Official Star Wars Weekends Thread Tips and Tricks 2015

[keishashadow]

Mark Hamill was a huge draw last year. I can tell you that that Saturday we entered the park at 7:45am and grabbed one of the two benches on Hollywood Blvd for the parade. The entire shady area was filled by 9am.
I always try and grab a spot at least an hour and a half before the parade just to make sure we have shade, I know it sounds extreme but when you are outside for SWW it gets extremely hot.

thank you, I was hoping that it was the Mark Hamill factor with the large crowds that day. will just plan on finding a spot an hour out

this will be our first year the opening weekend. Should I plan on larger crowds that day? The one year we did visit the last weekend it seemed very busy. normally we do the 3rd or 4th weekend in May or 1st weekend in June and while there are a lot of people, no-where near what it was like for the mark Hamill or closing weekend.

the red dots show the parade route

jmho but I wish they'd extend the route, perhaps along echo lake area, would certainly allow more places to stand.

I normally can take or leave a parade, but WDW's special ones are amazing!

 

[yulilin3]

thank you, I was hoping that it was the Mark Hamill factor with the large crowds that day. will just plan on finding a spot an hour out

this will be our first year the opening weekend. Should I plan on larger crowds that day? The one year we did visit the last weekend it seemed very busy. normally we do the 3rd or 4th weekend in May or 1st weekend in June and while there are a lot of people, no-where near what it was like for the mark Hamill or closing weekend.



jmho but I wish they'd extend the route, perhaps along echo lake area, would certainly allow more places to stand.

I normally can take or leave a parade, but WDW's special ones are amazing!

The first Friday tends to be busy merchandise-wise. A lot of people come just to buy limited edition items (and then sell them on ebay ) But otherwise it's a normal SWW day. The crowds do increase a bit once we get into June because a lot of kids get out of school

 

[Cluelyss]

The artwork we had Ray sign was something my boyfriend jumped through many hoops to acquire so we had to get it signed. We did two FP for Ray, I had Ray sign out SWW poster and BF had him sign the art work. We have talked about Celebrities FP and the lines, and how we love to get several Celebrities to sign our SWW posters... (see picture below) BUT we have also talked about Marching Day, and with that in mind we are going to have to skip those Celebrities FP lines for those Celebrities that we have to get that early for. Can you imagine us trying to march with the 501st in full costume in the Florida heat (being northerners that kind of heat is HOT) and not having a full nights sleep... OH DEAR GAWDS!?!?! We are wanting to do this every year, and even kept the wall space for it. So far we just have SWW 2013 and 2014. SWW 2013 poster has the signatures of Warwick David, Ray Parks and Jeremy Bulloch SWW 2014 has the signatures of Ray Parks, James Arnold Taylor and Ashley Eckstein.

Love, love, love the posters! Are those available prior to SWW or did you purchase them there? DH would love something like this!

 

[missthatgator]

So we've just booked our trip for weekend V which is the only weekend that works with our schedules at work. I'm a SWW newbie and have no idea what to expect, I know a lot of limited edition merchandise sells out fast, what kind of stuff is left by the last weekend?

Honestly I'm not after anything too fancy but perhaps some R2-D2 mouse ears or Star Wars magic bands? Just something to remember the trip by that's limited to SWW. How hard do you think that stuff will be to come by?

 

[lovethattink]

So we've just booked our trip for weekend V which is the only weekend that works with our schedules at work. I'm a SWW newbie and have no idea what to expect, I know a lot of limited edition merchandise sells out fast, what kind of stuff is left by the last weekend?

Honestly I'm not after anything too fancy but perhaps some R2-D2 mouse ears or Star Wars magic bands? Just something to remember the trip by that's limited to SWW. How hard do you think that stuff will be to come by?

I still saw Yoda bands for sale in July when we bought ds' Olaf band. I believe Darth Vader bands sold out.

The last weekend last year was all Star Wars Clone Wars celebs. Merchandise that was too plentiful like mugs, glasses, picture frames went on sale that last weekend and sold out fast once the prices went down.

They added some new Rebel's merchandise that last weekend and a few other things that weren't there in the beginning of SWW.

So there's no telling exactly what to expect. Though the sales seem to happen every year at some point in the last weekend.

R2-D2 and C3PO ears are regular stock merchandise sold year round.

 

[missthatgator]

I still saw Yoda bands for sale in July when we bought ds' Olaf band. I believe Darth Vader bands sold out.

The last weekend last year was all Star Wars Clone Wars celebs. Merchandise that was too plentiful like mugs, glasses, picture frames went on sale that last weekend and sold out fast once the prices went down.

They added some new Rebel's merchandise that last weekend and a few other things that weren't there in the beginning of SWW.

So there's no telling exactly what to expect. Though the sales seem to happen every year at some point in the last weekend.

R2-D2 and C3PO ears are regular stock merchandise sold year round.

Awesome, thanks for the info haven't been to the parks in a few years and wasn't sure about the ears, good to know!

...and I do love a sale

 

[The Sunrise Student]

Spoiler alert if you want to be surprised during the Christmas Parade on Dec. 25th.....................






https://www.facebook.com/attraction....8093464329/10152858067714330/?type=1&theater

That's Tim Tebow...I don't get it either

I saw that, I was totally confused and didn't get it either

 

[The Sunrise Student]

Love, love, love the posters! Are those available prior to SWW or did you purchase them there? DH would love something like this!

The SWW posters are for sale at the Darth Mall, and various locations around DHS that they sell SW gear, but mostly at the Darth Mall. They do not come framed that's something we do a Micheal's framing department (when we can get a coupon off)

We always buy our posters first thing, then we have celebrities we meet sign it.

PS helpful tip - it rains in Florida, you can almost bet on at least one rain shower rolling through once a day, then it normally clears up and you are good, but if you carry your posters around to be signed be sure to bring a protective water proof container. The SWW posters come in a nice cardboard cylinder, and if doesn't rain that is normally a pretty good thing to carry it in. If you don't have a poster carrying case get a huge bag, even if it is a 13 gal draw string bag from home. That way you have something to protect it from the rain. Cause once those signatures get on that poster it will kill you if it gets wet!

 

[CinderElsa]

The SWW posters are for sale at the Darth Mall, and various locations around DHS that they sell SW gear, but mostly at the Darth Mall. They do not come framed that's something we do a Micheal's framing department (when we can get a coupon off)

We always by our posters first thing, then we have celebrities we meet sign it.

This is a really cool idea. How do you carry the posters all day without them getting torn/bent? Do you use tubes?

 

[The Sunrise Student]

This is a really cool idea. How do you carry the posters all day without them getting torn/bent? Do you use tubes?

SWW 2013 we just used the tubes the posters came in and multiple LARGE WDW shopping bags to make sure they didn't get wet.

SWW 2014 we bought large plastic cylinder for carrying posters and maps, this helped with weather proofing, and thank goodness we did cause we were there the weekend that is poured!

SWW 2015 - This year we will be bring our large plastic cylinder!

You can't buy the plastic cylinders at the park.

For our artwork we carried that separate in cardboard protectors to help it not get bent.

Another tip: tell you a secret, we never carried them around all day... If you are staying at one of the resorts that is close by, say boardwalk area OR you have an easy way to get back and forth (or you bring your own car) keep the posters and the artwork (or whatever you are gonna have signed) at the resort or car.

Here's what we did in past years: We looked at the schedule (trust me as soon as one of us can get a pamphlet with the map and schedule for the current weekend we post it out here, and Yulilin is really good about it). Most of the autograph sessions we had were in the afternoon. (In general there are some in the morning but most of the time they wait until after the parade, the celebrities are in the parade so unless they can fit that in prior they wait till afternoon.) After the parade we will hop back to our resort and pick up the items to be signed, once they were signed we took them back to the resort at the earliest convent time.

 

[The Sunrise Student]

Another fun T-shirt site is Tee Fury, they have all kinds of themes including our beloved Star Wars.... Right now they have a really cute one right now for the holidays

http://www.teefury.com/hothmas

 

[The Sunrise Student]

This is the one we use for carrying posters:

Helix Document Tube, Expands from 28 to 49-Inches, Large (61500)

see amazon link below

http://www.amazon.com/Helix-Documen...18237785&sr=8-1&keywords=poster+carrying+tube

I did actually carry this around on a few rides before and after the autograph sessions then we took it back to the resort and it worked great, that and it has a strap on it so if you are inclined to carry it for a while you can do so with little problems. Only ride I didn't try to carry it on was the Rock n' Roller Coaster...

 

[yulilin3]

So just for fun, who do you guys wanna meet from celebs that have been here before or never have been. Obviously the main ones I would assume are Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford. But more realistically, who would you camp out overnight to meet?
I would love for Matthew Wood to come back, he's such a great guy to meet, also Daniel Logan hasn't been here for a couple of years now.

 

[CinderElsa]

SWW 2013 we just used the tubes the posters came in and multiple LARGE WDW shopping bags to make sure they didn't get wet.

SWW 2014 we bought large plastic cylinder for carrying posters and maps, this helped with weather proofing, and thank goodness we did cause we were there the weekend that is poured!

SWW 2015 - This year we will be bring our large plastic cylinder!

You can't buy the plastic cylinders at the park.

For our artwork we carried that separate in cardboard protectors to help it not get bent.

Another tip: tell you a secret, we never carried them around all day... If you are staying at one of the resorts that is close by, say boardwalk area OR you have an easy way to get back and forth (or you bring your own car) keep the posters and the artwork (or whatever you are gonna have signed) at the resort or car.

Here's what we did in past years: We looked at the schedule (trust me as soon as one of us can get a pamphlet with the map and schedule for the current weekend we post it out here, and Yulilin is really good about it). Most of the autograph sessions we had were in the afternoon. (In general there are some in the morning but most of the time they wait until after the parade, the celebrities are in the parade so unless they can fit that in prior they wait till afternoon.) After the parade we will hop back to our resort and pick up the items to be signed, once they were signed we took them back to the resort at the earliest convent time.

Thank you for the tips!

 

[Cluelyss]

The SWW posters are for sale at the Darth Mall, and various locations around DHS that they sell SW gear, but mostly at the Darth Mall. They do not come framed that's something we do a Micheal's framing department (when we can get a coupon off) We always buy our posters first thing, then we have celebrities we meet sign it. PS helpful tip - it rains in Florida, you can almost bet on at least one rain shower rolling through once a day, then it normally clears up and you are good, but if you carry your posters around to be signed be sure to bring a protective water proof container. The SWW posters come in a nice cardboard cylinder, and if doesn't rain that is normally a pretty good thing to carry it in. If you don't have a poster carrying case get a huge bag, even if it is a 13 gal draw string bag from home. That way you have something to protect it from the rain. Cause once those signatures get on that poster it will kill you if it gets wet!

Thanks so much for the info! We will not be there until Weekend III - is it likely that posters will still be available then? Also, will Darth's Mall open as soon as the park does?? Thx!

 

[yulilin3]

Thanks so much for the info! We will not be there until Weekend III - is it likely that posters will still be available then? Also, will Darth's Mall open as soon as the park does?? Thx!

I've never seen the posters sell out. And yes, Darth's Mall opens and closes with the park

 

[Itinkso]

I'm yulilin's assistant, once again, and the Roll Call Thread is up! Please post your dates, SW Character meals and FTF (when it becomes available) and I'll post your info in the first post of this Thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3358654

Thanks!!

 

[yulilin3]

I'm yulilin's assistant, once again, and the Roll Call Thread is up! Please post your dates, meals and FTF (when it becomes available) and I'll post your info in the first post of this Thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3358654

Thanks!!

Thanks, just joined

 

[lovethattink]

DIS meets after the parade again?

 

[yulilin3]

DIS meets after the parade again?

I would love that. I met some of you last year and would love to meet many more. If anyone has a better idea on when and where to meet please let me know
Last year we met after the parade at Backlot Express. I understand that the scheduling of things doesn't really help with these meets so if anyone wants to meet at another place and time let me know