Collecting Disneyland Star Tours
Twenty Years of Theme Park Collectibles from Star Wars spin-off.
Aug 31, 2008
After 14 months of construction on the site of the former attraction Adventure Thru Inner Space, the long anticipation Disney-Lucas collaboration opened to the biggest crowds Disneyland had ever seen. Star Tours opened on January 9, 1987 offering guests a ride to the moon of Endor in a Starspeeder 3000 piloted by a droid.
The Attraction
Originally called Star Rides, in its development stage, the name was changed by Disney designers who insisted it was not a ride but an attraction. The pre-boarding area was filled with props from the Lucasfilms warehouses. The C-3PO and R2-D2 figures in the attraction were the ones originally used in the films. Actor Anthony Daniels, the voice of C-3PO was called in the do that character’s dialogue.
Once through the hangers and pre-boarding area, guests are seated in one of 4 flight simulators (Starspeeder 3000) for the voyage to the moon of Endor. The rookie pilot (RX-24) promptly loses control of the star ship and an exciting adventure follows as the ship barely misses various collisions as it exits the hanger then emerges from lightspeed in the middle of a battle. Despite the pilot, the star speeder makes it safely back to its hanger again.
Merchandise
Ever since its opening, Star Tours had generated its share of collectibles. Much of the early merchandise was available in various areas in Tomorrowland but today there is a special section in The Star Trader by the Star Tours exit where collectibles are easy to find.
Listing all the merchandise is beyond the scope of this article but let’s have a look at some of the stuff. To begin are the ever present pins (Picture 1) and buttons (Picture 2). These are a collectible in themselves and come in all shapes and sizes featuring Star Wars characters as well as Disney characters in Star Wars costumes.
ost cards have long been a favourite collectible, but only a handful exist for the Star Tours collector. (Picture 3). A set of 4 was released when the attraction opened and a second set of 4 came out when the Star Wars prequels were released. These cards are travel posters advertising Star Tours and showing the exotic planets of Bespin, Tatooine, Naboo, Hoth and of course, Endor.
Other early items exclusive to Disneyland included assorted t-shirts, pennants, playing cards, a watch given out at the inaugural flight, a Han Solo Blaster Pistol and a Storm Trooper Blaster Rifle. There were also figures such as the Hasbro collection of 12 Droids put out in 2002 and 03 (Picture 4) and the 1/64 Die Cast Metal Star Wars Racers (including Darth Vader’s Vehicle) available exclusively in Disney theme parks.
Mickey and Anakin
With the release the first of the three prequels to the Star Wars trilogy, more figures were released including Mickey and Minnie Mouse as Anakin Skywalker and Princess Amidala, Donald Duck as Darth Maul, Stitch as Yoda and Goofy as Jar Jar Binks. The Disney characters also appeared as Mickey and Minnie as Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, Goofy as Darth Vader, Donald Duck as Han Solo and Stitch as the Emperor.
Much of this merchandise is still available in Disneyland at The Star Trader, at Walt Disney World at Tatooine Trader and at the other Disney Parks. The items from the early days can often be found at reasonable prices at on-line auction sites. Most of it is reasonably easy to obtain and a discerning collector can build an impressive collection without doing too much damage to their budget. For more on Disney collectibles see Sleeping Beauty Castle Postcards.
Star Tours Locations
- Disneyland – Opened January 9, 1987
- Tokyo Disneyland – Opened July 12, 1989
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios - Opened December 15, 1989
- Disneyland Paris – Opened April 12, 1992
Star Tours II is in production and is said to be on a 3-D high definition screen with further enhanced simulator effects. The story line will be based on the Pod races from Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace.
Sources:
- Bruce Gordon & David Mumford - Disneyland: The Nickel Tour – 1995
- Dave Smith – Disney A to Z The Official Encyclopedia – 2006
- Tom O’Day & Lorraine Santoli – Disneyland Resort: Magical Memories For a Lifetime – 2002
- Birnbaum Guides – Disneyland Resort 2008
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