Official Star Wars Weekends Thread Tips and Tricks 2015

[The Sunrise Student]

@Kaschper and @MakiraMarlena You'd think they would then keep their IT or at least upgrade their Hardware/connections so they can deal with the amount of traffic that hits.

 

[The Sunrise Student]

as of right now, yes he will. He'll love to see you both

Adding this to our schedule

We have 6:30 reservations at Boma's for dinner.... hopefully we can make it over to Splitville after.

 

[Monykalyn]

What!?!?! there's more?!?!?
Trying to enjoy every second of this whole experience. From the thread to the actual SWW. It's been great therapy for me. I've been through a lot this year and this has allowed me to have something else to think about. I'm actually quite nervous when it ends cause I know reality will hit me like a ton of bricks, but in the meantime, I'm savoring every second.

From the amount of info you've been able to gather and disseminate I'm surprised Disney hasn't called and hired you.

I vote for a "Star Wars weekend withdrawal" support group. Especially as I doubt we will go next year (although DH asked me about annual passes last night)

 

[Willow tree]

For kids that age I always recommend Rebels, now if they've never seen it but love the movies then I would do SotS. Which weekend are you coming?

May 22

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Nothing with Disney IT has ever been as bad as trying to book food & wine in 2013, the year the system crashed and then they didn't load everything. Of course I have never tried to book free dining. Only a year ago we were stalking Mark Hamill FPs, they announced the date and time they would be available and they showed up for booking 40 minutes later than the announced time. I'm shocked they ended up leaking Rebel Hangar but now it's all over the place. Even Food & Wine magazine did a facebook post on it (mostly making fun of the dishes' names)

 

[AngiTN]

I was wondering if all the problems with the recent rollouts could be traced to the reported 500 IT layoffs/outsourced jobs in January of this year.

"We are restructuring our global technology organization to support future innovation and new capabilities, and will work with leading technical firms to maintain our existing systems," Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler said.

The claim was these were magic band IT, but with all the problems I just have to wonder.

From my observations Disney has had IT problems for years. They took large complicated systems and complicated them even more with MDE and MB's.

Honestly, Disney IT has always been this bad. Despite perceptions I really don't think it's gotten worse over the years, it's just visible to more people now. And these issues are not really the problem of too few developers, problems of this magnitude are a management issue. Either I.T. Management or business management or the relationship between the two. Or all of the above.

Right. Disney's IT has issues that extend well in the past before MB was even a blip on their radar. It's never been able to handle heavy traffic or changes. They do the worst roll outs I've ever seen. It's like they use the roll out as their Beta Test. It makes zero sense. And they don't get existing features fully working and reasonably bug free before they add on yet more features. All that does is make even more things work badly.

Can you imagine if Amazon had issues like Disney's website? They'd be out of business a long time ago if they had crashes every Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

I joke often that it's obvious they've put Goofy in charge of their IT dept.

 

[The Sunrise Student]

PS @yulilin3 how long do their sets normally last?

 

[Cynister]

I'm getting a little anxious about my VIP ressie. Hoping for your thoughts. It is for 5/24. I haven't received the itinerary email that some others have started getting. Has everyone received it? I called the number in the email to try to book JTA, but keep getting a voicemail. I've left a message & the recording says it is for new bookings & they'll get back to you within 48hrs. Its been several days & no call back. Now that I think of it, I didn't get a confirmation email from Disney when I booked like you normally do with special events. I have a confirmation number but that's it. Any idea if there's another number I can call to check on the reservation & book JTA?

 

[yulilin3]

May 22

I would do Rebels, Silas Carson is not the most entertaining person, Warwick Davis is super cool though

 

[yulilin3]

PS @yulilin3 how long do their sets normally last?

30 minutes

 

[Willow tree]

May 22

My oldest have seen some of the movies and my youngest has watched the Rebels. I was wondering if SotS will be reserved faster than the rebels?

 

[Willow tree]

I have a fastpass for TTSM for 1:55-2:55. Is this doable if I attend the rebels at 1:45?

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Right. Disney's IT has issues that extend well in the past before MB was even a blip on their radar. It's never been able to handle heavy traffic or changes. They do the worst roll outs I've ever seen. It's like they use the roll out as their Beta Test. It makes zero sense. And they don't get existing features fully working and reasonably bug free before they add on yet more features. All that does is make even more things work badly.

Can you imagine if Amazon had issues like Disney's website? They'd be out of business a long time ago if they had crashes every Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

I joke often that it's obvious they've put Goofy in charge of their IT dept.

Disney IT is the one, true Disney mystery in my book. This company that I think does SO MUCH right, just hasn't got this one totally together.

We've been going on frequent Disney vacations for about 10yrs or so -- Disney IT has ALWAYS been a problem. Early on, in my book, the biggest problem was a shocking LACK of online presence. It was shocking how much about WDW you couldn't find on any official Disney site but could find on DIS, for instance. Now they've gotten better on that front, but still routinely have IT issues when they open something new for booking.

They've improved things like integrating various databases over the years as well. It was INSANE -- I lost track of how many different, disconnected sites you had to register separately for. And boy was it interesting when they went about the work of consolidating! While it's far from perfect, I think MDE is totally on the right track as an offering.

I understand that they have a complex system, but can't help but feel like a company this massive, and with so many resources should be able to do better here. Any reasonable person would expect glitches and problems when massive system changes are made. But opening up a dining event?? This happens REPEATEDLY and PREDICTABLY several times a year. This should be smoother.

 

[yulilin3]

I'm getting a little anxious about my VIP ressie. Hoping for your thoughts. It is for 5/24. I haven't received the itinerary email that some others have started getting. Has everyone received it? I called the number in the email to try to book JTA, but keep getting a voicemail. I've left a message & the recording says it is for new bookings & they'll get back to you within 48hrs. Its been several days & no call back. Now that I think of it, I didn't get a confirmation email from Disney when I booked like you normally do with special events. I have a confirmation number but that's it. Any idea if there's another number I can call to check on the reservation & book JTA?

I would call the regular WDW number and ask to be transferred to someone that can give you information
407 939 5277

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I'm getting a little anxious about my VIP ressie. Hoping for your thoughts. It is for 5/24. I haven't received the itinerary email that some others have started getting. Has everyone received it? I called the number in the email to try to book JTA, but keep getting a voicemail. I've left a message & the recording says it is for new bookings & they'll get back to you within 48hrs. Its been several days & no call back. Now that I think of it, I didn't get a confirmation email from Disney when I booked like you normally do with special events. I have a confirmation number but that's it. Any idea if there's another number I can call to check on the reservation & book JTA?

FWIW, I was told that I'd receive my email about 2wks to 10 days BEFORE OUR VIP DAY, and I did. Perhaps you might just need to wait a little longer for it with a 5/24 date?

 

[yulilin3]

My oldest have seen some of the movies and my youngest has watched the Rebels. I was wondering if SotS will be reserved faster than the rebels?

I have a fastpass for TTSM for 1:55-2:55. Is this doable if I attend the rebels at 1:45?

Rebels will end at 2:15pm so you have time to make your TSMM fp. Between the 2 SotS is more popular than Rebels

 

[Fire14]

Thats why I jump on BWI at 7 months before Memorial Day weekend. I had to add the first weekend though, and I'm at Coronado Springs. so it's buses for that day (can only do one day)

@MakiraMarlena WE are staying at CS first weekend and depending on what car I end up choosing to keep rented I might have room for a few hitchhikers.

 

[boricuajedi]

Hello, another person that has been looking at this thread for years and getting good tips. This year will be there for the last weekend, like all of you a big fan of Star Wars. Due to the pictures posted here I did a reservation for RH. Thanks to yulilin3 for having this thread for the last couple of years and May the Force Be With You!

 

[yulilin3]

Hello, another person that has been looking at this thread for years and getting good tips. This year will be there for the last weekend, like all of you a big fan of Star Wars. Due to the pictures posted here I did a reservation for RH. Thanks to yulilin3 for having this thread for the last couple of years and May the Force Be With You!

another one out of lurkdom

 

[HCinKC]

TBT time. Not SWW but SW related. DHS did an event when Star Tours closed for the upgrades and called it Last Tour to Endor. We said Goodbye to the Starspeeder 3000 and they did a special crossover show called: Raiders of the Lost Jedi Temple of Doom. Instead of the stone, Indy had to get a special lightsaber. They had celebrity guests be part of the shows. Anthony Daniel, Seth Green and Jaime King where in the show, and by their faces you can tell it was super hot.
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That is super cool! I love the JarJar head lol. And their faces are priceless. They look totally dazed.

ETA: I think they needed some of @Ninja Mom 's water!