Official Star Wars Weekends 2013 Tips and Tricks

[shelbyf31]

501st do you guys march in the 12:40 parade?

 

[501st disney trooper]

yes fri sat sun .. my error ... i was thinking my trip lolol it starts on a thrs .

and yes im a first weekend marcher again this year ,, the 17th-18-th 19th .
this year i will be in my imperial tie pilot .. im the tall thinner guy in all black ... im also a member of the jolly roger squadron ,, and my home garrison is the midwestgarrison

when i take my costume submission pics .. ill put one up ,,, few months from now ...


i have 4 approved and 4 not all star wars bad guy suits

last rtime i wore my imperial death star gunner ....

 

[jennyjinx3]

yes fri sat sun .. my error ... i was thinking my trip lolol it starts on a thrs .

and yes im a first weekend marcher again this year ,, the 17th-18-th 19th .
this year i will be in my imperial tie pilot .. im the tall thinner guy in all black ... im also a member of the jolly roger squadron ,, and my home garrison is the midwestgarrison

when i take my costume submission pics .. ill put one up ,,, few months from now ...


i have 4 approved and 4 not all star wars bad guy suits

last rtime i wore my imperial death star gunner ....

THis is great!! We will be there on the Sunday and will look for you for sure! Thanks for all the info!

 

[501st disney trooper]

501st do you guys march in the 12:40 parade?

yes we are bad guys (501st) guys in the 12:40 parade along with the rebel legion (good guys)
and the disney face characters ,,,darth vader, boba fett,jango fett,etc.... all characters that are in the shows .. are disney personel...

we are only allowed to participate in the stars and motorcars parade ... the kids from the jedi training will lead this parade with disney characters such as jedi mickey, darth goofy mickey'r2 unit etc.... and the convertable cars driving the talent ,,, such as david prowse , tom kane, Jay Laga'aia (who introduced himself to me last time and we talked about the legion for like 20 min in front of germany at epcot on an off sww day really nice guy )

sww is a really great experience ,,, especially if it your first time ,.,,

it gets better and better every year ,,, now that disney owns star wars ,,, the skys the limit !!

 

[shelbyf31]

So exciting!! We will be there the 17th, can not wait!!

 

[merbobear]

Sorry if this has been asked & answered already:
Touring Plans says that on the opening SWW that Friday is a Neutral park and Saturday is Park to Avoid (due to special event). Why is Friday not also a PTA? Can we really expect dramatically lighter crowds on the Friday?

Thanks!

 

[Lilfoot93]

im in for 2013
this will be the third sww for me - 2 with family , and have only been fortunate enough to ,march the parade only one day. on our last trip .

this will be my first solo trip ...also my first star wars weekends on my own /with other 501st members

we will be marching all 3 days of the first block of sww fri,sat,sun ..

staying at the boardwalk villas ..my host is a vacation club member .

yes the above is correct ,, my cast member friends (also 501st members ) are confirming additional face characters are being employed withing casting for coverage ... as the weekends may or may not be bigger this year or next ... no for sure info .. rumors and such ,,, the usual

we the 501st supply the generic,and helmeted characters in larger numbers
as a volunteerism organisation . are free volunteer labor for the parade .. while we are on vacation- some of us ,, and the recurrent yearly members are members of the florida garrison

the parade characters change all through out the weekend parades .. (except disney employed characters )so different #'s of different characters also the same with our sister club the rebel legion ... some members are dual club members and march different sides good/bad on alternating days ....
and the guests and actors, voice talent, etc ... change from weekend to weekend ....there are a small handfull who sometimes do most weekends


hope the weather is nice its hot in the armor standing backstage waiting to step off for the parade ,,

this should be a great year !! .... especially now that disney holds ownership of the franchise

That is wonderful that you guys volunteer your time! This will be our first year there as we are going on my sons Make A Wish trip to SWW. We will be there the last weekend though. This board has been very helpful with lots ideas and tips.

Jackie

 

[Saskiwi]

Psyched our DL-WDW mega vacation coincides with SWW!!
DS13 and DS10 are huge fans and going to SWW has long been dream of theirs. Living so far away in New Zealand we never thought we'd make it all the way to Orlando, let alone for a SWW- they were amped enough the first trip to DL 5 years ago when we managed to get them both picked for JTA!
After research on the DIS for tips on how to get picked they made a sign saying "Kiwi Jedis- we've come all the way from the Outer Rim!" And the Jedi Master did a big double-take at it , and picked them both!
So that's been our Disney-Star Wars highlight to date but now we know we will be there for the first weekend we will have to make sure we pack a few of our family's many SW teeshirts - and still leave room for SW souvenirs.
Can any SWW veterans tell me, do they have extra goodies for sale in Darth's Mall- Ie will there be SW stuff on sale there that you wouldn't normally see at Star Traders or wherever?

 

[cgattis]

Anybody remember the hours for Darth's Mall? Is the merch location usually open well past the end of the daily scheduled events? Hate to waste character op time shopping.

 

[mesaboy2]

Anybody remember the hours for Darth's Mall? Is the merch location usually open well past the end of the daily scheduled events? Hate to waste character op time shopping.

It was open through park close the day I was there last year.

 

[yulilin3]

Sorry if this has been asked & answered already:
Touring Plans says that on the opening SWW that Friday is a Neutral park and Saturday is Park to Avoid (due to special event). Why is Friday not also a PTA? Can we really expect dramatically lighter crowds on the Friday?

Thanks!

TP is always making changes to their crowd calendar and I wouldn't base my decision on going to DHS solely on them. All days of SWW are generally busier for DHS but Fridays is a bit better because locals are working/school we can't go go until Sat and Sun.

Psyched our DL-WDW mega vacation coincides with SWW!!
DS13 and DS10 are huge fans and going to SWW has long been dream of theirs. Living so far away in New Zealand we never thought we'd make it all the way to Orlando, let alone for a SWW- they were amped enough the first trip to DL 5 years ago when we managed to get them both picked for JTA!
After research on the DIS for tips on how to get picked they made a sign saying "Kiwi Jedis- we've come all the way from the Outer Rim!" And the Jedi Master did a big double-take at it , and picked them both!
So that's been our Disney-Star Wars highlight to date but now we know we will be there for the first weekend we will have to make sure we pack a few of our family's many SW teeshirts - and still leave room for SW souvenirs.
Can any SWW veterans tell me, do they have extra goodies for sale in Darth's Mall- Ie will there be SW stuff on sale there that you wouldn't normally see at Star Traders or wherever?

Great story, wow all the way from New Zealand, that must be an adventure...just to let you know, the Jedi Master doesn't get to pick kids for JTA anymore, you have to sign up at SOunds Dangerous as soon as the park opens, your child/children must be with you when you go sign up and it's super important to be there at least 30 minutes before the park opens because JTA will fill up in the first 30 to 45 minutes. And YES Darth Mall (or whatever the name will be this year) has alot of extra goodies not found at Tattoine Traders, already saving some money for that.
here's a video of Darth Mall from last year : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjiWlQTwOGA

 

[yulilin3]

Anybody remember the hours for Darth's Mall? Is the merch location usually open well past the end of the daily scheduled events? Hate to waste character op time shopping.

Like Mesaboy2 said it was open all day during last year's SWW. If you do want any of the Limited Edition Merchandise then it should be your first stop of the day because they sell out quickly. If you just want to purchase merchandise that's not LE then you can do it anytime.

 

[phi2012]

We are planning on going on the last day of sww. Will there be any sww merchandise left at the Darth mall (or whatever they decide to call it this year ).

I've read lots of stuff that says all the limited edition stuff goes in the first days, which I understand but what sort of stuff would be left for those of us visiting on the last day? do you guys think it would be better to pop in on the last Friday for just an hours shopping to try and get stuff? Nd then properly do sww on the last Sunday? We would have done the Friday but are with other family who have other things planned for that day but we could probably get away for an hour or so.
Your thoughts

 

[cerberus]

Sorry if this has been asked & answered already:
Touring Plans says that on the opening SWW that Friday is a Neutral park and Saturday is Park to Avoid (due to special event). Why is Friday not also a PTA? Can we really expect dramatically lighter crowds on the Friday?

Thanks!

We went 2 weekends last year and found Friday to be the least crowded and Sat to be the worst, except for the last Sunday which was as bad as Sat. We are only able to go one weekend this year, but just rearranged the trip so that we could attend on Friday.

 

[yulilin3]

We are planning on going on the last day of sww. Will there be any sww merchandise left at the Darth mall (or whatever they decide to call it this year ).

I've read lots of stuff that says all the limited edition stuff goes in the first days, which I understand but what sort of stuff would be left for those of us visiting on the last day? do you guys think it would be better to pop in on the last Friday for just an hours shopping to try and get stuff? Nd then properly do sww on the last Sunday? We would have done the Friday but are with other family who have other things planned for that day but we could probably get away for an hour or so.
Your thoughts

There will still be plenty of non LE merchandise left, and the best thing about the last weekend is that merchandise with the year's logo (SWW 2013) will be discounted.

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

I worked star wars weekends last year and this year i won't be here

 

[merbobear]

TP is always making changes to their crowd calendar and I wouldn't base my decision on going to DHS solely on them. All days of SWW are generally busier for DHS but Fridays is a bit better because locals are working/school we can't go go until Sat and Sun.

Well we have another full day at DHS earlier in the week, so our SWW day will be just the SW stuff and probably filling in whatever we missed on our first day, so it should work out ok.

Has anyone had their child do the Jedi training during SWW? Do ALL of the kids who participate get to march in their parade in the afternoon? I think dd would really like the parade...

 

[lovethattink]

I worked star wars weekends last year and this year i won't be here

Oh bummer. It was nice meeting you last year at Darth's Mall.

 

[lovethattink]

...just to let you know, the Jedi Master doesn't get to pick kids for JTA anymore, you have to sign up at SOunds Dangerous as soon as the park opens, your child/children must be with you when you go sign up and it's super important to be there at least 30 minutes before the park opens because JTA will fill up in the first 30 to 45 minutes.

Last year JTA sign ups were at Indiana Jones and PMC sign ups were at Sounds Dangerous during SWW, other days of the week JTA sign ups were at Sounds Dangerous.

 

[yulilin3]

Well we have another full day at DHS earlier in the week, so our SWW day will be just the SW stuff and probably filling in whatever we missed on our first day, so it should work out ok.

Has anyone had their child do the Jedi training during SWW? Do ALL of the kids who participate get to march in their parade in the afternoon? I think dd would really like the parade...

They pick kids at random to march in the parade. Just because your child does JTA doesn't mean they get to march. Some of them are picked but it's not because they do JTA.
For the parade they look for kids that are enthusiastic about SW, are wearing SW costumes or shirts, they usually pick them around the Sounds Dangerous/Star Tours area in the morning

Last year JTA sign ups were at Indiana Jones and PMC sign ups were at Sounds Dangerous during SWW, other days of the week JTA sign ups were at Sounds Dangerous.

OMG of course you're right, I forgot about that.