents and purposes for this application, it can be considered random.[/geek mode off]

Someone in another thread wondered if sequences for multiple runs were pre-allocated in advance - that is, if you saw combination A, and stayed for the next run and saw combination B next, then B would always follow A - but this seems unlikely as I said with current technology.