I'm a bit surprised that there are no 3D renderings of the Starspeeder 3000 from Star Tours. 2010 is the last year for the original Star Tours. Star Tours II will open sometime in 2011 with updated technology replacing the old late 1980's stuff.
Star Tours currently uses 4-DOF flight simulator platforms. The update will include 6-DOF platforms. Apparently they've never changed a single thing on the ride at any of the Disney parks in 23 years.
Sheesh! I woulda thought they'd come up with some new video and motion packages, change the pre-show stuff some too. IIRC that was one of the big things Disney went on about in the 80's, how it'd be much less expensive and simpler to change the experience just by changing the video in the simulator and re-programming.
But they never have!The two G2 droids in the Disneyland Star Tours pre-show are actually a couple of animatronic geese from the old America Sings show. They removed the skins, changed the heads and added some lights and other kibble. Quick and dirty setup. Then they had to duplicate those 13 year old (America Sings opened in 1974) geese for Star Tours at all the other Disney parks. Star Tours is 23 years old but the two original G2 droids are 36 years old.
I went to Disneyland sometime in the summer of 1987, not too long after Star Tours opened. The line was insanely long. After *finally* getting into the building and out of the hot sun... MORE LINE! Ughh! I was there again in 1988 and skipped Star Tours because the line was still as long as the previous year.
