Mouse Extra

It appears now that one of the rumors many thought was certain to come true this year is now on the backburner.  For quite some time, reports have been surfacing that Star Tours was to be remade, and that it would happen sooner rather than later.  A new film and even some enhancements to the moving theaters were reportedly given the green light some time ago.

But this week two separate reports say that this will not take place for at least a year, if not more.  And that this delay will happen at both Disney’s Hollywood Studios as well as Disneyland’s version.  MiceAge.com’s Al Lutz, who rarely gets this stuff wrong, blames the Orlando suits for the delay.

The revamped Star Tours 2.0 was to debut in spring, 2010 as part of Disneyland’s 55th Anniversary celebration, with a nearly identical version planned to open in Walt Disney World around the same time. But when the Orlando executives, who are a notoriously tough sell when it comes to investing in new attractions, put the brakes on not only Star Tours 2.0 but also most other major attraction additions in Florida, it threw the carefully crafted budget into disarray.

The large production and facilities installation budget was created by WDI on the ability to spread the costs between two properties, but with Walt Disney World backing out of the plan last year with no current interest in rejoining the project, the Disneyland version that TDA still wants is now left up in the air. And people wonder why I frequently have Orlando in my cross-hairs.

Screamscape.com also reports a similar timeline, minus the finger pointing…

The latest buzz from our sources about the Star Tours 2 project is that installation could begin now in early to mid 2010 and shooting for a late 2010 or early 2011 grand opening. This is all very early and not set in stone, so expect this schedule to shift quite a bit before it is locked down. This is also only the current prorposed schedule for the WDW version… there no telling if the Disneyland version will follow the same timetable, go early or go late.

Whatever the reason, and whomever is reportedly to blame, it does seem this project has been delayed.  And unfortunately when things like this get pushed back they can often fall of the proverbial cliff.

While timelines and technologies seem to be easily leaked, still no one can say for sure what the premise behind this new version of Star Tours will be.  I know many of my fellow Star Wars fans are biting their nails with nervous tension about possibly turning this attraction into one based on the prequels.    Could the Imagineers really make a mistake that big?  If that is the plan, this would be the one time where the cheapness of the Orlando executives would be considered a godsend.