How Star Excursions Laid the Stage for Disney’s Galactic Ambitions

The 12 months 2005 was already an necessary one for Star Excursions, nevertheless. Though as beforehand talked about Star Excursions launched with parts of the experience teasing different locales for the attraction, the unique experience by no means obtained updates past the Endor journey. However at Star Wars Celebration III in April 2005, Lucas confirmed, in the end, that the adventures would certainly proceed.

With the prequel trilogy about to conclude with Revenge of the Sith’s launch in Might of that 12 months, a brand new improve to Star Excursions would be capable to incorporate areas and concepts from the prequel trilogy, in addition to develop on parts from the unique trilogy past Endor. The brand new experience would additionally use 3D expertise to immerse audiences, and now not would they only go to a single location on every journey—the replace would provide dozens upon dozens of potential distinctive mixtures of locales in a single experience. Initially, the sequel experience would draw from six potential areas—Coruscant, Tatooine, Hoth, Naboo, Geonosis, Kashyyyk—after opening at Spaceport THX1138, with visits to totally different planets interspersed with messages from numerous Star Wars characters advising guests a couple of secret mission to rescue a randomly chosen spy aboard their experience.

Not each change can be widespread with Disney diehards. Though the improve—dubbed Star Excursions: The Journey Continues—would nonetheless keep a whole lot of parts from the unique, one controversial choice was to exchange Star Excursions’ droid pilot RX-24 (higher often known as Captain Rex, effectively earlier than the Clone) because the experience’s “pilot” and as a substitute immediately combine C-3PO and R2-D2 into the experience’s story, reasonably than simply protecting them a part of the queue. After shutting down the 12 months prior in 2010 for refurbishment for the overhaul, Star Excursions: The Journey Continues formally debuted at Disney World in Florida in Might 2011, earlier than opening at Disneyland that June.