08 July 2010

Convenient daily departures to the exotic Moon of Endor

Being a child of the 80s, I grew up with dreams of X-Wings and lightsaber duels, dreams that not only invaded my sleep, but also permeated my fantasy driven playtime. So, it should come as no surprise that I had to find a way to Disney’s Hollywood Studios (then Disney-MGM Studios) once Star Tours began nonstop flights from the park to Endor.

It was with total awe that I rounded the corner and came face-to-face, well face-to-foot, with an AT-AT Walker. The first few years of the mishap-filled journeys to Endor were the same as that first trip, I begged to sit in the front row, positioned myself within my group to be as close to the center as I could, and then using my armrests to pilot the Starspeeder 3000 through the hangar, comets, and Battle of the Death Star. One of the lingering images of that first trip, however, and a detail that still holds weight with me today, was the travel posters in the hallway after the flight had ended.Found in the corridor leading towards the Droid and Baggage Claim area (which I always seem to bypass somehow and end up in Tatooine Traders), these posters feature postcard like images of Endor, Hoth, and Bespin. While I don’t know what the fate of these posters will be when Star Tours begins new flights next year, I can say they will always have a place in my own personal history, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

3 comments:

Matt said...

Love the detail in this area. It's overlooked because people are making a bee line for the exit, but it's very neat. I do kind of miss the Energizer bunny being incorporated in the ads

Ryan P. Wilson said...

Matt, you're right, these details are overlooked far to often! Especillay those relating to Episode I on the bulletin board above the ramp leading into Tatooine Traders.

As for posters themselves, the Energizer bunny ads were very clever (especially the way each scene was connect by the paw prints), but there is just something about these postcard perfect images that gets me. Particularly the Endor image, I'd love to have that hanging on my wall!

Jason G. said...

It really is amazing that a small detail that was inserted in the spirit of Disney's attention to detail not only became such a integral part of our appeal and love for Star Tours, but eventually also became this beacon for our hopes of the ride changing when it started becoming stale. Empire Strikes Back was released when I was 6-years old and no other film from my childhood had an equal impact as that film. And really no other sequence inspired my imagination as the iconic Hoth opening. That poster never stopped fueling the hope and rumors that one day we'd get to travel there. Sigh.

It's kind of amazing that now in my thirties, i'm still an anxious geek yearning to find out whether the new version of the ride will transport us there. All because of a poster.