Official Star Wars Weekends Thread Tips and Tricks 2015

[animalkingdom15]

I was able to get a Feel the Force Premium package this am for 5!! Now that we have a couple of SWW behind us, and having read a lot about the FFP, how was last weekend? Anything special we should know?

Very cool that you guys were able to get them so late. On a whim I decided before I booked my trip a couple days ago that I would see about getting one for this weekend 29-31 and was lucky that they had one left for Friday. This is my first SWW and I can't wait. I'm heading out to Target today as they usually have the old school SW t-shifts for $7 so I will pick up a couple of those since I will be back at HS on the 31 for a 430 SW dining reservation.

 

[Felipe4]

Well, I caved and got the Memory Maker. And gave BF his Boba Fett shirt (which he thought I got him in San Diego). Saving the hat until the night before. I'm so psyched for 3 weeks!

 

[msmama]

Quick photopass/MM question...and this relates to SWW and all non-SWW in all parks: We have MM, so we know what we get, but logistically, do we get the photopass cards from every photopass photographer to link to our account OR does the photog link our magicband or something prior/after taking the shot? I don't want to have to stash photopass cards throughout the day and worry that I lost one before we link it. I would think there would be a little Magicband "tapstile"-like device the photogs have, but I don't want to assume and then miss a bunch of stuff. Thanks!

They will scan your band. And just FYI - it doesn't have to be YOUR band. My 7 year old was the designated magic band scanner. He also asked every photographer we saw if they had a magic shot! I think we managed to get them all over our 9 days in the parks!

Ok - could use some help... right now we have Jedi Mickey reservations for Sunday the 7th at 7:20 (when we also have FTF DPP) and also on Tuesday the 9th, our last night and our only Epcot day. Need to cancel one. Is it too much to do Jedi Mickey dinner and the desert party back to back or does that make more sense than missing some Epcot time - how long does the boat from Epcot take? We will have a just turned 3 yr old and 7 yr old in tow so no walking.

PS - I know it's going to be hot, but as I listen to day 1 million of rain in Dallas, with a forecast of rain everyday until we leave next week, I'm looking forward to heat for once in my life since it means finally seeing the sun!!!

I thought the same thing about the heat. Until one day my weather app said it felt like it was 107!!! Have fun!!

Oh, and some desserts at Jedi Mickey dinner and dessert party were the same so you might not want them back to back. Also, after my experience with my 7 year old - pick the day that would be more relaxing. A 20 minute boat ride before dinner might be nice and calm everyone down. What would you do with the time on Saturday if you cancelled that one? Our SWW days were LONG and I don't think we would've enjoyed ourselves as much had we tried to fit something else in, personally. Would everyone be in a better mood one of those days as opposed to another?

 

[wdwalice]

Great cake! What bakery did you order from?

Thanks! I ordered from Grand Floridian Private Dining (407-824-1951). They handle fancy, fondant-covered cakes & mini cake requests for the Polynesian (we ate at 'Ohana that night for dinner).

 

[wdwalice]

Wow! How do I go about ordering a cake? We will be there weekend IV for DH birthday weekend and also celebrating DS graduating preschool.

Sounds like you all have a lot of celebrating to do!

I found ordering the cake so much easier than choosing what I wanted. LOL! Most important - Once you decide where the cake is to be delivered, you would call/email the dining department that handles orders for that specific location. They can also give ideas, serving size, pricing, etc.

Below is the awesome thread that has all the cake ordering information as well as some pictures and helpful comments. The first post has all the details. If you have any questions....ask away!

http://www.disboards.com/threads/official-disney-cake-chatter-part-iv.3261922/

 

[Skywise]

Hear ye! Hear ye!

Because i have relatives who are sticks in the mud (Both my main invitee and the alternate!) it has come to pass that instead of 4 people in my group there will be 3. (I mean, seriously, who decides they'd rather WORK than come a day earlier?!)

This means I have ONE extra reservation on June 5 that I'm going to cut loose for:
Rebel Hangar - 7:45pm
and... wait for it...
a Deluxe premium package for FtF on the same day.

-- "Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff."

The Rebel Hangar should be the typical ADR hand-off (I think).
It appears I can release the DPP ADR from the MDE but I'm not sure you can reserve it through that (and might have to call in) can anyone clarify?

PM me to attempt to coordinate!

 

[gatorheather]

Silly question- For the May 4th and 5th special merchandise there was a Goofy Vader water bottle for revenge of the Sith. Has anyone seen this around HS? I looked in Darth Mall and that area on Sunday but couldn't find it. If you see it, can you please tell me where- we will be back a week from Friday and my DH will be home so I can spend more time shopping. Thanks

 

[morrison2951]

Had a blast at SWW I- we attended the very first 5/15 Friday date so, of course, there were no Boba Fett steins available, but other than that blip we all had a great time! This was my fourth SWW with the family dating all the way back to 2000 and as is tradition for me I picked up the LE logo pin for my collection. Pretty funny that for me the very first logo pin is still my favorite with the blue light saber and Mickey ears! Great SWW thread and have really enjoyed reading it and catching up with fellow SWW'ers!

Oh, and if anyone does happen to have an extra stein, please let me know!

 

[yulilin3]

Silly question- For the May 4th and 5th special merchandise there was a Goofy Vader water bottle for revenge of the Sith. Has anyone seen this around HS? I looked in Darth Mall and that area on Sunday but couldn't find it. If you see it, can you please tell me where- we will be back a week from Friday and my DH will be home so I can spend more time shopping. Thanks

if there are any left you would find at Mickey's of Hollywood

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Are we the only ones who thought that in person, the Boba Fett stein did not look particularly well made? (OK - DD said it looked "cheap") We went thinking we might want one, and after seeing them opted not to buy.

 

[yulilin3]

Hear ye! Hear ye!

Because i have relatives who are sticks in the mud (Both my main invitee and the alternate!) it has come to pass that instead of 4 people in my group there will be 3. (I mean, seriously, who decides they'd rather WORK than come a day earlier?!)

This means I have ONE extra reservation on June 5 that I'm going to cut loose for:
Rebel Hangar - 7:45pm
and... wait for it...
a Deluxe premium package for FtF on the same day.

-- "Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff."

The Rebel Hangar should be the typical ADR hand-off (I think).
It appears I can release the DPP ADR from the MDE but I'm not sure you can reserve it through that (and might have to call in) can anyone clarify?

PM me to attempt to coordinate!

the DPP can only be booked by calling.

 

[yulilin3]

Are we the only ones who thought that in person, the Boba Fett stein did not look particularly well made? (OK - DD said it looked "cheap") We went thinking we might want one, and after seeing them opted not to buy.

it's the same structure and material as the stormtroopers last year and the R2D2 the year before. I really liked it, looking at it up close. We just never use them. My R2D2 one is sitting on a shelf without being used so we decided not to buy any more

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

it's the same structure and material as the stormtroopers last year and the R2D2 the year before. I really liked it, looking at it up close. We just never use them. My R2D2 one is sitting on a shelf without being used so we decided not to buy any more

OK -- good to hear!

 

[yulilin3]

good overview video of merchandisen the roaming characters were only there the day of the Galactic Gathering but you can see roaming clone troopers outside on the street.

 

[morrison2951]

I actually really like the Vader popcorn bucket for usefulness- it's in my home office and filled full of pens, paper and such.

 

[HCinKC]

Ok - could use some help... right now we have Jedi Mickey reservations for Sunday the 7th at 7:20 (when we also have FTF DPP) and also on Tuesday the 9th, our last night and our only Epcot day. Need to cancel one. Is it too much to do Jedi Mickey dinner and the desert party back to back or does that make more sense than missing some Epcot time - how long does the boat from Epcot take? We will have a just turned 3 yr old and 7 yr old in tow so no walking.

PS - I know it's going to be hot, but as I listen to day 1 million of rain in Dallas, with a forecast of rain everyday until we leave next week, I'm looking forward to heat for once in my life since it means finally seeing the sun!!!

We did not do the dessert party, but there is NO WAY I could have eaten another bite after dinner. I never stuff myself at buffets, but what I had was very filling. Well, I may have not been totally honest...I won't stuff myself on real food, but I would totally eat an entire dessert buffet! Heh. The dinner food was good and filling though. For the price of both, I would not want to eat like a bird. If it were me, I would keep the Tuesday dinner and not try to cram both in one day. Not only is it a lot of food, but it is a lot of scheduled stuff in one day. Plus doing it on Tuesday draws out your SWW time and is a fun way to end the trip. That's what we did with our RH ressie, moved from Sunday to our last day, a Tuesday. We were at AK that day and went over to HS for dinner. It wasn't very crowded. ODS got to ride ST again with zero wait, and we all enjoyed one more SW activity.

Are we the only ones who thought that in person, the Boba Fett stein did not look particularly well made? (OK - DD said it looked "cheap") We went thinking we might want one, and after seeing them opted not to buy.

Haha, funny you say that. I noticed one group of adults trying to fix a lid that had fallen off when the guy opened it. I didn't realize how small they were. They are fun, but I couldn't bring myself to pay that price for the size, especially after I saw adults trying to fix one. The buckets were more tempting, but again, ODS didn't care much, so I didn't want to pay that price. What I (myself) did really want were the Vader Mickey ears. I don't know why I loved them so much. We got ODS R2, but I didn't get any. Seemed like my head would be sweltering in that black plastic...

 

[Felipe4]

there is NO WAY I could have eaten another bite after dinner. I never stuff myself at buffets, but what I had was very filling. Well, I may have not been totally honest...I won't stuff myself on real food, but I would totally eat an entire dessert buffet! Heh. The dinner food was good and filling though. For the price of both, I would not want to eat like a bird.

I think I may have accepted the fact that I'll be about 10 lbs heavier after Disney. We have ALL the Star Wars food things planned on one day - Breakfast, RH, HV, Dessert Party. Plus since RH isn't open at lunch, we'll have to do a QS in there somewhere...

Oops?

 

[Hanover]

Ok - could use some help... right now we have Jedi Mickey reservations for Sunday the 7th at 7:20 (when we also have FTF DPP) and also on Tuesday the 9th, our last night and our only Epcot day. Need to cancel one. Is it too much to do Jedi Mickey dinner and the desert party back to back or does that make more sense than missing some Epcot time - how long does the boat from Epcot take? We will have a just turned 3 yr old and 7 yr old in tow so no walking.

PS - I know it's going to be hot, but as I listen to day 1 million of rain in Dallas, with a forecast of rain everyday until we leave next week, I'm looking forward to heat for once in my life since it means finally seeing the sun!!!

We did the FTF package the Fri/Sat/Sun of our SWW trip last year and will do the same again in 2 weeks. We had the Jedi Mickey dinner once last year on the same day as our FTF package and we ate so much at the dinner around 6PM that we were still too full really to do anything but have a drink or two at the dessert party. We did the Galactic breakfast on a non-SWW day and we would have been too full to enjoy any additional food had we had the parade treats at FTF on the same day. This year we are doing the Jedi Mickey dinner on a Thursday evening. I still thought the FTF package was worth it even though we didn't eat anything at the one dessert party last year. We loved the parade area/snacks and the fireworks area for FTF. This will be our 11th SWW and after waiting hours to see the parade certain years, we find the cost of the FTF package is worth it for us.

 

[pbb322]

Thanks everyone for your input on our Jedi Mickey reservations! I think you are exactly right on it just being too much food and not getting as much value with the reservations back to back - plus we have a RH reservation on the 7th too at 4, so that is a TON of food in one evening. After talking to DH this morning with all of this input, I convinced him to add an extra day so we can do everything he wants to do at Epcot and we can have more Disney time! YAY! Thanks everyone!!!

 

[RookieLady]

We have ALL the Star Wars food things planned on one day - Breakfast, RH, HV, Dessert Party. Plus since RH isn't open at lunch, we'll have to do a QS in there somewhere...

We are doing this too, except the dessert party. I have a 9:30 breakfast, a 4:10 RH, and a 7:35 Jedi Mickey. I am a little worried about it because with the FP+, shows, and parade, it doesn't leave any down time at all. But, my kids aren't huge SW fans (or even HS fans). So, I am packing it all in one day. It's our first day, too, so one and done.