When Disneys' Star Tours – The Adventures Continue attraction re-opens in Disneyland park and Disney's Hollywood Studios later this week, visitors will experience a new ride segment inspired by the latest film in the Star Wars saga. Announced back in
October, the attraction will place riders in the middle of an epic battle on the planet of Crait, a new planet in Star Wars: The last Jedi, which we got a glimpse of in the teaser trailer earlier this year.
That's not all that's changing with Star Tours, though. According to Walt Disney World News Today, when the attraction re-opens on November 17th, it will no longer mix and match scenarios from the different Star Wars eras. Instead, guests will experience a brand new opening, followed by the Jakku sequence, and then the new Crait scene from The Last Jedi. And that's all for now.
The good news, however, is that at a later date still to be determined, Star Tours will be split into two queues leading to different ride experiences: one featuring characters and locations from the current trilogy (The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi), and another combining elements from Episodes 1-6.
Previously, the attraction mixed locations and characters from all seven core Star Wars films. The ride would begin as a Star Tours sight-seeing trip, but quickly unravel into a wild adventure spanning Episodes 1 through 7. A total of 13 random segments combined to allow for 96 different possible ride experiences, mixing and matching locations and characters from the different Star Wars eras. The combinations didn't always make sense canonically and Disney's decision to no longer mix the eras could be in an effort to alleviate confusion for guests.
Plus, it can be assumed that Star Tours will be updated with new ride segments in the future as Disney continues to expand the Star Wars universe with new films. A separate queue could make it easier for guests to experience that new material, while still being able to easily enjoy the classic scenes in the other queue should they choose to ride more than once.
Exactly when Star Tours will be split into two is still unknown, though it will likely be a few months. The ride will presumably focus on the new trilogy material as Disney builds towards the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in December.
Did you mind Star Tours combining elements from all seven films into one experience, or do you prefer they split the attraction by the different eras?