We had a great turnout early this morning as Disney Parks Blog fans gathered for the “Star Tours Early Departure” at Disneyland park. As we announced earlier this month, 1,200 randomly selected readers had the opportunity to bring a guest for the special event to celebrate the upcoming Star Tours relaunch on June 3.
As you can see, hundreds of fans lined up to be among the first guests to experience the new 3-D attraction. They sipped coffee and hot chocolate in the early morning hours, then made their way into the park and the attraction queue.
Just before 3 a.m., Samantha and her father, Ramon (pictured above) were the very first guests to arrive at the event. Samantha was excited to be the very first guest to experience Star Tours this morning, and she said her father was the reason she became a Star Wars fan.
Just behind Samantha and Ramon was another Star Wars fan, Joel (also pictured above, right) who traveled from Flagstaff, Ariz., for this event. Joel’s older sister kindly agreed that he should be the one to attend the event with their mother, since he was such a huge fan and so excited to experience the attraction.
Miki, from Covina, Ca., truly arrived “in character” – wearing an Ewok costume that she made herself. Beverly and Steve traveled from Vancouver, Wa., to celebrate their anniversary (and Steve’s birthday) at the “Star Tours Early Departure.” They were encouraged to attend the event by their daughter, Jessica – Disney fan and loyal Disney Parks Blog reader. (Hi Jessica – thanks for reading!)
Check out the video below for even more highlights from this morning’s “Star Tours Early Departure” at Disneyland park.
Did you attend the “Star Tours Early Departure” this morning? Tell us about your favorite memory from the event in the comments!
And be sure to visit Star Tours when it opens at Disneyland park on June 3.
Comments
Our family had a trip planned to Disneyland which just happened to be from May 19-21, so many of us entered the contest to be among the 1200 people selected to ride Star Tours on May 20th. None of us won. Oh well.
However, while at the park that day, my husband just happened to be wearing his Star Wars shirt, and we received a tip that Star Tours was going to be opened to the general public for a preview from around 2:00pm – 10:00pm that day. So a little before 2:00pm, we headed over to the ride. There were already some people lined up across the walkway from the ride as the ride itself was closed off, but there really weren’t too many people waiting, so we got in line. Sure enough, around 2:15, they opened the ride and we were let in. We spent maybe 30 minutes waiting for it to open, and it was only about 10 or 15 minutes before we got on the ride itself. Not bad at all.
We don’t really care that we weren’t in that first group, but we are just glad we got the chance to ride it before we left Disneyland. Thank you! 🙂
My husband was lucky enough to be selected for this contest, and he took me (like he had a choice…) 😛
We both really enjoyed the Star Tours ride! I’m very happy with the update. The original Star Tours was one of my favorite rides and I was a little skeptical about how Disney would update it, but I was very impressed.
I think the best part of the experience was waiting in line with everybody. I was so excited and I felt like part of a “secret society” of lucky fans who got to ride an incredible ride! There was also a guy who was busting some moves to the Star Wars-themed music while in line. That was a lot of fun to watch.
Thanks for the experience, Erin & Disneyland! The ride was great!
What fun! I drove down from San Francisco (just north of) through the night to get there right at 4am, and stayed at Disneyland until it closed at midnight. It was a wonderful contest/experience. Thanks to the blog for sponsoring the event.
Star Tours itself was amazing (Hoth & Coruscant with Yoda in the middle!) and through the magic of knowing a cast member I was able to ride the new Little Mermaid ride twice as well! A packed and fun-filled day
Hey, I’m in the group shot, well the back of my head is…. my guest and I had a great time. My guest was my 8 year old son who was dressed up like R2D2. Can I post his picture here?? I was so surprised that not more people went all out for this event! Let me know if you would like my little R2D2’s picture.
Miki, marry me. I’ll love you like I do my animal crackers and then love you until the dole whips run dry.
Thank you so much for the tickets!! I had a blast. That is now my new favorite ride. I must admit I have never been on that ride before, for sure it won’t be the last. I went on it twice, but wish it was more. So worth the wait. Just sad I lost my button:( Thanks again
I attended this event with my 5 year old daughter. It was amazing! The new Star Tours is great. We had a blast. My daughter loved every minute of our special day at Disney! Thanks for the wonderful memories!
Star Tours 2 preview was awesome! The Star Wars music was great and the performers did well, just wish we could of went more than once with all that waiting. But THANKS for the opportunity beggars cant be choosers haha.
In the pic of the Ewok girl, you can see me in profile just over her shoulder! Yay! Thank you, Disney Parks Blog, for giving us such an incredible day to remember!
Absolutely LOVED the new ride. Some great references for the die-hard fans to look out for from Star Wars, the original ride, and Lucas’s first film. My friend and I went on it 3 times-hopefully we’ll get Hoth on round 4 😉
BTW Erin, our sign was Shyriiwook (wookiespeak) for yaayyyaaeey!
Thanks for the translation! Your banner was most impressive.
On Saturday they were having previews, and I got to ride quite a few times. The ride is AWESOME! I can’t wait to ride again.
HUGE thanks to Disney for providing this opportunity! We had a GREAT time!! The ride is awesome! I can’t wait to see the other scenarios! The icing on the cake was when my son was chosen for the Jedi Training Academy and got to fight Darth Vader!
We were also able to catch the Pirates of the Caribbean sneak peak show. LOVED it!
We’ll remember this trip forever. Thanks again!!
I was there! It was great. Can’t wait to go back again, and again, and again!
Hey First PHOTO People! (MR Green Sweatshirt and Marvel Jersey we made it!) My son, in the green Yoda shirt, and I are in the 2nd row back on the right (well you can see his forehead and me on the right) We had a BLAST! Such a great time and everyone was so nice!
About the ride:
If you liked the old ride it is very similar in structure. The main changes are the ride it self is much more fluid. It is now in 3D. And most importantly there are actually, as told to me by a DL suit, 54 different versions of the ride. Not just minor changes in script (like Indy) but different combinations of events in the story and destinations. We ended up riding twice and saw tatooine, courasant, kasheek not to mention many different characters. It was such a blast I can’t wait to go again.
I get to go next weekend as a winner of the Annual Passport Star Tours preview – can’t wait!!
My best friend from college flew out the night before to join me on Star Tours. We rode the orginal on opening day in 1987. Had a blast!
We loved the new Star Tours ride…It was worth the long wait…I can’t wait to ride it again to experience the 54 different “tours”…We had so many people stopping and asking us about the
new ride…They were getting excited to go on the Star Tour ride after the June 3 opening…We made a lot of new Disney friends….Can’t wait for the Little Mermaid ride…
Thanks Disneyland!!!
Looking forward to previewing the ride on Tuesday, then eating a Monte Cristo at the Blue Bayou!!
Had a great time – and thanks for the hot chocolate! Made some new friends in line too. Can’t wait to go back to check out more variations – the ride is just amazing. Is there going to be an big opening ceremony similar to the one in WDW on June 3rd???
Awesome! That’s me! Front row, MARVEL comics baseball jersey. Sweetness. What a great experience and thanks to to Disney for the tix and for providing coffee and hot chocolate to everyone. Made the wait go faster. Loved the revamped ride and the graphics are sick! 3-D usually has me shrugging my shoulders, but this was bar-none the best 3-D experience ever. Vader is so cooooool!
I’m so excited to go on Star Tours next week, also as a guest of a winner!!
what a great event! although the line was long it was well behaved and managed and we were entertained while waiting.
thanks Erin and Disneyland for providing this opportunity.
Congratulations to all the Parks Blog winners – looks like you all had a great time. And my hat’s off to you for getting there SOOOOOOOO early and waiting for SOOOOOOOO long!
How many times did you get to ride the attraction? Did you all share your experiences with each other afterward? Did you complete your mission? Were you the spy? Where did you your flight take you?
I was a media host back in 1987 when the attraction first opened and am looking forward to hosting again in June for the “Adventures Continue”
The best moment is seeing the excitement coming from everyone!
Hey, that seems fun but will I have to wait in line for the Annual Pass Preview Ticket have for next Saturday?
my friend was one of the randomly selected readers, and he brought me along as his guest. we both had such a blast. the new Star Tours ride is great! our only regret: we wish we would have allowed other guests in line to go ahead of us so that we could ride the new Star Tours ride with that guy in the green shirt! (first photo posted, fourth row). that guy was more excited about the ride than anybody else at the event! and his excitement rubbed off on my friend and me – we were surging with excitement over the new ride for the rest of the day; and we tried getting others as excited as we were, just like that guy did with us. we would have loved to have sat with this guy during the ride. what an experience that would have been. darn.
Not yet but I’m going on the 29th to try it won an annual pass preview!!! So excited!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome, I made it into the top picture and the video! Thanks for the opportunity Disney Parks Blog!
Ah that looks amazing!
Way to go Erin 🙂
WOOO!!!!! First picture, green sweatshirt baby!!!!
Any special events planned for the June 3 opening at DL? Also, will Star Tours open at the same time as the rest of the park that day?
What an awesome treat. The attraction was totally worth the wait. Thanks for the opportunity! The way the ‘glass’ on the starspeeder was utilized was particularly impressive. Thanks again!
Erin, it was so nice meeting you today (hopefully my wife and I can find the ‘I Only Date Rebels’ on our next visit) and Star Tours was Amazing!! We cannot wait to go back and ride over and over again!
I enjoyed meeting you as well, Minesh! I’m sorry the “I Only Date Rebels” shirt was out of stock on Friday, but if you check with Disneyland Merchandise Guest Services at 800-362-4533, they should be able to give you an idea of when it will be available again.
It looks like it was an awesome event!
I can’t wait to ride!
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