Walt Disney Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald gives StarWars.com a peek behind the curtain of the latest updates to the beloved Disney Parks attraction.
As Lando Calrissian once said, “You truly belong here with us among the clouds…of purrgil.”
OK, we may have added that last bit. Lately, some travelers aboard the Star Tours - The Adventures Continue Starspeeder have been finding themselves sailing through the air above Seatos, a new destination where a pod of purrgil puts you smack in the middle of a moment inspired by the Ahsoka series, now streaming on Disney+.
“Each time we look at updating Star Tours, we search for iconic moments from Star Wars that would lend themselves to a unique adventure,” says Tom Fitzgerald, senior creative executive at Walt Disney Imagineering. “George Lucas once referred to Star Tours as a ‘Greatest Hits Attraction,’ and we are excited that with our partners at Lucasfilm the adventures can continue to…continue. We have many sequences featuring various ships, but the idea of flying through a pod of space whales was too good to pass up!”
As part of more than 250 storyline variations available aboard the attraction, riders who travel to Seatos are thrust into the action as Ahsoka Tano’s T-6 tries to evade the enemy amid the peaceful purrgil preparing for their own migration. The sheer size of the creatures posed unique difficulties for the Disney Imagineers bringing the experience to life. “One of the key challenges with the purrgil was how to establish their massive scale,” Fitzgerald says. They called upon Industrial Light & Magic and longtime visual effects supervisor Bill George for help. “With the stereoscopic format, we were able to use tricks of the trade to convey their size,” notes Fitzgerald. “Since the motion of our simulator is a key storytelling device in Star Tours, we look for ways to add moments and movements that are unique to our show yet feel like a natural extension of what the audience would see in the original shows.” Like, for example, when the Starspeeder must navigate through the sea of purrgil tentacles and avoid almost being sucked into the mouth of one of the beasts.
The most recent addition to the Star Wars experience inside Disney Parks also includes new urgent transmissions from Ahsoka Tano, Cassian Andor, and the Mandalorian and Grogu, which you may experience on your flight.
“In Star Tours, the main focus is clearly the action sequences, yet we know guests also want to see their favorite characters,” Fitzgerald says. “Over the years, we’ve tried to incorporate as many as possible to keep the show surprising.”
Grogu and Din Djarin, Ahsoka, and Cassian have all become fan favorites in their own right, “and we wanted to build them into the show,” Fitzgerald continues. But each message has a different tone befitting the subject. “With Grogu, we put the emphasis on comedy, Andor a darker more mysterious tone, and Ahsoka a warm and friendly tone since she knows R2-D2.”
The update launched earlier this month, debuting during Season of the Force at Disneyland Resort as well as Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Paris. For more on the limited-time celebration, see StarWars.com’s event coverage.
