Official Star Wars Weekends Thread Tips and Tricks 2015

[Cluelyss]

Hoping to attend our first SWW in early June. What day of the weekend is least crowded at rope drop? Friday? Saturday? or Sunday?

Generally, Fridays are the least crowded day because locals will be at work/school. However the celebrities in attendance on any given weekend can drive crowds as well.

 

[lovethattink]

Hoping to attend our first SWW in early June. What day of the weekend is least crowded at rope drop? Friday? Saturday? or Sunday?

Friday.

 

[pookadoo77]

Last year, Mark Hamill was there. They scheduled a solo talk show with him apart from Stars of the Saga. All kinds of last minute (really last 3 weeks) changes in show FP+s availability occurred. He was not in SOTS, just his show. No autographs either. I first had SOTS FPs, then changed to his solo show FPs. Many people got screwed over this change. Beware of this possibility again if BIG stars decide to show up.

The FP for the shows are on MDE, the autograph FPs are only morning of the show get-able. They are not related.

Thank you! So, the autograph FP are in addition to the daily three, and the shows are as they are posted first come, right? Thanks! U rock!

 

[The Sunrise Student]

First off it's not what you think.... Celebrity FP are not like your typical FP.

Those whom want to get Celebrity Autographs come to the park before it opens, get in line and pray. What I mean by this is depending on the amount of autograph sessions a celebrity does in a day, and how fast they generally are with each person will determine how many celebrity FP/wristbands they give out (you have to have both to get to see your celebrity).

About 1 hour before the park opens they hand out the wrist bands. At this time the CMs giving out the bands can also guesstimate if you are guaranteed or stand by. You must wear them until you meet your celebrity then they cut them off you and punch a hole in your FP paper ticket.

About 30 minutes before park opens they start passing out the Celebrity Fast Passes (it's the old paper form). On it will tell you if you are a guaranteed to see your chosen celebrity what time to come to meet your celebrity.

So depending on which celebrity you wanna see will depend on your arrival time to wait for said FP and then wrist band.

Example: You wanna see Ray Parks (Darth Maul) one he's super popular, two he's super nice, and guess what for the past two SWW he has only done one autograph session. People have been known to start lining up for him as early as park closing the night before and sleep out waiting for their FP/wrist bands. Two years ago we got there at 4:30 am and were the very last two people to see him that day. Last year we got there at 3:30 and ended up in standby. Standby means they MIGHT get to you, but depending on how long they take with fans will depend on if you get to see your celebrity.

The more popular the celebrity is the earlier you have to arrive. Luckily most celebrities do more than 1 autograph session, but still it all depends on the demand.

Other people have posted pictures of the lines, and you can watch this thread during SWW to see updates as people state what time they got there, and where they are in line.

In short it is CRAZY, and you have to be crazy like me to do it

 

[hydrotony]

First off it's not what you think.... Celebrity FP are not like your typical FP.

Those whom want to get Celebrity Autographs come to the park before it opens, get in line and pray. What I mean by this is depending on the amount

-----a lot deleted ------


In short it is CRAZY, and you have to be crazy like me to do it

I spend all my time to see the talk shows, parades and stage shows and usually get to see everything I want. If I wanted to get autographs too, it could not be done in 1 day. Because of this, everyone has to choose what is important or realize that multiple days are needed.

 

[lovethattink]

I spend all my time to see the talk shows, parades and stage shows and usually get to see everything I want. If I wanted to get autographs too, it could not be done in 1 day. Because of this, everyone has to choose what is important or realize that multiple days are needed.

You're right. You have to prioritize then pick and choose. Flexibility is a key component, especially for those who want to do celebrity M&G. You get in line and can kind of guess what time you'll get, but you never know til that FP is handed to you. We've had to change things around several times because the FP interfered with our plans. So last year we didn't make and ADR and it made it easier for us. We'll do the same this year.

 

[yulilin3]

Ok, I have read a lot of these pages in random orders that I make a note of on a notepad to keep track, lol. I am still confused about the fastpass shows and autographs...
If we go online right at midnight to do our fastpasses 60 days out and all book 3 each day, will the SWW shows be up there yet and autographs or do I need to leave 1 slot blank? ( we are going 6/5-6/10) Will they come out later and I need to be online and can override existing passes? If only a few in our party want to do the show or autographs will that cancel other passes I already got? THANKS!! I know maybe dumb Q, but am honestly confused and don't wanna mess anything up since I am working so hard to cover all of our bases. I appreciate any answers and your time to help!!

last year the ability to book fp for the SWW shows opened on 5/5/14...this year I'm thinking it'll open around the 30 day mark of each weekend giving AP the ability to book fp with everyone else staying on property, nobody really knows when they will be available so it's something that you have to check everyday.
You can book fp for each person with what they want, that can be done on MDE and the website. If fp for the shows are a priority for you and your family I would leave it all blank until the day that the shows become available. Remember last year they were on Tier 1 meaning you had to choose between 1 SWW show or the ever popular TSMM fp.
Like I've said if you plan to be there before the park opens you can really do 3 attractions (if characters are not top priority) before the 9am hour. We've done TSMM, RnRC and ToT in the first hour because many, many people go to line up for Chewbacca or Vader.
If you haven't already, read the first post of this thread, I always update it with any new information I get, also there's a link to last years thread, again, the first post of last years has all the information from SWW 2014 and it might be helpful to see the bigger picture.
Any other questions just let us know

 

[The Sunrise Student]

I spend all my time to see the talk shows, parades and stage shows and usually get to see everything I want. If I wanted to get autographs too, it could not be done in 1 day. Because of this, everyone has to choose what is important or realize that multiple days are needed.

You are completely correct...

In 2013 we were at SWW for 5 1/2 days of our trip 11 day trip.

In 2014 we only went for a long weekend just for SWW and were there all three days.

This year we have all 6 days of the first and second weekend planned to be at SWW.

What we did in 2013 and will do in 2015 it get hopper passes, and if we wanna take a break and head over to EPCOT for food or see stuff and come back to DHS we do that, or break it up with resort breaks. I know I also saw people that would do SWW half the day, take a break then go to another park for the evening or vise verse depending on what they wanted to catch.

So when you see all the SWW stuff I have planned to do it is because I am literally scheduling 6 days of my 12 day vacation just to make time for SWW and weave things around it on those days.

 

[pookadoo77]

Thank you guys SO much again! Hydrotony, Tink,Yulin, and Sunrise Student ( sorry if names wrong)

Right now dividing my time between researching our June trip, we last went in 2010 so LOTS of changes and don't wanna miss anything as we can't go often. Also doing lots of work with my kids school silent auction ( got Disney Tickets and Secretariat's jockey autograph, lots of stuff @ 4000.00 so far), getting really cool Valentines put together for kids school classes @ 60 of them, and getting my kids old stuff ready for the area kids sales ( extra spending trip $). Your answers will save me a extra worry and loads of time searching and second guessing my findings. So glad yall are here, we can't wait!!

 

[yulilin3]

Thank you guys SO much again! Hydrotony, Tink,Yulin, and Sunrise Student ( sorry if names wrong)

Right now dividing my time between researching our June trip, we last went in 2010 so LOTS of changes and don't wanna miss anything as we can't go often. Also doing lots of work with my kids school silent auction ( got Disney Tickets and Secretariat's jockey autograph, lots of stuff @ 4000.00 so far), getting really cool Valentines put together for kids school classes @ 60 of them, and getting my kids old stuff ready for the area kids sales ( extra spending trip $). Your answers will save me a extra worry and loads of time searching and second guessing my findings. So glad yall are here, we can't wait!!

Wow, it sounds like you have a full plate in your hands
If you want you can share your touring plan and we all can give our opinions on it to help you plan better

 

[lovethattink]

last year the ability to book fp for the SWW shows opened on 5/5/14...this year I'm thinking it'll open around the 30 day mark of each weekend giving AP the ability to book fp with everyone else staying on property, nobody really knows when they will be available so it's something that you have to check everyday.You can book fp for each person with what they want, that can be done on MDE and the website. If fp for the shows are a priority for you and your family I would leave it all blank until the day that the shows become available. Remember last year they were on Tier 1 meaning you had to choose between 1 SWW show or the ever popular TSMM fp.
Like I've said if you plan to be there before the park opens you can really do 3 attractions (if characters are not top priority) before the 9am hour. We've done TSMM, RnRC and ToT in the first hour because many, many people go to line up for Chewbacca or Vader.
If you haven't already, read the first post of this thread, I always update it with any new information I get, also there's a link to last years thread, again, the first post of last years has all the information from SWW 2014 and it might be helpful to see the bigger picture.
Any other questions just let us know

I'm wondering how the FP+ scenario is going to be played out this year? 60, 30, or less?

Last year, being an AP we could only book 7 days worth of FP+ over the 15 days of SWW. When I switched from staying offsite to staying onsite, I had inquired about that with Disney tech. They said that since staying onsite that could be over ridden as long as I didn't have any FP+ in between those weekends or it would change back to 7 by default. I stuck to what I was told and was able to get a FP+ for all 14 days we attended last year while staying on property. So if there are any AP staying more than 7 days, you might have to call to get an override for all your days.

Thank you guys SO much again! Hydrotony, Tink,Yulin, and Sunrise Student ( sorry if names wrong)

Right now dividing my time between researching our June trip, we last went in 2010 so LOTS of changes and don't wanna miss anything as we can't go often. Also doing lots of work with my kids school silent auction ( got Disney Tickets and Secretariat's jockey autograph, lots of stuff @ 4000.00 so far), getting really cool Valentines put together for kids school classes @ 60 of them, and getting my kids old stuff ready for the area kids sales ( extra spending trip $). Your answers will save me a extra worry and loads of time searching and second guessing my findings. So glad yall are here, we can't wait!!

You are one busy person. I feel your pressure as my schedule is pressed right up through the 15th of May. We will check into our resort the 14th, drive home because my son has a performance that evening. Drive back and probably dh will spend much of the night in line for an autograph FP. The 15th, we'll be there for rope drop. Leave in the afternoon as ds has another performance that night. So drive home and back to the resort again. Hopefully he'll nap in the car. Wasn't our plans. I expected his shows to be earlier in May, but it just didn't work out that way. He is adamant about doing both. I think we should cancel our 1st weekend's resies, but dh wants to keep them.

You are completely correct...

In 2013 we were at SWW for 5 1/2 days of our trip 11 day trip.

In 2014 we only went for a long weekend just for SWW and were there all three days.

This year we have all 6 days of the first and second weekend planned to be at SWW.

What we did in 2013 and will do in 2015 it get hopper passes, and if we wanna take a break and head over to EPCOT for food or see stuff and come back to DHS we do that, or break it up with resort breaks. I know I also saw people that would do SWW half the day, take a break then go to another park for the evening or vise verse depending on what they wanted to catch.

So when you see all the SWW stuff I have planned to do it is because I am literally scheduling 6 days of my 12 day vacation just to make time for SWW and weave things around it on those days.

Understand that, our plans include all 15 days of SWW in small chunks.

Wow, it sounds like you have a full plate in your hands
If you want you can share your touring plan and we all can give our opinions on it to help you plan better

Same goes for anyone else, I'm sure!

 

[The Sunrise Student]

Look who made the FB cover photo for her 501st detachment

I am also on member rotation (every time you go to the site a random member picture pops up) for the official 501st page as well... I can't tell you how giddy this makes me.

 

[yulilin3]

YOU ARE FAMOUS!!!
Amazeballs...I love your costume and your bf's as well, but each time I see him in his costume I just imagine his face, it's so unlike that character
If he were to walk up to me in that costume I would be very intimidated

 

[The Sunrise Student]

YOU ARE FAMOUS!!!
Amazeballs...I love your costume and your bf's as well, but each time I see him in his costume I just imagine his face, it's so unlike that character
If he were to walk up to me in that costume I would be very intimidated

Thank you so much, this all has been amazing!

His Aunt says the same thing... she can't believe that it's her favorite little nephew inside that evil looking costume.

When we stand beside each other at events I help kids (and some adults) get over the fear of him because he paces around just like the charter would. He does the outfit justice

 

[Itinkso]

Thank you so much, this all has been amazing!

His Aunt says the same thing... she can't believe that it's her favorite little nephew inside that evil looking costume.

When we stand beside each other at events I help kids (and some adults) get over the fear of him because he paces around just like the charter would. He does the outfit justice

Sunrise, that really is amazing!! Congrats! And, you both do the outfits justice!!

 

[lovethattink]

Congratulations! !

 

[The Sunrise Student]

Congratulations! !

Thank you I couldn't be more thrilled and more nervous.

 

[pookadoo77]

Thank you so much for the touring plans offer!! waiting to see who will be there during our 2 day SWW, 5 day Disney stay to nail down.

Congrats Sunrise on the FB page honor! I wish I could see the pics on these boards but my computer for some reason will not let me I tried making sure java is enabled and clearing cookies and cache, chrome and firefox both nothing. These boards and photobucket is the only things it will not pull up windows 8. Oh well... I am sure you are beautiful, I can see your profile pic

Oh, and congrats on the upcoming wedding Rebel Spy, looks like we will be there the same weekend.

 

[The Sunrise Student]

Sunrise, that really is amazing!! Congrats! And, you both do the outfits justice!!

Awwww sucks, thanks Itinkso!

 

[The Sunrise Student]

Congrats Sunrise on the FB page honor! I wish I could see the pics on these boards but my computer for some reason will not let me I tried making sure java is enabled and clearing cookies and cache, chrome and firefox both nothing. These boards and photobucket is the only things it will not pull up windows 8. Oh well... I am sure you are beautiful, I can see your profile pic
.

Thanks Pookadoo....

Oh I hate Windows 8, make sure you take advantage of that free upgrade to windows 10 this fall. I'll have to think about the picture thing, and see if I can figure out what is causing you issues. I'll PM you and see if we can figure out how to fix ya up.