The original concept for the attraction was to be a wild ride through Hollywood evading the paparazzi. However, development was significantly affected after the death of Princess Diana. Superstar Limo was situated in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot area and was one of the original attractions featured on the park's opening day on February 8, 2001. The ride included figures of celebrities which were stylized and caricatured. Though they had moving arms and heads, none of Disney's human-like Audio-Animatronics technologies were used in the attraction. The attraction closed in January 2002, due to poor reception, making it the park's first attraction to permanently close. It has since been replaced by an attraction based on Disney·Pixar's Monsters, Inc. entitled Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!, which opened on January 23, 2006. The Monsters, Inc. ride uses the same track layout as Superstar Limo, with taxicabs taking the place of the original limos. In the 2019 documentary seriesThe Imagineering Story, Bruce Vaughn, Chief Creative Executive of Walt Disney Imagineering, described the creation of Superstar Limo as an example of Imagineering's failure to make the original California Adventure park work:
Synopsis
The attraction's purple "stretch limo" ride vehicles took riders through a cartoony rendition of Hollywood. Riders were introduced to animated figures modeled in the likeness of celebrities. The celebrities in the attraction were Joan Rivers, Regis Philbin, Melanie Griffith, Antonio Banderas, Cindy Crawford, Tim Allen, Jackie Chan, Drew Carey, Cher, and Whoopi Goldberg. A stereotypical Hollywood talent agent named Swifty La Rue appeared infrequently on small in-seat video screens, reminding the riders not to be late to their movie premiere. The story of the attraction placed the guest as Hollywood's newest celebrity, taking them through a variety of stereotypical locations and situations on the way to the premiere of their new movie. Locations included the greater Los Angeles and Hollywood areas including Rodeo Drive, the Sunset Strip, Bel Air, Malibu, the interior of a soundstage, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and a billboard that displayed an image captured of the guests. The ride ends with the talent agent declaring to the riders that their movie was a success and they are a superstar.
Criticism
Superstar Limo was criticized as lacking and poor in concept. Theme park reporter Brady MacDonald summed up the attraction as "a prime example of offensive theme park design." An early review of California Adventure by Anne Chalfant in The Boston Globe cited Superstar Limo as an example of the park's budget-cutting beginnings: "Kids will also like Superstar Limo, in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot area. Here you play the star, riding in your purple limo past a few audio-animatronic Hollywood celebrities. Adults will notice, however, that other painted plywood characters and sets are about on a par with college theater constructions." Similarly, James Sterngold of The New York Times called it "probably the shlockiest attraction in the new park." A lengthy article by David Rorden in the Longview Daily News giving a mostly favorable review of the then-new theme park singled out Superstar Limo as a mistake, calling attention to the self-promotion in featuring stars like Drew Carey, who appeared on a sitcom aired on the Disney-owned network ABC: "I think they should change the name of this ride from Superstar Limo to 'It's a Shill World.' The space would be better devoted to something more entertaining, such as an Audioanimatronic dentist doing root canals on all Imagineers who came up with the idea for Superstar Limo."
