Official Star Wars Weekends 2014 Tips and Tricks -The Adventure Continues

[nicoleken]

(I didn't know how to quote one part quickly)
Quoting: I am curious if you are tall. We are not. Standing a couple of rows behind the kids would have meant not seeing anything at all for us. But I can see why this package would be a steal for someone who can see over the heads of others easily.

Yes, I probably should have mentioned that, but I was in a daze from 5 days at Disney! . I'm 5'10" and my husband is 6'3".

There might have been more spots closer to the front on our left... We were all the way to the right... But I don't know.

 

[MOM POPPINS]

Mark Hamill today at the parade!

 

[jane2073]

We were able to sit where we want. The first three rows in the middle were reserved for the premium package people.

 

[yulilin3]

We were able to sit where we want. The first three rows in the middle were reserved for the premium package people.

Thank you

 

[AussieSWmum]

Mark Hamill show was great but if you get a standby ticket then get in the standby line before 1:40pm. We got the last few seats in the theatre by filling in some empty ones left. After us they started filling the bleachers up the back.

Stars of the saga was good - billy dee Williams and Ray park were great. No Mark Hammill at the SoTS.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Yes he is.

MH was not in stars of the saga. But it was an awesome show!!!!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[wired.illusion]

We ended up getting in the standby line at 12:30 or so and managed pretty good seats dead center. FP+ was still letting in long after we sat down. A few people directly behind us were complaining quite a bit. They really need to start pre-scanning wristbands or something to make that experience better (though I'm of the opinion FP+ and standby should have relatively equal precedence in seating... whoever gets there early should get the best seats).

The standby line really didn't start getting filled up until 1:45 (when they told most people to come back it seems). For sure get in the standby line before then for a better seat. The show itself was fantastic. Mark is always great to see talk and I thought JAT did pretty well keeping the conversation going but not be too overbearing. Mark voicing the Joker/Luke for an "I'm your father" scene was brilliant.

We rushed out of the Mark Hamill show and once again got a pretty good spot for Stars of the Saga (no Mark of course).

CMs told us they were of course doing standby wristbands the next two days for Mark Hamill and imagined the process would be the same for handing them out.

One other random comment, when we rushed in around 9:15 or so all the good shade spots for the parade were pretty filled up. So something to keep in mind if you're gunning for a good parade spot.

 

[yulilin3]

Thanks for everyone who reported today. Can't wait for tomorrow, hopefully I'll meet some of you tomorrow

 

[mrstomrice]

You may remember that I was doubting our participation in SWW and FTF package. I decided to go for it and I am so glad we did! We were the June 1. The FTF package was perfect! The kids loved the spots in the shade for the parade...along with the Mickey Bars. The dessert party was great....better than Wishes by far! The only problem was we were too close to see all of the fireworks...but that is what You Tube is for We all enjoyed the SWW activities. We only waited to see Chewie....however if I knew where he went in for his "break" I don't think I would have waited 30 minutes. We were at the bathroom area right around the corner from Star Tours and we caught him coming out for photos...he gave both boys a quick hug and a fist taste. I guess the only thing we would have passed on is the H&V dinner. It did save time waiting in line but it wasn't worth 2 credits. Now the boys want to go back for another weekend! Thanks for all of your help!

 

[d-r]

That has been the CMs motto lately. FP+ guarantees you a seat in the theatre, not necessarily a good seat. I really hope Disney looks at this for next year. Because yes, when you have a FP for a ride, it also guarantees you a spot during that time period. However, it also gets you to the front of the line. Not so in the case of the Star Wars shows. I don't know how they can change it because they have to flip the sets and such. The shows seem to start later and later, too.

In the case of the next two days, we're just going to have to plan to get in FP line for Mark's show early.

I grumbled about it when I was waiting for the second fp+scan and the cm to the side started the "fast pass just guarAntees..." Spiel and I said but the standby doesn't hVe to waitt for the fast pass scan and it isn't fair"and he shot back well they've been waiting for hours and I said I waited for hours already on my Disney.experience 800 Friday morning when iit didn't work and an hour just now in fp line and it's not cool.

 

[d-r]

We ended up getting in the standby line at 12:30 or so and managed pretty good seats dead center. FP+ was still letting in long after we sat down. A few people directly behind us were complaining quite a bit. They really need to start pre-scanning wristbands or something to make that experience better (though I'm of the opinion FP+ and standby should have relatively equal precedence in seating... whoever gets there early should get the best seats).

The standby line really didn't start getting filled up until 1:45 (when they told most people to come back it seems). For sure get in the standby line before then for a better seat. The show itself was fantastic. Mark is always great to see talk and I thought JAT did pretty well keeping the conversation going but not be too overbearing. Mark voicing the Joker/Luke for an "I'm your father" scene was brilliant.

We rushed out of the Mark Hamill show and once again got a pretty good spot for Stars of the Saga (no Mark of course).

CMs told us they were of course doing standby wristbands the next two days for Mark Hamill and imagined the process would be the same for handing them out.

One other random comment, when we rushed in around 9:15 or so all the good shade spots for the parade were pretty filled up. So something to keep in mind if you're gunning for a good parade spot.

They did prescan they went through fp line with iPad and scanned every group to make sure they has fp then scanned again Mickey to Mickey at the door

 

[wired.illusion]

They did prescan they went through fp line with iPad and scanned every group to make sure they has fp then scanned again Mickey to Mickey at the door

Eesh, that's rough. They've really gotta get that ironed out for next year.

 

[tiredsigh]

Thanks for the tips, everyone! Our trip today wasn't about getting a signature from Ray or Billy Dee.

Today, I had a 6 year old with the following list:

JTA
Meet Chewy
See an ewok
Trade with a jawa

Meet as many characters as possible

Oh, and buy a stuffed ewok

Thanks to this thread, we had the little guy so happy at the end of the day! He did the 10:05 JTA and fought Darth Maul . He did Padawan Mind Challenge.

He was hugging Chewy by 8:20 and skipping towards other areas just to take in the sights.

We did the sci-fi breakfast and H&V dinner. He waved to passing characters and just had a ball!

We went into today with only a few must do's for the day. I was worried that it would be far more crowded than it was. Thanks for all of the info. It made a little boy's day a lot more fun!

 

[lovethattink]

For those planning on getting Billy Dee's line for tomorrow, just a heads up that it's already up to bag check.

 

[Skywise]

FtF report - I found the morning parade portion stressful and barely worthwhile. (As most people have reported I believe.) Having to wait in line in the hot Florida sun for two hours just to get a reasonable position was better than 4 hours I suppose but I still had to fight to keep my space so making use of the desserts was out of the question. I have similar qualms with the FP+ for magic kingdom parades but those are "free". Thanks to all on here who reported as I promptly grabbed myself a spot on the right hand side which made everything bearable.

The fireworks party on the other hand was totally awesome. Would do that again in a heartbeat.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Just wanted to report that we really enjoyed Feel the Force today! I thought it was worth the money.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[su_A_ve]

Skipped most of it so I would not read anything about MH.

We did a LOT. And the heat was what got to us so we ended on the bus back at 8:30.

Quick report..

Kids were 2nd in line for Chewie and then rode ST with no wait
Got back to the park after getting the safe key back, met the boys and rode ST with them.

Then we hit Queen Amodala followed by Chip n Dale Ewoks. Then Jango Fett.

Then tried to do JAT FP but couldn't due to SciFi ADR. That was great and food good too. Did take a good 20+ minutes wait to get seated. Vader, Boba, Greedo, Stormtroopers and Jawas. One of them didn't have anything to trade. The other one did eventually make it back and we got PF card and a pin. We had chocolate gold coins.

After this we rode TSMM. Then we did the Mall. 20 minutes to get in Did all the Aurasma pics and got Darth Goofy and Donald Trooper. Then spent some money. DS17 got his DTMe. We didn't reserve and was no wait at all.

Then a picture with DM. A good 30' wait. After this it was 3pm for TG and 3:20 for Ashley. At 3:45 we gave up on Ashley while my son was still waiting for TG who didn't show up until 3:30. But chatted with TG from behind the metal fence while taking pictures of DS17 and him. But he invited us to take pictures and got extra autographs.

By 4pm we were lined up for SotS FP+ We got in thru the front left of the stage. It worked great and we got about row 8 and dead center. I don't think they had started letting in standby but when they did it was thru the back. Show was excellent and both RP and BDW were great.

After this we walked towards Tatooine Traders and all of a suddenly BDW shows up and shopped for a couple of things. Everybody was super respectful and nobody asked for any autographs or anything. Took a few pictures of him and attempts at selfies.

After this we did the animation drawing hoping for DM Donald but ended up being the group before us and got stuck with Rapunzel. But DS17 answered the trivia question and won the artist's version.

After this we rode GMR and then we got in line for Luke. Then Leia showed up and they did a few sets together but Luke left right before us .

At 8:30 we were in the bus back to CSR exhausted.

Have a good plan for tomorrow. Hoping for the best...

 

[su_A_ve]

They did prescan they went through fp line with iPad and scanned every group to make sure they has fp then scanned again Mickey to Mickey at the door

For SotS they only did the main scan, but CM was quick to make people go ahead before the scan would finish. He was calling each name and telling them they were good. If the scan wasn't finished, he would just approve it. But if you didn't have an FP he would stop you right away.

Hoping MH is as sooth as SotS was today for me. Just 30 minutes ahead of show time and got great seats. But will be there an hour earlier for MH PF tomorrow...

 

[Reizo]

For SotS they only did the main scan, but CM was quick to make people go ahead before the scan would finish. He was calling each name and telling them they were good. If the scan wasn't finished, he would just approve it. But if you didn't have an FP he would stop you right away.

Hoping MH is as sooth as SotS was today for me. Just 30 minutes ahead of show time and got great seats. But will be there an hour earlier for MH PF tomorrow...

Yeah but that's SotS. Mark Hamill is the huge draw. I hope they fix the double scan because it's going to be a busy Saturday. Get to Mark early and May the Force Be With You All tomorrow.

 

[Tarzan]

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