Just wanted to say a huge thanks to yulilin, hiromyhero and everyone else contributing to this thread. We just got back and had a GREAT Star Wars day at HS!
Both sons participated in Jedi training... We signed up at rope drop, got in the second show, and we all liked the new show. Older DS had done the old one twice, so it was a nice change. Afterwards we had lunch at backlot... Kids loved the waffles with Vader on them, and my DS4 finally got his BB-8 sipper.
At Launch Bay we had some good interaction with the patrolling Storm Troopers, and also got an awesome posed picture with them. As soon as we entered, we saw a Jawa in the cantina area. We lucked out and he was trading... My boys were SO excited. We traded 2 spiky little balls, a plastic gold coin, and a plastic R2D2 that had come out of a Cheerios box. The Jawa was great... Inspected each thing, jumped up and down and celebrated when we gave him the R2. In return we got two droid heads, and two bodies. The Jawa was only around for about 5 minutes after we traded with him and then we never saw him again. So if you see one and want to trade, I wouldn't wait. It may be your only chance.
We were the only ones at the visa meet and greet (around 2 pm). Didn't wait at all. Unfortunately the pictures are awful... 2 blurry, and in the only clear one we were obviously not ready. There were a few good ones of Vader talking to us before we posed. Waited 10 min to see Chewie and got great pics from that one.
We LOVED the dessert party. We all checked in around 6:15. My mom and I parked ourselves on a bench while DH and the boys went back to Launch Bay to play video games (we don't have any at home ). We were the first ones in at about 6:45. We chose the leftmost front row table, just behind the short tables. The short table did not have a handicap sign as some others did. After everyone came in, no one was at the short table, so we were able to have my kids at the short one, and we used the tall one behind them. PERFECT! There was also space near our table where they could have sat on the ground, and where we easily parked the stroller. We loved all the food and drinks... My kids loved that they could try stuff and it was ok if they didn't finish it. It was definitely not sold out... There were at least 4-5 empty tables I could see just from where we were. Although loud, we liked the dance party going on too... We could go out through the ropes right next to our table. We'd eat, dance, eat, dance, etc.
The fireworks were amazing! Hands down the best I've ever seen. I'm so grateful to whomever first mentioned ear protection. My kids would have been a mess without them. With them on, they were fine. Our view was perfect, but there was a ton of space just outside the rope too. It was a low crowd day, so ymmv, but the dessert party would not be worth the cost if you were only doing it for a good viewing spot.
Here's one of my favorite pics from the day.
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