Anyone have tips for Star Wars weekends?

[shannonandtom]

Please share any advice you have about past experiences.
I would like to know the process, if there is one, for meeting the celeb's and anything else that may be helpful.
Thanks!
Tom

 

[patrokls]

Here's the place to check for all your Star Wars Weekends needs: http://sww.mgmstudios.org/main

 

[matt&jakesmom]

We were there last year and loved it. The celebrities were in the Who Wants to be a Millionaire area and it was by special ticket only for autographs. As for the characters, they were all around by the Star Tours area and beyond. The guidemap you are given when you enter the park, lists what time and where the "special" shows are. It will also list where Jedi Mickey and Darth Vadar are. We were there the whole day and if we would have known how much there was and how fun it was, we would have gone both days.

 

[shannonandtom]

Thanks for the reply.
Any other suggestions?

 

[Belle Amy]

If you are interested in getting the autographs from the actors/production crew, get the wristband first thing in the morning. If you are like us, who were more concerned with the characters themselves, we passed by this, and went straight to the Imperial Base. In front of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, or Mickey Ave, housed the Imperial Base and we managed to get pictures of Darth Sideous and his imperial guard as they were walking out. We popped into where Darth Vader was and only had a few people in front of us. Later in the day, these areas were SWAMPED.

We managed to see both Who Wants to Be a Millionaire:Star Wars Edition shows and catch the parade, but I have heard of people who have missed the parade because the second WWTBAM ran over. If you want to be sure to catch the parade (which you should, it's great) you might want to skip the second showing of WWTBAM...that is if you are a fan of the gameshow...which we are.

The area in front of Star Tours becomes the Rebel Base, along with the training grounds for younglings. It's cute to watch and great if you have kids that are into Star Wars. It gets them up on stage to learn the ways of the Jedi and then they get to fight someone from the dark side. This is now an every day occurance however, so you don't necessarily have to do it during Star Wars Weekends if you plan to come back to MGM on an off day.

Be sure to walk the areas repeatedly, new characters pop out all throughout the day. We walked through each area at least 5 times, and there were still some characters that we missed. Many of the characters just wander around and walk up behind people. A particular Gamorean had one lady running up and down the street trying to get away. It's fun to watch.

If you are into the Trivia, check out the Trivia Challenge held in the ABC Theater. If you want to sign up for the Trivia, do so early morning...last year the sign up area was in front of Sounds Dangerous. There is only one Trivia Challenge per day, and it gets a lot of people signing up for it. When we went there were about 50 people up on stage. They ask questions and slowly knock people out of the game, and they have to leave the stage. Last year it was a fierce battle between the two remaining players...the questions get TOUGH at the end.

Last year they had a showing of behind the scenes stuff from Episode III. I don't know what they will have this year, but it was informative if you are interested in the "hows" of production.

Most of all, get some good swag from the shops. If you are interested in the limited edition stuff, make sure this is one of your first stops, things sell out fast. Tatooine Traders by Star Tours was packed and hard to even walk through let alone stand in line. We found a couple stores like the Indiana Jones Trading Post (between Indiana Jones and 50's prime time) that still had limited edition merchandise even late in the day, with absolutely no wait. Just remember, the merchandise is only sold during Star Wars Weekends. We came back a couple days later to grab a SWW poster and were told that it could only be purchased during the weekends.

Let me know if you have any other questions, I'll help as best I can!!

 

[rrkman]

When you go there for a SWW, is there time to do any of the non star wars shows? We plan to go there next Friday (with DS2) and also want to catch many of the shows.

 

[Belle Amy]

I should think there would be time, we didn't ride or watch any shows while we were there, but we had plenty of time to just wander. When you get in the park they will hand you a schedule with all the information on it. It really depends if you are interested in getting the celebrities autographs, from the lines we saw that can take a while to get through. But really, you should have a chance to see shows. Schedule everything once you get into the park and you should be able to stick to it pretty well. Hope you have a good time!!!!

 

[MaBelle]

If you are interested in getting the autographs from the actors/production crew, get the wristband first thing in the morning. If you are like us, who were more concerned with the characters themselves, we passed by this, and went straight to the Imperial Base. In front of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, or Mickey Ave, housed the Imperial Base and we managed to get pictures of Darth Sideous and his imperial guard as they were walking out. We popped into where Darth Vader was and only had a few people in front of us. Later in the day, these areas were SWAMPED.

...Let me know if you have any other questions, I'll help as best I can!!

Thanks for all the great info! We didn't find out about SWW until after we has res for our 2nd WDW trip. It's a great bonus! My DH and I have been fans for many years, and then got our kids hooked when Episode I came out. My DD6 is so excited about the Jedi training academy. Wonder if it would be better to do it on an off day (less crowded), or during the SWW (more characters)? Would my DD12 be too old to do it? We'll take our camera, but I hope there will be Photo pass photographers, so we can get some better quality pictures with characters.

 

[Pixiedusttravel]

My DD6 is so excited about the Jedi training academy. Wonder if it would be better to do it on an off day (less crowded), or during the SWW (more characters)? Would my DD12 be too old to do it? We'll take our camera, but I hope there will be Photo pass photographers, so we can get some better quality pictures with characters.

We were there April 22-27 and stummbled across the Jedi training academy. My DS who is 11, but looks like he's much older, is a HUGE star wars fan. Fortunately, he was picked to join and had a blast. It was actually his favorite part of our whole trip!!

I think that it did help that it was not that crowded the day we went. I'm not sure how long you'll be on vacation but I would certainly suggest that you try to go on an "off" day to do the Jedi academy and then hop back on another day to see the stars (if your tickets allow that). Also, make sure to bring the video camera!! It's priceless!!

 

[MaBelle]

We were there April 22-27 and stummbled across the Jedi training academy. My DS who is 11, but looks like he's much older, is a HUGE star wars fan. Fortunately, he was picked to join and had a blast. It was actually his favorite part of our whole trip!!

I think that it did help that it was not that crowded the day we went. I'm not sure how long you'll be on vacation but I would certainly suggest that you try to go on an "off" day to do the Jedi academy and then hop back on another day to see the stars (if your tickets allow that). Also, make sure to bring the video camera!! It's priceless!!

We'll be there with 10-day park hopper. So we can hopefully try more than once if they don't get picked.
What are the odds of getting picked? Did your son do anything special to get noticed?
I guess we do need to take the video camera. Wasn't sure about carting it around the parks, but maybe on 1 or 2 days it wouldn't be so bad!