One of my favorite attractions at Walt Disney World is Star Tours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I was really excited to ride it in September because it would be our first flight aboard the Starspeeder 1000 since the attraction’s enhancements. While you do have to transfer from your wheelchair to experience Star Tours, it is one of the easiest attractions to transfer to.
One thing I was a little disappointed about was the fact that wheelchairs don’t go through the regular queue. Yes I realize I am technically skipping some of the line but this queue is awesome and I wanted to experience it. When you enter the building, Cast Members will direct you up a ramp to the left of the standard queue. Luckily, there is a landing at the top where you can check out most of the new queue. Since it isn’t crowded you can spend as much or as little time as you want there. I like hanging out and watching what is happening below.
Once you’ve checked out the queue you follow a hallway to the wheelchair entrance. You’ll come to a rope where you wait for a Cast Member to assist you. Wait time will vary depending on how busy the ride is. They will ask you how many are in your party and if you need to use the transfer seat. If they don’t ask for some reason make sure you let them know.
The transfer seat is the first seat on the front row so you will board the attraction last. The seat has an arm rest that moves out from the seat making it easier to transfer. I tried it both ways, with the transfer seat and in a regular one where the arm rest doesn’t move. It is definitely easier to use the transfer seat.
One tip I have is to make sure the Cast Member takes your wheelchair back out the entrance and not the side that is the exit. All of the Disney Cast Members at Star Tours were super helpful but some have dealt with wheelchair guests more than others. Taking the wheelchair back out the entrance gets it back to you quicker and also keeps excited guests entering the attraction behind both the wheelchair and the Cast Member.
We loved the new Star Tours and can’t wait to ride it again. The ease of transfer makes it one of the better attractions as far as accessibility goes. Plus its awesome.
Related articles
- Star Wars Weekends Returns to the Walt Disney World Galaxy in May 2012 (chipandco.com)
- Wheelchair Friendly Attractions – it’s a small world (chipandco.com)
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