Official Star Wars Weekends 2013 Tips and Tricks

[yulilin3]

Last year the boats started running at 7am for an 8am scheduled opening. We left the YC right at 7am, just as the first boat was coming under the bridge and heading towards BWI. We beat the boat with time to spare, but we were walking at a pretty good pace.

Yulilin- thanks for that list!! The past few years we have done Vader first on 1 day and Chewy first on another. But I think I might relent this year and do Vader later in the day to have that coveted shade, since you are correct that Vader's line is long the ENTIRE day. I will be paying close attention to the early weekend folks (as well as Kenny the Pirate's character times) to see just how/when to fit Ewok Chip and Dale in as well...

I was almost positive it was you that talked about the boats but didn't want to give a username without being sure...
I really hope, since they don't have the 3pm parade or the DCR anymore that some in entertainment went into character casting and they'll have more SW characters out this year meeting...Like Padme, Emperor Palpatine (he used to come out by Backlot Tour but hasn't in the last couple of years),how about Admiral Ackbar, that would be so cool!

 

[Bearwater]

We will be at DHS on Monday, June 3rd. Will there be any special Star Wars things when we are there?

 

[yulilin3]

We will be at DHS on Monday, June 3rd. Will there be any special Star Wars things when we are there?

JTA will be operating as usual, depending on the amount of people it might be a 2 tier JTA, meaning that Darth Vader will be fighting on stage and Darth Maul will be at the bottom. And Star Tours, other than that, no.

 

[mommy2jack]

He's a voice actor that has been a ton of Disney characters. He took over for Stirling Holloway as the voice of Winnie the Pooh, and has been Pooh's voice in the tv series' and follow up movies. Tigger, too. For those of us of a certain age that can remember those disney after-school shows like Duck Tales and Tale Spin and Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, Jungle Cubs, etc. he voiced something in most all of them. Oh, and he is the modern Pete in the Goofy movies and House of Mouse.
From the Disney-side he is more of a big deal than from the star wars side, if that makes sense.
Here:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0191906/

And DARKWING DUCK... Love Darkwing Duck!
Let's get dangerous!!

We weren't going to bother trying to get autographs. Getting to the park by 7:30 for opening is going to be hard enough for us with two little kids... but I would have LOVED to get his!! I wonder if he would sign our Darkwing Duck DVD??

 

[yulilin3]

And DARKWING DUCK... Love Darkwing Duck!
Let's get dangerous!!

We weren't going to bother trying to get autographs. Getting to the park by 7:30 for opening is going to be hard enough for us with two little kids... but I would have LOVED to get his!! I wonder if he would sign our Darkwing Duck DVD??

We're taking our Epic Mickey 2 game cover for him to sign. He voiced Pete in that

 

[Cinderumbrella]

I was almost positive it was you that talked about the boats but didn't want to give a username without being sure...
I really hope, since they don't have the 3pm parade or the DCR anymore that some in entertainment went into character casting and they'll have more SW characters out this year meeting...Like Padme, Emperor Palpatine (he used to come out by Backlot Tour but hasn't in the last couple of years),how about Admiral Ackbar, that would be so cool!

Woohoo- I am famous for something!!

We will still be at POR for the SWW portion of our trip so it will be strange to have to rely on the buses to get there. Being able to walk it was great to avoid the "will we make it on time???" panic.

I agree that more characters would be AWESOME!!! We have all 3 days of weekend 4 dedicated to SWW, but I suspect we might not need that last day at all since we skip the celeb autographs. Plus, DS never took to the Clone Wars cartoon so we tend to skip those shows too.


Also, here is a personal plea that I have put in for the past several years on these threads

FOR THOSE OF US WHO ARE GOING IN THE LATER WEEKENDS AND DESPERATELY WANT TO BE SURPRISED, CAN WE PLEASE AVOID SPECIFIC CONVERSATIONS ABOUT THE HOOPLA? (or at least put a giant SPOILER comment so I can skip that post?)

TIA!

 

[Supermom3]

Order I would do the characters based on popularity and the sun, characters were out from 9am to 7pm last year:

1.-Disney SW: Jedi Mickey, Leia Minnie, Darth Goofy ,Stormtrooper Donald and R2MK. The rotate so you may start making the line for a pair and then they switch which contributes for this line being so long, also it’s in the sun all day and even though they put up some umbrellas, it doesn’t help that much. They are by the exit to Great Movie Ride (1 hour and up)

2.- Chewbacca and Ewok: Another very long line, they go in every 20min., they come out about 5 minutes after they go in, Chewbacca is very popular, this line stays consistently long thru out the day. It’s semi-shaded so that helps. They are at the Speeder by Star Tours. (1 hour and up)

3.- Darth Vader: It’s the Dark Lord what more can I say. The good thing is that it’s under roof all day but, again, it stays long all the time. He meets by the exit to Backlot Tour (45min and up)

4.- Darth Maul: His line gets some shade during the day, he meets next to the entrance to Backlot Tour. (30 min. line)

5.- Bobba and Jango Fett: very little shade for them, they also rotate, they meet by the entrance to Backlot Tour (30 min. line)

6.- Clone Wars. Ahsoka Tano, Asajj Ventress, Rex and Cody: the line is in direct sunlight all day and they also rotate. They are by the Premiere Theater (Muppetvision 3D area) (30 min line)

7.- Jedi Council. Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, Shaak Tii and Kitt Fisto: they are by the San Francisco mural and get sun during the day. (30 min. line)

8.- Queen Amidala: the poor Queen is in the sun all day, she meets next to Sounds Dangerous (20 min. line)

9.- C3P0, R2D2, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia: They rotate and it takes time to get all four of them but the good news and why I leave this one for the end is that they met inside the Merhandise tent last year. A/C makes a huge difference.
There are roaming characters that are around the park. These are easier to get a picture, you just jump in.
Around Star Tours you may find the Cantina Band
Around Premiere Theater you may find Jawas, Clone Troopers
Around Backlot Tour Stormtroopers, Tusken Raiders, Gamorrean Guard, Aurra Sing (my fave) and Zam Wessell
This year there are rumors we might see Chip and Dale as Ewoks, talking to a character CM during May the 4th he said that they should have a separate line…also pictures from the May the 4th event we saw Greedo meeting outside Backlot Tour. Like Berlioz said he makes an appearance during Hoopla but has never been out for M&G.

This is a great list. Thanks so much for taking the time to post this!!

 

[WillAustin]

OK, so my daughter was looking over my shoulder as I was looking at Kenny's Twitter feed, and she was all OMG, WHAT IS THAT? I'd kicked around the idea of doing a surprise mommy-daughter trip for one SWWs, but then time got away from me and I have a busy business travel schedule in May. The only date that works is the last SWW...so now I'm crazily considering booking a last minute trip. Would that be totally nuts? We'd leave Friday, come back Monday, and just visit the parks Saturday and Sunday. Has anyone else ever caught the bug and done something relatively crazy like that?

It's not totally nuts. I just did the same thing yesterday.

My son came home from school and told me about an assignment they had to write a postcard to a famous person they admire. He wrote his to George Lucas. The last weekend is the only one that works for us, so I booked it last night. I can't wait.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

It's not totally nuts. I just did the same thing yesterday.

My son came home from school and told me about an assignment they had to write a postcard to a famous person they admire. He wrote his to George Lucas. The last weekend is the only one that works for us, so I booked it last night. I can't wait.

Best Dad ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PrincessKida]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessjohnsonphotography/sets/72157633414133429/

Here are my pictures from the May the Fourth day at Hollywood Studios. I was able to make every event and meet every character(minus Wicket-was not doing the Chewie line more than once!) I got to meet Greedo and a few others that I had not met before and.... I got this awesome picture that I think may be my favorite of the year!

 

[Cinderumbrella]

I really hope that means R2-MK will be at SWW again this year!! We missed him last year.

Also, PLEASE let Greedo be there (or at least a wandering character!!!)

(Getting excited here!! )

 

[roselark]

I have a question about Toy Story Midway Mania during SWW. We are going on May 31st. Our biggest priority is merchandise, but DH has not been to the world since before TSMM was built, so he has never experienced it. Should we hit the merchandise tent first and then try to get fast passes for TSMM or get fast passes first and then head to TSMM. We also have D-Tech Me scheduled for 10:20. We are hoping to be in line by 7am, but that will depend on busses.

I read in past posts that the merchandise tent is not too crazy after the first SWW day of the first weekend. Is this true?

 

[yulilin3]

I have a question about Toy Story Midway Mania during SWW. We are going on May 31st. Our biggest priority is merchandise, but DH has not been to the world since before TSMM was built, so he has never experienced it. Should we hit the merchandise tent first and then try to get fast passes for TSMM or get fast passes first and then head to TSMM. We also have D-Tech Me scheduled for 10:20. We are hoping to be in line by 7am, but that will depend on busses.

I read in past posts that the merchandise tent is not too crazy after the first SWW day of the first weekend. Is this true?

Yes, that's true. Do you want any LE merchandise or just regular merchandise? If there's any LE merchandise left then you have to go to the tent first, get what you want then go grab a fp for TSMM.
The merchandise tent is busier in the mornings of any weekends, and this is why:
Many people are there early for celeb fp. many don't have kids or kids have already done JTA so as soon as the park opens many of us go to the merchandise tent to see what's still available and wait for our celeb fp times...in the afternoon there are the 3 main shows at Premiere Theater: Behind the Force, Stars of the Saga and Obi Wan and Beyond se people just stay in that area of the park and the tent becomes less busy.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

It's not totally nuts. I just did the same thing yesterday.

My son came home from school and told me about an assignment they had to write a postcard to a famous person they admire. He wrote his to George Lucas. The last weekend is the only one that works for us, so I booked it last night. I can't wait.

I'm waiting to see what airfare looks like today, but I'm about 85% sure we'll be booking as well.

My company's headquarters is north of San Francisco, and every time I go there I pass an exit sign on the freeway for "Lucas Valley Road." I never thought much of it until I was doing the drive with another person, and he pointed out that Skywalker Ranch was on that road. I'm thinking my daughter is going to have to come on a business trip with me so that we can drive by that mecca like proper Star Wars crazies!

 

[PrincessKida]

I'm waiting to see what airfare looks like today, but I'm about 85% sure we'll be booking as well.

My company's headquarters is north of San Francisco, and every time I go there I pass an exit sign on the freeway for "Lucas Valley Road." I never thought much of it until I was doing the drive with another person, and he pointed out that Skywalker Ranch was on that road. I'm thinking my daughter is going to have to come on a business trip with me so that we can drive by that mecca like proper Star Wars crazies!

Ironically, Lucas Valley Road was named that long before Skywalker Ranch was built there. Lucas looked at 2 locations for Skywalker Ranch and I believe his employees pushed for the Lucas Valley Road location because of the name! Just thought I'd add this to your story.

 

[roselark]

Yes, that's true. Do you want any LE merchandise or just regular merchandise? If there's any LE merchandise left then you have to go to the tent first, get what you want then go grab a fp for TSMM.

Yep, we definitely want to grab up some LE merchandise if any is still available. Looks like we will hit the tent first. Thanks for the advise!

 

[rocknroll]

Looks like it is the autograph lines for this dad.

I guess I better make sure my tablet is loaded with a bunch of new books.

Cheers!

Roehl

 

[AquaDame]

Looks like it is the autograph lines for this dad.

I guess I better make sure my tablet is loaded with a bunch of new books.

Cheers!

Roehl

I absolutely would have as well, but alas we are weekend three. No one we are interested in, so I guess we'll at least get to "sleep in" and be in line around 7.

 

[megloowho]

How early do people start getting in line for the shows/demonstrations? Are there any scheduled for this year? Are they hard to get into?

Also, if we will be there the Sunday of the first weekend will all the limited edition stuff be gone? (I am mainly looking for pins.)

 

[okienick]

Yes, that's true. Do you want any LE merchandise or just regular merchandise? If there's any LE merchandise left then you have to go to the tent first, get what you want then go grab a fp for TSMM.
The merchandise tent is busier in the mornings of any weekends, and this is why:
Many people are there early for celeb fp. many don't have kids or kids have already done JTA so as soon as the park opens many of us go to the merchandise tent to see what's still available and wait for our celeb fp times...in the afternoon there are the 3 main shows at Premiere Theater: Behind the Force, Stars of the Saga and Obi Wan and Beyond se people just stay in that area of the park and the tent becomes less busy.

I'm still trying to figure out what will be LE merchandise and regular merchandise. Is there some place that shows which is which?