Star Wars Weekend Tips 2012

I hope to hear some live updates before signing off. I'm packing today to go home. I'm aching, have had little sleep this past week and am limping having developed blisters from walking in wet shoes and then switching to flip flops in the rain. I had a blast tho. :wizard:

I need another vacation to get over this vacation. :lmao:
 
The map for wknd 4 is out. Here's the link.

I doctored a map a while back that includes characters. First, here's a list you can find of characters. Check on p. 44 of this thread post 655. Only 2 that won't be showing up this year is MK-R2(sp?) and Mace Windu.

The map is post 934 p. 63 of this thread.


Thank you for the map with the characters. DH and I went the first weekend but he had no interest in standing in line for the characters. I'm going again next Friday with DS, who will hopefully be more open to the idea of getting a cool picture! I'll probably drag him over to Darth Vader first thing - who is out when the park opens, is that correct?
 
When ppl said the gate open earlier, is it only for the magic hr or anyone can enter. it thought the schedule said open at 9:00? my DS is not interested in autographs neither but definately like to go in earlier for other things especially Star War.
The park official opening times during SWW is 8am but the park has been opening around 7:30am for everyone every SWW. Take advantage of this and ride TSM, ST and other rides and get in line for some characters
is there a particular spot for these character to show? i can imagine myself running crazy around the park w/ my 2 super Star War fans DS ( 5 &9) to get the character.
Chewbacca and the Ewock meet in the Star Tours area and Darth Vader meets around the Backlot area.

Thank you for the map with the characters. DH and I went the first weekend but he had no interest in standing in line for the characters. I'm going again next Friday with DS, who will hopefully be more open to the idea of getting a cool picture! I'll probably drag him over to Darth Vader first thing - who is out when the park opens, is that correct?

Yes, Vader has been meeting around 8am. He isn't scheduled to meet until 9am but since he's so popular the bring him out before, also he is the only character you can meet during the SWW parade.
 
I hope to hear some live updates before signing off. I'm packing today to go home. I'm aching, have had little sleep this past week and am limping having developed blisters from walking in wet shoes and then switching to flip flops in the rain. I had a blast tho. :wizard:

I need another vacation to get over this vacation. :lmao:

Great to hear all of your live reports...I'm aching too ;) yesterday was super hot!!
Obi Wan and Beyond is such a great show, you won't be dissapointed, it's funny and inspirational at the same time.
Walked out of DHS just as they were starting Hoopla and it was packed, but if you can't make it early for a good close spot, try around Hollywood Blvd. half way down and you can still see the stage and can see the screen.
Can't believe it's just one more weekend left :sad1: because of my sister's birthday I'm going to have to skip going to DHS today :eek: Have fun everyone.
 

Can't believe it's just one more weekend left :sad1: because of my sister's birthday I'm going to have to skip going to DHS today :eek: Have fun everyone.

It only felt like 4 days ago when I went. At least we're always a second closer to SWW 2013! Oh, andd you know what I find weird? On Weekend 4's map it says "Talented Actor" for Jeremy and Daniel, but it just says actor for Michonne. I know she was just a cameo like E.T.'s family.
 
I'm working at Darth's Mall today around 1 to closing so I will try to get some information for y'all!
 
Quick question, was Vader still starting his meets around 8am?

Thinking on Friday when we go, if they open the park around 7:30, to ride TSM and then head over to Vader's line. Good or bad idea?

Do you think we would have time after meeting Vader to get into Chewie's line before it gets super long?

We have Sunday we are going to SWW also, so we could split them up, Vader on Friday and Chewie on Sunday. But we also want to try to meet as many of the Fab 4 as possible also.
 
Actually at my laptop now so I can type properly. Here is a brief recap of our SWW experiences...we were not out to get many celebrity autographs and we generally don't go to the shows (though I am bummed we missed JAT's Obi-Wan and Beyond show).

Friday, June 1 - Arrived at the park about 7 am. Ignored all character lines because we weren't seeking autographs, though Ashley's was super short and it looked like Jake Lloyd and Silas Carson were the longest. Lines at turnstiles non-existent until about 7:15 - celebrity FP were handed out and that crowd joined the turnstile lines - watched Stormtrooper show and gates opened about 7:30 (give or take). Straight to Darth's Mall - spent a ton of $$ - then to Sound Stage for Carbon Freeze Me at 8:20 am. I made that appointment when park opening time was 9 am - in retrospect, should have changed it, but oh well. Rode ST with less than 10 minute wait, got FP for TSM, then rode ST again. Waited in line to build droids and at around 10:15, snagged a table at Backlot Express and watched a JTA. Had a "snack" when Backlot opened at 10:30, rain was starting - cut short the next (I think) JTA session. Used TSM FP's then decided to head out - as we were trying to leave, heard the announcement that the parade was cancelled. Went back to room to change then spent the afternoon/evening at EPCOT.

Saturday, June 2 - Same morning situation as Friday - we got in Ashley's line around 7:15 and easily got into the first session - which in retrospect was sort of a mistake...that is what made us miss the JAT show...BUT it *is* what allowed us to meet R2D2, C3PO, Luke, and Leia at Darth's Mall (since her first signing was in the Mall too). As soon as we had our FP, we watched the Stormtroopers, then left to spend the morning at AK. Got back to DHS around 4:00 pm and headed straight to the Mall. Met all 4 characters then met Ashley. Finished up around 5:30 then headed over to get a spot for Hoopla. DH and DD tried to find some Jawas to trade with, but were unsuccessful. Watched 6:30 PMC then Hoopla (awesome!) before 8:40 pm Sci Fi ADR. Barely made it onto Star Tours at 10 pm for final ride of the night.

Sunday, June 3 - Arrived at 7:40 am - terrible. What a difference 30 minutes makes! Ended up parking in Music - ALL the way at the far end of the lot. Ugh! The poor blisters on my feet were not happy. Got "surprise" FP for Lights, Motor, Action 11 am show on the way in. Headed to ST and rode twice with no wait. Walked by Vader's line sometime between 8 and 8:30 - it was already long and remained that way (or longer) all morning. DH went and got TSM FP (return at 11:50 am), we browsed Tatooine Traders (NO line for Build a Droid at the time), and about 8:35 am, got in line for Chewie (we were about 4 to 5 people back). He was our #1 autograph priority today. After Chewbacca signed, headed over to Animation building (at DD request) - bought some art and drew Carl from Up. Headed over to L, M, A Stunt show - in retrospect, should have skipped it, but we haven't seen it in about 7 years, so decided to check it out. The worst of it was that when we got out, there were TONS of people exiting, then a MuppetVision let out also - you could barely move around the Pizza Planet/MuppetVision/Star Tours areas...let alone find something to eat now that it was nearly noon. Poor planning on our part. Checked out P&F line (long) then used TSM FP (had to wait in a line to use our FP - seriously, crowd was heavy). Wandered back to ST, decided against standby (wait was 40 minutes), got FP but then decided we were hot and hungry. Made it to the hat stage around parade time. DH went over to videotape while DD and I shared a frozen R2D2 lemonade in the shade. On our way out, the celebrity motorcade went back down Hollywood Blvd (wasn't expecting that), so we did get to see Jedi Mickey, Silas, Catherine, Jake, JAT, and Ashley drive by. Left the park for some R&R.

We didn't do as much as some, but we did most everything we wanted. I wanted to see Obi Wan and Beyond and DH wanted to meet Jedi Mickey - we could have done Mickey on Friday if we wouldn't have been rained out, but we had to choose between him and Chewie this morning. If we would have requested Ashley's 2nd session yesterday, we could have made JAT's show (but probably would have missed the droids at the mall), so it was a give and take thing. We should NOT have gone to the Mall first thing Friday - out of the way and not a good use of our time, but I couldn't convince DH otherwise. We did get everything we wanted EXCEPT the Wookie bandolier, but I already knew it was sold out.

For the celebrity FP, the CM at Ashley's line told us that as long as we showed up before the end of the session, we would be fine - I had to run over and ask while in line for the droids because we were nearing the end of our return time and we didn't want to miss it. Not sure if all the lines worked this way or not, but the "enforcement" of those return times doesn't seem to be the same as for rides.

All in all, we consider it a successful SWW - learned some things for next time and had fun doing everything we did! DD got to be the Rebel Spy twice on ST, so she was satisfied and DH finally got his Jedi Mickey "mini" big figure, so he is satisfied too. :goodvibes
 
Quick question, was Vader still starting his meets around 8am?

Thinking on Friday when we go, if they open the park around 7:30, to ride TSM and then head over to Vader's line. Good or bad idea?

Do you think we would have time after meeting Vader to get into Chewie's line before it gets super long?

We have Sunday we are going to SWW also, so we could split them up, Vader on Friday and Chewie on Sunday. But we also want to try to meet as many of the Fab 4 as possible also.

Yes, and good idea.
 
I hope to hear some live updates before signing off. I'm packing today to go home. I'm aching, have had little sleep this past week and am limping having developed blisters from walking in wet shoes and then switching to flip flops in the rain. I had a blast tho. :wizard:

I need another vacation to get over this vacation. :lmao:

I agree Karen! LOL My feet are so bad off that I'm not sure how long it will take to recover.

We did really well yesterday. Got all the celebs autographs with a combo of FP and standby, finished up the Fab 4, got Commander Cody, Kit Fitso & Shaak Ti and Aurra Sing...got all my SW vinyls signed at the Mall, DH got his book signed at Writer's Stop, got a few ST rides in and DH managed to trade for a 'piece of the Death Star' pin so he was gleeful.

I had taken ODD to HS on friday during the crazy rainstorms and managed to get a bunch of autographs in between bursts. No really long lines at all since so many ppl bailed out on the park. Plus we got to watch the Stars of the Saga show.

We never did get to see Hoopla but I watched it on youtube so at least that's something.
 
We were just informed they are having technical difficulties with the idol screen and it may or may not work for tonights hoopla
 
We were at SWW yesterday, DH and I and our boys, ages 1 and 4. Our 4 yr old LOVES Star Wars. He was selected to be a Jedi in the motorcade. He had the best time! I swear he has been smiling non stop since he woke us up early yesterday to go to HS!

I was curious if anyone who went to the SWW Motorcade on June 2nd has videos/photos of the kiddo Jedis posted anywhere? I got a short video from by the stage but no real good photos. I was hoping someone here would be able to help.
 
I agree Karen! LOL My feet are so bad off that I'm not sure how long it will take to recover.

We did really well yesterday. Got all the celebs autographs with a combo of FP and standby, finished up the Fab 4, got Commander Cody, Kit Fitso & Shaak Ti and Aurra Sing...got all my SW vinyls signed at the Mall, DH got his book signed at Writer's Stop, got a few ST rides in and DH managed to trade for a 'piece of the Death Star' pin so he was gleeful.

I had taken ODD to HS on friday during the crazy rainstorms and managed to get a bunch of autographs in between bursts. No really long lines at all since so many ppl bailed out on the park. Plus we got to watch the Stars of the Saga show.

We never did get to see Hoopla but I watched it on youtube so at least that's something.

::yes::

You did better than I. I limped into the first aid center at AK yesterday and the nurse there offered me a bandaid. I looked at it, then at her, and said moleskin! You think a puny bandaid is going to protect a blister? She gave me a surprised look and handed me several moleskins. So despite the fact I brought first aid stuff on my trip; it doesn't matter if it's still in the room, use the first aid center in the parks and ask for the good stuff.

This year's celebrities weren't the big honchos so the star wars geeks weren't here in droves. The ones I talked to while in line were mentioning more anticipation of Celebration V in August this year. I saw a few of them again in the standby lines and so even if you were limited in fast passes, I know one who had already seen Silas Carson 2x that day, JAT and was in line for Catherine Tabor. As RedM94 mentioned we did good in getting all we wanted Friday without having to come back Saturday.

We lucked out last year in finding framed pics to have the celebrities sign; this year it was terrible that we couldn't find a Padme Clone War pic or anything regarding her for her to sign. But thanks to yulilin3 we borrowed her idea of recording her voice as a ringtone and now DD is thrilled to hear Senator Amidala on my phone. Gotta transfer it to the 'puter to save it now. We also have JAT's voice as Obi Wan, but we hadn't managed to do Kane's as Yoda- we hadn't known it then. Oh well, maybe he'll be back next year.

Alternating heat and rainy days wreaked havoc with our Disney schedule. Dragging the kids out of bed 4:30AM in the mornings really did a number on them although they often perked up once we were in DHS. Park hopping was harder too; the monorail broke down so taking the ferry back before our celebrity autograph times was stressful although once we were there they weren't paying much attention to the end times on our fast passes. We did the PMC for the first time; I wonder if they were going through too many kid toys at JTA and so were only doing it for PMC? We missed the HH also, it wasn't quite the priority for us this year- I guess I'll also watch it on youtube later.

 
We were just informed they are having technical difficulties with the idol screen and it may or may not work for tonights hoopla

The screen worked the entire time!!! It wasn't a clear as usual, but it was good. There was quite a bit more improvising on stage! Made for a great show!
 
When a child gets picked to be in the parade the child/children will be asked to meet prior to the parade with one parent at a designated meeting place. They'll be given a jedi robe and instructions. They'll march the length of the entire parade, and at the signal of the jedi master will stop and "strike a pose" several times during the parade. :wizard: The one parent will be trailing directly behind all the children. Any other family members/parents will be directed to an area where they can watch the parade and have a good viewing area. Now, we did this 3 yrs ago and the parade route was different then but the method is still similar.

One problem I had was one parent decided with stroller to be alongside their child instead of staying behind with the other parents; this blocked my view and those of other parents and the ability to get pics of my child who was in the middle of the other kids. :mad: I hope that has changed.

Karpkg, Thanks so much for the inf. one more quesitons, how does the child get pick, do they go somewhere to sign up?
 
I'm going to go against the grain and say Aurra Sing will be the big draw next week. Jeremy Bulloch has been here so many times, he's a nice guy and all, but Sing is a model and guys will be out in force. Just my guess. She's new and not nearly as easy to find/see as Bulloch.

At any rate - count me in the tired feet zone!!! We got all of our celebrity autographs without any issues. Fortunately the kids are not as big into the characters this time around - that has been sooooo nice! We've caught quite a few, but have been able to do other things beside stand in the sun in a line :cool1: At least not as much as in years past...

Highlight was Ashley Eckstein - such a sweetheart as always! Mary Hadley wore her Ahsoka Tano shirt and AE had the same one on. AE immediately jumped down and grabbed her own camera - handed it to her husband (World Series MVP David Eckstein) and got a picture with her. At that point she looked closer under the hood and said "Oh....I know you! Its Mary Hadley!"

MH was over the moon! She recognized my son Holden as well, but never can remember his name - lol! He got the standard "Hey my Skiy Guy!" And he was never the wiser. Poor guy never gets any attention anymore :rolleyes:

Holden got a little boost though - he asked David Eckstein for his autograph. He is s great guy as well and happily obliged while chatting with Holden. All in all we had a wonderful visit with them - as always.

Okay - off to Universal for a few days and back to SWW on Friday! We'll be early for Aura Sing and split Daniel Logan and Ventress on Sat. Sun we may take the day off. We're skipping Bulloch this year.

Have a good week - we'll see you next weekend!
 
I'm going to go against the grain and say Aurra Sing will be the big draw next week. Jeremy Bulloch has been here so many times, he's a nice guy and all, but Sing is a model and guys will be out in force. Just my guess. She's new and not nearly as easy to find/see as Bulloch.

At any rate - count me in the tired feet zone!!! We got all of our celebrity autographs without any issues. Fortunately the kids are not as big into the characters this time around - that has been sooooo nice! We've caught quite a few, but have been able to do other things beside stand in the sun in a line :cool1: At least not as much as in years past...

Highlight was Ashley Eckstein - such a sweetheart as always! Mary Hadley wore her Ahsoka Tano shirt and AE had the same one on. AE immediately jumped down and grabbed her own camera - handed it to her husband (World Series MVP David Eckstein) and got a picture with her. At that point she looked closer under the hood and said "Oh....I know you! Its Mary Hadley!"

MH was over the moon! She recognized my son Holden as well, but never can remember his name - lol! He got the standard "Hey my Skiy Guy!" And he was never the wiser. Poor guy never gets any attention anymore :rolleyes:

Holden got a little boost though - he asked David Eckstein for his autograph. He is s great guy as well and happily obliged while chatting with Holden. All in all we had a wonderful visit with them - as always.

Okay - off to Universal for a few days and back to SWW on Friday! We'll be early for Aura Sing and split Daniel Logan and Ventress on Sat. Sun we may take the day off. We're skipping Bulloch this year.

Have a good week - we'll see you next weekend!

DH is nodding his head, from a guy's perspective, you could be right, Aurra Sing may be the draw.

When we saw Ashley at Darth's Mall, we also saw David hanging around nearby with a VIP lanyard around his neck. I approached him and asked if he was Ashley's husband and he grinned and said yes. We chatted a bit, I mentioned that I saw on their website that he's involved in the Her Universe merchandise as well and he said he was enjoying this a lot. We got a pic with him as well.

Ashley remembered DD as well, and told us she enjoys seeing the children grow up before her eyes. I think for as long as she does SWW my daughter will always want to see her.


 












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