Official Star Wars Weekends 2013 Tips and Tricks

[The Sunrise Student]

Photopass photographers are with all SW characters and Disney SW characters and they also have some roaming photopass people with the roaming characters.
Now that Disney acquired SW maybe they'll have photopass with the celebs, who knows

I'll keep my fingers crossed, but it is good to know that they do have them with the "CM Dressed Characters"

Maybe there is some legality thing with DPP where they are kinda selling actor's pictures and that's why, not sure there... but it might be, still sucks though... I figure they should put that in as part of the contract or something if it is.

 

[PrincessKida]

Just an fyi, and this info is from my experiences in 2011 so perhaps it has changed, Disney attempts to have photopass with all of the characters and all of them at "sets" certainly do. If you have to wait in a line, they'll have a photopass. For the roaming characters Disney does send out a Photopass or 2 to cover them but very often there would be more characters than photopass photographers, and therefore they tried to jump back and forth. I did not recieve photopass for my pictures with Aurra or the Gamoreon Guard.

 

[The Sunrise Student]

Just an fyi, and this info is from my experiences in 2011 so perhaps it has changed, Disney attempts to have photopass with all of the characters and all of them at "sets" certainly do. If you have to wait in a line, they'll have a photopass. For the roaming characters Disney does send out a Photopass or 2 to cover them but very often there would be more characters than photopass photographers, and therefore they tried to jump back and forth. I did not recieve photopass for my pictures with Aurra or the Gamoreon Guard.

Did you have separate photopass cards? Or was it just the photographer's scanner messing up the works?

 

[rocknroll]

Like my 16 year old son would say "you just got a "high"dea" ...
The lines for the merchandise tent last year were set u like this:

As you enter, the far right was to line up for C3P0, R2D2, Luke and Leia...having the Carbon Freeze thing in the tent this year I'm not sure if these characters will still be in there (I Hope So, we all ned an A/C line for characters)

Then the middle line (First Friday only) was for the LE merchandise, you would go in, all the way down the tent, make a left, and then the LE merch would be to the far right, on tables.

The left hand side would be for people not interested in LE merch. that would take you to the middle of the tent were the bulk of everything is, make your own lightsaber, make your own nametag in Aurebesh, Build A Droid, and all other merch.

Now on the first Friday the line for LE merch. was so long that it would snake outside the tent and actually into the Rock and Roller Coaster courtyard (use google map if you want so you see what I mean)

Even if you're allowed to stay in the merch. tent after your carbon freeze me experience people in line for LE merch are unlikely to let you jump in the line, you would have to go outside and line up at the back, you might be allowed to stay in the general merchandise area.

I think this train of thought that you have requires a :
May the Force Be With You

Good Luck

Thanks again yulilin3. I was pretty sure that my "high dea" (please pass on my to your son on this line) was too good to be true and reminded me of Hans Solo's line to Luke.

After all, I am going to be at SWW 2013 on the first day, and should be able to get at least one autograph from "Darth Maul" plus got a Carbon-Freeze Me experience reservation. I should be happy with that right and everything else is a bonus?

Cheers!

Roehl

 

[lovethattink]

I would like to go straight to Darth Maul upon rope drop, but I think I'm going to nix that idea. I remember the DIS member who worked in the tent saying it took 2 hours just to check out some people that first day due to the volume of merchandise purchased.

I also know from experience that it's pointless to go around 10, because it was a 2 hours line when we arrived last year at that time the first day.

 

[TallandGoofy]

Does anyone have experience requesting a specific time for JTA during SWW? I am planning around getting the 10:35 show. Of course, I can flex if need be but just wondering if it is even an option.

Also - how much time before and after the show should I allow, assuming my kids are in it? Is this about right?:

Arrive at JTA stage 10:15 (for 10:35 show)
JTA 10:35 - ??? (what is it, 15 minutes?)
Finished by 10:55 (?)

Thanks!

 

[ajh88]

Interesting to see that the Vinylmations are not being released on Opening day for the most part. Only Star Wars Series 3 is being released. All the rest are being released over the rest of the weekends with the Carbonite one not being released until the LAST weekend.

This actually makes me very unhappy if it is correct.

It is one of only a couple of things that we desperately want and just because we won't be there on weekend 4, we fall to the mercy of the secondary market. I wish there were a better way. We ended up buying the Chewbacca lanyard off ebay last year - we were there on weekend 3, but there were none to be had in Darth's Mall. I guess we will just see how the chips fall and keep our fingers crossed.

 

[yulilin3]

Does anyone have experience requesting a specific time for JTA during SWW? I am planning around getting the 10:35 show. Of course, I can flex if need be but just wondering if it is even an option.

Also - how much time before and after the show should I allow, assuming my kids are in it? Is this about right?:

Arrive at JTA stage 10:15 (for 10:35 show)
JTA 10:35 - ??? (what is it, 15 minutes?)
Finished by 10:55 (?)

Thanks!

I haven't done JTA in years (my kids are older now) but I do think someone here said that they requested a specific time...I would think that the earlier you sign up (when there are more slots opened) the easiest it'll be to request a specific time. And, you have the times right on the whole experience, just give it an hour, counting when you have to show up and the actual show.

 

[TallandGoofy]

Here are the official JTA hours during SWW

8:45a, 9:20a, 10:05a, 10:35a, 12p, 12:30p, 1p, 1:30p, 2p, 2:30p, 3p,
3:30p, 4p, 4:30p, 5p, 5:30p, 6:30p, 7p, 7:30p

Looking at these, I wonder if the parade time is going to be earlier than 12:40. Seems like they wouldn't have JTA starting 10 minutes before the parade. (would they?) The longest gap between JTA shows is between 10:35 and 12pm so maybe an 11 am parade??

 

[yulilin3]

Looking at these, I wonder if the parade time is going to be earlier than 12:40. Seems like they wouldn't have JTA starting 10 minutes before the parade. (would they?) The longest gap between JTA shows is between 10:35 and 12pm so maybe an 11 am parade??

Good catch!!
last year's JTA schedule gap was from the 12:15pm and 1:30pm show and the parade was at 12:40pm
It may very well be possible that they are doing the parade earlier this year...that would be great because the sun at noon is brutal

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Good catch!!
last year's JTA schedule gap was from the 12:15pm and 1:30pm show and the parade was at 12:40pm
It may very well be possible that they are doing the parade earlier this year...that would be great because the sun at noon is brutal

Hmmm... that is VERY interesting indeed. Maybe an 11:20 or 11:30am parade? Since we no longer go to the parade, I am selfishly wondering what that will do to the M&G schedule. May need to be in the Vader line at that point (doesn't he normally meet through the parade? Don't tell the younglings )

 

[yulilin3]

Additional information on the WDW site, click to expand each section for more information:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/hollywood-studios/star-wars-weekend/

All the characters seem to be in the same spots as last year...no mention of Chip and Dale as Ewoks

 

[Music City Mama]

Looking at these, I wonder if the parade time is going to be earlier than 12:40. Seems like they wouldn't have JTA starting 10 minutes before the parade. (would they?) The longest gap between JTA shows is between 10:35 and 12pm so maybe an 11 am parade??

I would love if the parade was around 11:00 or 11:15!

 

[DarthDad]

I've seen a few people ask, "What are the limited edition items?" It was something I was wondering myself when I came across this link.

http://www.disneyparksmerchandise.com/blog/star-wars-weekends-2013-merchandise/

I don't know if it is a definitive list but it gives people a pretty good idea of the items and quantity so that they can plan accordingly. The item I want wasn't listed as "LE" but I'm still contemplating going early on the first Friday so the remaining weekends I won't have to hunt and hope.

 

[yulilin3]

A rumor from a reliable source, the parade wil be at 11am... please treat this as any other rumor until we have confirmation from Disney

 

[TallandGoofy]

A rumor from a reliable source, the parade wil be at 11am... please treat this as any other rumor until we have confirmation from Disney

How very interesting...great for maybe being a bit less HOT! But, looks like I will have to re-think some of my plans! (which I seem to do every hour or so anyway...)

 

[d-r]

Does anyone have experience requesting a specific time for JTA during SWW? I am planning around getting the 10:35 show. Of course, I can flex if need be but just wondering if it is even an option.

Also - how much time before and after the show should I allow, assuming my kids are in it? Is this about right?:

Arrive at JTA stage 10:15 (for 10:35 show)
JTA 10:35 - ??? (what is it, 15 minutes?)
Finished by 10:55 (?)

Thanks!

In general, you get what you get and you don't get to pick. Remember that there will be a ton of people there. They will be using the whole wind through of Indiana Jones as the que, and will have stations to "approve" the kids as being old enough first and then two or three stations to give out the passes at the end. One time, we got a time that was the same time that we had just gotten celebrety autograph fast passes for, so they were kind enough to give us passes from a later time. But it is kind of frantic, a rush in the morning, and I honestly wouldn't plan on getting a certain time.

For the time before the "show" I think that it is 1/2 hour before the show time that they have you meet at sounds dangerously, but I'm not 100% sure. They'll let you know know when they give you your pass though.

ETA - think about it this way, there are 19 shows a day with 30 kids a show. Each kid will have a parent with them in line (and some will bring the whole entourage). And they will all book up first thing in the morning. So you have to figure probably over 1200 anxious people waiting to get a slip, there's no time to make individual appointments really.

Another ETA - we've tried to time it before also to get either Darth Maul or Asajj Ventriss, and you can kind of do that by letting people pass you. So maybe if you are really heads up you can count it out. You'd need to be between kid #90 and #120. That is not going to be easy going the rope drop through the Indiana Jones que. You might be able to ask people coming through what time they got anmethid estimate it, but seriously, unless you could only possibly be there at that one time because of your flight or something I wouldn't even try it. It would be much harder than getting a picture with Kit Fisto and Shak Ti and Anakin all at once.

One last ETA: Just honestly. Here's the thing. It is really, really good to have a plan, and it is good to have information before hand to plan, but don't overplan this. Make sure as you go you have some flexibility in your plan and options because it will be surprisingly crowded, it could be hot or rainy, your kid might be invited to be in a parade who knows. Just imho. I would count on more time than you are allotting for jta just for getting around the crowds. Remember also that you'll want to take your jta photopass card to get the pictures transferred to your regular photopass and you'll be surprised at how long that will take.


AND yeah, it looks like they are planning an 11:00 parade.

 

[okienick]

When will the schedule be released, late next week?

 

[okienick]

And about what time on Fri the 17th do you think the merchandise lines will die down? Based on that link above, I don't know that we will want any LE merchandise. We don't want pins or anything. We would be interested in the Cars and muppets as SW characters stuff I saw on another link and that thermal detonator hot potato game, maybe coffee mugs and tee shirts. That would be it.

 

[AquaDame]

Additional information on the WDW site, click to expand each section for more information:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/hollywood-studios/star-wars-weekend/

All the characters seem to be in the same spots as last year...no mention of Chip and Dale as Ewoks

My husband and I would LOVE if they were there! They are favourites!