Looking for your best Star Wars Weekend Hints!

[sodaseller]

I think what SWW really needs is a character dining experience with the SW characters. My DD9 has largely outgrown character dining, but we were both saying that special edition SW character dining woudl be a big hit

 

[QuickGold]

Thanks for confirming the jedi training, Matt!! Will you post the scheduled times and procedure as soon as it starts? (of course you will! )
I will now change my plans for the umpteenth time so that we can run over on our arrival day (a thurs, not a SWW day) and see if DNeph can battle Darth Vader - even better for us, since he was chosen to battle Darth Maul last year and soooo wanted Darth Vader - and one less thing for us to try to cram into our one and only day for SWW this year!

As soon as I can get it , I will definetly post it.

I was thinking of park-hopping over to MGM on the last night of Star Wars Weekends on June 11. We have a dinner res. at our resort at 6pm and I figure we should be done between 7 to 7:30. We should be to MGM no later than 8pm.
Will the event still be going on. We really aren't that interested in autographs but would love to see the SW's characters. I figured a lot of people at this time would be heading over to see the Fantasmic show (which we have a Fantasmic dinner scheduled for the next night).

You have to keep in mind the commute time to get from dinner at your resort to MGM. To be honest, I'm not sure you'll have much time. By that hour of the night (even if you were at MGM instantly at 7), all that's left really is maybe a few characters around and the "closing ceremony" near Star Tours. If you can't get to MGM by 4, I wouldn't count on being able to do much SWW-wise.

We are going to be at disney from sunday night May21 until sunday am. May 28th.
I was planning on attending mgm on the saturday may 27th but just found out the star wars weekends go on the friday 26th also. Is this because it's a long weekend in the usa? Is the friday the holiday?
Now I wonder if we should plan on doing mgm on the Friday instead of Saturday? If so I need to change some ADR's.
What would anyone suggest?
I have a dd11 ds8

During SWW, the actual park is not that much more crowded if you just want to do non-SWW events (Tower of Terror, Backlot Tour, Lights Motors Action, et al) as the crowd there for SWW is really centered around the SWW only events. Also it's on Friday, Saturday and Sunday so changing it to Friday won't do much.

What are the chances that they will extend SWW this year? We really can't make any weekends til after 6/15. When do they usually announce an extension? Thanks

I answered your question in another SWW thread but since others may be interested, I'll repeat it here.... They extended SWW 2 years in a row (2004 & 2005) so reason suggests they'll probably do it again this year but it's based on how busy it is and guest demand and reaction. My inclination is theres a good chance it will happen but I wouldn't book a whole trip on the prospect of SWW being extended, but that's just my paranoid self.

I think what SWW really needs is a character dining experience with the SW characters. My DD9 has largely outgrown character dining, but we were both saying that special edition SW character dining woudl be a big hit

I like the idea, but too bad I don't work for Disney/Lucas

 

[Mickey's Sister]

I think what SWW really needs is a character dining experience with the SW characters. My DD9 has largely outgrown character dining, but we were both saying that special edition SW character dining woudl be a big hit

Wow, I LOVE that idea!!!

We're finally going to do SWW in May 2007. We had a trip scheduled in 2002 & then SWW wasn't held, but we decided to go anyway. We've since been back twice to Disney though not for SWW. But I promised my son (who has been a Star Wars fanatic since age 2 - he's now almost 12) that next trip would definitely be for SWW. So I'm already in planning mode! Thanks to all of you who have posted the Great info!!! Special thanks to QuickGold - Love your site!!! I know I'll be a frequent visitor. Thanks again!

Jessica

 

[mtblujeans]

They are coming up soon.....we're sooooooo excited!

 

[Star Wars Guy]

Don't know if this will impact SWW 2007 or not (it did in 2002), but they just announced Celebration 4 in L.A. for Memorial Day weekend 2007.

 

[mello]

I think what SWW really needs is a character dining experience with the SW characters. My DD9 has largely outgrown character dining, but we were both saying that special edition SW character dining woudl be a big hit

My ds' 10 and 13, who've also outgrown typical character dining, would be SO excited to dine w/ Darth Vader, et al. They could easily do that at Hollywood & Vine.

ETA: That would be a hit all year round, not just during SWW.

 

[jeankeri]

What effect did Celebration have on SWW??

 

[sodaseller]

My ds' 10 and 13, who've also outgrown typical character dining, would be SO excited to dine w/ Darth Vader, et al. They could easily do that at Hollywood & Vine.

ETA: That would be a hit all year round, not just during SWW.

I e-mailed Disney with the suggestion, only to receive a legal reply that they cannot consider any such ideas and did not even review it. They do this to avoid the lawsuits (they have had a few) claiming that someone is entitled to royalties after Disney stole their concept. I even wrote back and waived any such claim, saying I was just dong it for my nine-year-old, not to make a buck. Whether they ever looked at it, I don't know

 

[sodaseller]

What effect did Celebration have on SWW??

To the extent that WDW was doing a special 30 year celebration and attempting to get the real big names (Carrie Fischer (my DD9's dream), George Lucas, Mark Hamill, Natalie Portman, etc), unlikely that they would be at both events, and Celebration with a capital C would likely take precedence.

My other idea to make it special - figure out some way , even in the dark with an illusion, to have a flyover of an X-Wing, the Falcon, etc

 

[Mickey's Sister]

Don't know if this will impact SWW 2007 or not (it did in 2002), but they just announced Celebration 4 in L.A. for Memorial Day weekend 2007.

I was wondering the same thing! My son & I have been trying to attend SWW for years & we're finally going in 2007. (We had a trip planned for 2002 & then SWW wasn't held.) We plan to be there Memorial Day weekend, so I really hope it doesn't mess things up. If my son has to miss it again - he will be devastated!

Jessica

 

[TwitterMouse]

I'm going to the first SWW. I'm a huge fan, but didn't even know that I had planned my trip on a day when I could go to one. I'm going to be getting there late in the day (like 2pm) so I don't expect to be able to do too much, as it will probably be crowded, but I'm excited anyway

 

[hbg4]

We went to the Star Wars weekend on Sunday 29th. The crowd was managable and the weather was hot.
As soon as we entered the park we ran over to get Jedi Mickey's autograph and picture. By the time we got to the station for the autograph FP at 9.18a the line went all the way over to the restaurants- way too long. Since I rarely wait in long lines we left and headed over to star tours for the Jedi training selection for 9.30a. They selected mainly boys. My DD 9 was very disapointed at not being selected to duel with the light saber, but I pointed out that out of the 30 or something children they selected only 2 were girls.
Very sexually biased selection.
We watched the training session and then went to the 10a session of who wants to be a millionaire Star Wars version. We got in 3 minutes before the doors closed. An 11th grader made it into the hot seat and actually won the million point question only using 2 life lines. The host was a bit sarcastic to "miss know it all" but in good humor. Apparently her brother had also won the million point question last week, so their family ended up with 2 disney cruises for 4 people each plus all the paraphenalia that goes with winning- Awesome! Plus their mother home school's them. The secret to her winning was to have watched the Star Wars movies at least 50 times each except the last one.
By the time we got out at the line for Darth Vader was over 30 minutes so we went over to the parade route and had lunch while waiting for the special 11a Starwars parade. Not bad we had good shady seats on the steps outside
some place I can't remember the name of.
By 11.30 we headed out of MGM studios and took the ferry over to Epcot for the Flower and Garden Festival. After a few hours ther we return to MGM to catch up on the rest of the Star Wars weekend. Waited 35 minutes for Darth Vader's autograph and picture. Got a FP for Star Tours at 6p for a 6.30p return time.

The last Jedi training session at 6.30p was cancelled due to high wind and the threat of a storm/rain which never came. So instead they had an intimate meet and greet with the SW characters with just a short wait each since it hadn't been advertised.
The final stage performance at 7p was difficult to see because of the crowd, but the characters were definatley mingling with the crowds and posing for photos.
Overall this wasn't a bad day for our 1st Star Wars visit. Will definately try this again maybe next year.

 

[KimRaye]

Great report! Thanks!

 

[sodaseller]

We went to the Star Wars weekend on Sunday 29th. The crowd was managable and the weather was hot.
As soon as we entered the park we ran over to get Jedi Mickey's autograph and picture. By the time we got to the station for the autograph FP at 9.18a the line went all the way over to the restaurants- way too long. Since I rarely wait in long lines we left and headed over to star tours for the Jedi training selection for 9.30a. They selected mainly boys. My DD 9 was very disapointed at not being selected to duel with the light saber, but I pointed out that out of the 30 or something children they selected only 2 were girls.
Very sexually biased selection. :

Agree that boys were favored, but my DD9 did get selected with a bit of jumping