Star Wars Weekend Tips 2012

[Feisty Fairy]

How many minutes is the parade at 12:40? I am hoping to watch it and then get to CSR for the buffet lunch which ends at 2.

My apologies if this is repeat information, but I found it to be really interesting!! On Sunday I was approached by a iPad carrying CM who asked if I would be willing to complete a survey online when I arrived home.

Well, I just finished completing the survey. It entire survey was SWW related. One very interesting tid bit from it. One of the very last questions asked. If a Star Wars Charactor breakfast were to have been offered at Sci - Fi from 8:00 am to 12:39 would I have attended? They even listed the pricing which was the same as any othe character breakfast buffets.

I thought hell yes. It sure beats racing around and standing in line to meet some of the characters.

Enjoy your day everyone!

That would be totally awesome I wish I was given the opportunity to take the survey I also think James Arnold Taylor's show should be longer.

 

[andysomma1]

A Star Wars character breakfast would be a dream come true. Probably packed out too.

 

[RedM94]

I would DEFINETLY do that. Was it in general or just for SWW (the character breakfeast, not the entire survey)?

I would say that the survey was 90 % SWW related, and the rest was general questions bout where we stayed.

There were questions about everything from special SW merchandise being offered to the SW shows and even about the autograph sessions.

 

[Karpkg]

My apologies if this is repeat information, but I found it to be really interesting!! On Sunday I was approached by a iPad carrying CM who asked if I would be willing to complete a survey online when I arrived home.

Well, I just finished completing the survey. It entire survey was SWW related. One very interesting tid bit from it. One of the very last questions asked. If a Star Wars Charactor breakfast were to have been offered at Sci - Fi from 8:00 am to 12:39 would I have attended? They even listed the pricing which was the same as any othe character breakfast buffets.

I thought hell yes. It sure beats racing around and standing in line to meet some of the characters.

Enjoy your day everyone!

This would fill the void of overly princess' type character breakfasts for the guys. And I'm talking about boys and men.

I would definitely love to see this. It would bring more people to DHS than now.

Now, where would they hold it? Sci Fi Diner?

edit: I just re-read that it would be held at Sci Fi. okay, it'd be dark in there,tho.

 

[lovethattink]

Looked like kids were trying to scrounge up and trade all sorts of things like candy and paper. I had taken a little bag with a couple of screws and metal pieces from DHs tool box. Glad I did because DGrD was insistent that Jawa's like shiny metal that they can repair things with.

Thanks!! That's great!

 

[lovethattink]

A character meal would be awesome!!!


We have attended 6 of the days of SWW thus far. My son still has a bunch more characters left to see because of his intolerance to heat (Vader, Chewy, Ewok, Kit Fisto, Jenga Fett, Asajj Ventress, Captain Rex, Shaak Ti, Jedi Mickey, Darth Goofy, and some roaming characters).

A character meal would help tremendously!

 

[TDC Nala]

I would assume that for a character meal they won't be playing the movies in SciFi and may actually turn some lights on.

I might also want to know if they are thinking of doing it just for the Star Wars weekends or as a permanent addition...some seem to be thinking it might be a permanent addition. All WDW character meals are buffets or all you can eat family style (fixed price restaurants at any rate) and Sci Fi really isn't set up to be operable as a buffet or family style...that also interests me. Maybe a fixed price meal you order from a menu like CRT and Akershus. It's also possible they could start a new breakfast meal and have that be characters.

 

[RedM94]

This would fill the void of overly princess' type character breakfasts for the guys. And I'm talking about boys and men.

I would definitely love to see this. It would bring more people to DHS than now.

Now, where would they hold it? Sci Fi Diner?

edit: I just re-read that it would be held at Sci Fi. okay, it'd be dark in there,tho.

Most of the questions were specific to the day I was asked to take the survey. So it asked if the character breakfest were offer on June 1 would I have purchased it. So I am assuming it would be offered only during SWW.

The were definately targeting SWW fans. This was the only day both my son and I had on our 2011 SWW T-shirts.

The other days we were wearing either generic T-shirts or polo shirts. They survey CM's didn't even give us a second look.

 

[megan511]

I wanted to give a mini report of our SWW experience in case it can help someone!

Sunday May 27th

Arrive around 730, straight to JTA sign-ups, get 1045 show.
Leave to pick up my mom back around 10.
Met Queen Amidala waited about 25 minutes but that was with her taking a break.
JTA - my son had to use the bathroom before he fought Vader, (even though we told him for an hour beforehand to go! kids) he was upset, obviously JTA was full at this point, kind CM's felt bad for him and we got asked to be in the parade!
Didn't really have time to do anything so hung around Star Tours area until time to check in for the Motorcade.
Walked in the parade and after that we left because my mom was ready to go.

Friday June 1

Arrived around 730 again, got 1045 JTA again.
Kids built a droid while DH and BIL went to check on Vader, he was out at this point (815) so we hopped in line to meet him, waited about 10-15 minutes.
Rode TSMM and got FPs, return time at 11:10.
Went over to TOT and RnRC rode once each.
Headed over to JTA, it was around 10 at this point.
Rode ST then checked into JTA.
JTA - DS, niece and nephew got Ventress and Ahsoka helped them.
Started raining right when they were handing out certificates, and the announcement saying JTA was cancelled was made. I'm pretty sure this JTA group was the last one to get in until that evening.

Used our FPs for TSMM. Rain was picking up, only characters out were Stormtroopers, we grabbed a quick photo before they all headed in.
We headed to Studio Catering Co to hang out under the roof, shared a Darth Vader cupcake - delish! It started pouring at this point.
Ran to Backlot Express (we had picky eaters in our group, lol) to have lunch, it was a madhouse!
We rode the GMR, TOT and RnRC again. No characters were out because of the rain.

Headed to Darth Mall, made name tags, met Leia waited about 25-30 minutes. Darth Mall was crowded, but not like I was expecting. And this was in the rain so I think a lot of people were just hanging out there just to be indoors.
Rain finally started to let up at this point, headed toward the Backlot area, saw Boba Fett come out from behind the gate so jumped in his line, then he immediately went back in. This was at 330.

At 4 CMs were letting families go behind the gate for a rain location for Boba Fett and Darth Maul. Met them both in about 20 minutes. Zam Wesell came out when we were back meeting Darth Maul so we got pics with her too.
After this headed toward the Streets of America, saw Clone Troopers, saw Anakin walking out, jumped in his line and met him in about 30 seconds.

Headed to the Clone Wars rotating line, Commander Cody was out, almost immediately he was joined by Captain Rex. They were both out for 10 minutes then Cody left. We met Captain Rex only, waited about 15 minutes.
Headed back to the Jedi Council line as Shaak-Ti was scheduled to come out. Were told that if there was any rain at all neither her nor Kit Fisto would come out, it was drizzling and we were told they would not come out in this so we jumped out of line and met a Jawa. Trading with the Jawa was one of the highlights of our trip! Very fun. The people that were standing around us didn't know the Jawas traded, and started picking up trash off the ground to try and trade.

After this it was still sprinkling so we decided to head out. It was about 6.

Saturday June 2

Arrived around 740, went straight to TSMM. Grabbed FPs good for 850-950.
Was already posting a 30 min wait, but we waited about 20.
Headed to Chewbacca's line. No line at this point so we started it. Sent DH and DS to ride ST.
For some reason I was thinking Chewy came out at 9 but was told by the CM it would be 930. We decided to just wait it out as a huge line was forming behind us.
930 met Chewy, headed toward the Streets of America.
Met Commander Cody in the Clone Wars rotating line. He was the first character out at 950.
Went and used our FPs for TSMM. We arrived at 957 but he let us on. Told us there was a 15 min grace period.
Kids and I went to Monsters Inc line while DH went to the Jedi Council line. Hardly anyone at Monsters Inc M&G
Met up with DH, met Shaak Ti. She really took a lot of time with each guest.

Were told Kit Fisto would be out at 1115 so we jumped back in line. Had to let a few people ahead of us as Anakin was back out. Then we were told 1120 for Kit. Let a few more people ahead. Then we heard Shaak Ti was back out. I went to ask a CM when Kit would be there he told me to just stay in line. We got to the front of the line and Shaak Ti comes around the corner. My DH says we are waiting for Kit Fisto and she says, he's here! We got our pic with Kit, Shaak Ti and Anakin. Very cool.

We debated standing in line for Ahsoka as she was scheduled to come out at 1150 but the line was very long and we didn't think we would catch her, and we had lunch ressies at 1210. We decided to just try and check into lunch early. Went to Hollywood and Vine and were told we could check in early no problem. It was dead in there. After lunch we decided to take a break.

Arrived back around 5. Went to the Fetts' line. Boba was out but we decided to get in line and hope he would rotate. As soon as we got in line we were told Boba would be out 10 more minutes, than Jango would be out. Met Jango, then met Tuskan Raiders who had just come out. Aurra Sing came out too but my son was too shy to stop her so we moved on.
Went to Darth Mall, Leia was out. As soon as we got in line CM came up to us and said by the time we got to the front Luke would be out. Perfect. Met Luke then headed out.

We had a great experience at SWW. Was it hot and crowded? Yes. But we had a plan and did everything we really wanted to do. Thanks so much for all the tips and help on this board!

 

[delmar411]

My apologies if this is repeat information, but I found it to be really interesting!! On Sunday I was approached by a iPad carrying CM who asked if I would be willing to complete a survey online when I arrived home.

Well, I just finished completing the survey. It entire survey was SWW related. One very interesting tid bit from it. One of the very last questions asked. If a Star Wars Charactor breakfast were to have been offered at Sci - Fi from 8:00 am to 12:39 would I have attended? They even listed the pricing which was the same as any othe character breakfast buffets.

I thought hell yes. It sure beats racing around and standing in line to meet some of the characters.

Enjoy your day everyone!

I got the same survey except mine asked about a character meal at the Backlot Express from 8am-10:30am. $36.99 A / $19.99 C

 

[Karpkg]

I got the same survey except mine asked about a character meal at the Backlot Express from 8am-10:30am. $36.99 A / $19.99 C

Can you imagine a storm trooper pointing at your child and motioning to him/her to eat their breakfast? Or Darth Vader with his arms crossed waiting for your child to clean their plate?

 

[VAfamily1998]

Can you imagine a storm trooper pointing at your child and motioning to him/her to eat their breakfast? Or Darth Vader with his arms crossed waiting for your child to clean their plate?

 

[alayne]

We had to cancell our 2012 trip so I have talked my husband into doing two trips in 2013. One being SWW and the other Thanksgiving. For SWW (and since we would be going back in Nov.) my thought was to arrive on Thursday - spend Fri., Sat., and Sun. at SW then depart home on Monday. Our DS will still be in school (missing three days) but grades are always turned in two weeks before school is out so he really wouldn't be missing anything. From what I have read so far in these 139 pages is / hot and lines. Therefore, spending all three days at SWW seems like a must in order to see a lot. Right?!?!

It also sounds like you need to arrive early - therefore I'm thinking all Character Breakfast need to wait till Thanksgiving. Yeah or Nay?!?!

We will be bringing our camper and staying at the Fort so we could just eat breakfast at the camper to get an earlier start if it helps us to see more.

Since the 2013 dates have not been posted I'm guessing based on past dates and hoping that the first weekend of SW in 2013 is the weekend of May 17th (weekend before Memorial Day). This would be the weekend we would want to go because we go camping every Memorial Day with family and June is always really busy for us. Is the first weekend the worst weekend for crowds or are all weekends about the same ?

Last thing (for now anyway) - we don't mind skipping all the non- SW rides and activites since A) we have done them all before and B) we will be back in Nov. so would there be a lot of walking? In other words is all the SW characters, shows, etc. located in one area near the Star Tours ride or do you still have to walk to RRC to see SW stuff?

Thanks for the info. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions once I read more of the 139 pages.

 

[lovethattink]

We had to cancell our 2012 trip so I have talked my husband into doing two trips in 2013. One being SWW and the other Thanksgiving. For SWW (and since we would be going back in Nov.) my thought was to arrive on Thursday - spend Fri., Sat., and Sun. at SW then depart home on Monday. Our DS will still be in school (missing three days) but grades are always turned in two weeks before school is out so he really wouldn't be missing anything. From what I have read so far in these 139 pages is / hot and lines. Therefore, spending all three days at SWW seems like a must in order to see a lot. Right?!?!

It also sounds like you need to arrive early - therefore I'm thinking all Character Breakfast need to wait till Thanksgiving. Yeah or Nay?!?!

We will be bringing our camper and staying at the Fort so we could just eat breakfast at the camper to get an earlier start if it helps us to see more.

Since the 2013 dates have not been posted I'm guessing based on past dates and hoping that the first weekend of SW in 2013 is the weekend of May 17th (weekend before Memorial Day). This would be the weekend we would want to go because we go camping every Memorial Day with family and June is always really busy for us. Is the first weekend the worst weekend for crowds or are all weekends about the same ?

Last thing (for now anyway) - we don't mind skipping all the non- SW rides and activites since A) we have done them all before and B) we will be back in Nov. so would there be a lot of walking? In other words is all the SW characters, shows, etc. located in one area near the Star Tours ride or do you still have to walk to RRC to see SW stuff?

Thanks for the info. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions once I read more of the 139 pages.

SWW is spread throughout the park. Kennythepirate has a great map on his website of which characters are where. The SWW merchandise is in a tent beside RRC.

 

[RedM94]

I got the same survey except mine asked about a character meal at the Backlot Express from 8am-10:30am. $36.99 A / $19.99 C

That is interesting!! Thos were the price points I was quoted also! Has to be a breakfast buffet.

Wouldn't it be wild of they pulled out the cars and replace them with the star tours cruisers for the four weeks of SWW! Would it be worth it for Disney to re-theme Sci-fi for 4 weeks? For me it would!

 

[delmar411]

Can you imagine a storm trooper pointing at your child and motioning to him/her to eat their breakfast? Or Darth Vader with his arms crossed waiting for your child to clean their plate?

Maybe my kids would actually eat their meal then!

 

[RedM94]

As many of you know, my son has been blessed with asperger's autism and life threatening food allergies. For these reason we have chose to home school my son for the past four years. My wife no longer teaches in a public school, she has a new job a labor of love, She teaches our son at home.

Last years boys only SWW trip was on a whim and we loved it. Between work and school, the past year plus has been long. My son and I really bonded during our second annual boys only weekend. So much so that my wife sugested today that the "boys only" trip should become an annual tradition.

I really hope they add the character breakfast to the list of things to do during SWW. That would be awesome!!!

The one and only negative that I mentioned in my survey was that I thought they should announce the weekend dates sooner.

 

[yulilin3]

In case someone missed it, here's the map for weekend 4: http://www.studioscentral.com/blog/2012/06/05/star-wars-weekends-2012-weekend-four-map-and-schedule
Can't believe it's almost all over...trying to make excuses to have to go to all 3 days so I may be there on Friday, for sure Saturday and Sunday. Doing autographs Sunday which I don't like, but my husband has been schedule to work on Saturday from 9:45am and Sunday at 7:15am and I don't want to make him wake up earlier than he needs to.

 

[lovethattink]

Since we have so many characters for my son left to see, I made a spread sheet using Piratekenny's info of the characters we have left to see and all the times they are out.

As many of you know, my son has been blessed with asperger's autism and life threatening food allergies. For these reason we have chose to home school my son for the past four years. My wife no longer teaches in a public school, she has a new job a labor of love, She teaches our son at home.

Last years boys only SWW trip was on a whim and we loved it. Between work and school, the past year plus has been long. My son and I really bonded during our second annual boys only weekend. So much so that my wife sugested today that the "boys only" trip should become an annual tradition.

I really hope they add the character breakfast to the list of things to do during SWW. That would be awesome!!!

The one and only negative that I mentioned in my survey was that I thought they should announce the weekend dates sooner.

I can relate. We homeschool too for my son's health reasons. That's so wonderful that you are able to do a boys only weekend trip, that would be a great tradition. (Your wife doesn't like Star Wars?)

In case someone missed it, here's the map for weekend 4: http://www.studioscentral.com/blog/2012/06/05/star-wars-weekends-2012-weekend-four-map-and-schedule
Can't believe it's almost all over...trying to make excuses to have to go to all 3 days so I may be there on Friday, for sure Saturday and Sunday. Doing autographs Sunday which I don't like, but my husband has been schedule to work on Saturday from 9:45am and Sunday at 7:15am and I don't want to make him wake up earlier than he needs to.

Thanks for the link!

 

[VeganCupcake]

Well everyone, I'm going to try(TRY) to get off of the boards (I do this anytime we are going up) and actually get some packing done, we're leaving Friday AM staying at Caribbean beach, we'll have a bunch of Star wars friends to say HI to in our window! Say Hi if you see me! I'm hard to miss, I'll be wearing shorts and also have tattoos from my knees down and only have tattoos on my right arm(one of which is a Harajuku Jedi). That however, will also be changing soon as I & hubby are getting there early on Saturday for FP for Nika and Ashley- you see I've been wanting to sleeve out my upper leg with Ahsoka, and Ventress for along time now(haven't decided on anyone else yet but Luminara is a strong possibility) and for the life of me can't pick which pose to get, so I figured I'm going to ask Nika & Ashley if they will pick for me, I have 8x10 collages of the poses waiting at Walgreens for pick up! Say hi if you see me! I'm going to try and get a Mickey head to wear on my lego Darth Vader backpack as well!
FREAKIN' OUT!! WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!