Star Wars Weekend Tips 2012

[CentralFloridian99]

WARNING ABOUT THE FETTS: YOU CAN NOT WAIT FOR A SPECIFIC ONE. YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH WHO EVER IS THERE. Unfortunatly thanks to this, I couldn't meet Boba today.

 

[CentralFloridian99]

Today I got to meet Ray Park (Second Session Garunteed FP) and Andy Secombe (First Session Garunteed FP). Andy was really, REALLY nice and even signed a new black and white photo for me (not the photo-copied one)! I highly recommend you meet him. It took me 2 minutes to meet him. FPs went out around 8 AM or so. Ray Park was eh. He seemed really out of it and didn't really talk to anyone. It only took me about 40 seconds to meet him. FPs were gone at 7:10 AM. Next up the shows.

 

[CentralFloridian99]

As for shows, they were great. The Stormtrooper opening was fun and required to understand the pre-show for Stars of the Saga. Unfortunatly, I missed both showings of Behind the Force becuase:

Show 1: My FP for Andy was ready and I didn't have enough time to get to the theater.
Show 2: Mis-read the time.

Stars of the Saga: This was the highlight of the day for me (excluding meeting celebrities). The Stormtrooper pre-show was hilarious, but it has a connection to the park opening show. WARNING: THE FOLLOWING WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS ON THIS WEEKEND'S AND NEXT WEEKEND'S STARS OF THE SAGA. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. When the pre-show was over, James Arnold Taylor came out and said some of the different voices he does in a commercial style way. When that is done, he tells us about visiting movie saga actors and introduces Andy Secombe. Andy was telling how he got the part and more on Watto's voice. Next was Ray Park, and he started by doing his Watto impression. Very good IMO. Then he starts telling us more about how he trained almost 24 hours a day in the studio. James then brings up the topic of G.I. Joe 2, and they start discussing that. The show finishes with Jedi Mickey coming out and they sing their finale song. Highly recommend.

Obi-Wan and Beyond: I was riding Star Tours while it started, but the show is the same as last year. Check it out; it's amazing.

I didn't see Visit to the Maul as I was tired and done.

 

[CentralFloridian99]

Merchandise:

First off, let me say that Darth's Mall is AMAZING. The selections of merchandise and art is great. I only got to meet C-3PO and his counterpart R2-D2 there. There was a bunch of LE stuff still, so I got the LE Duck Maul pin. Gotta get the official 2012 shirt of course! I also got the Star Tours nametag. Here's the process:

1. In the middle of the store, there are 2 booths for this.
2. You then fill out your info (First & Last Name, Date, Time, favorite SW planet).
3. Proceed to the register where you can choose to pay or pay when it's done.
4. Come back in 30 minutes and it will be ready.

For $8.95 this was a great deal!

 

[CentralFloridian99]

Can anyone there this weekend give some insight what the lines are like for Vadar, Maal and the other popular characters after 5:30 or so, trying to decide if we should add an hour after another park on a SWW weekend to popover. I guess the other way to ask the question is roughly when do the lines start to get smaller for SW characters ?

Thnx

I didnt stay until 5:30, but lines stay the same most of the day. Here's the rank:

Vader
Chewbacca/Ewok (waiting for a specific one allowed)
Maul
Mickey/Minnie/Donald/Goofy (waiting for a specific one allowed)
Commander Cody/Rex/Ashoka (waiting for a specific one allowed, although people don't really wait for clones)
Boba/Jango (waiting for a specific one NOT allowed)
Anakin/Kit Fisto/Shaak Ti (waiting for a specific one allowed)
Amidala
Skywalkers

 

[mesaboy2]

Merchandise:

First off, let me say that Darth's Mall is AMAZING. The selections of merchandise and art is great. I only got to meet C-3PO and his counterpart R2-D2 there. There was a bunch of LE stuff still, so I got the LE Duck Maul pin. Gotta get the official 2012 shirt of course! I also got the Star Tours nametag. Here's the process:

1. In the middle of the store, there are 2 booths for this.
2. You then fill out your info (First & Last Name, Date, Time, favorite SW planet).
3. Proceed to the register where you can choose to pay or pay when it's done.
4. Come back in 30 minutes and it will be ready.

For $8.95 this was a great deal!

Did the two droids appear together or separately? Any idea what the norm is--just one or usually two from the set of 4?

Thanks.

 

[OzFan]

We went yesterday and I thought that the lines were CRAZY long for autographs. We did get to thepark @ 7:30 am and went to Darths Mall. We were in and out quickly with no waits. We were able to ride everything we wanted (even TSM twice). We did make the mistake of trying yo eat around 12:30....what a dumb idea that was. No tables anywhere. The people in our party just had to eat right then, so we had no choice. Star Tours was very popular and the gift shop was mobbed. If you want merchandise Darths Mall was the best place for exclusive items.
My advice...get there EARLY. Decide on what matters the most..rides or autographs and just do what you can.
Darth Vader had a very long line all day. Chewy's line was long and it made for horrible congestion, BUT he would turn out and pose for photos in between people which was super nice. As we were leaving Chewy had an Ewok with him, he was so cute!
Even with the crowds it was the best trip I have had in my 14 trips.

 

[Karpkg]

I have a question for fellow Star Wars Vinylmation fans. How did the vinylmation signing event go? Can I buy the vinyls before going to the event, and have them signed, or do i have to buy them at the event? I'm going to SWW this friday and was going to pick up 1 of each of the Disney character Star Wars vinylmations but I just saw that their will be a signing on saturday and I'm wondering if I will need to wait to purchase them.

(also) does anyone know if I can bring other vinyls to be signed...I would love Maria to sign my 9" Winnie the Pooh

thanks,
Megan

I bought vinylmations last year and had them signed by the artist; this year it's a different artist. Buy yours as soon as you can; people were buying them by the cases last year and the following day the pickings were limited. Keep your receipt although I didn't have to at the signings.

I don't know if the artist will sign a vinylmation that wasn't done specifically by them. It wouldn't hurt to ask.

Can anyone confirm that you don't need your kids in line with you to sign them up for PMC?

You do not need your child at the PMC signup, only at JTA. JTA is so they can see if the child can follow directions while up at stage; PMC is more lenient.

Hi All! This thread has been so helpful! My fam will be at Disney for 3rd and 4th SWWs. I'm trying to decide exactly how much time to spend there!

We will get in to Orlando late Friday night and we're staying off-site. I'm debating whether we should go to SeaWorld or just head on over to SWW

Thankfully, my kiddos will not care about autographs of stars. We want to do Jedi Training. I saw the question asked earlier, but didn't see a response. Is there anyway to know when it will be Darth Maul? My kids LOVE him.

No way to know who it will be. We've gotten Ventress all the time, we were hoping to fight Darth Maul at least once.

Our key activities will be Jedi Training, character pictures, parade, merchandise, Hoopla (might just do by Idol screen...). What am I missing!?

Padawan Mind Challenge, Trip to the Maul shows. Stop by the celebrity tents and pick up a scanned copy of autographs. Don't need to see the celebrities to do that, ask and the CM's will give you a copy or if the tent is empty there'll be leftovers on the table.

I hope everyone has a great time. My kids are quickly turning in to Star Wars Fanatics!!

 

[Karpkg]

Did the two droids appear together or separately? Any idea what the norm is--just one or usually two from the set of 4?

Thanks.

Depends. Best to ask a CM to look at the schedule. (I had better luck asking a CM to look at the schedule while in line for Boba Fett then when I was in line at the tent for the Luke/Leia characters) For us in line last year R2-D2 was with C-3PO then rotated out just before us and we got only C-3PO.

 

[Karpkg]

We went yesterday and I thought that the lines were CRAZY long for autographs. We did get to thepark @ 7:30 am and went to Darths Mall. We were in and out quickly with no waits. We were able to ride everything we wanted (even TSM twice). We did make the mistake of trying yo eat around 12:30....what a dumb idea that was. No tables anywhere. The people in our party just had to eat right then, so we had no choice. Star Tours was very popular and the gift shop was mobbed. If you want merchandise Darths Mall was the best place for exclusive items.
My advice...get there EARLY. Decide on what matters the most..rides or autographs and just do what you can.
Darth Vader had a very long line all day. Chewy's line was long and it made for horrible congestion, BUT he would turn out and pose for photos in between people which was super nice. As we were leaving Chewy had an Ewok with him, he was so cute!
Even with the crowds it was the best trip I have had in my 14 trips.

For those who haven't gone yet if you haven't eaten yet I highly suggest Starring Rolls. It is a bakery but they have sandwiches I was told and because people think it is only a bakery the lines aren't bad compared to other CS places. Avoid Pizza Planet if you can see the lines out to the door. Guaranteed 1 hr wait without even ordering the food yet.

Or if you can spare the time hop over to Epcot or the Boardwalk and eat there. If you drove I wouldn't take the car out though, I'd take the bus/boat or walk.

 

[Karpkg]

WARNING ABOUT THE FETTS: YOU CAN NOT WAIT FOR A SPECIFIC ONE. YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH WHO EVER IS THERE. Unfortunatly thanks to this, I couldn't meet Boba today.

It's going to depend on which CM you get who's in charge of the line for that character that day, or that time of day. Some CM's are strict, others are lenient. One CM was in charge only for that wknd and was off the next wknd; one worked all 4 wknds. So it's a hit and miss.

I would ask for their procedure before getting into line of wanting a certain character. If they won't let you wait for one then ask for the times they come out and where in line would you have to be to get the best timing to get that character. Use the CM for info; they've been there long enough to know the pace of the character signings and how many does that character sees before leaving.

 

[mesaboy2]

Depends. Best to ask a CM to look at the schedule. (I had better luck asking a CM to look at the schedule while in line for Boba Fett then when I was in line at the tent for the Luke/Leia characters) For us in line last year R2-D2 was with C-3PO then rotated out just before us and we got only C-3PO.

Thank you! I'll just chat up the CM there.

 

[tink70]

The info on here is amazing! Thank you so much! I am going with DD June 9th for my first SWW! Loved the video of the merchandise tent also....

I just had a few questions....

What do you think would be the best time to get a pic with Chewie?

Where is the pmc? And what is it?

Best time to get into merchandise tent? Are the lines long?

Thanks very much!!!!!

 

[yulilin3]

Centralfloridian99: So glad you had a good day...isn't the tent amazing...
Best time for any character pics are first thing in the morning, Chewbacca comes out around 9am.
Padawan Mind Challenge: kids Star Wars trivia show, first show (2:10pm) all about Clone Wars, evening show (6:30pm) all about Episode 1, it's done at the Hat Stage
We went to the tent early in the morning and it was better than in the afternoon

 

[Karpkg]

Updated List: and those I've seen gone this past weekend.

1st Wknd May 18-20
Aerorea 5/18, 5/20
annabelle004 5/19
BobbidieBoo 5/18
CentralFloridian99 5/20
Daisy'sMama 5/20
dancingmom328 5/20
disneydreamgirl 5/18, 5/20
Disneyforus 5/18
Donald Duck888 5/18
d-r 5/20
feistyblue
GadgetRick
girli565 5/19
Hanover
heyitsmejosh 5/18, 5/19, 5/20
Hollywoodhaha(working at Darth Mall, say hi to Holly!)
jbird5150 5/20
JCH
JenGC 5/18
jthornton94 5/20
KaterBell 5/20
kennythepirate 5/18, 5/19
kswm30b 5/18, 5/20
lcarlton99 5/18
LMO429
lovethattink 5/18, 5/19, 5/20
Marc A. 5/18
marsh0013 5/18
maybs607 5/18
mmtska 5/18
momtotwins 5/20
momto2sweeties 5/19
Rachella76
squeaky penguin
MSUmom
tiggerpenny 5/18, 5/19
Tinker Bell Fan 5/18, 5/19, 5/20
Tink1073
VAfamily1998 5/19
vettegirl 5/18, 5/19, 5/20
wallawallakids 5/18
wendypooh 5/18, 5/19, 5/20
yulilin3 5/19, 5/20
2goofykiddos 5/18, 5/19

2nd Wknd May 25-27
AppleSister1 5/25
aiminator 5/27
BigDaddyWill
Brit Jude
csmommy 5/25
delmar411 5/25, 5/26
Denamac 5/26
Desiree 5/25
d-r 5/25, 5/26, 5/27
evcollins 5/26
feistyblue
GadgetRick
goofyredraider 5/27
Hollywoodhaha(working at Darth Mall, say hi to Holly!)
jar 5/26
jthornton94 5/26
justwinnie 5/25, 5/26
Karpkg 5/25
kdzbear 5/25, 5/27
kmcdougan 5/25, 5/26 5/27
lovethattink 5/25, 5/26, 5/27
megan511 5/27
moethorne 5/25
mmtska 5/25, 5/26, 5/27
MrsPook
PIRATEGIRL007 5/25, 5/26
PixiePoppins 5/25
redshoepaul 5/26
reginaastralis 5/25, 5/26
wendypooh
yulilin3 5/26, 5/27

3rd Wknd June 1-3
ajh88 6/1, 6/2, 6/3
audrey2580 6/1
cerberus 6/2
delmar411 6/1, 6/2
d-r 6/1, 6/2, 6/3
emilyandethansmom
goofyredraider 6/2, 6/3
Hollywoodhaha(working at Darth Mall, say hi to Holly!)
ireland nicole
jlovesee 6/2, 6/3
Karpkg 6/1
KathleensKid 6/2, 6/3
la la 6/3
lelei
LeslieLou
lovethattink 6/1, 6/2, 6/3
MarkinMA 6/1, 6/2
megan511 6/1, 6/2, 6/3
mesaboy 6/3
mmtska 6/1
MrsPook
ocalla 6/1
PIRATEGIRL007 6/1, 6/2
RedM94 6/1, 6/2, 6/3
Scouter88 6/2
thej 6/1, 6/2, 6/3
Toystoryfan32 6/3
vleeth 6/2
vwaller72 6/2
yulilin3 6/2, 6/3

4th Wknd June 8-10
ADisneyQueen 6/8
Atchley 6/8, 6/10
bizeemom4 6/8, 6/10
buckeev 6/10
CarolynMink 6/10
cerberus 6/8, 6/10
Cinderumbrella 6/8, 6/9
disneymomma76 6/8, 6/10
d-r 6/8, 6/9, 6/10
Hanover
Hollywoodhaha(working at Darth Mall, say hi to HOlly!)
ireland nicole 6/8
jacksonsmom 6/8, 6/10
ladyjubilee 6/10
LeslieLou
liriel 6/10
lovethattink 6/8, 6/9, 6/10
Maavernon 6/8
mmtska 6/8
Music City Mama 6/8
POLY1985 6/10
Poohbug 6/8, 6/10
RalphinSC 6/10
susanrose73 6/8
texasteacher35
TrixieLouMagoo 6/8
undertheseas 6/8
vwaller72 6/8
wdwfanatic80 6/9, 6/10
wdwnut61 6/8, 6/9, 6/10
yulilin3 6/9, 6/10
39CINDERELLA 6/8, 6/9, 6/10

 

[cerberus]

Centralfloridian99: So glad you had a good day...isn't the tent amazing...
Best time for any character pics are first thing in the morning, Chewbacca comes out around 9am.
Padawan Mind Challenge: kids Star Wars trivia show, first show (2:10pm) all about Clone Wars, evening show (6:30pm) all about Episode 1, it's done at the Hat Stage
We went to the tent early in the morning and it was better than in the afternoon

With an 8am opening did Darth Varder / Maul and Fab 4 also come out at 9am or was it 10am?

 

[kirsangel]

Anyone have problems making it to RD using resort buses? This is our first SWW and we are staying at CSR. I was planning on getting to the bus stop at 6:30 but I read on another website that early bus service to SWW has been a mess! Should I just take a cab? TIA

 

[pandamom]

Thank you everyone for all the fantastic info on this thread!!! We will be going June 1 & 2nd (and possible June 3rd) -- can't wait.

Have a question -- can you signup kids for the parade? If so where and what is the age limit?

 

[yulilin3]

With an 8am opening did Darth Varder / Maul and Fab 4 also come out at 9am or was it 10am?

Characters come out around 9am.

Thank you everyone for all the fantastic info on this thread!!! We will be going June 1 & 2nd (and possible June 3rd) -- can't wait.

Have a question -- can you signup kids for the parade? If so where and what is the age limit?

You can't sign the kids up for parade, they are picked at random by CMs

 

[Kathy Jetson]

I saw a few pages back someone mentioned breakfast carts. Are these carts for the people waiting on line to get in or are they in the parks? Is it possible to get there around 7:15am and get something while waiting on line?