I'm a huuuuuuuuuge Star Wars fan. Our last trip to Disney was a few years ago and I believe it was during the last Star Wars weekend. It was a blast!!! We were able to spend an entire day and a half in HS celebrating all things Star Wars. I keep seeing that WDW wants HS to be seen as celebrating SW year round, but there was so much more offered during those Star Wars weekends. We got to run around the park meeting and interacting with Boba Fett and Darth Maul and Ahsoka Tano, etc etc...characters you never see anymore. Geez, they used to bring out R2 and 3PO for short periods of time and people would go nuts! Now that I'm planning our next trip, I really expected there to be a Star Wars character dining. Last time we met Jedi Mickey, Darth Goofy, and others. There was also a villains themed breakfast. They don't exist now. Each Star Wars weekend had celebrity guests. The last time we went I think Ray Park (Darth Maul) was that weekend's headliner, but other weekends had the likes of Mark Hamill and Peter Mayhew. "Rebels" would attempt to sabotage patrolling Stormtroopers...there was a huge parade with all of the characters, celebrities...exclusive WDW Star Wars merchandise (you can make an action figure out of your likeness!)...a cantina style pop-up restaurant that included visits from star wars 'aliens.' People actually raced to be first to Chewie. Sometimes Luke Skywalker would hang out near Star Tours...find a lucky family, and in character, would join them for the ride. Lines as long as 90 minutes to meet Chewie...at rope drop people literally ran to hug him first. The time my daughter, wife, and I had during that weekend are some of my fondest memories.
It doesn't exist anymore. I don't understand. They killed Star Wars weekend just as Star Wars fever once again spread across the nation. I don't see how they can try to market HS as a year round Star Wars park when it offers a tenth of what a Star Wars weekend had. You don't have to throw everything into the park all at once, but it would be nice if there was a little more effort than the Launch Bay that has opened since shutting down those weekends.
I know that it will be a true Star Wars park/experience when Galaxy's Edge is ready to go, but until then I think they should have kept the weekends.