Vintage 1986 Disneyland Lucasfilm Star Wars Tours Ride Tomorrowland Stein Mug
Item History & Price
Vintage 1986 Disneyland Lucasfilm Star Wars Tours Ride Tomorrowland Stein MugThis is an unused pre-owned vintage cold beverage souvenir mug dated 1986 from the Disneyland original Star Tours Star Wars attraction in Tomorrowland. The mug features an ombre' metallic finish which is a gradation from shiny metallic silver to gunmetal gray on the exterior which has a sparkly Star Tours logo applied over the finish. This is a great Star Wars Lucasfilm collectible to add to your Star Wars mem...orabilia.Star Tours is a motion simulator attraction ride based on the successful Star Wars film series created by George Lucas. At its debut at Disneyland in 1987, it was the first attraction based on a non-Disney produced film. However, in October 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm, and in turn, now owns the Star Wars franchise. The first incarnation of the ride appeared in Tomorrowland, replacing the previous attraction, Adventure Thru Inner Space. After the success of Lucasfilm's partnership creating Disneyland's Captain EO, Disney then approached Lucas with the idea for Star Tours. With Lucas' approval, Disney Imagineers purchased four military-grade flight simulators at a cost of $500, 000 each and designed the ride structure.Meanwhile, Lucas and his team of special effects technicians at Industrial Light & Magic produced the first-person perspective film that would be projected inside the simulators. When both simulator and film were completed, a programmer then sat inside and used a joystick to synchronize the movement of the simulator with the apparent movement on screen. On January 9, 1987, at a final cost of $32 million, almost twice the cost of building the entire park in 1955, the ride opened to throngs of patrons, many of whom dressed up as Star Wars characters for the occasion. In celebration, Disneyland remained open for a 60-hour marathon from January 9 at 10 a.m. to January 11 at 10 p.m. Advertised as "The Ultimate Star Wars Adventure", Star Tours put the guest in the role of a space tourist en route to the forest moon of Endor, the site of the climactic battle of Return of the Jedi, via the Star Tours travel agency. Much is made of this throughout the ride queue, which is designed to look like a spaceship boarding terminal: posters advertise voyages to different planets, and a giant screen informs riders of the benefits of going to Endor. This area featured Audio-Animatronic characters including C-3PO and R2-D2, as well as a life-size mock-up of a StarSpeeder 3000, the fictional spacecraft which riders are about to board. The figures of C-3PO and R2-D2 in the Disneyland attraction were actual props from the original film, modified to operate via Audio-Animatronics. Star Tours at Disneyland closed on July 27, 2010 to allow for its sequel, Star Tours - The Adventures Continue to be installed. The new attraction opened at Disneyland on June 3, 2011 and takes place between Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope, unlike its predecessor, which took place after the events of Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
