lightsaber thoughts

[jencav5]

My son has the BYO, but I bought it for him when he was 11. He really loved being able to put it together, etc.... Now he is 13 and it's in a box somewhere in the playroom-I haven't seen it out in awhile!

 

[jencav5]

I'm still hoping that someone found the "byo" and turned it in, and that we'll get a surprise in the mail soon, but it likely won't be given to him right at that time, b/c the smaller and cheaper ones are MUCH better for a kid like Eamon, and it will be more appreciated later on!

It sounds like you reported it to Lost & Found. Did you buy the BYO at DL on this trip? I'm surprised, if you did, that they didn't replace if for you. We have had that happen with other items before with the kids. They are usually really great about it!

 

[bumbershoot]

Here's a pic of the BYO with Eamon.

And this is as small as it gets. Got. Whatever. Someone out there is playing with it and making it that "small", even if we aren't.

And here's a shot of him playing with it (I feel like I'm mourning the dang thing).

I'm definitely not saying it's not a good toy, but since there's a hefty amount of peer pressure with tiny kids carrying around light sabers that are inappropriate for their ages, parents are pushed towards getting the real looking sabers for too-small kids. And with the display in plain view as you come down out of Star Tours, that pressure gets worse.

I am a person who was very much against getting this saber in the first place, knowing it was inappropriate, but I got pressure from my own husband and went against my instincts and knowledge b/c I wanted to be "fun".

Since the saber's heft and height caused it to be passed off to either me or hubby, and since we are 99% sure that one of us is the one that lost it b/c we weren't expecting to carry it, I'm trying to make sure no one else has to learn from experience that the saber might be just too much for a littler kid.


Still don't have a picture of the cheapie ones (that are MUCH more of a playable TOY than the BYOs are) or a close-up of the keychains, but I'm getting closer!

 

[bumbershoot]

It sounds like you reported it to Lost & Found. Did you buy the BYO at DL on this trip? I'm surprised, if you did, that they didn't replace if for you. We have had that happen with other items before with the kids. They are usually really great about it!

Ayep. 2 days before. Not a single CM offered to replace it, not even during our 3 trips to lost and found.

We had a hat replaced that was stolen last September (stolen in Sept, replaced in Sept), but I think b/c we lost the saber, we got no sympathy.

We even went to City Hall, b/c two low-level CMs told us that City Hall will replace things if you have the receipt, and the CM was NOT hearin' it. She was giving us NOTHING.

Ultimately, for us b/c hubby is Korean Buddhist and I'm more that than anything else, we decided that it was karma.

When we had the hat replaced by a kind CM last September, I still had a bee in my bonnet about it being stolen, and even though we had the replacement in hand I went to lost and found. They gave us a pirate hat that seemed to be the one that left our stroller... it has bothered me all this time that I did that, and the cost of the hat and the saber were almost the same, so it just felt like that was the karmic payback for taking what wasn't ours anymore, when I took that pirate hat from lost and found.

Once we brought those thoughts out into the open, we stopped working so hard to get our plight noticed. We got DS what he asked for, first one cheaper saber and then another so we could play with him, made him happy and "whole", and we just ate the extra $20 b/c that seemed to repay the pirate hat from September.

(not sure I've ever confessed the business about the lost and found hat when telling the tale of the stolen hat...it's been really embarrassing to me that I did that, and my hubby was embarrassed at the time, tried to talk me out of taking the hat since the CM had replaced it for us, but now that I feel it's been repaid, I'm OK confessing)

 

[joeysmommy]

Bumbershoot- thanks for all the pictures!
My sons can't wait to get there on June 16th to do Jedi Training and BYO lightsaber.
They both already have the large light up lightsabers, maybe if I bring them in the suitcases they won't feel the need to spend another $40 on new ones.

Yeah right, who am I kidding? Joey already told me he wants to build a double-sided light saber. Maybe once I tell him the other side won't light up h'll be fine with a regular one.

Now I know which bag to bring so when they bop each other with the lightsaber and someone cries I can fit them in my backpack.

Thanks!

 

[bumbershoot]

Yeah right, who am I kidding? Joey already told me he wants to build a double-sided light saber. Maybe once I tell him the other side won't light up h'll be fine with a regular one.

Yeah, none of the big kids in the line getting the double-sided one seemed to care even a little bit that it wouldn't all light up!

 

[Laurabearz]

LOVE the keychain ones!!

I wish they had something between the key chain and the normal saber, or is that asking too much

 

[Quest4Kingdom]

The great thing about it (of course for the big kids- like my DH) is that it is as true to building an actual lightsabor as it is really done by a true Jedi (as in the book too), so my Starwars Geek DH s says...

 

[Dukland]

Thanks for the tips. My boys are still pretty young, so sounds like the cheaper light sabers would be the better choice.

 

[jencav5]

Ayep. 2 days before. Not a single CM offered to replace it, not even during our 3 trips to lost and found.

We had a hat replaced that was stolen last September (stolen in Sept, replaced in Sept), but I think b/c we lost the saber, we got no sympathy.

We even went to City Hall, b/c two low-level CMs told us that City Hall will replace things if you have the receipt, and the CM was NOT hearin' it. She was giving us NOTHING.

Ultimately, for us b/c hubby is Korean Buddhist and I'm more that than anything else, we decided that it was karma.

When we had the hat replaced by a kind CM last September, I still had a bee in my bonnet about it being stolen, and even though we had the replacement in hand I went to lost and found. They gave us a pirate hat that seemed to be the one that left our stroller... it has bothered me all this time that I did that, and the cost of the hat and the saber were almost the same, so it just felt like that was the karmic payback for taking what wasn't ours anymore, when I took that pirate hat from lost and found.

Once we brought those thoughts out into the open, we stopped working so hard to get our plight noticed. We got DS what he asked for, first one cheaper saber and then another so we could play with him, made him happy and "whole", and we just ate the extra $20 b/c that seemed to repay the pirate hat from September.

(not sure I've ever confessed the business about the lost and found hat when telling the tale of the stolen hat...it's been really embarrassing to me that I did that, and my hubby was embarrassed at the time, tried to talk me out of taking the hat since the CM had replaced it for us, but now that I feel it's been repaid, I'm OK confessing)

It sounds like you tried everything, then! I still am surprised, karma or not! Maybe they've been having a rash of people losing things lately! I'm sorry for you-appropriate or not, it is a bad feeling to lose stuff. My dd just last night informed me that she sent the wrong DVD back to netflix. She has the correct one in her room, but one of ours must have been in the sleeve. Of course, she has no idea what movie that was!

 

[Quest4Kingdom]

the keychain ones are sooo cool! looks like less damage to the victim (moneywise too) thanks for the pix! i think i remember fiddling around with one of those after star tours... i think they light up too?

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh yeah, they light up beautifully! They do take 3 1.5 v batteries though, and if you leave them in a purse they can get turned on accidentally (interesting to have your purse flashing while in Blue Bayou). But I love them.

I love keychains, too, so if DS has lost all interest in them I might have to appropriate them all.