Official Star Wars Weekends Thread Tips and Tricks 2015

[drlaurafsu]

The autograph books are the kind that hold pictures so not nearly enough pages. I am making ds one with our photos from previous years.

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

There's a H&V Star Wars dinner on 5/22 available online for party of 2 if anyone is looking

I am getting SOOOOO excited for SWW to hurry up and get here!!

 

[kmcdougan]

OK, can't find my post from last year with my simple tips for having an awesome time at SWW, so, going to have to recreate it off the top of my head:

1. Hydrate. I'm from south Louisiana, so, just being outdoors can solve that problem for me. We have gills most of the year. However, not everyone is blessed to be from the best part of the country and may not know how to handle hot and humid. Very simple. drink plenty of water and an occasional PowerAde/Gatorade. Soda will dehydrate you (caffeine is a diuretic and excess sugar will not quench thirst - negative feedback loop here). Alcoholic beverages will not do it either (when alcohol processes, it generates water, which is cast off as waste, and it uses water to process, too) - you will end up loopy and severely dehydrated. Water will replace fluids, and, if you are sweating quite a bit, the sports drink will replace electrolytes. This is a huge safety tip. Do not be that guy having to take a trip to the hospital in Celebration. Not fun.

2. Patience. It will be crowded and there will be plenty of people trying to get where you want to be. Just be cool. Make friends with those around you, crack jokes, whatever. But, whichever you choose, just be patient with the whole thing. The cast members are doing the best they can. They are getting just about as overwhelmed and frustrated as you are. No need to ramp up the situation by losing your cool.

3. Have a plan. There is so much to see and do, you will not see all of it. Accept this fact now. Form a plan with a prioritization of what you really want to do, and work down to the things that are not as important. This will help you figure out a strategy that can work. This is my 5th trip. Every time I had a plan, and every time I have had an awesome time, even though I did not get to do everything every day.It is perfectly OK to miss some things. Each day on the same weekend will be identical, so, if you have multiple days on a weekend, spread it out. It can make seeing everything in a weekend much more feasible, and you can probably enjoy your trip without feeling you are ripping and running all the time.

4. Semper Gumby. Be flexible. With all that is going on, there are so many moving parts to SWW that something will not work according to plan at some point. This may be on Disney's side, may be your family, may be another family nearby which affects you, it may be the weather. Anything can, and anything WILL happen. By having a plan, and being flexible (usually having backup plans), you can still see and do stuff and have an awesome time. BY being flexible, you can relax, enjoy your trip, and not annoy your travel mates.

5. Hydrate. Important enough it bears repeating. This is easy to forget when you are running from one show to another, to the merch venue, to character meets, to your dining reservations, to the parade. Remember, just about every place that has fountain drinks WILL give you a cup of ice water if you ask. There are plenty of water fountains all over. If I see any passed out people from dehydration while I am walking around, I WILL dump ice water on you while I call for assistance. OK, maybe not, but I will want to to wake you up. Don't be that guy.

Minor corollaries to keep in mind:

FastPass - use it wisely, but use it where you can. It does help

501st Legion - I know this VERY well. This will be my third year marching. The 501st, while in the parade, is considered to be in character as a "military unit" We will not wave, smile, respond, or in any other way acknowledge any of you awesome people watching us. Don't be offended. Disney asks us to be characters for them, and just like Mickey, Donald, the princesses, or any other character, we have to STAY in character while we are on stage. That being said, you will not see us walking around the parks in our costumes (we are generally asked not to do so by Disney). We will likely have shirts, hats, vests, patches, lanyards or name tags which will identify us as 501st. Please, ask us any questions you have about the organization, what we do, how to join, etc. We love talking about it and will spend hours (if you lets us) doing just that. Most of this is the same for the Rebel Legion guys, except they can smile and wave during the parade. Good guys. Meh. LOL.

I think that is the best I can give right now. Probably more later. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Ash

 

[jennab113]

Some info on Star Wars VIII and the first spin off from StarWars.com! So exciting!
The spinoff is called Rogue One and will star Felicity Jones. It comes out December 16, 2016
Ep VIII comes out May 26, 2017

 

[mom2febgirls]

I have a 10:20 Galactic Breakfast on May 15 for 5 I will be cancelling if anyone is interested.

 

[mexxican]

This will be my 1st trip to WDW and SWW, so we're arriving on 5/12 and getting the SW character dining & JTA out of the way on 5/13. My FP+ window opens up at midnight and I need recommendations on what time to schedule them during SWW if we decide to leave HS and go to another park. What's the schedule like between the parade and fireworks? I need to see the fireworks on Friday b/c we have a Royal Table ADR for late Sat night. Or do people not plan around FP those days? Again, never been

 

[jar]

Thought I had SWW all planned out but then saw that WDW announced the 24-hour MK event. So tempting! We arrive around dinnertime on Friday evening (if flight on time) and figured we'd get to sleep early and be at DHS by 7am and spend all day Saturday there. Now I'm wondering if we want to go to MK when we arrive Friday night til we drop, sleep in Saturday then go to EP and do SWW on Sunday. Or something else. And just 10 days or so to figure out before FP+ window.

Haven't been to SWW for three years. Can anyone give me a rough schedule of one-time events like parade, fireworks, shows, etc. that we would want to schedule around? If we aren't there really early, DS won't be upset if we don't get autographs (unless Mark Hamill shows up again).

 

[yulilin3]

This will be my 1st trip to WDW and SWW, so we're arriving on 5/12 and getting the SW character dining & JTA out of the way on 5/13. My FP+ window opens up at midnight and I need recommendations on what time to schedule them during SWW if we decide to leave HS and go to another park. What's the schedule like between the parade and fireworks? I need to see the fireworks on Friday b/c we have a Royal Table ADR for late Sat night. Or do people not plan around FP those days? Again, never been

First of all I'm not sure if the fp for the SWW shows will be available tomorrow but if they are can you please let us know.
The schedule of SWW things after the parade looked like this last year:
Parade 11:30am
Behind the Force show 1:45pm
Stars of the Saga show 3:15pm (stormtrooper pre show, 3:30pm actual show)
Visit to the Maul or My Short Story (only if Park or Davis come back) 5pm
Obi Wan and Beyond 7pm if there's no 5pm show 7:30pm if there was a 5 pm show
Fireworks at 9:30pm
I'm not sure what are you planning on doing rides-wise. Let me know if you have any other questions

 

[yulilin3]

Thought I had SWW all planned out but then saw that WDW announced the 24-hour MK event. So tempting! We arrive around dinnertime on Friday evening (if flight on time) and figured we'd get to sleep early and be at DHS by 7am and spend all day Saturday there. Now I'm wondering if we want to go to MK when we arrive Friday night til we drop, sleep in Saturday then go to EP and do SWW on Sunday. Or something else. And just 10 days or so to figure out before FP+ window.

Haven't been to SWW for three years. Can anyone give me a rough schedule of one-time events like parade, fireworks, shows, etc. that we would want to schedule around? If we aren't there really early, DS won't be upset if we don't get autographs (unless Mark Hamill shows up again).

see post above for shedule from last year. Mark Hamill didn't do autographs he was in the parade and then in his show A Conversation with Mark Hamill.
You could leave SWW for Sunday the only thing I would say is just keep an eye on the weather, you don't want to leave it for Sunday and then have the rain wash all of your plans out

 

[OZMom]

I have a 10:20 Galactic Breakfast on May 15 for 5 I will be cancelling if anyone is interested.

I would love this if you still have it? Thank You!

 

[msmama]

I don't plan on doing celeb autographs, but...

When are the autograph sessions? Do all celebs sign for the same amount of time? (I was reading page 1 about how some celebs get through standby lines).

Also, where are they (assuming they don't move them like they seem to be moving everything else)? Is it an area that should be avoided or do the wristbands seem to not let extra crowds build up?

 

[kmcdougan]

On the issue of the parade, I cannot officially confirm or deny anything. I have heard that the Legions have been invited to participate again. But, unless or until I see something formal, that is purely conjecture.

Ash

 

[mexxican]

First of all I'm not sure if the fp for the SWW shows will be available tomorrow but if they are can you please let us know.
The schedule of SWW things after the parade looked like this last year:
Parade 11:30am
Behind the Force show 1:45pm
Stars of the Saga show 3:15pm (stormtrooper pre show, 3:30pm actual show)
Visit to the Maul or My Short Story (only if Park or Davis come back) 5pm
Obi Wan and Beyond 7pm if there's no 5pm show 7:30pm if there was a 5 pm show
Fireworks at 9:30pm
I'm not sure what are you planning on doing rides-wise. Let me know if you have any other questions

Hmm, I didn't think about the possibility of using FP+ for shows at SWW. We were thinking about heading over to AK in the afternoon (maybe after Stars of the Saga on Friday) and using FP+ for rides there before heading back to HS for fireworks. We were planning on riding everything at HS earlier in the week. It's so hard to try to decide where to go on Sat PM because we don't know if we'd want to hit Epcot again or just hang out in MK until our 9:40 ADR. What were the times of the Feel the Force dining package last year in case we manage to get a reservation.

 

[yulilin3]

I don't plan on doing celeb autographs, but...

When are the autograph sessions? Do all celebs sign for the same amount of time? (I was reading page 1 about how some celebs get through standby lines).

Also, where are they (assuming they don't move them like they seem to be moving everything else)? Is it an area that should be avoided or do the wristbands seem to not let extra crowds build up?

the 2 visiting celebrities usually have 3 sessions, one hour long each, it has been at 10am, 1:30pm and 4:30pm
the voice actor has 3, one hour long, at 10am, 4:30pm and 6pm
Host just one session at 10am
Ashley Eckstein only one session at 3pm
They have been around Echo Lake in tents so that people could just walk up, outside their area and get a picture but there are rumors that the autograph session will be moving indoors into the old American Idol Experience audition areas.

 

[yulilin3]

Hmm, I didn't think about the possibility of using FP+ for shows at SWW. We were thinking about heading over to AK in the afternoon (maybe after Stars of the Saga on Friday) and using FP+ for rides there before heading back to HS for fireworks. We were planning on riding everything at HS earlier in the week. It's so hard to try to decide where to go on Sat PM because we don't know if we'd want to hit Epcot again or just hang out in MK until our 9:40 ADR. What were the times of the Feel the Force dining package last year in case we manage to get a reservation.

FtF is not a dining package, the parade viewing opened around 10:30am and the fireworks viewing/dessert party opened around 8pm

 

[jar]

see post above for shedule from last year. Mark Hamill didn't do autographs he was in the parade and then in his show A Conversation with Mark Hamill.
You could leave SWW for Sunday the only thing I would say is just keep an eye on the weather, you don't want to leave it for Sunday and then have the rain wash all of your plans out

Thanks. Good point re rain. When we went 3 years ago, it poured for a few hours on Saturday (after DS was picked for the parade!) so we had to rearrange Sunday to come back so he could try to get in the parade since it was cancelled the day before (he was!).

 

[yulilin3]

Here's a video that shows you that anyone can come up to the tent and just get a picture or video of the visiting celebs, if they move inside this will not be possible

As you can see Peter Mayhew met inside lastyear because of his health. I think it would be great for the celebs and people with fp if it was inside but it would be a loss for people that couldn't get a fp or had no clue how to. I'm kinda torn on this one

 

[mexxican]

FtF is not a dining package, the parade viewing opened around 10:30am and the fireworks viewing/dessert party opened around 8pm

Ok, thanks, I remembered it included dessert but I was afraid I was getting it confused with Tomorrowland terrace. I'm trying to process way too much information about WDW & SWW before choosing my FP+ and it's all running together.

 

[yulilin3]

Ok, thanks, I remembered it included dessert but I was afraid I was getting it confused with Tomorrowland terrace. I'm trying to process way too much information about WDW & SWW before choosing my FP+ and it's all running together.

yeah it can be a challenge planning your first trip. If you have any questions at all about this event let us know. You can tell us what exactly you want to do on your SWW day and we can figure it out

 

[mexxican]

yeah it can be a challenge planning your first trip. If you have any questions at all about this event let us know. You can tell us what exactly you want to do on your SWW day and we can figure it out

How does the D-Tech Me reservation fit into everything? Are those times scattered throughout the day too?