Set in the Star Wars universe, the attraction sent guests on an excursion trip to Endor, whilst being caught in an altercation between the New Republic and an Imperial Remnant.

[9] Meanwhile, Lucas and his team of special effects technicians at Industrial Light & Magic produced the first-person perspective film that would be projected inside the simulators.

[10] On January 9, 1987, at a final cost of $32 million,[11] the ride opened to throngs of patrons, many of whom dressed up as Star Wars characters for the occasion.

Much was made of this throughout the ride queue, which was designed to look like a spaceship boarding terminal: posters advertised voyages to different planets, and a giant screen informed riders of the benefits of going to Endor.

This area was stocked with Audio-Animatronic characters that seemed to speak to the ride patrons (including C-3PO and R2-D2), as well as a life-size mock-up of a StarSpeeder 3000, the fictional spacecraft which riders were about to board.

[citation needed] A television screen above the queue displays a countdown to take-off time and shows images of the StarSpeeder 3000 spacecraft being serviced.

As launch time approaches, a safety video is shown featuring Star Wars aliens, Disney Imagineers, and their families.

As the doors close, the bumbling pilot droid of the ship, RX-24 or Rex (voiced by Paul Reubens), appears on the side screen and chats to the guests about the trip as R2-D2 is loaded onto the spacecraft.

Rex uses the StarSpeeder's lasers to eliminate several TIE fighters while a Republic pilot destroys the Death Star in the same manner as Luke Skywalker by firing two proton torpedoes into the exhaust port.

As the cockpit shield raises and cuts off Rex as he apologizes for the near-fatal flight, C-3PO instructs the passengers on the exit procedure and thanks them, oblivious to the perils they had faced.

One year earlier, Reubens had voiced the shipboard computer in the Disney film Flight of the Navigator (credited as Paul Mall), in which his character was named Max.

[citation needed] The Rediffusion 'Leisure' simulator was originally developed for a much simpler show in Canada called "Tour of the Universe", where it featured a single entrance/exit door in the rear of the cabin and a video projector.