Star Tunnel Stream

elizabethswann · Post by **elizabethswann** » Nov Tue 18, 2008 3:12 pm

Hey, I'm excused! I've never been to WDW before.

But now after seeing the pictures, you got me wanting to go.

Donalds1Fan · Post by **Donalds1Fan** » Nov Tue 18, 2008 10:37 pm

subsonic wrote:Oh, I'm so disappointed in all of you. It's almost disrespect to one of my favorite tracks. Elaborate for Dolands1Fan!

Star Tunnel is an area in the queue which has these cool star fields set in the walls. Within them there are little scenes of space that reflect off a concave mirror to make them look bigger and move in a strange manner as you walk past. One of the scenes look like this:

As a child I have always loved this area, I hadn't been do WDW for a long time and when I visited a few years ago I STILL thought these were great effects. It's details like these that Disney has seemed to overlook and think are not important. I will always love this music.

Here's a site talking more about it.
http://home.cfl.rr.com/omniluxe/sm.htm

That is quite nifty! If/when they do rehab Space Mountain, I hope they don't get rid of that. I'd love to see it.

Semi-OT, but is Space Mountain itself a really rough ride? I know it's a mad-mouse type coaster, but I've read reports of people saying it's gotten a lot rougher in the last few years as the ride gets older. I ask because I have some lower back problems. I can handle Big Thunder, Star Tours, Everest, etc. no problem, but not sure about SM.

DisBeamer · Post by **DisBeamer** » Nov Wed 19, 2008 12:58 am

I love walking through the star tunnel. It's especially cool if the line is short/constantly moving and you can go through at speed. Makes the effects cooler.

If you can tolerate Star Tours I suspect you'd be okay - I find that about as jerky as Space. Try to ride on the right side, though. For some reasons that's a little calmer, and lacks this extra, punch in the gut bump that the left side has.

jcodirewolf · Post by **jcodirewolf** » Nov Wed 19, 2008 12:07 pm

I would love to see them do something MORE with the star tunnel queue area....

I think they could do something MORE awesome with it. Replace the old static windows with LCDs, and be able to see the space station orbiting the earth, and people working on the outside of the station and maybe have supply/cargo/passenger ships un/docking. Make it a real hub of activity.

just my thoughts but I think it would be really cool.

johno

Post by **subsonic** » Nov Thu 20, 2008 10:38 am

jcodirewolf wrote:I would love to see them do something MORE with the star tunnel queue area....

I think they could do something MORE awesome with it. Replace the old static windows with LCDs, and be able to see the space station orbiting the earth, and people working on the outside of the station and maybe have supply/cargo/passenger ships un/docking. Make it a real hub of activity.

This is exactly what I've been preaching for the past few years. Disney needs to update and upgrade. They don't have to replace. There's a lot of cool technology out there and it should be used.

Donalds1Fan wrote:Semi-OT, but is Space Mountain itself a really rough ride? I know it's a mad-mouse type coaster, but I've read reports of people saying it's gotten a lot rougher in the last few years as the ride gets older. I ask because I have some lower back problems. I can handle Big Thunder, Star Tours, Everest, etc. no problem, but not sure about SM.

WDW's is definitely rougher than DLR's. In fact, DLR's is very smooth. I would have to say that WDW's is a little more bumpy than all those rides you mentioned. And, it has gotten rougher over time.

elizabethswann · Post by **elizabethswann** » Nov Thu 20, 2008 3:36 pm

Donalds1Fan wrote:Semi-OT, but is Space Mountain itself a really rough ride? I know it's a mad-mouse type coaster, but I've read reports of people saying it's gotten a lot rougher in the last few years as the ride gets older. I ask because I have some lower back problems. I can handle Big Thunder, Star Tours, Everest, etc. no problem, but not sure about SM.

Before the refurb, DL's Space Mountain was really rough because the track was getting old. When it closed in 2003, it received a complete track replacement and the foundation was laid 30 feet deeper to make it safer. As far as I know, the DL version has very very few breakdowns unlike the WDW version so your best bet would be to go the DL way.

Donalds1Fan · Post by **Donalds1Fan** » Nov Fri 21, 2008 2:51 am

elizabethswann wrote:
Donalds1Fan wrote:Semi-OT, but is Space Mountain itself a really rough ride? I know it's a mad-mouse type coaster, but I've read reports of people saying it's gotten a lot rougher in the last few years as the ride gets older. I ask because I have some lower back problems. I can handle Big Thunder, Star Tours, Everest, etc. no problem, but not sure about SM.
Before the refurb, DL's Space Mountain was really rough because the track was getting old. When it closed in 2003, it received a complete track replacement and the foundation was laid 30 feet deeper to make it safer. As far as I know, the DL version has very very few breakdowns unlike the WDW version so your best bet would be to go the DL way.

Drat. I can't see myself making it to DL for many, many years (I'm on the East Coast). Based on what y'all had to say, I probably should skip this if it's open when I next go. It's not worth it to me to risk messing up my back again.

Mr.ToadWildRider · Post by **Mr.ToadWildRider** » Dec Wed 24, 2008 1:18 pm

Space Mountain is not that rough. I feel like both BTM and some Star Tours rides (especially if on the edges of the pod) are equally, if not more rough.