Star Tours not randomizing scenes very well?

[Thurp]

Just got back and we went on 3 times. The break down went like this:

1. Storm trooper, Hoth, Yoda, Coruscant
2. Vader, Tatooine, Yoda, Corucant
3. Storm trooper, Kashyyk, Ackbar, Coruscant

Thanks for the update. I'm glad what we experienced was just a mathematical oddity and things are working properly. It IS a great attraction.

 

[Thrill Seeker]

The baggage scanner is currently under repair, so it won't be working for a little while.

The honest truth is that no matter how many times you ride it, there is a chance you can get the same combination. It's unlikely, but there is still a chance it could happen. If you get the same combination 3 times in a row, then I suggest going again. You'll probably get at least one thing different.

To be fair, during soft opening I rode at least 20 times and got Courasant for the vast majority of them. Now I never get it. Kinda ironic...

 

[celluloid]

One has to look at it like this. It is not an even gamble of rolling the same dice every time just for you. You exit the attraction and it cycles at least probably once or twice before you could get back even if there was a minimal wait. So the odds are not the same as if it is just you, at one slot machine of destinations constantly rolling it.

 

[erasure fan1]

The baggage scanner is currently under repair, so it won't be working for a little while.

Isnt this kind of scary? Its brand new. How come so many new items cant stay working? Its kind of funny, my wife (who really never notices this kind of stuff) commented on our way home about how many things didnt work on so many different rides.

 

[mp2bill]

Hopefully this isn't actually a problem and the OP was just unlucky. After all the hype, I hope the ride sequence is truly random.

 

[G29T]

As a former Cast Member of Star Tours who just recently left, let me firmly state that we can't stand when people complain with no insight into what we actually go through. For every Guest that relaxes and just enjoys themselves there are that many more who like many have repeatedly said put their expectations too high.

I'm sorry for whomever may have seemed rude to you but none of our issues with the simulators can be fixed instantly. We need to call it in to Maintainnace who will then get to it when they finish fixing everything else like the Fastpass machines that don't work fast enough for you or a rope in the queue that your child sat on and broke even though we told them repeatedly not to.

The queue time will also not change from 10 minutes to an hour instantly because all of you showed up at once after you left Indiana Jones. All of the glasses are fine even if there is a small scratch or water spots from when we clean them and no you can't keep them.

As far as the randomization goes, we get contradicting instructions from management. Your math is all correct by the way for those of you that did it. We as CM's are not supposed to really tell you there are 52 combinations of sequences of 11 different scenes. Yet on the hotel video with "Stacy" she blabs that there are over 50 different journies. Which is true...from a certain point of view.

Anyway sorry I ranted but after all of that I'm sure we can come together and agree on one thing. Brazilian Tour Groups suck.

 

[t3techcom18]

As a former Cast Member of Star Tours who just recently left, let me firmly state that we can't stand when people complain with no insight into what we actually go through. For every Guest that relaxes and just enjoys themselves there are that many more who like many have repeatedly said put their expectations too high.

I'm sorry for whomever may have seemed rude to you but none of our issues with the simulators can be fixed instantly. We need to call it in to Maintainnace who will then get to it when they finish fixing everything else like the Fastpass machines that don't work fast enough for you or a rope in the queue that your child sat on and broke even though we told them repeatedly not to.

The queue time will also not change from 10 minutes to an hour instantly because all of you showed up at once after you left Indiana Jones. All of the glasses are fine even if there is a small scratch or water spots from when we clean them and no you can't keep them.

As far as the randomization goes, we get contradicting instructions from management. Your math is all correct by the way for those of you that did it. We as CM's are not supposed to really tell you there are 52 combinations of sequences of 11 different scenes. Yet on the hotel video with "Stacy" she blabs that there are over 50 different journies. Which is true...from a certain point of view.

Anyway sorry I ranted but after all of that I'm sure we can come together and agree on one thing. Brazilian Tour Groups suck.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Brilliantly said. A bit cynical and harsh, but very true.

On top of that in regards to not giving out new FP's or getting guests on another simulator - Front-line Ops CM's have to follow a certain protocol: In this regard, they do not have the power to do said above things. They would need to get permission from management in order to do so (and even then, it has to be a pretty major situation for that to happen, worse than what you experienced, ie, actual downtime while in the cabin).

Secondly, by the time folks get off the affected simulator, it's already too late to stop the next guests coming in, so by the time the communication goes down the proper chain of command and processes, it probably won't be closed off until at least 1-3 launches.

 

[Skip]

I'm just throwing this out there because it seemed odd to me.

Today my friends and I rode Star Tours three times (hooray for no wait!) and all three times we got the exact same ride:

- Storm Troopers
- Hoth (ice planet)
- Princess Leia
- Coruscant (city planet)

To this guy, who is bad at math, this even seems like a statistical impossibility unless something is not working right. Should I buy a lottery ticket?

Depending on when you went, you may have seen me - I too went around for two go-arounds while there was no wait. For what it's worth, my first ride I got:

Stormtroopers -> Kashyyk -> Ackbar -> Naboo

And then on my second ride I got...

Vader -> Hoth -> Yoda -> Coruscant

So it really might just be dumb luck... I kind of feel lucky though, since according to @RAXIP's stats, I've gotten the two lesser likely options in every category. Regardless of sequence, fantastic new ride.

 

[TimeTrip]

One has to look at it like this. It is not an even gamble of rolling the same dice every time just for you. You exit the attraction and it cycles at least probably once or twice before you could get back even if there was a minimal wait. So the odds are not the same as if it is just you, at one slot machine of destinations constantly rolling it.

Actually, in a truly random system, the odds are the same for your experience whether you are there for every cycle or not.

 

[TylerFG]

I actually remember on my last trip, me and my aunt did Star Tours twice in the same day, and both times we got the underwater scene and the pod racers scene. We figured it was because we went to the same car. so the next time we did it, we asked for a different car, and we got a totally different sequence.

 

[LudwigVonDrake]

I just got back yesterday and over the course of ten days I rode Star Tours about a half dozen times. I never saw Princess Leia, I got the Wookie planet at least four of the times and the underwater scene the same amount.

But on my last ride on Thursday afternoon, I was the rebel spy so I was quite happy

My guess, and I'm sure I'm completely wrong, is that it depends on the cabin you're in.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

In three trips, I've never gotten Naboo. The most common combination in my experience is Stormtroopers, Hoth, Yoda and Death Star.

 

[Yodadudeman]

I haven't experienced this problem myself, but it sounds like many people haven't had a problem with the randomizing scenes. For those that have, I don't think its a huge problem. We all used to ride the old Star Tours over and over again. That had the same video. Sure its nice to have the randomizing scenes, but it still is a fun ride if you have to watch the same sequence a couple times.

 

[flynnibus]

random doesn't mean 'equally distributed' - random means an outcome does not depend on the previous result.

Certain scenes may be weighted to have a higher occurance (greater probability) than other sequences and the whole thing can still be random.

 

[the-reason14]

I haven't experienced this problem myself, but it sounds like many people haven't had a problem with the randomizing scenes. For those that have, I don't think its a huge problem. We all used to ride the old Star Tours over and over again. That had the same video. Sure its nice to have the randomizing scenes, but it still is a fun ride if you have to watch the same sequence a couple times.

Not me!

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

Ok, I just want to say you are awesome! I love the CM's and just wonder how much crapola you guys have to put up with in your jobs. While I might be disappointed if I saw the same
movie during ST I would NEVER complain about it! Sometimes it amazes me the things people get upset about! I mean, really?!? It's one reason there are some jobs I'd never consider because of having to deal with idiots like that and the reason I have so much respect for people who do.

 

[Timekeeper]

Are the sequences literally randomized during the ride (meaning that the same ride "could" happen two times in a row for any given vehicle), or do they just cycle through the same sequence of the "54 versions" over and over again, and advertise it as "random" because guests simply don't know which show they'll end up seeing ?

If they are random, are there any "rules" in the program that ensure a somewhat even distribution of show scenes? Granted, that wouldn't be truly "random," but if I put my iPod on shuffle, I wouldn't want to hear the same song twice before hearing the rest of the album.

In my mind, it wouldn't make a difference whether they were truly random or just cycled, since guests have to get off the ride and re-queue in order to ride again. If they were run in cycles, there's less likelihood of seeing the same show twice, since it would take a long time to cycle through the other 53 versions. Of course, there are multiple vehicles, and a guest might get a different vehicle on the second ride, and see the same show, but those odds seem pretty low.

Regardless, the "random" idea is pretty cool given the nature of the same-experience-every-time theme park world.

 

[Master Yoda]

random doesn't mean 'equally distributed' - random means an outcome does not depend on the previous result.

Certain scenes may be weighted to have a higher occurance (greater probability) than other sequences and the whole thing can still be random.

This is it in a nutshell. Back when itunes first came out "randomize" would occasionally play the same song more than once in a row as that is entirely possible in a random set. Apple had to alter the algorithm in a way that would prevent this actually making it less of a random generator.

 

[wilkeliza]

This is it in a nutshell. Back when itunes first came out "randomize" would occasionally play the same song more than once in a row as that is entirely possible in a random set. Apple had to alter the algorithm in a way that would prevent this actually making it less of a random generator.

side note: And now Apple's randomizer sucks and you will get the same album or the song right after more times that I can count even though there are 1,000s of songs on your ipod/iphone. I wouldn't typically complain about a randomizer algorithm but after Apple updated to their new way of finding a random song I have seen a significant decline almost to the point where it feels like I can guess most of the time what will be next.

I think the biggest problem is the hype that went behind the ride. Disney keeps saying you can ride the ride multiple times and never experience the same ride. Well true you probably will never have the same rebel spy thus changing the experience the ride is pretty much the same (although it can happen we rode the ride about 10 times last January and 2 times got the same sequence and my friend was the rebel spy both times it was very desa vue). If they had just said oh yeah guys you also never know what ride your going to take and all 11 sequences can equal up to 52 rides it would have been different. I think a lot of people are just mad because the way it was marketed was that you wouldn't experience the same ride back to back ever even though there was a large possibility that you could.

 

[flynnibus]

iTunes shuffle sucked period and it wasn't because it was truly random . I have over 400gigs of music And the measured probability was no where near the expected.

I'd wager in star tours some sequences were seen as more desirable so they have a greater probability associated with them.

When you see most people's reports they don't really see the same sequence, just they aren't seeing all possible segments.

If there are 4 random possibilities.. And you are not seeing every outcome, it's going to take a lot of rides to see all four. People forget the ride is cycling with other guests too