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Even I’m surprised that it’s taken me this long to blog about the various Star Wars attractions at the Disney Parks. As I mentioned in my previous post, as much as I love Disney I’m even more of a “Star Wars” fan, so what’s with the hold up?
Honestly I’m just not sure, but now that the official Disney Parks blog has announced the lineup for 2011’s Star Wars Weekends, it’s the perfect time to write about them. Star Wars Weekends take place at Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando, over the course of about a month. This year they start on May 20 (as always, around the time the “Star Wars” movies were released) and end on June 12.
Mickey and Minnie dress up in Jedi and Princess Leia outfits, R2-D2 decks himself out in mouse ears, and a host of Star Wars characters can be found wandering around the park for the event. Live shows, parades, and Star Wars-themed activities round out the weekend.
The stars of the show, however, are the celebrity guests. Hosting every weekend are James Arnold Taylor and Ashley Eckstein, who respectively voice Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano in the “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” cartoon. The most notable guests appearing for only some of the weekends include Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) in May and Ray Park (Darth Maul) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) in June. Jeremy Bulloch, the actor behind fan favorite Boba Fett, will also appear for just the first weekend in June.
Other guests include additional voices behind the Clone Wars cartoon, crew members on various Star Wars ventures, and more. Star Wars Weekends might not be the biggest party thrown for the franchise (that goes to the many conventions held in honor of the movies), but they’re nothing to sniff at, either. If I lived in Orlando, I would probably find myself at Star Wars Weekends all of the time.
While Disneyland might not be host to any mini Star Wars conventions, it at least contains a permanent Star Wars attraction: Star Tours. The ride and show is currently only operating at Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, as the domestic parks have closed the attraction to update it into Star Tours: The Adventures Continue.
But don’t worry: the new Star Tours will reopen to coincide with Star Wars weekends; Disney World’s version debuts on May 20 and Disneyland’s on June 3. Having never been through the ride myself, and information all leaning now toward the updated versions, I can’t really do much of a compare/contrast between the old and new rides. Instead, I’ll just divulge the details of Star Tours: The Adventure Continues.
It seems the main update to the ride was to add new story lines and locations for adventurers as they pilot their way through the Star Wars universe. Visit the Wookie home planet of Kashyyyk, the galaxy’s urban hub of Coruscant, meeting characters like Yoda, Princess Leia, and Darth Vader along the way.
The Jedi Academy, wherein young Padawans can train to become the legendary knights, will reopen for business. In this live show, kids are selected from the audience to dress up like Jedi’s and learn the moves from the master.
It’s a good thing none of these Star Wars attractions existed when I was a kid, or I would have wanted to visit Disney even more.
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*(This image by Official Star Wars Blog is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
