The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (117 page)

Starcade

[
FastView:
 
The incredible shrinking arcade.  Every time the author visits, there’s more merchandise and fewer games here. 
Fix-It Felix
and classic ‘80’s games from
Flynn’s
Arcade
are among the survivors.
]

If your child (or you yourself) can’t get through a vacation without visiting a video arcade, never fear;
Disneyland Park
has one.  Located between the
Space Mountain
exit corridor and the vast and wonderful
Star Trader
store, this arcade launched on May 27, 1977, just a few weeks after
Space Mountain
opened its doors, and offers a variety of classic and contemporary arcade games that you’ll recognize.  The games accept quarters and tokens that can be purchased via machines on site.

It used to be that whatever type of video game you preferred, there was a
Starcade
video game to suit you.  But in spring 2011, the
Starcade
began selling some of the adjacent
Star Trader
’s merchandise, including T-shirts and a build-your-own-lightsaber station.  Merchandise has been encroaching to the point that there are
very
few games left.

When you enter
ed the
Starcade
in 2012, you were more likely to find a light saber or
Phineas
doll for purchase than a video game you wanted to play.  So … What was left?  Galaga … NASCAR … And for those who like their arcade fun old-school, there was a magnificent
Pirates of the Caribbean
pinball machine (the author’s high score was 5 million—just sayin’), and plenty of claw machines with adorable plush animals of all sizes to rescue and take home with you.

By April 2013,
the claw machines were gone, as was the
Pirates
pinball machine.  Two other pinball machines, an air hockey table,
Fix-It Felix
games (from 2012’s
Wreck-It Ralph
), and classic 80’s games from
DCA
’s now-defunct
Flynn’s Arcade
(Asteroids, Galaga, etc.) comprise the slender offerings that remain; most have been pushed against the walls to leave plenty of room for the plush
Disney
dolls and other merchandise. They games that remain are fun, yes–but they don’t really constitute an arcade.
Did You Know?
  The
Starcade
used to contain so many video games that it had an
upper level
.  Notice the sealed-off escalators that used to carry Guests to and from the games above.  But as time passed, the advent of increasingly sophisticated home and mobile gaming technology reduced Guests’ need to visit arcades outside the home, even at
the happiest place on earth
.
Videogame Vision:
  There are more videogames—and more recent videogames—at
Innoventions
on the top level.
Wrecked Vision:
  In autumn 2012, in honor of
Disney
’s release of animated feature
Wreck-It Ralph
, the
Starcade
unveiled a
Wreck-It Ralph
area. With its dazzling visuals and a voice cast that includes
John C. Reilly
,
Sarah Silverman
,
Jane Lynch
, and
Jack McBrayer
, this video game-themed film was a hit with both audiences and critics. 
FastPass:
  No.  This video arcade is a self-guided, self-paced attraction and isn’t linked to the
FastPass
system.  The arcade is rarely crowded, so Guests won’t experience long wait times. 
Kid’s Eye View:
  I love the
Starcade
!  Even though the roller coaster simulator [since removed] says “OK for all ages,” adults can’t ride it.  My aunt tried it and a Cast Member said she couldn’t.  [True story!] My favorite activities are the air hockey and the claw machines.  [The air hockey table is gone, but you can play air hockey at the
Mad T Party
in
DCA
’s
Hollywood Land
.]

Star Tours
(FP)
Must be 40” or 102 cm tall to ride.

[
FastView:
 
A 3D wonder.  Literally, a tour de force.  Worth experiencing more than once.
]

The result of collaboration between
Disney
and brilliant
Star Wars
creator
George Lucas
, this highly anticipated attraction opened on January 9, 1987 with lines stretching all the way down
Main Street
and terminating in
Town Square
.  (Over twenty years later, wait times had shrunk to ten minutes–until the stunning 2011 3D reboot brought crowds back in epic proportions!)

A
four to five-minute journey through hyper-space and points beyond, including a certain
Death Star
, this experience is not for the faint of heart or stomach.  The design is based on flight simulators used to train British military pilots, and it truly gives you an exhilarating and jolting ride.

Any
partnership between
Disney
and
Lucas
seems destined to be an imaginative success. 
George Lucas
, like
Walt
, is a creative genius, obsessed with creating over-the-top, high-quality entertainment accessible to all. 
Lucas
loved
Disneyland
as a child; it was his kind of place.

Like
Walt
,
Lucas
likes to fine-tune and
plus
his works; in his mind, they could always be even better. 
Walt
rued that once a film was completed, it was completed–you couldn’t improve it any more. 
Lucas
felt the same.  That’s why, when CGI became more advanced,
Lucas
enhanced scenes in his original
Star Wars
trilogy that hadn’t lived up to his vision at the time.  While some fans complained, the changes were smoothly made and did improve the scenes, providing greater depth, life, and verisimilitude.  Some improvements were so slight as to be surgical; only Lucas and a handful of diehard fans noticed those alterations.

Understanding the
Disney-Lucas
connection makes perfect sense of the
Disney
announcement on October 30, 2012, that
Disney
had acquired
Lucasfilm
, including
Industrial Light and Magic
,
Skywalker Sound
, and the
Star Wars
franchise. 
Bob Iger
and
George Lucas
inked the deal, which included plans for
Disney
to release new
Star Wars
features every two to three years, commencing in 2015.  While many
Disney
and
Star Wars
fans were thrilled at the prospect of new
Star Wars
features, some
Star Wars
purists expressed reservations about how
Disneyfication
might impact the
Star Wars
universe.

The original
Star Wars
film was released on May 25, 1977 to popular and critical acclaim.  It was a warm story, with heart and humor amidst the thrills and special effects.  It creatively braided western, science fiction, and fairy tale archetypes, to the delight of most people on
this
planet.  Sequels followed in 1980 and 1983, and then prequels in 1999, 2002, and 2005.

I was nine years old in 1977, and my brother was eight.  I remember sitting at the table during supper one warm evening,
when Dad read aloud to us from the May 30, 1997 issue of “Time Magazine” an article about a new movie called
Star Wars
which “Time” presciently dubbed “The Year’s Best Movie”.  (You can view a copy of the article online at http://fantasticflashbacks.blogspot.com/2009/06/1977-time-star-wars-article.html.)  Dad announced that we’d be attending this movie as a family, and within a few days we did.

If you didn’t grow up during this time period, it’s difficult to understand what a phenomenon
Star Wars
was.  This was before there were hundreds of TV channels, before VCRs were common, and well before DVDs, Blue Ray, YouTube, and mobile devices.  There were very few ways to see a film.  There were three major TV networks (
ABC
, CBS, and NBC) and PBS, which periodically broadcast previously released films, and there were movie houses where you could see new releases.  That was it.  So instead of people splintering into fan groups fed by cult-like narrowcasts, everyone saw the
same
shows and films at the
same
time.

When something hit, it hit hard.  Everyone from babies to centen
arians lined up to see a popular film, and if a movie was an enormous hit, like
Star Wars
was, everyone lined up to see it again and again.  Everyone talked about it at work, at school, at church, at the bowling alley and the Laundromat.  Word of mouth brought people out of seclusion and down from the hills until
everyone
had seen the movie.  Kids on residential streets fenced with sticks or paper towel rolls, making low buzzing sounds, and you knew they were playing at light-saber battles.

Star Wars
was one of the first movies to optimally capitalize on its popularity with a huge merchandising campaign.  People wanted ways to relive the experience of
Star Wars
and keep it close.  T-shirts, hats, books, records, plastic light sabers, blasters, and action figures flooded the market and were quickly snapped up.  In the absence of VCRs or DVDs, fans like the author played the vinyl record of the
Star Wars
soundtrack, reliving the film through its evocative score.

It was the beginning of a merchandise empire that would later include h
ighly successful DVDs and videogames. 
Lucas
, like
Disney
, had created worlds and characters and experiences that people wanted to keep close at hand. 
Wookie
or
Mickey
,
Princess Leia
or
Princess Aurora
, these fictional characters captured people’s hearts.

The original
Star Wars
film would go on to earn more than 2 billion dollars worldwide.  The entire series would earn more than 7.5 billion dollars.  Such a complex, beautiful, and beloved film series that, as the prophetic “Time Magazine” article put it in 1977, appealed to the kid in all of us, could certainly provide thrilling source material for a
Disneyland
attraction. 
Disney
and
Lucas
both have exacting standards and take their play very seriously.  It was a match made in heaven, and couldn’t fail.

Guests q
ueue for
Star Tours
outside the old
Monsanto Hall of Chemistry
(1955 to 1966) and
Adventure Thru Inner Space
(1967 to 1985) building in the southwest quadrant of
Tomorrowland
, just east of the
Hub
and
Main Street
’s
Plaza Inn
.  Until the 2011 reboot, wait times were as short as five minutes.  Now, you might want to consider a
FastPass
.

The quality of this attraction is evident immediately when you enter the building.  The setting is a tourist space port, complete
with departure and arrival board, and advertisements for galactic vacation getaways playing on a giant video screen.  Behind high windows, lights twinkle on controller consoles and
Admiral Ackbar
goes about the business of running a space port.

The best storytelling sets the stage from the beginning,
imparting important information and foreshadowing events with sensory cues that read quickly.  In this case, Guests in line in the space port see a full-size facsimile of the
Starspeeder 1000
–it was the
Starspeeder 3000
in the prior version–the ship that will ferry them–or, rather, is
supposed
to ferry them!–on a fun and relaxing tour.

Seeing the life-size facsimile of the
Starspeeder 1000
plants that image in Guests’ minds, so that later, when they’re in the simulator, their mind fills in the details and they can imagine themselves as traveling in a
Starspeeder 1000
.

A
s part of the queue pre-show, an
Audio-Animatronic
C3P0
and
R2D2
banter; for
Star Wars
fans, it’s a heady moment when you first witness these two major
Star Wars
characters bickering back and forth in person. 
Imagineers
and their
Lucasfilm
collaborators did an excellent job bringing fussy
C3P0
and sweet but irreverent
R2D2
to life for waiting Guests.

It’s well-known that
Imagineers
never completely scrap anything; today’s discarded junk could be tomorrow’s really cool centerpiece.  When
America Sings
was closed, most of its retired
Audio-Animatronic
animals were sent over to then-under-construction
Splash Mountain
, and became the woodland critters that populate that imaginative attraction.

A couple of
America Sings
figures, however, were rendered down to their skeletons and repurposed as comical robots for the
Star Tours
queue.  You’ll see them when the line loops deeper into the attraction–one of them is a comically inattentive, griping security screener.

One of the cardinal rules of
Imagineering
a queue is that you must keep it interesting. 
Disneyland
pioneered and perfected the art of keeping Guests entertained while waiting to board attractions, immersing them in the attraction’s atmosphere, telling a story and prepping Guests for their adventure.

The
Star Tours
’ robots’ shenanigans, the conveyer belt of intergalactic luggage (some containing stowaways!) and the periodic warning announcements are all queue elements that engage Guests as they climb toward the boarding zone.

On reaching the top of the ramp, Guests
are asked by jumpsuit-clad Cast Members how many members are in their party, and based on the response, will be directed to numbered rows in front of one of four loading zones.

Within a few minutes,
a brief pre-boarding video plays on an overhead monitor.  Listen carefully and follow all instructions.  Remember, this attraction was adapted from the simulators that British pilots use for military flight training. 
Imagineer Randy Bright
encountered the technology during a trip to England; the ubiquitous
Tony Baxter
and other
Imagineers
ran with it and used it to develop the
Star Tours
vehicles.  You’re about to enter a serious example of authentic simulator technology.

When the doors open, you’ll walk quickly down a narrow angled hall that feeds you into your row.  Move forward as far as you can and fill in all seats, that is, don’t leave an empty seat between you and the next Guest; if the vehicle is full, that will throw off the seating.

When you’re seated, place loose items–water bottles, hip packs, hats, bags–into the capacious pouch under your seat.  You will be jolted during this journey, and unsecured items might slip from your lap or your grasp, so stow them safely before the adventure begins.

Next, fasten your seat belt,
right to left, and be sure any children or elderly Guests in your party are secured as well.  Having second thoughts?  Now’s your last chance to alert the Cast Member that you want to hit the “chicken exit”.

And, despite that colorful name, there’s no shame in hitting the chicken exit if you feel you need to.  This jolting, high-G attraction isn’t for everyone.  Posted signs warn away those under 40” (102 cm), pregnant Guests, and Guests with any kind of motion sickness, illness
, and neck or back problems.

Once everyone’s seated and secured, the Cast Member delivers a brief spiel, then departs. 
The doors close.  You can see that you’re inside the cabin of the
Starspeeder 1000
, surrounded by up to 39 other Guests in five raked tiers of seats.

C3P0
appears on a video monitor and delivers a safety monologue, also noting that flash photography and smoking aren’t permitted. It’s a playful reference to
Disneyland
’s famous prohibition of flash photography on a number of attractions.

An early “Simpsons” episode s
hows Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa visiting a theme park in a story that pokes fun at various aspects of
Disney Theme Parks
; when Bart takes flash snapshots of robotic characters, the flashes of light short circuit them and turn them into
murderous
robots!

Disneyland
actually prohibits flash photography on attractions where the light will reveal and diminish the
magic
, or otherwise distract from the entertainment.  It may sound strict to forbid flash photography, but after you’ve been on a few attractions where flash-happy Guests around you ruin the experience, you’ll understand how important the rule is.

In the original version of the attraction,
C3P0
vanished from the video monitor after his spiel, quickly replaced by droid pilot
Captain REX
. 
REX
introduced himself, was quickly revealed to be incompetent–it was his first flight!–and piloted Guests on a crazy, dangerous journey–the
same
journey every time.

Car
eening through asteroid fields and flying behind Luke Skywalker on his original Death Star mission were excting enough to draw repeat ridership, but after years and years–and years–of the same adventure every time,
Star Tours
lines were often only five-minutes long. 
Disneyland
Guests are largely locals and spend a lot of time at the resort; if attractions aren’t periodically refreshed, the adventures can pall.

That’s why
Tony Baxter
and the
Imagineers
finally developed a new version of
Star Tours
–and what a job they did! 
Baxter
wasn’t kidding when, during a March 2010
D23
online chat, he promised
Disneyland
fans that the new
Star Tours
would blow Guests’ minds!

There have been
so
many advances in CGI, film, and 3D technology since 1987, and the
Imagineers
and their
Lucas
counterparts seem to have taken advantage of all of them.

Now, just before you queue outside the
Starspeeder 1000
, you’re provided with 3D glasses.  Once you’re safely seated and belted within the craft, you can put them on.

C3PO
is no longer merely the deliverer of a welcome and safety spiel–he accompanies you on your entire journey. 
REX
no longer appears on the journey–to the chagrin of very few.

In the original version of the attraction, it was
REX
’s incompetence that catapulted Guests on their wild ride.  But now it’s a far more exciting scenario! 
Dart Vader
himself–or some other envoy of the evil empire–spots your craft before your craft leaves the space port, and uses dark powers of the Force to toss your
Starspeeder
around like a toy. 
Vader
(or whomever the villain is; scenarios change) believes there’s a
Rebel spy
aboard your ship–the spy is always a Guest whose photo briefly flashes on screen.