Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to visit with friends who were in town at Walt Disney World. One thing led to another, and we found ourselves at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Friday night, the opening day of Disney Hollywood Studios’ updated attraction, Star Tours.
As we walked into the very crowded park, well after dark, we were greeted by a steady stream of milling fans, and didn’t think there was much chance that we would be able to get near the attraction. But with time to kill and no real plans, we thought it worth a try, and headed over to see what was going on.
We were pleasantly surprised to find that the line wait clock read only 40 minutes. Being girls with lots to chat about, and iPhones to play with, we thought that seemed reasonable, and hopped on line.
We weren’t disappointed! Though the queue area got a little warm as it wound back underneath the attraction’s facade, and the giant trees that surround the area, the night was pleasant, and so were the people waiting with us. And, with all of the work that Disney has done recently to enhance the waiting time of guests, seeing the queue is part of the fun!
But we were especially excited to see our favorite droids, C3PO and R2D2, at the controls, and ready to send us on our way to the destination of our choice.
The line moved quickly, and while we don’t know exactly how long we waited, it wasn’t the 40 minutes posted. Soon, we were into the loading area, and ready to board our starspeeder.
Our journey was about to get underway. The familiar partition dropped, and there’s C3PO, but, much like his prececessor, he is not the pilot. However, when Darth Vader shows up, looking for the rebel spy among us, R2D2 and C3PO take matters into their own hands, and off we go at light speed, to points unknown – and we end up on Krashyyyk, the Wookie Planet!
The film is stunning! Every detail is crisp, including (SPOILER!) the Wookie that smacks into our windshield!
I didn’t actually feel that the scene was 3D, however, a photo snapped without benefit of our snazzy black glasses proved me wrong.
After our thrilling trip to the green and lush Krashyyyk, a daring spin through an asteroid field being tailed by a formidable opponent – that we managed to blow up – we were off to a spin through the Death Star. Of course!
After much excitement, and a little luck, C3PO managed to guide us back to the Starport. Whew!
My companion was a bit, well, underwhelmed. She wasn’t familiar with the characters, having never seen any of the Star Wars films. I liked it well enough. It was beautifully done, and everything was so shiny and new. Still, I would have preferred a trip to another planet. And so, I will be back, to see if I can book passage to Naboo, or Coruscant, or even Tatooine.
I would like to have taken my snazzy glasses as a souvenir, but we dutifully handed them back in at the last. I’ll look forward to wearing them again soon.
