Mouse Extra

We have all been spending what seems like a lifetime discussing the possible new remake of the Star Tours attraction at Disney’s theme parks.  For years, rumors and speculation have permeated the Disney internet community.  And the rumors have only intensified over the past few months, as we seem to get closer and closer to an official announcement of what exactly is going to happen to this popular attraction.

We all are fairly certainly that some kind of change is in the works, but what has made us full of nervous excitement is what this new version will be about.  Late last week Theme Park Insider upped the level of excitement one more notch with a rumor of what exactly we may see.

As rumored, the rehab is about to start. And you know why? Because Tokyo Disney (Oriental Land Company) wanted their own version so they poured in some money. And George Lucas has been VERY involved. The new version sounds REALLY cool. Apparently, the original Star Tours was supposed to be updated every three years or so with a new film (ha!). So now, they’re creating a new 3-D film (yes, everyone will have to wear 3-D glasses). The new film will be set in the time between Star Wars Films 3 and 4 (so, after Queen Amidala’s death but before Luke finds Obi Wan and blows up the Death Star). But here’s the cool part — they’re saying that the ride will now have hundreds of versions, so guests will never know what they’re getting into….they’re going to film about 25 openings, about 25 middles, and then 25 endings, so your ride will never be the same…this is one way to make sure it stays fresh for MUCH longer. I can’t wait to see this.

Let me begin by saying that I can not verify this report, and have not seen anything similar to this anywhere else.  So this is an outlier, but what a great outlier it is!  Even if it is just an idea, it is certainly worth discussing.

The timeline of when in the Star Wars universe this new version would take place was the source of most of the nervousness on the part of fans, myself included.  I did not want to see a ride based on the prequels, and I don’t think anyone else did either.  But the possibility of Lucas using the attraction to further the popularity of the prequels was certainly a real one.  But this idea seems to bridge the two together.  A nice compromise if you ask me. 

And I can’t imagine anyone doesn’t like the random sequencing proposal either.  Re-rideability is at the root of what makes Disney rides so great.  This idea would be a revolutionary way of bringing that idea to a new level.  Who wouldn’t go back over and over again to see what else there is to experience?  If this is not true, Imagineering should take a look at this rumor and consider it for future projects anyway.

Disney officials have been very quiet about what exactly they are doing to the Magic Kingdom’s classic rollercoaster Space Mountain.  But according to this morning’s reporting by the Orlando Sentinel, it appears the queue may be getting a serious facelift.

The resort last week filed a construction notice thought to be tied to the Magic Kingdom’s indoor coaster; it calls for the installation of an “interactive queue” and audio-visual upgrades. The notice has touched off speculation that Space Mountain could be in line for an electronic-game-filled queue similar to the one Disney installed at Epcot’s Soarin’ in 2007.

Disney previous disclosed only that they planned on replacing the track, but that the ride would generally be the same.  However, many questioned from the beginning whether or not that was completely sincere.  To shut a hugely popular attraction for that amount of time for only a few barely noticeable upgrades didn’t seem to make sense.

But this does.  The queue at Space Mountain is long, dark, and very boring.  While the ride may stay mostly the same, making a top-notch queue could really make a difference to park guests.  We’ll keep you posted as more information trickles out

So what is The Pirate’s League?  No, it’s not a bunch of smelly fugitives playing baseball.  It’s Disney World’s latest attempt to cash in on the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and connect to young boys in the same lucrative way they have connected with girls through the Princesses franchise.  According to many reports, this new Magic Kingdom spot will try and create more pirates to plunder the Mouse.  Here is the story from wdwmagic.com.

A new “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique” type experience is headed to the Pirates of the Caribbean gift shop area aimed at providing boys with an alternative to the mainly girl-orientated Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. The new “Pirates League” will be built in the section of the Pirates of the Caribbean gift shop that closed some years ago. The experience is less hair and makeup, and more about costume and accessories, including some pirate and swordsmanship training. The experience is set to open around June/July 2009. More details should surface in the next few weeks including costs and a more precise opening date.

With parents bringing their little princesses in droves to shovel out unspeakable amounts of money at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique I can only imagine that Disney suits must spend countless sleepless nights trying to figure out how to also cash in on the other gender as well.  But it has not been nearly as easy.  Pirates are great, but pirates are fading somewhat as well.  Is there enough interest left in Captain Jack Sparrow for Disney to make the registers ring?

I think the trick here will be the experience.  Disney has done a good job with the Pirate Tutorial and the Jedi Training Academy.  I know my nephew loves them both.  This idea comes down to the cast members that will be initiating the new pirates.  If they are inconsistent, this could flop.  If they are as good as we know Disney’s cast members can be, this will be a huge hit.  All in all, I like this idea.

MiceAge.com’s Al Lutz, reporting from California, has a story today that concerns fans of Orlando’s Magic Kingdom.  It appears Fantasyland may close to getting a major upgrade that could reshape this long ignored section of Disney World’s most popular park and forever change the course of Disney dark rides.

…A big budget proposal fighting its way through the approval process in Orlando involves not only adding a clone of DCA’s Little Mermaid E Ticket to the Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland, but also upgrading the rest of the Fantasyland attractions with an updated look and new technology. While the tired 1970’s vibe of Florida’s Fantasyland could definitely use a makeover, it’s the new technology to be added to the existing attractions that has the most promise.

Using a system of tiny Radio Frequency ID (RFID) tags embedded in park tickets, key characters on the attractions could interact with each passing vehicle and use personalized information on the riders in each vehicle to embellish the storytelling with personalized references. A Resort guest would fill out a survey form prior to their arrival, and then that information would be downloaded onto the RFID tag embedded in their tickets. Think of this as a much advanced version of the gimmick in Universal’s Hollywood’s now shuttered E.T. attraction where E.T. would bid you farewell by name at the end of the ride, and you’ve got the basic idea. The concept has been branded “Next Generation,” or NextGen for short, in the halls of WDI and they have high hopes for it.

Okay folks, this is where I need your help.  You see, I avoid Fantasyland almost entirely.  I don’t care for the stuff over there and I don’t have little ones who would.  It’s usually nothing more than a crowded and painful passage from the Haunted Mansion to Space Mountain that almost always includes getting run over by a stroller or crashed into by a kid (which for someone over six feet tall can be very painful…if you know what I am getting at…).  So I guess I must ask, do you like this idea?

Also, do you agree with Mr. Lutz’s slightly snotty description of Fantasyland as having a “tired 1970’s vibe”?  I’m old enough to remember the 1970’s vibe, and I am not sure how many Victorian carousels or gothic castles there were back then. 

Also, this RFID idea he speaks of seems like a good one, but I wonder what the cost of it might be.  Would having your name called inside Peter Pan really make the difference for you?  Maybe for some it would, but I would prefer they develop something a bit more fun and exciting.  I guess the whole concept would certainly blow the little ones away who aren’t aware of how it’s done, but filling out the survey would be the big giveaway for the rest of us.  And isn’t there something very “Big Brother” going on here?

The Disney Gossip blog is back with an interesting little tidbit that may be coming to Future World at Epcot.  The Land pavilion may continue its evolution with a change to one of its less populated corners.

… The folks behind the DisneyNature label at Walt Disney Studios are chomping at the bit to get a 12-minute version of their “EARTH” film into the current ‘Circle of Life’ theater. This would probably kick Simba, Timon, and Pumba to the curb, since I don’t see Disney paying for new animation required to match the themes together in this current austerity program. With EARTH opening nationwide on Earth Day April 22 it might be time to go see “Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable” one more time.

Now, the idea of a 12 minute commercial is not exactly my favorite, but I have no problem with this particular project.  Disneynature is to me one of the best ideas the Walt Disney Company has had in a long time.  These films being produced by Disneynature may not be the next blockbusters, and they may not raise stock values, but that’s exactly what I like about it.  This is an arm of the Disney Company that seems to be centered on the idea of bringing back to life Walt’s vision from his True Life Adventure series.  And what could be bad about that?

Check out the Disneynature website and see what the future holds for this division.  I would like to see this area of The Land used as a permanent vehicle to spread the word on these films.  As a new one comes to release, a new 12 minute commercial should go up.

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.