Star Wars Days At Disneyland!

Well, it's almost time for the opening of the revamped Star Tours at Disneyland and all I have to say is....IT'S ABOUT TIME! Personally, I think this redo of the attraction should have happened much sooner instead of waiting 24 years! Even the Matterhorn got a complete revamp before it was that old!

Anyhoo...for today's post we're going back to 1997, when Star Tours was only 10 years old and the park was celebrating the milestone anniversary with "Star Wars Days At Disneyland"!



Today, guests can meet with Darth Vader, his Stormtroopers and even Darth Maul over at Tomorrowland Terrace, but for a short time back in 1997, park guests could meet with Chewbacca and a real-life Ewok.



This special banner hanging above the entrance to the attraction reads, "Celebrating! 10 Years Of Star Tours, Now The Adventure Is Real."



A banner facing the other direction reads, "Star Wars Days At Disneyland." Note the tarps and fencing up along the old PeopleMover beam. Work had already begun on the destruction of Tomorrowland.



Here is the entertainment guide/park map from that weekend.








Below, is a clip of some home video that I shot of the meet and greet area. Chewbacca was getting ready to take a break, so we get to see both him and an Ewok posing together briefly.





***As a last minute addition here to this post, I'm going to include some pics that I took at the park just last night. Star Tours was open yesterday for special guest previews only, but it ended up "soft opening" to the general public at some point during the day. Unfortunately, I got there 15 minutes after they had closed the line, which was around 7 p.m. Oh well!

Here's the new attraction poster that hangs under the train tunnel at the park entrance.



The Star Tours mural in Tomorrowland has been repainted to reflect the new color scheme of the Starspeeders.




The new marquee over the entrance.....



Now here's something that I was really glad to see...new plants around the Star Tours entrance. The plants remind me of the succulents that used to be at the entrance to Tomorrowland prior to 1998. I think these look much more futuristic or Tomorrowland-ish than the edible landscape that's there today, but that's just my opinion.





As this sign indicates, the Star Tours Fastpass machines are located over by Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters. Actually, they have replaced the Buzz Fastpass Machines.....no more Fastpasses for Buzz! :-(





As guests leave the Esplanade area, this sign is encouraging them to make a return visit.



I hope everyone enjoyed this little peek at "Star Wars Days" from fourteen years ago. May The Force....and Jar Jar Binks, be with you!