By Pete Vilmur
With the recent announcement of Star Tours II -- and the three promotional giveaway posters that accompanied the news at Disney's D23 event -- we thought we'd share a handful of earlier Star Tours posters that haven't received a lot of exposure in the ride's 20-plus years in existence. Admittedly, for a ride that is now installed at four separate Disney theme parks around the world -- California, Florida, Tokyo, and Paris -- the attraction has produced far fewer posters for commercial and promotional use than one would think. This is Star Wars after all.
Cast and Imagineering Inaugural Flight
Among the rarest Star Tours posters are a pair printed up strictly for in-house display at Disney. Both black and white and printed on thick, glossy stock, these posters would have been displayed where Imagineering (Disney's R&D division) and Disneyland cast members congregated to promote an exclusive sneak peek of the ride for employees only. While the cast premiere began a few days after the public debut of the ride on January 9, 1987, the Imagineering "inaugural flight" actually took place four days before on January 5.
