Official Star Wars Weekends Thread Tips and Tricks 2015

[CAS239]

Can anyone confirm if they are still selling the glow cubes separately?

They were never selling the cubes by themselves. You have to buy a drink at the stand. It'll be two different drinks at the liquor stand that represent Star Wars. I don't believe you get the glow cubes with anything other than the two alcoholic drinks advertised. I could be wrong about that but I only saw them in the specific drinks.

If you see a stand but don't like the drinks, head to another stand. I believe there's two drinks per stand with 4 different drinks choices in total through the parks.

Or you can look of it as buying the glow cubes by themselves...they'll just be about $15 a piece and come with free alcohol lol

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

They were never selling the cubes by themselves. You have to buy a drink at the stand. It'll be two different drinks at the liquor stand that represent Star Wars. I don't believe you get the glow cubes with anything other than the two alcoholic drinks advertised. I could be wrong about that but I only saw them in the specific drinks.

If you see a stand but don't like the drinks, head to another stand. I believe there's two drinks per stand with 4 different drinks choices in total through the parks.

Or you can look of it as buying the glow cubes by themselves...they'll just be about $15 a piece and come with free alcohol lol

Our party of 3 adults tried all 4 alcoholic drinks between us and got glow cubes that way (in addition to the X-wings at RH).

We ALSO got glow cubes for the kids by buying lime aid and cherry aid -- marked up for the addition of the cube.

 

[lovingeire]

According to Kenny, Palooza doesn't always occur in the same location. There are up to 5 different locations where the characters can be sent for their meets. You could be waiting while Palooza is actually occurring elsewhere.

Yes, I remember this being on Kennys blog, however since its "random" don't we have to take our chances anyways with location? Is there a way to guarantee where it will be?

 

[Itinkso]

Yes, I remember this being on Kennys blog, however since its "random" don't we have to take our chances anyways with location? Is there a way to guarantee where it will be?

It can be random for both location and time. Palooza was always meant to be a surprise pop-up meet and they've reverted back to that. There's no way to guarantee where it will be due to it being an unscheduled event that only Fantasmic management oversees.

It's better not to plan on it as you could be wasting up to a half hour of your time.

 

[Cluelyss]

@wdwalice and @Felipe4 please pm me on how to order a cake, that's amazing!

I know you weren't asking me, but this thread has everything you ever wanted to know about ordering a cake at WDW:

http://www.disboards.com/threads/official-disney-cake-chatter-part-iv.3261922/page-102#post-53730408

 

[kpd6901]

It can be random for both location and time. Palooza was always meant to be a surprise pop-up meet and they've reverted back to that. There's no way to guarantee where it will be due to it being an unscheduled event that only Fantasmic management oversees.

It's better not to plan on it as you could be wasting up to a half hour of your time.

Right, I didn't want to waste any of my time waiting for it, especially since KtP had said that it reverted back to a more random format....but throughout this thread lately, it seemed that we were still seeing a running theme of approx. 6:10 outside ToT on multiple days...and again today as well. We happen to have a FP for ToT right around that time on our Thurs evening, with no rush until our Jedi Mickey H&V at 7, so we would be there anyway (all set before we had even heard of Palooza or learned what it was). But I was kinda surprised to hear that it would revert to being "random" and then hear more and more reports of it actually occurring at the pre-randomizing time/location. IDK...maybe just "saying" that it would be random would be enough to scare people away from hanging around the spot (and easing the supposed safety concerns I read about elsewhere), but then just keeping it in the same spot anyway. I guess we'll find out, but I won't lose any sleep over it.

 

[bgg319]

So if we don't care about the fireworks preshow, would you suggest watching from the spot close to 50's Primetime? How hard is it to get to F! from there?

 

[Itinkso]

Right, I didn't want to waste any of my time waiting for it, especially since KtP had said that it reverted back to a more random format....but throughout this thread lately, it seemed that we were still seeing a running theme of approx. 6:10 outside ToT on multiple days...and again today as well. We happen to have a FP for ToT right around that time on our Thurs evening, with no rush until our Jedi Mickey H&V at 7, so we would be there anyway (all set before we had even heard of Palooza or learned what it was). But I was kinda surprised to hear that it would revert to being "random" and then hear more and more reports of it actually occurring at the pre-randomizing time/location. IDK...maybe just "saying" that it would be random would be enough to scare people away from hanging around the spot (and easing the supposed safety concerns I read about elsewhere), but then just keeping it in the same spot anyway. I guess we'll find out, but I won't lose any sleep over it.

Random in the sense that Monday through Thursday there is really no way of knowing where it will be. Friday - Sunday, SWW apparently impacts where it can be and the odds are higher that it will be near ToT.

There have actually been more reports of angry guests at the ToT gates than there have been of Palooza actually occurring at the ToT gates.

 

[Itinkso]

So if we don't care about the fireworks preshow, would you suggest watching from the spot close to 50's Primetime? How hard is it to get to F! from there?

It's very easy. When the fireworks end, you have 30 minutes to walk to Sunset Blvd. and the Fant amphitheater.

 

[kpd6901]

Random in the sense that Monday through Thursday there is really no way of knowing where it will be. Friday - Sunday, SWW apparently impacts where it can be and the odds are higher that it will be near ToT.

There have actually been more reports of angry guests at the ToT gates than there have been of Palooza actually occurring at the ToT gates.

Hmm...well, I have been known to make mistakes......from time to time. Dearie Dear.

 

[Itinkso]

Hmm...well, I have been known to make mistakes......from time to time. Dearie Dear.

DD is a Fant performer so I have a completely different perspective than most... and the angry reports aren't in this thread.

 

[mmafan]

They were never selling the cubes by themselves. You have to buy a drink at the stand. It'll be two different drinks at the liquor stand that represent Star Wars. I don't believe you get the glow cubes with anything other than the two alcoholic drinks advertised. I could be wrong about that but I only saw them in the specific drinks.

If you see a stand but don't like the drinks, head to another stand. I believe there's two drinks per stand with 4 different drinks choices in total through the parks.

Or you can look of it as buying the glow cubes by themselves...they'll just be about $15 a piece and come with free alcohol lol

when I asked to buy one they wanted like $8 or something so the first weekend they would sell them to you........

 

[Hootch]

Been here now three days. We're planning on heading to Star Wars weekend this Friday. We're staying at POFQ which is a short drive. We are planning on arriving around 7:00 AM or so. I had thought about driving, but I'm concerned the parking lot will be pretty full at that time. Any guidance on the question on bus versus personal vehicle?

 

[HCinKC]

Good call - I just checked and Anakin meets before him 11:40-12:20, so the earlier getting in line, the better. I've already stood in the line for Anakin, so I know how long it takes. I'll plan to be there by 11:30 at the latest and then let people pass me if needed. I can always do the author signing on another day, too. Doing it Friday is nice because I can send the book back to the hotel afterwards, but I could put it off until Sunday and just carry it in my backpack.

Anakin moves the line the slowest. He likes to talk a lot according to the CM we saw there all three days. I would get all the way to maybe 2nd-3rd in line, then let one group at a time in front of you until Mace comes out.

Is there a certain place to go to likely your chances of your child getting picked for the parade? I'm torn though because I'm sure he'd like to be in the parade but then hed end up missing all the characters walking by because he's in it lol

Actually the kids picked get to watch the parade as it comes toward them to the stage. You can ask around the info tent in the front of the park. Good luck

ODS was in his jedi costume. A CM just after the touchstyles begged him to be in the parade. We wanted to watch together and opted not to. After not getting a good shady spot despite being there almost an hour and a half early, I wish I had let him walk with us behind. We may as well have, and it would have been a great memory for him!

Our party of 3 adults tried all 4 alcoholic drinks between us and got glow cubes that way (in addition to the X-wings at RH).

We ALSO got glow cubes for the kids by buying lime aid and cherry aid -- marked up for the addition of the cube.

Same, the xwing was an extra $5.50 added to my son's limeade.

So if we don't care about the fireworks preshow, would you suggest watching from the spot close to 50's Primetime? How hard is it to get to F! from there?

You can see the Jumbotron across the lake if you hit the spot right. That's what we did!

 

[williamscm3]

Been here now three days. We're planning on heading to Star Wars weekend this Friday. We're staying at POFQ which is a short drive. We are planning on arriving around 7:00 AM or so. I had thought about driving, but I'm concerned the parking lot will be pretty full at that time. Any guidance on the question on bus versus personal vehicle?

I've never had my personal vehicle at Disney but we stayed at POFQ last weekend and were at the bus stop by 6:45 last Friday and almost immediately had a bus come. We were about 5 families back from the turnstiles. What I saw of the parking lot didn't look very full to me at that time though.

 

[kpd6901]

DD is a Fant performer so I have a completely different perspective than most... and the angry reports aren't in this thread.

Oh, I see. So that just means that we can put in a special request with you to make sure that Palooza indeed takes place at 6:10 outside ToT for Thurs, 6/11 I'll let my kids know! j/k

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Been here now three days. We're planning on heading to Star Wars weekend this Friday. We're staying at POFQ which is a short drive. We are planning on arriving around 7:00 AM or so. I had thought about driving, but I'm concerned the parking lot will be pretty full at that time. Any guidance on the question on bus versus personal vehicle?

We parked (first weekend) on Friday and Saturday in the 2nd parking row...we were there by 6:30am. Parking will IMO not be a problem at 7 am. Drove on Sunday entering around noon by then parking was getting fairly tight we were then out in Film (originally wrote Stage but that was a typo...we were in Stage for the early morning parking) which looked like the last parking lot...it was about 1/2 full.

 

[kpd6901]

Quick photopass/MM question...and this relates to SWW and all non-SWW in all parks: We have MM, so we know what we get, but logistically, do we get the photopass cards from every photopass photographer to link to our account OR does the photog link our magicband or something prior/after taking the shot? I don't want to have to stash photopass cards throughout the day and worry that I lost one before we link it. I would think there would be a little Magicband "tapstile"-like device the photogs have, but I don't want to assume and then miss a bunch of stuff. Thanks!

 

[jennab113]

Quick photopass/MM question...and this relates to SWW and all non-SWW in all parks: We have MM, so we know what we get, but logistically, do we get the photopass cards from every photopass photographer to link to our account OR does the photog link our magicband or something prior/after taking the shot? I don't want to have to stash photopass cards throughout the day and worry that I lost one before we link it. I would think there would be a little Magicband "tapstile"-like device the photogs have, but I don't want to assume and then miss a bunch of stuff. Thanks!

They'll scan one band after each "session". Some will give you a card too but I don't think you have to take it if they scan your band.

 

[lovingeire]

...but throughout this thread lately, it seemed that we were still seeing a running theme of approx. 6:10 outside ToT on multiple days...and again today as well. We happen to have a FP for ToT right around that time on our Thurs evening, with no rush until our Jedi Mickey H&V at 7, so we would be there anyway (all set before we had even heard of Palooza or learned what it was)... I guess we'll find out.

Exactly it! We have ToT FPs for that time frame and no rush so figured we'd check it out. My kids don't know about it at all so it would be a bonus if it happens, not heartbreaking if it doesn't!

Oh, I see. So that just means that we can put in a special request with you to make sure that Palooza indeed takes place at 6:10 outside ToT for Thurs, 6/11 I'll let my kids know! j/k

And while we're asking the world of @Itinkso who provides us with lots of great info maybe she could put in a request for Captain Hook on 6/1 at the ToT gates.