Official Star Wars Weekends 2013 Tips and Tricks

[GeekyGirl]

Can anyone please offer me advice about the waiting time 4 FP 4 SWW celebrities? My daughter is a fan of James Arnold Taylor and trying 2 see how popular his line is so she can arrive early.

The morning we met him we got there around 6:20 am and ended up with a fastpass for 10:10 am of a session that started at 9:45 am. I think if you shoot for 6 you should be fine.

 

[yulilin3]

Can anyone please offer me advice about the waiting time 4 FP 4 SWW celebrities? My daughter is a fan of James Arnold Taylor and trying 2 see how popular his line is so she can arrive early.

James is an awesome guy to meet, if you're there by 6 am for him you should be fine.

 

[yulilin3]

Anyone have any idea on how late one could arrive to get a fastpass for Warwick Davis or Jim Cummings?

Wish I knew for sure... since Davis has only two sessions it would be around 5 at the latest? For Cummings I'm thinking 5:30 to 6. Since he has three sessions

 

[The Sunrise Student]

I will be one of the crazy ones in line for Warwick Davis bright and early. Look for a tall lady in an R2D2 dress and you found me

 

[The Sunrise Student]

PS I will try to keep folks posted as to the line situation in the AM for celebrity FP

 

[GeekyGirl]

Wish I knew for sure... since Davis has only two sessions it would be around 5 at the latest? For Cummings I'm thinking 5:30 to 6. Since he has three sessions

Looks like I'm going right to bed when I get home and back up at 2:30 to drive back!

 

[obx_mama]

I will be one of the crazy ones in line for Warwick Davis bright and early. Look for a tall lady in an R2D2 dress and you found me

We won't be there that early but will look for you. White tanks for DD & me. I'll have long braids & she'll have Leia buns! DH - undecided but no braids! lol

 

[lovethattink]

Sorry I didn't post this sooner, I was taking a vacation of sorts from the DIS Things went great on Saturday, but the new merchandise tent line stinks.

I agree. Having the le line separate is inconvenient for paying. You have to shop either le our regular merchandise, pay, then do the other.

Can anyone please offer me advice about the waiting time 4 FP 4 SWW celebrities? My daughter is a fan of James Arnold Taylor and trying 2 see how popular his line is so she can arrive early.

We got there around 6:30 and got 10:10 on Sunday

 

[kmcdougan]

Just a reminder, I will be at the studios tomorrow in preparation for my march in the parade Saturday. Feel free to find me. Will be at the gates for opening, in the Mall after that, at the parade for 11, lunch at Derby for 130, stars show for 330. I will be decked out in 501st logoed stuff, especially my garrison shirt which has a stormtrooper riding an alligator on the back. Shoot me a pm if you think you want to meet up and I can get you my cell number or how to find me on Facebook.

Ash

 

[heyitsmejosh]

Ooops, sorry...boyfriend isn't going, just has her all excited about it!!! I don't think there is any need to be getting up at 4am!!! I have no issues with some waiting in line, and realize we will have to do that for some character meets. Been there, done that years ago. Back then, dd didn't really care about SW!! Yes, she would love to have been able to meet Warwick Davis but there is no way she would be able to get up that early!! Looks like we'll just take our chances on what we can get done as far as SWW goes!!! We don't normally spend the entire day at DHS, so this will be something different for us!!

I know you probably won't do it but most people are put off by the line thing early in the am if she really really wanted to meet Davis you might be able to show up around 5, you just have to wait there til 7 or so when they hand out wrist bands and fast passes then you can go back to your room and get a couple more hours of sleep.. I'm only saying this because I really really didn't want to do it last week but my gf convinced me to do it for ray park and we had to show up at 2am it was a great experience met some friends in line and meeting ray park was really fun it wasn't bad at all.. You can even bring a pillow and blanket from the hotel and just sleep on that..

 

[HappyHaunts999]

For anyone going early tomorrow. Can you check to see if you can get coffee, tea before entering or only in the park once they open. TIA

 

[obx_mama]

I will be decked out in 501st logoed stuff, especially my garrison shirt which has a stormtrooper riding an alligator on the back.

That should be easy to spot! We'll look for you too.

 

[ali78]

What are the line ups like for jedi mickey and darth vader?

 

[GeekyGirl]

Oh! And tomorrow I'll be wearing the Han Solo, Her Universe tee and I'll be carrying around a Chewbacca backpack, so if you see me, come say hi!

 

[bentopher]

So I just got back from 8 days at WDW. I went to SWW for 2 days. The Opening Friday, and then we went back Saturday.

I haven't had time to read all the posts that have gone on during the time I was gone, so this is just my input/recap of the events and what we did. By "we" I mean my mom (58), myself (34) and my 2 boys (5 and 6 years old). This is our first SWW weekend, and the second time boys have been to WDW.

While we had a great trip, I won't do SWW next year. And if going back in May, I'll go a bit earlier (ie, first 1 or 2 weeks instead). The weather was REALLY hot on Fri and Sat (to the point where it felt like 110 degrees). Last year we were there only a few days earlier in May and it was NOT that hot at all.

Anyway....

We arrived Friday morning around 6:50am. General lines to get into the park was only about 6-8 people deep. So not bad at all. I wanted to be there early to get them into JTA. At 730 then opened the park, and let us get part way in, before they stopped everyone with signs and a rope (for those heading to JTA) and just stopping everyone else in general who was going into the park. 2 Clone Troopers were out high on top of what I didn't realize then was one of the floats they were using in the parade later. After there 10 minute comedy act were we free to go about where we were going. My only disappointment was the absolute chaos and rudeness of people heading for JTA. My one son was practically trampled. And everyone who attempted to cut off my stroller was mad at ME when I bumped their feet. Which was impossible to stop since it was a crazy crowd heading there. Then as I'm heading INTO the IJ theatre, they tell me THEN that I have to park the stroller. So forget it. By time I try to get across 20 people to park it and then get back into line with the crowd, far too many people had streamed in. I talked to the kids and decided it wasn't worth standing in line for 60+ min to MAYBE get a spot for the show. So we ventured on over to TSM instead and rode in with a 10 min wait, twice and got fast passes for later So we were happy after that!

We then got autographs with Jedi Mickey and Leia Minnie. Got some churros in an R2D2 container (a first for the boys ), By that time we got to ride use our FP for TSM. After that we saw Boba Fett and some roaming Clone Troppers. Headed towards Star Tours. Since most people were already waiting for the parade the line at the time was only 10 min. After that it was approaching 1030 (maybe after) and we made our way around the park to the front to attempt to find a spot for the parade. I needed to be at the front of the park since I had a lunch ADR at H&V for 11:20am. Of course it was INSANELY packed. Some super nice folks were standing with their kids and they let my boys and a few other kids all go up front so they could watch the parade. Thanks for nice people!!
My mom hung out and just kept an eye on the boys, and I climbed up in a shop window sill (yup) with 3 other people to attempt to watch and video the parade. The boys LOVED it!

Lunch was typical Hollywood and Vine. Nothing yah or nay to report
Boys had fun, that's what counts. And we left full.

After lunch and more sunscreen and containers with water. We walked back to where Rex and Cody were meeting. Got in line while Rex was out (Oldest DS fav) and the CM said by time the line got to us Cody would be out (Youngest DS fav). I knew standing in this line (about 40 min) I would only make 1 child happy. And figured I'd have to try again later. So as we approach the front, Rex is still out. The couple in front of us want to see Cody, not Rex. So they told my boys to go and see Rex, while my mom and I still stood in line. And then the characters switched, and the couple before us went and then the boys saw Cody. Yah for more super nice people! That saved me more time waiting in line! And of course boys were happy!

I kinda get foggy and what happened after that. I know the boys ran into some Catina Band members since I have photos. I think we attempted to watch the 5pm show (Visit from Darth Maul), but I think my boys were just too hot and tired, we got it just as the show was starting since it wasn't full. But they lasted about 10 min and wanted to leave. So we did. There was only 3 people in line for Asajj Ventress, so we got in line to meet her. Boys were not impressed with her attitude. LOL And I know that we ate dinner at Pizza Planet which was surprisingly better than I thought, and we enjoyed Darth Vader cupcakes for dessert.

Then we meandered a bit and headed to the stage area for Hoopla. I think we got there about 730? and found some spots in the area along the green metal fence. (if you're facing the stage, to the right close to Brown Derby). We were also right by a concrete wall that was about a foot high. CM's kept saying no standing on it. By time the show started, everyone was standing on them to see. Show was really fun for us first timers. Boys loved hearing all the popular music that they know.

After the show we decided to go over to the Mall. It was SO Freezing inside since it had cooled off outside. We made sure to leave the park before Fantasmic let out!

Whew, what a long day! Our next day (Saturday) we were supposed to head on over to Epcot. However, the boys wanted to do more at HS and SWW. So, I had to cancel a bunch of ADR's (that I planned so long ago!!) and attempt to make new ones for the rest of our trip. Funny how you plan for so long and love your plans and then it all goes out the window.

So Day Two. We went back! But not quite as early. I think we got there sometime around 8am this time. We headed on over to the Mickey/Minnie line. Really hoping to see Darth Goofy and Stormtropper Donald. But they switched out about 6 people in front of us (back to M&M) so it didn't happen. We headed on over to the Chewy line, but it was already pretty long but he was just coming out, so the boys got some high 5's as he was walking by. My oldest yes... "Yes, I got to see Chewy" lol. So hey, whatever works right? Grabbed some Star Tour FP's. We headed back over to the Mall area. This time we bought a few things, and got our Magic Photos done outside the Mall. By now it was about 11am. We grabbed some burgers at Fairfax for lunch.

At some point we did TSM again (We got FP earlier I believe), met Buzz and Woody, and saw some Green Army Men. We managed to watch Indiana Jones. We decided to get in line to meet Chip n Dale as Ewoks. Boys loved them. (And I'm sad cuz they Photopass photos didn't end up on my Photo Pass card, so we have no photos ) We did a drawing class, went into the Animation building and saw the Incredibles, the Penguins and found Daisy in a corner, who switched out to Pluto. I know we took an ice cream break. After that we did Star Tours, met the Queen, saw some more Catina members, and some Clone Trooper again. Didn't have enough time to meet Kit Fisto since we were on our way to Lights Camera show (which they changed from last year which was nice). And I think that was it. After the show Mace Windu was out, but they boys were done. I know we made our way out of the park after that. Maybe doing ST one last time. I can't remember. LOL

Overall I was pretty happy with what we accomplished in 2 days. I think in the end we rode TSM 4 times total and ST 4 times as well. And saw everything else we were planning on. Now I'm just bummed that I'm missing photos.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys their upcoming Star Wars Weekends! Remember your suncreen and lots of water!! And May the Force Be With You!

 

[heyitsmejosh]

Anyone else's d tech me ship? Mine just did

 

[cel_disney]

bentopher - the photopass people should be able to find your chip and dale photos! Just tell them the approximate time and what you were wearing!! We have had missing shots before and they always find them! Just remember to do it before its been more than 30 days!!!

 

[bentopher]

bentopher - the photopass people should be able to find your chip and dale photos! Just tell them the approximate time and what you were wearing!! We have had missing shots before and they always find them! Just remember to do it before its been more than 30 days!!!

Thanks!! I found a form online a bit ago and was super excited! So I filled it out and even included another photo of the exact outfits we were wearing from earlier that day! Fingers crossed! I also realized that our Woody and Buzz pics from that same afternoon are missing too! Here's to hoping!!

 

[ajh88]

PS I will try to keep folks posted as to the line situation in the AM for celebrity FP

Help me Sunrise Student, you are my only hope! We are planning to lineup for Warwick in the am but my 11 week pregnant body will NOT want to get up at 4:30 am for naught! I will check your updates with bated breath!

Have a great day tomorrow and perhaps we will run into you! DH and I will be in May the 4th Yoda shirts and DD has a "My Patronus is an Ewok" shirt.

 

[SamiL]

How do the autograph Fasspasses work? My husband can go at 4:30 a.m., but I don't think DS6 would be up for it. But we don't need more than one autograph. Could DS6 use the FP, with DH waiting in line with him to take his photo.

This is our first SWW, so I have no idea how this thing works.