Okay way back when I last updated we were headed into the Darth Mall to escape the rain.
A view of Tower of Terror you don't see everyday...
We entered the Darth Maul merchandise tent and began looking around. There was so much to look at! Rows and rows of t-shirts, collectibles and toys. Anthony was in heaven! We knew we wanted to get name tags with our names in Aurebesh (Star Wars language.) We ordered those and looked around some more. Anthony picked out two Vinylmations and I got an Ewok shirt. When my sister and her family got off TOT they joined us in the store and we got into the character meet and greet line.
The characters that meet inside the merchandise tent are Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO. The three of them rotate so it is difficult to time all three. When we got in line Luke was out but after about 10 minutes a CM announced that in 10 minutes Luke was leaving and Leia would be out. We probably waited about 35 minutes in this line before it was our turn.
For a kid who doesn't like princesses he sure looks happy...
After our meeting with the princess we headed outside and lo and behold the rain was letting up!
We decided to hang out in the Backlot Area to see if any characters started doing meet and greets again. We got into the Fett line (Boba and Jango rotate) because we saw CMs standing there and we assumed that meant one of them would be coming out. Well we saw Boba walk out and then walk right back in! We decided to hang around the area to see what was going on.
Oh no! He's been captured!
While we were hanging out in the Fett line Chad said, "wow look over there." There was a family and I'm not sure how many people were in it all we saw was the dad yell something like, "this is unacceptable" except in a few choice words involving a farm animal. Then he threw his backpack into the fence! Then we heard him yell again and slam his backpack on the ground before walking away. Chad said, "I guess he's not having a magical day." I felt bad because obviously something must have gone awry for him to react like that but geez.
Now here is where we ran into some serious good luck with characters. After about 20 minutes CMs started letting families backstage to a set up rain location. Families were let back one at at time so we got a private meeting with Boba Fett. He has always been my brother's favorite but my brother wouldn't get in the picture.
After meeting Boba Fett we went back out front and got in Darth Maul's line. There were only a few families ahead of us and soon we were brought backstage again to meet Darth Maul. I guess because the characters weren't out front people didn't realize that meet and greets were happening so the lines were short.
Anthony kept his distance and I can't say I blame him. Darth Maul was a little scary!
While my sister and her family were getting their picture with Darth Maul we saw Zam Wessell walking out. I had to ask my brother who she was but my niece was super excited there was another girl to meet. My BIL was pretty excited to meet her too...
While we were meeting characters my brother went and got himself a SWW drink. It was called "The Force" and was basically a white russian with blue curacao.
We walked over towards the Streets of America where the Jedi Council was meeting. When we walked over there we saw Anakin walking towards his meet and greet spot and hopped in line. In about 20 seconds we were the first family to get an autograph and pictures.
Since we were having such good luck with characters we walked over to where the Clone Wars characters (Captain Rex, Commander Cody, Ahsoka Tano and Asajj Ventress) were rotating. When we walked up to the line it was about a 15 minute wait and Commander Cody was out. As soon as we got in line they announced that Captain Rex would be meeting soon and Commader Cody would be going in after 10 minutes. We would just miss getting a picture with both of them but that was ok. Captain Rex is Anthony's favorite character so we couldn't wait to see his reaction when Captain Rex showed up.
While waiting in line Captain Rex came walking right past us to go the meet and greet area. Anthony was in awe. When he walked past us I said, "Anthony show him your shoes." Anthony did and Captain Rex saluted him! Anthony started jumping up and down and said, "Did you see that?"
When it was our turn for pictures Anthony rushed ahead of everyone to show Captain Rex his shoes again.
After Captain Rex got pictures with my sister's family he turned and pointed back to Anthony and saluted him again. Anthony was on
. He could not stop beaming.
We found a Clone Trooper wondering around and stopped him for a picture. I noticed that the roaming characters were really good about stopping for children but when my sister tried to stop one he blew her off! The roaming characters are trained to not let lines form but I was happy that they were stopping for the kids.
We met all these characters in the span of an hour and 20 minutes. I thought that was pretty good especially with all the horror stories I had read before we left about crowds during SWW. Granted the rain really thinned the crowds but still we had perfect timing on a few lines.
The last thing on our agenda for the day was to find a Jawa. I had read that you could trade them junk and we tried to find something quickly. Chad handed Anthony an old arcade card to trade.
The Jawa traded Anthony a Subway card! Anthony thought this was hilarious. He said trading the Jawa was one of his favorite parts of the trip. It was time for us to head out now because we had a dinner ADR. Since this was my sister's last day her family stayed later but my brother was ready to go. I could not believe how things worked out for my brother. He hates hot weather and crowds but the day he went it rained which not only helped with crowds but cooled everything off. He really could not have picked a more perfect day for him to go to a park. So that was my brother's pixie dust of the trip!
I feel so bad for all the people that this was their only day at SWW. I really hope they were able to get stuff done towards the end of the day when the rain let up. I really think Disney could have set up more rain area meet and greets for this event. The only characters that I saw with a rain location were the Fetts and Darth Maul. Darth Vader continued meet and greets too because his location was covered. I understand the characters can't meet in the rain but they could maybe utilize the Animation Building or something for this situation.
Even though it rained on us we still had a great day! Now it was time to go pick up Tessa and head to dinner and which was one of our best meals of the trip.
Use the force!
Dinner at Kona
A view of Tower of Terror you don't see everyday...
We entered the Darth Maul merchandise tent and began looking around. There was so much to look at! Rows and rows of t-shirts, collectibles and toys. Anthony was in heaven! We knew we wanted to get name tags with our names in Aurebesh (Star Wars language.) We ordered those and looked around some more. Anthony picked out two Vinylmations and I got an Ewok shirt. When my sister and her family got off TOT they joined us in the store and we got into the character meet and greet line.
The characters that meet inside the merchandise tent are Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO. The three of them rotate so it is difficult to time all three. When we got in line Luke was out but after about 10 minutes a CM announced that in 10 minutes Luke was leaving and Leia would be out. We probably waited about 35 minutes in this line before it was our turn.
For a kid who doesn't like princesses he sure looks happy...
After our meeting with the princess we headed outside and lo and behold the rain was letting up!
We decided to hang out in the Backlot Area to see if any characters started doing meet and greets again. We got into the Fett line (Boba and Jango rotate) because we saw CMs standing there and we assumed that meant one of them would be coming out. Well we saw Boba walk out and then walk right back in! We decided to hang around the area to see what was going on.Oh no! He's been captured!
While we were hanging out in the Fett line Chad said, "wow look over there." There was a family and I'm not sure how many people were in it all we saw was the dad yell something like, "this is unacceptable" except in a few choice words involving a farm animal. Then he threw his backpack into the fence! Then we heard him yell again and slam his backpack on the ground before walking away. Chad said, "I guess he's not having a magical day." I felt bad because obviously something must have gone awry for him to react like that but geez.
Now here is where we ran into some serious good luck with characters. After about 20 minutes CMs started letting families backstage to a set up rain location. Families were let back one at at time so we got a private meeting with Boba Fett. He has always been my brother's favorite but my brother wouldn't get in the picture.
After meeting Boba Fett we went back out front and got in Darth Maul's line. There were only a few families ahead of us and soon we were brought backstage again to meet Darth Maul. I guess because the characters weren't out front people didn't realize that meet and greets were happening so the lines were short.
Anthony kept his distance and I can't say I blame him. Darth Maul was a little scary!
While my sister and her family were getting their picture with Darth Maul we saw Zam Wessell walking out. I had to ask my brother who she was but my niece was super excited there was another girl to meet. My BIL was pretty excited to meet her too...
While we were meeting characters my brother went and got himself a SWW drink. It was called "The Force" and was basically a white russian with blue curacao.
We walked over towards the Streets of America where the Jedi Council was meeting. When we walked over there we saw Anakin walking towards his meet and greet spot and hopped in line. In about 20 seconds we were the first family to get an autograph and pictures.
Since we were having such good luck with characters we walked over to where the Clone Wars characters (Captain Rex, Commander Cody, Ahsoka Tano and Asajj Ventress) were rotating. When we walked up to the line it was about a 15 minute wait and Commander Cody was out. As soon as we got in line they announced that Captain Rex would be meeting soon and Commader Cody would be going in after 10 minutes. We would just miss getting a picture with both of them but that was ok. Captain Rex is Anthony's favorite character so we couldn't wait to see his reaction when Captain Rex showed up.
While waiting in line Captain Rex came walking right past us to go the meet and greet area. Anthony was in awe. When he walked past us I said, "Anthony show him your shoes." Anthony did and Captain Rex saluted him! Anthony started jumping up and down and said, "Did you see that?"
When it was our turn for pictures Anthony rushed ahead of everyone to show Captain Rex his shoes again.
After Captain Rex got pictures with my sister's family he turned and pointed back to Anthony and saluted him again. Anthony was on
. He could not stop beaming.We found a Clone Trooper wondering around and stopped him for a picture. I noticed that the roaming characters were really good about stopping for children but when my sister tried to stop one he blew her off! The roaming characters are trained to not let lines form but I was happy that they were stopping for the kids.
We met all these characters in the span of an hour and 20 minutes. I thought that was pretty good especially with all the horror stories I had read before we left about crowds during SWW. Granted the rain really thinned the crowds but still we had perfect timing on a few lines.
The last thing on our agenda for the day was to find a Jawa. I had read that you could trade them junk and we tried to find something quickly. Chad handed Anthony an old arcade card to trade.
The Jawa traded Anthony a Subway card! Anthony thought this was hilarious. He said trading the Jawa was one of his favorite parts of the trip. It was time for us to head out now because we had a dinner ADR. Since this was my sister's last day her family stayed later but my brother was ready to go. I could not believe how things worked out for my brother. He hates hot weather and crowds but the day he went it rained which not only helped with crowds but cooled everything off. He really could not have picked a more perfect day for him to go to a park. So that was my brother's pixie dust of the trip!
I feel so bad for all the people that this was their only day at SWW. I really hope they were able to get stuff done towards the end of the day when the rain let up. I really think Disney could have set up more rain area meet and greets for this event. The only characters that I saw with a rain location were the Fetts and Darth Maul. Darth Vader continued meet and greets too because his location was covered. I understand the characters can't meet in the rain but they could maybe utilize the Animation Building or something for this situation.
Even though it rained on us we still had a great day! Now it was time to go pick up Tessa and head to dinner and which was one of our best meals of the trip.
Use the force!
Dinner at Kona
I think those hallways and the confusion are very scary. They have the three kindergarten classes at Willow's school in a different building (the school is a campus of multiple buildings), and they go to lunch separately and have a separate playground - I'm really glad because it seems like a gentler way to ease them into "real school."
Reid would be so jealous that y'all met Boba Fett - he loves him. 
And that interaction with Captain Rex was too cool! You are really making me want to go to SWW more & more. I'm pretty definite that will be our trip for 2014.
I think it's that I don't really like sweet mixed with savory - pineapple in savory dishes makes me 
- I think that's the turn off for me. 
Much to my surprise we enjoyed our meal here! Granted it does not take a lot for us to be happy, the food would have to be REALLY bad for us to think it wasn't good. Everything we tried was yummy. I especially liked the salmon, sandwiches and salads. Anthony ate three plates of the mac and cheese! I know this place has been compared to Golden Corral but we ate at a Golden Corral on the way home (why I have no idea after a week of Disney buffets) and we thought H&V was WAAAY better. 
