On a recent visit to Disneyland, my wife and I made a visit on Christmas Day to experience the holiday at the park as well as take in the latest Star Wars attractions as part of the Season of the Force event.
Despite the cold weather and eager crowd early Christmas morning, we made our way to Star Tours, where we were able to get to experience the new Jakku themed segment of the attraction.
We raced over the desert through the debris of enemy ships with the Millennium Falcon and Tie Fighters engaging a heated battle around us. In through the structure of a Star Destroyer where we settled at an n odd angle while we watched scavengers pick at the remains of the ship and had one shine a bright light into our Star Speeder while he clung to our window.
The 3D effects were great and the upwards launch from the hold into Hyperspace was a real crowd-pleaser.
After making our way around the park, we went to Star Wars Launch Bay which was packed with models, costumes, and other memorabilia from the series. There were opportunities to take pictures with a cantina and game board setting as well as opportunities to get pictures from a command chair and such and characters. We did not take advantage of those as the wait was pushing 60 minutes for each and with a full park, we opted to move on to ensure we got a chance to see other attractions such as Hyperspace Mountain.
We had planned Hyperspace Mountain to be our first stop but it was not open when we arrived, so we had to wait until later in the day to obtain our Fast Pass tickets which was a good thing, as the line grew to over 120 minutes.
When we were able to use our passes a few hours later, we saw Admiral Ackbar on a vide board tell us about a First Order Star Destroyer and how we would be moving to intercept.
As we loaded into the cars, the track was the same but the visuals and sound took the experience to a new level. The launch lift was not a Hyperspace theme and we could see our target as the blue tunnel expanded. Once we started racing about, we heard our flight crew offer up battle tactics and other sounds while we whipped around the track. Tight turns were often accompanied by flashes of green light as enemy ships approached us and on more than one occasion we had a Tie Fighter come straight at us before we quickly turned away to a new threat.
The speed of the attraction made it hard to get more than a flash of the enemy now and then, but they were frequent and when our shots found the mark on the destroyer, we were rewarded for our job well done.
There was also the Jedi Academy for younger guests to train in the way of the Force and a theatrical presentation where the best moments from the film series could be relieved which all combined for an experience that was a dream come true for fans.
With construction on the new Star Wars land about to move into high-gear, the rebranded attractions shows great potential for future Star Wars themed attractions and events. The Star Wars themed food was also a real hit as we had Bantha Blue Milk Bread which as a great and blue tinted French Toast.
The Force is alive and well at Disneyland with more great things to come, make sure you check out the new attractions before they go away in March of 2016.
Images by Gareth and Genevieve
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