Star Wars Weekend VIP - Year of a Million Dreams Winner

[CaptHomer]

We were on our second trip to Disney World from August 16th – August 23rd 2008. Our first trip that year was in January. We bought season tickets on the August trip because we thought we would probably come back within a year anyway even though we live in Keller, Texas and aren’t within driving distance of Disney. Before the year was up I made 5 trips to Disney.

The first couple of days were fine, nothing more than the normal rain that comes through every day in Orlando in August. The weather report got worse however, they were reporting that a hurricane was going to hit the coast. The storm when it did hit the coast was downgraded to a tropical storm, Tropical Storm Fay.

It rained for 3 straight days. One day we were just waiting for the rain to slow down before we headed out to a park. The kids went swimming in the morning and then we decided to go to Animal Kingdom. It was raining really hard so I dropped the rest of the family off at the front gate and I went and parked the rental car.

We met up in one of the stores just past the front gate. My 3 year old needed to get a hat. We then decided to go over to the Dinoland U.S.A. My son wanted to ride Primeval Whirl so my wife took him to ride that while I took the 3 year old on Triceratop Spin. There was no line so we just walked right through and onto the next available car (dinosaur).

When we finished the ride and were about to get out I noticed some Dream Squad members by the exit. I thought I would walk by and see what they were giving away, but just as I was about to go past them they stopped me. They said we have some good news for you. I asked if we could wait for my wife and son to get off Primeval Whirl first before they say anything.

We had won Dream Fastpasses on our January trip as we were coming off the train at Magic Kingdom. There was a couple of Dream Squad members handing out the passes but this time there were 7 or 8 of them waiting on us. I had a feeling that this was going to be better than fastpasses.

When my wife and son saw us standing there with the Dream Squad they didn’t know what was going on. I told them that we won something but I don’t know what it is yet. They said lets go get out of the rain so we went in to the store there in Dinoland.

They said that we had just won an all expense paid, VIP trip back to Disney in 2009. I asked what we did to win it. They said that the computer picked 1:00PM on August 20th at Animal Kingdom on the first seat of car number 8 on Triceratop Spin. They then took us to the front of the park to guest services to fill out all the paperwork.

We had a choice of weekends to pick from. There was Soap Opera weekend, ESPN weekend, and Star Wars weekend. It was a pretty easy choice to make since we are Star Wars fans. Not only did Disney pay for all the trip expenses they also paid the taxes that we would have to pay to the IRS for winning a prize.

The VIP Star Wars Weekend May 28- 31 trip report coming soon

 

[Rymer]

wow, congratulations! amazing.

 

[Rymer]

where is your trip report? would love to see it.

 

[Credit Man]

Cool! Can't wait to read your report.

 

[Disney Brat]

Congrats on the win!! Can't wait to hear all about it!!

 

[Nicole786]

Wow thats really awesome! I had always wondered about the taxes stuff, thats so awesome that they pay that for you! Disney always amazes me

 

[DisneyNutMary]

Congratulations on the win! I look forward to reading your report.

I assume that's your wife in the poncho, are all the rest in the picture the Dream Squad members and CMs?

 

[CaptHomer]

I assume that's your wife in the poncho, are all the rest in the picture the Dream Squad members and CMs?

Correct on all accounts! I hope to get another segment up tonight, if not, it will be up by the weekend.

 

[cajunlace]

WOW that is awesome!!! I was just reading your thread to my son and he said we never win anything, at least there are some lucky people out there.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Subbing until I can come back and catch up.

 

[CaptHomer]

Thursday, May 28th, was check in day for our Star Wars Weekend VIP experience. The hotel we picked was the Boardwalk Inn and we got there around noon.

We picked up the room keys and the information packet from Disney. The packet had our itinerary and 4 $300 gift cards. We were scheduled for a standard room there but when we got to the room which was at the very end of the resort we were surprised to see a boardwalk view.

We were on the 3rd floor on the next to last room by the ESPN Club. This is a great location but it can be a little noisy until around 11 or midnight when most of the restaurants close. The view is spectacular though.

We went to EPCOT to spend the day because we had reservations at Chefs de France at 5:00. We didn't tell the kids where we were going because we wanted to surprise them with Remy from Ratatouille at the restaurant.

We walked around the park to see all of the attractions for the Flower and Garden Festival.

After seeing all the displays and riding Spaceship Earth we headed to the restaurant. After the waiter, Xavier, took our drink order, Remy made his way around to our section of the restaurant.

What a great addition to the restaurant. I hope they extend this past September. He spent maybe 30 seconds at the other tables and then he made his way to our table.

He was getting ready to leave and since we know from reading this site what to ask him we asked if he knew how to dance. He then does his routine to "Can't Touch This".

[Tried to upload the video to Photobucket but the sound won't play correctly. It works fine on the computer. I will try again at a later date] ** Posted on page 4 **

For dinner we both had the 3 course meal and the kids had something off the kids menu. We have the Tables in Wonderland dining plan since we are season pass holders.

On our last 2 trips whenever we tell the waiter we are on the plan the service is usually horrible. They figure they have their 18% so why bother. Xavier was one of the best waiters we have ever had at Disney so we tipped around 25% I think.

We headed back to the hotel since we were going to get up and open Hollywood Studios on Friday and it was Extra Magic Hour morning. I stayed down on the Boardwalk to take a few pictures and the rest of the family went back to the room.

When they got back to the room Disney had delivered 4 gift baskets with Mickey Jedi robes and Fx lightsabers. The kids then had a lightsaber duel down the hallway as I was walking back to the room.

Day 2 coming soon.

 

[MJAJmom]

Congrats on winning - how cool is that!!! SWW is what I would have picked too - can't wait to hear more. I'm already jealous of the mickey jedi robes and lightsabers.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Holy Moly Moo Moo Cows! You guys are so lucky! We went twice during the Year of a Million Dreams and never received anything. Well, I take that back, I did receive a Tinkerbell pin on my package pickup package. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[janloz]

Congrats, how cool!! Can't wait to read more.

 

[heaven2dc]

How exciting!! Congratulations!!! I would have been in tears (closest I came to Dream Team was in ToT. They came walking up the walkway past our line and stood waiting for a few min in the entrance. Then I was to go to the right with the group of people I was in but at the last minute a girl pushed past me and I ended up with the group to the left. Well guess what - that group she pushed her way into won fastpasses, Dream Mickey ears and something else. I was a little upset but oh well....)

How great that you chose the Boardwalk Inn (my fav place)! I wonder if the service you received for dinner was because they knew you won a contest. Maybe not - but glad he was a great server. Thanks for sharing all your pics so far - great view!

 

[goofy's_gurl]

congrats on getting the trip!!! and sounds like the trip is very very magical!! cant wait to here more

 

[CaptHomer]

I wonder if the service you received for dinner was because they knew you won a contest. Maybe not - but glad he was a great server.

They didn't know we won anything. The only time anyone knew we had won anything was when we wore our shirts on Saturday (this in a future post) and they asked us.
He was just a very good waiter. Also, with around a $150 tab he wouldn't have minded the 18%.

Thanks

 

[CaptHomer]

Day 2

We walked to Hollywood Studios in order to get in line for the Toy Story Mania morning dash. We were disappointed that the storm troopers didn't do their show before the park opens. We weren't really expecting the show since it was Extra Magic Hour but were still hoping.

The park opened so we followed the masses to Toy Story Mania. The DS and I got in line to get a fastpass with the hopes of getting them and then getting in the standby line to ride. I am about 3 people from getting to the machine and it breaks.

The cast members tried to fix it but they couldn't get it to work. I told my DS to go get in the other line which was about 20 people deep. He made it to that machine and they were still working on my machine. I handed him the tickets and we got our 4 fastpasses.

The DW and DD stayed around the front of the park looking in the stores. Not only is it Star Wars Weekend but also they decide to have the American Idol winner parade that day. There was a large crowd for the parade but hopefully it would reduce some of the lines for the Star Wars sections.

We headed to the standby line where it was probably at about a 45 minute wait, at least by that time. We decided to just come back at our fastpass time.

We wanted to get pictures with the characters today rather than tomorrow because we didn't know what the schedule was going to be like. We waited in line to get our picture with Boba Fett/Jango Fett.

Other Star Wars characters were walking around and people were able to go up to them without waiting in a long line. DS got his picture with the Gamorrean Guard.

Boba Fett was just about to leave when we got to the front of the line.

We also went and checked out all the Star Wars merchandise at Wicket's Warehouse. I think we used all of one of the gift cards in there. We had noon reservations at the Brown Derby so we watched the Star Wars parade at 11:40 before heading over.

We had space on the second row right at the first turn. Kids kept moving in front of us and moving out to look down the parade route before the turn so our kids couldn't see very well. We told them not to worry because we had priority seating for tomorrow's parade.

We headed over to the Brown Derby for lunch and were seated at our favorite waiter Ryan's table. You will recognize him because he looks like actor Paul Giamatti. You never have to worry about service with Ryan no matter what dining plan you are on. He earns more than the mandatory 18% every time. We both had the ahi tuna. I get that every we eat there. The kids had something from the kids menu.

After lunch we went and checked out some more of the characters. We got in line for Chewbacca over by Star Tours. The wait was probably around 30 minutes. Just before we could get to Chewy he was replaced by an Ewok.

Assorted Star Wars characters were walking around in front of Star Tours so we managed to chase down the Cantina Band.

We decided to go back to the hotel and let the kids swim. I was planning on coming back to Hollywood Studios later in the afternoon so I headed over to Tower of Terror to get a fastpass. I met back up with the rest of the crew at the front and we headed back to the hotel.

We needed to get the lightsabers shipped home so we went down to the business office at the hotel. We didn't have any boxes to ship them in other than the individual boxes that they came in. We decided the best way would be to tape them all together. I figured that it would cost at least $50 to ship them back to Texas since it was an awkward size and we needed boxes. The guy in the business center said he would have UPS box it up when they came by for pick up. The total cost to ship it all back was $18. Another great service from Disney.

We next decided to go over to the Yacht and Beach Club and try the Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream. This thing is massive.

It has 8 scoops of ice cream, a can of whip cream and every topping that they have. We could only make a dent in this thing before we were full.

On the way out the kids found some baby ducks right outside the restaurant.

The kids wanted to go swimming and I remembered that Tony Orlando was performing at EPCOT for the Flower Power series. I headed over to get in line for that and the rest of the family went back to the Boardwalk to go swimming.

The line for the concert was backed up pretty far but after they let us go into the theater there were only about 7 rows in the front filled up. He came out and the first song he sings is "Tie a Yellow Ribbon". He performs a bunch of oldies but none of his other hits.

He is a good entertainer though. The concert lasts for about 30 minutes so I head back over to the swimming pool where the kids are swimming.

After swimming we head over to the Boardwalk to get some food. The kids order pizza at the stand between Spoodles and the Flying Fish. While waiting on the pizza we go over and watch the magician who is performing on the Boardwalk. We have seen the same magician before at Downtown Disney but he puts on a good show and the kids love to watch him.

We head back to the room afterwards and call it a night. Tomorrow is the big day so we want to be well rested. I didn't use the fastpasses for Toy Story Mania or the Tower of Terror.

The big day coming soon!

 

[MJAJmom]

Love the Star Wars character pictures!! We never saw the Gamorrean Guard around - glad to see you found him. I loved walking around with all the characters there - i'ts so fun!! Sorry to about the FP machine breaking down - that is frustrating!!

 

[heaven2dc]

Would love to be there for Star Wars weekend one year! My oldest son would just die if he got to go (we are planning a March trip but may change to May).

You guys are having such a great time - my daughter is envious that you got to see Kris Allen (the winner of American Idol). He was our fav!

Thanks for posting such great pics!