Tip Tuesday: Star Tours 2 - Skip the FastPass

Welcome to another Tip Tuesday!

A few weeks ago, I had the distinct pleasure to travel to a galaxy far, far away thanks to Star Tours! Star Tours: The Adventures Continue has been open at Disney Hollywood Studios for more than a month now and the crowds are still lining up for this incredible experience.

Now, with the old Star Tours, I often told people not to worry with FastPass. The reason was fairly obvious - except for the busiest of times during the year, Star Tours usually was a walk on, so there was no need to waste a FastPass on it.

Now, however, it's common to see 30, 40 even 50 minute wait times, making FastPass an option worth considering. Even with these greatly increased wait times, making FastPass much more attractive, I still say skip the FastPass. There's a very good reason for this tip.

Part of the charm of Star Tours is not the attraction itself. It's the queue. The major problem with using FastPass is that you go through the queue so fast, you don't have time to take in all the great details and pure entertainment the queue has to offer.

Some of the best parts of the Star Tours 2 experience can be found in three different scenes in the queue area. The first is the repair bay as you initially walk into the attraction building. Here you will find two very familiar characters, C-3PO and R2-D2. The banter that happens between these two droids is something not to be missed. In addition, a very large monitor over your head presents promos for various Star Tours destinations and different announcements.

As you pass by C-3PO, you enter the baggage claim area. As you enter this area, look to your left to see if you recognize an old friend from the original version of Star Tours. Take a moment and listen to catch a few familiar phrases. On your right, you will meet a very unusual and interesting G2-4T droid who is scanning pieces of luggage - think of him as the droid version of TSA.

Anyway, you'll want to take several minutes to watch what happens as this droid scans different items and reacts what he finds. There are several tributes to other attractions and characters and at least one hidden Mickey.

Turning the corner, on your left you will meet another G2-4T droid. This less-than-cheerful droid is scanning you! If you watch the panel directly in front of the droid, you will notice a thermal image of the guests waiting in the queue. Like the baggage droid, pay attention to the droid's spiel, which reminds me, for some reason, of Patrick Warburton (the flight attendant in the Soarin' safety video for you Disney geeks out there).

Once you line up to board your Starspeeder 1000, pay close attention to the safety video. There are a bunch of hidden details and gags that are very funny.

So there you go -- that's why I say for Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, skip the FastPass and enjoy the wait.

Until next time, May the Force be With You!