Star Wars Weekends, 24 Hour Party and Shenanigans UPDATE10/16 Star Wars Sci Fi bfast

[suswa]

Favorite Park: Epcot but I expect it to be MK next trip
Favorite Characters to Meet: Donald, Figment looking forward to Mulan and Merida for the first time.
Favorite Movie: Brave, Meet the Robinson's, Robinhood
Favorite Nighttime Show: Fantasmic
Favorite Counter Service/Snack: Sommerfest (brats!)
Favorite Disney transportation: monorail
Favorite Disney horse: Angus
Favorite Hotel: Only stayed at French Quarter, looking forward to CBR next time!


You are making me question our decision to not go to Universal this trip. I so want to see everything HP!

Loved the costumes, outstanding report so far looking forward to more!

 

[Dugette]

we did dinner with an Imagineer once and we got the CM in charge of MK's finances.

As an accountant, I think that sounds AWESOME!

We wanted to leave the car since we had a front row spot with it and wanted to be able to get to DHS the next morning to get in line for our Star Wars celebrity autographs.

Wow, ambitious!

Loved all the meets you did in costume, especially with the Tremaine's! Can't wait to see the post-nap costumes!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Haha! You're right about the ME! I should have specified, but you knew what I meant.

We stayed in room 2829 in the Alligator Bayou at Riverside. It was a ground floor corner room, just as we had requested. I really recommend requesting ground floor because there are not elevators in all of the buildings. Also, the corner room was phenomenal. We had TWO windows!! Really brightened up the room. The details where just amazing and I really wanted to steal one of the Louis pillows!!

We loved the food court and all the CMs were super wonderful.

The resort can be kind of big feeling... and there are four different bus stops. We never had an issue with buses except for one morning when a dance group joined us to DHS. But on a good note, the resort grounds are just gorgeous. The walking never bothered us as two adults. The river and the ferry and everything, just beautiful!

We ate at Boatwright's and I really loved it. Great fritters and jambalaya! Also, check out Yeehaw Bob if you can, we only got in a few minutes as we were walking through the resort but I wish we could have grabbed a drink and really enjoyed the show.

And finally, my husband would want to tell you that the arcade is awesome. There were two games in particular that he was obsessed with... lol. There was this insane PacMan air hockey table. Seriously, tons of pucks... it was insane. And the other game is this fun button smashing game... two people get a wall of buttons and whoever hits more of the lighted ones wins. We are staying at French Quarter next time and he's already requesting we walk over to play those two... lol!!

Thanks for all the resort advice!! I'm still not sure if I want to put in a room request or just go with the luck of the draw. I could definitely go for the arcade, I'll have to go look for the wall of buttons hahaha. I have heard of Yeehaw Bob so I'll have to check that out. I bet Boatwright's is one of those sweet places you don't need ADRs for. We are trying to keep the table services to a minimum this trip but maybe we'll check it out. Wonder how their breakfast is.

Yay for a visit back to Columbus! Let me know if you have any free time! Unfortunately I don't think the Disney Store will be open yet.

Some of the new things we are doing (we leave tomorrow!!) are: Hoop Dee Doo, Pirate and Pals fireworks cruise (a last minute booking and will be a surprise for my girls), Behind the Seeds, and Typhoon Lagoon. Three nights at the Poly and several new dining spots. Can you tell I am excited??

I've always enjoyed the Jungle Cruise but these last few trips I have really felt like the skippers are stepping it up and the old standby jokes seem to be mixed in with some new really great ones. This has become one of my absolute favorites!

I loved your jokes.....and I just took a picture of the sandwich one. I'm gonna use it when we go on the Laugh Floor. I enjoy jokes but am the worst at remembering them (and telling them). I'll let you know if it gets used in the show.

Sorry the ordering at BOG was such a pain. I always pick the lines with those families or worse when we were at Disneyland I got behind the camp counselor that was ordering for 200 kids (that were all already seated so I had no idea). That was fun.

I am pretty sure we'll have a little free time, however, we HAVE to take a trip back to the Columbus zoo. I miss it so much.

Oooh you'll have to let me know about Hoop dee doo. It has been on my list forever but it keeps getting cut. I bet the joke does make the cut! Seems like it is right up their alley.

Ugh, I hope you left the line with the counselor in it!! That is awful, I feel like they should let people know behind them hahaha.

Love the 24 hour day so far...because we were there too! At least for the first half. We had BOG reservations that morning for breakfast! It wasn't that crowded for breakfast but I'm sure lunch was crazy. The park was PACKED that day. It was sad that both our MK days were so crowded that I missed some of my favorite attractions...like Enchanted Tiki Room! (It's ok because I had a Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room cocktail at the Poly that week...kinda of makes up for it...ok no it doesn't).

LOVE Jungle Cruise! It's the skippers who make it. I'd love to be one too. I've always wondered if they are actually piloting the boat...or is it more for show?

There are rails for the JC boats, unfortunately

AHHHH the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki rum!!! You didn't go over that yet in your TR, did you? Hope I didn't miss it.

I despise those camels as much as you. I always forgot where the one is and he gets me without fail. I like you had no idea the one on the ride spit too until he got me. Though thankfully not in the eye


Good ones. I'm gonna take the credit and share these with my daughter. She'll love them!


How awesome is this!!!! Would love to get someone with that much personality


Can't believe you got so much done before 9am!!!!!


How did I not know this was either requisite or a thing?


You don't sound ungrateful at all. Winning is only good if you win something good ; )


Wow impressive you made it last year. And no judging it all, I would have still been in bed with that little sleep ; )


These pictures are classic!!!! Great job on the costumes.


Can't wait to see what you have in order

Those camels...they don't make many friends, do they?

About the feet picture, it just seems like all the trip reports I read have them, so I guess its a thing?

Thanks about the costumes! Those were mostly Stephanie, this next round of costumes coming up was all me!

Favorite Park: Epcot but I expect it to be MK next trip
Favorite Characters to Meet: Donald, Figment looking forward to Mulan and Merida for the first time.
Favorite Movie: Brave, Meet the Robinson's, Robinhood
Favorite Nighttime Show: Fantasmic
Favorite Counter Service/Snack: Sommerfest (brats!)
Favorite Disney transportation: monorail
Favorite Disney horse: Angus
Favorite Hotel: Only stayed at French Quarter, looking forward to CBR next time!


You are making me question our decision to not go to Universal this trip. I so want to see everything HP!

Loved the costumes, outstanding report so far looking forward to more!

Ahhhh, we love all the same characters!! Those are all favorites of mine! Figment was the first character we ever met. Brian and I were on our first trip and we weren't into characters at all. That is back when Figment had his meet and greet room. We didn't know what it was so we wondered inside. There was no one else in there and Figment heard us coming so he stuck his head around the corner and waved. We were both kind of like ugh...but felt trapped and didn't want to disappoint Figment so we went on in to see him. So Figment was our ice breaker character. I miss him RIP Figment.

This is weird, we just watched Brave last night and Meet the Robinsons this morning...if we see Robinhood tonight I might be a bit freaked out.

And now I have the Fantasmic song in my head. I can't be angry about that though.

As an accountant, I think that sounds AWESOME!


Wow, ambitious!

Loved all the meets you did in costume, especially with the Tremaine's! Can't wait to see the post-nap costumes!

It was interesting to hear the financial perspective. Maybe you should apply to be a Disney accountant

 

[chunkymonkey]

There are rails for the JC boats, unfortunately

AHHHH the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki rum!!! You didn't go over that yet in your TR, did you? Hope I didn't miss it.

Haha, that's what I figured about the boats, but the skippers do a good job of pretend-steering.

The tiki tiki tiki tiki rum is coming soon! Most likely in my next post or 2!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

MK 24 hour party day Part 4 6 pm-9:30 pm





Big costume reveal!!! We were the Frozen characters in their pajamas. Brian's mom was sleepytime Olaf, Stephanie was sleepytime Elsa and I was sleepytime Anna.

Disclaimer about my costume: I hated how my tennis shoes looked with it. Originally, I was going to get oversized slippers and wear them over my tennis shoes and I really wish I had because the tennis shoes looked dumb. Also...the nightgown kind of made me look pregnant, as you'll see later. I am not pregnant, just a little overweight I guess. But besides that, I really enjoyed the costumes. I'd tried very hard to get Brian to be Kristoff, I wanted to get reindeer PJ pants and then he could just wear a grey tshirt and maybe a hat and carry Sven but nope, no go.

While waiting for an MK bus an Avengers bus came by!!



Finally an MK bus came and we were on our way. Our very first stop was at Starbucks to fuel up for the coming night. I was very pleased at my name that they wrote on my cup:



Stephanie got a special cupcake (when does Disney not have a special cupcake?)





Our next stop was our first FP+: Anna and Elsa.









We walked around a little bit soaking up the atmosphere before our next FP.







There was no wait and we had time for a quick ride on IASW.







Our next FP+ was a bonus FP, MDE had taken away our Wishes FP a few weeks before. I called them and asked about it, surprise, the phone person said it was a mistake and added back the Wishes FP plus gave us a bonus FP as an apology. So it all worked out.

We had decided to visit Mickey.





A word of warning: that rascal Mickey cheats at card tricks.

It was getting close to Wishes time and the park was pretty packed. We got a photopass picture on the way to our FP Wishes spot:



We chose to sit on the right hand side of Main Street and entered to blessedly empty FP+ area.



Brian found a spot near the back to set up the tripod and we all settled down to wait.



This is how crowded the area was:



Much to my chagrin, they skipped the castle projection show and started Wishes 5 minutes early. There was a pretty big storm coming in, so I guess they did it to try to get Wishes in. Though I think they could have done both if they only ended up starting Wishes 5 minutes early anyway.

I thought the FP+ area was excellent. There was plenty of space, the CMs did tell people to stand about 10 minutes before Wishes started, but everyone just sat back down and no one said anything. If you think the area is too crowded, just sit towards the back where there are less people. You can still see just fine.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Sorry for all the fireworks pictures...but I do love fireworks.

The wind had really picked up at the end of Wishes and we were afraid that a bad storm was coming soon. We took off for Tomorrowland to seek shelter at COP.

What happened next was the most fun COP experience ever!! The park was super crowded and a lot of other people were seeking shelter from the impending storm as well so we had an almost full theater. Everyone was really into the show and were clapping and singing along and laughing. It was soooo much fun.

When our show let out it still hadn't rained yet but there was some lightning. Our FP+ for 7DMT had been canceled since the ride was shut down but we could use it any other time that night. We had a dinner ADR at BOG for 11 pm. We still had some time to waste so we wandered by the Silly Sideshow and my beloved Donald had a short wait so we went in.



Goofy was enamored with my hair. I just think he loves any chaos.

Oh Donald you are just the best.



It was still very windy and there was a lot of lightning when we got out. We slowly made our way over to BOG. Brian tried setting up the tripod to catch a lightning strike but he couldn't get a good shot.



Luck was on our side tonight, we were seated just as the rain started to come down.



Our lovely napkins:







It was time to order but I really wasn't hungry at all. I felt kind of sick from lack of sleep. I did get a nice drink though:





This was Brian's meal, he really enjoyed it:



I just got the soup:



And we shared this for dessert:



We took turns getting our picture with the Beast:



When we were all packing up our stuff to go we had a talk. I wasn't feeling great at all. It was still very hot out and I was super tired and starting to feel sick because of it. Everyone else admitted that they kind of felt the same way. We had SWW coming up the following day and we all decided that we didn't want to kill ourselves by staying out all night. We were going to finish up our final FP+ and then slowly make our way out of the park.

I was disappointed that we wouldn't be staying for the whole night, but I felt awful and to be honest this party wasn't as much fun as the one the year before. There were no special character meet and greets that night and when we got out of the restaurant the parks were still packed. I believe we ended up leaving a little before 2 am and the parks were still super packed with people, the crowds weren't clearing up at all.

So off we went to use our FP for 7DMT.



We had a very short wait in the FP+ line.





Before we left though, we saw a somewhat short line at Peter Pan, this was mostly because there were no more FP+. Peter Pan's line moves amazingly fast without the FPers breaking in.

We hadn't seen the new queue yet so in we went. I fell in love with the expanded queue. You start out outside the Darlings house, then you enter in.





They have a very nice 'view' out their window:



All sorts of neat effects happen inside the house.



Tink flies around in several different places, and along one wall you can play a shadow game.







In the final corridor before you board the ride everyone gets pixie dusted:



It was really neat.

This ride never gets old for me.



Even though I don't really like the Disney version, I love the Peter Pan story.

We headed out through the castle:



We stopped a few minutes to watch the dance



There was a ton of people just kind of standing around.

We walked out slowly, taking pictures:

 

[chunkymonkey]

It's so fun to read other people's version of the 24 hour day especially the evening hours since we had already left WDW by then. We were so tired!
Your outfits are really cute and original! I think you look great!

Your dinner at BOG looks fun! Was it crowded at 11pm?

We played with Tink on the PP line too! It's fun to have an interactive line especially when you have to wait that long. I'm glad you didn't have to wait!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I think your take on the Tomorrowland contest seem fair - guess they can't help the timing to some extent as I am sure it was timed to the movie's release, but yeah, doing it on any other day than the 24 hour day would have made sense.

That's great that you had such good interaction with both Cinderella and then the Tremaine family - though bummer about have to move the line ... they should have kept everyone from the original line in their original order, but glad it wasn't that big of a deal.

Definitely think a nap was in order and much better to take that break and be refreshed for the night/next day that try to power through and be miserable.

I think your outfits are such a cute idea. How was the M&G with Anna and Elsa? Did they get into it much and play along or pretty standard affair?

That ride on COP sounds great - always nice when people kinda check their serious-side at the door and just have fun with things.

Sorry you weren't feeling well - definitely seems like you made the right call to head out especially knowing you had the SWW the next day. Glad things worked out for PP though - I definitely want to check out the new queue!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Well, I almost have my next update ready, which I am very excited for. Our first SWW meal and shows!!

I am a bit depressed tonight, though. I was going to book 2 nights at AKL tomorrow on Orbitz for our September trip, they had a really good deal. But now all of a sudden all the Disney hotels just disappeared on Orbitz. I'm afraid they won't come back, and now it looks like we won't be able to do AKL, which I was really excited about. I made some inquiries about renting DVC points, but I really doubt at this short notice there will be any resorts available (or maybe just SSR or OKW, which I have no interest in). Bleh.

It's so fun to read other people's version of the 24 hour day especially the evening hours since we had already left WDW by then. We were so tired!
Your outfits are really cute and original! I think you look great!

Your dinner at BOG looks fun! Was it crowded at 11pm?

We played with Tink on the PP line too! It's fun to have an interactive line especially when you have to wait that long. I'm glad you didn't have to wait!

I hear you about the tired. Honestly, I can't do this 'no sleep' thing anymore. I think I'm officially too old. All the tables looked full at BOG for dinner. I am not sure if they were all ADRs or if there were walk ups. It was storming pretty bad at that point, so we were lucky to be in there.

Oooh the PP queue is so much fun, I loved it! One of the guys in front of us swatted Tinkerbell's shadow and she made his shadow disappear, it was so funny.

I think your take on the Tomorrowland contest seem fair - guess they can't help the timing to some extent as I am sure it was timed to the movie's release, but yeah, doing it on any other day than the 24 hour day would have made sense.

That's great that you had such good interaction with both Cinderella and then the Tremaine family - though bummer about have to move the line ... they should have kept everyone from the original line in their original order, but glad it wasn't that big of a deal.

Definitely think a nap was in order and much better to take that break and be refreshed for the night/next day that try to power through and be miserable.

I think your outfits are such a cute idea. How was the M&G with Anna and Elsa? Did they get into it much and play along or pretty standard affair?

That ride on COP sounds great - always nice when people kinda check their serious-side at the door and just have fun with things.

Sorry you weren't feeling well - definitely seems like you made the right call to head out especially knowing you had the SWW the next day. Glad things worked out for PP though - I definitely want to check out the new queue!

We thought that about the Tremaine line at first too, but luckily there weren't too many people waiting in the other line. Plus, you can either grumble about it or make the best of it

I'm not sure about Elsa because we let Stephanie go up by herself first, but she seemed happy about the costume. Anna was super excited as usual. She talked about not being able to control her hair in the mornings.

 

[soniam]

Well, I almost have my next update ready, which I am very excited for. Our first SWW meal and shows!!

I am a bit depressed tonight, though. I was going to book 2 nights at AKL tomorrow on Orbitz for our September trip, they had a really good deal. But now all of a sudden all the Disney hotels just disappeared on Orbitz. I'm afraid they won't come back, and now it looks like we won't be able to do AKL, which I was really excited about. I made some inquiries about renting DVC points, but I really doubt at this short notice there will be any resorts available (or maybe just SSR or OKW, which I have no interest in). Bleh.

That's a bummer I seem to keep reading that September is looking crowded, so maybe it will be. Do you have a reservation for somewhere else already as a backup? I wanted to try AKL, but the transportation has always turned me off. However, now that we seem to always rent a car, AKL would be very doable. We ate eat Jiko once, and the hotel was so fabulous and beautiful.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

That's a bummer I seem to keep reading that September is looking crowded, so maybe it will be. Do you have a reservation for somewhere else already as a backup? I wanted to try AKL, but the transportation has always turned me off. However, now that we seem to always rent a car, AKL would be very doable. We ate eat Jiko once, and the hotel was so fabulous and beautiful.

We do have a backup, but I really had my heart set on AKL. I know, just be happy to be going to WDW and I really am, but I'm still sad about it. We don't get many chances to do deluxes because of price (we did a few days at Beach Club and one day at the Poly splitting the cost with Brian's family and with a deep discount). These Orbitz prices were insane, $177 per night and we were going to do 2 nights.

We haven't been to Jiko but we always used to eat at Boma for breakfast. We were even going to take it easy for once *gasp* and spend most of those 2 days at the hotel going to stuff like the flamingo feeding ahaha.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Well, I almost have my next update ready, which I am very excited for. Our first SWW meal and shows!!

I am a bit depressed tonight, though. I was going to book 2 nights at AKL tomorrow on Orbitz for our September trip, they had a really good deal. But now all of a sudden all the Disney hotels just disappeared on Orbitz. I'm afraid they won't come back, and now it looks like we won't be able to do AKL, which I was really excited about. I made some inquiries about renting DVC points, but I really doubt at this short notice there will be any resorts available (or maybe just SSR or OKW, which I have no interest in). Bleh.

So excited to read your experiences at SWW, especially all the meals!

Oh no! I hate it when that happens. I get all set to book a flight or hotel that I saw earlier and then I go back and poof, it's gone. Did no other website have the same deal?
I would just try to rent via DVC...it won't cost anything to have someone check availability, and you never know, there may still be some rooms available! When we went in Sept 2 years ago, AKL wasn't that crowded.

I hear you about the tired. Honestly, I can't do this 'no sleep' thing anymore. I think I'm officially too old. All the tables looked full at BOG for dinner. I am not sure if they were all ADRs or if there were walk ups. It was storming pretty bad at that point, so we were lucky to be in there.

Oooh the PP queue is so much fun, I loved it! One of the guys in front of us swatted Tinkerbell's shadow and she made his shadow disappear, it was so funny.

Yeah...I'm tooo old too. I can't do the all-day power Disney anymore! I actually look forward to the mid-day resort break when before I'd scoff at it.

That's really cool! I'll have to try that if I'm ever on standy-by at PP again!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Well, looks like someone panicked about the sky falling. All the disney hotels were back up this morning on orbitz and akl was even a little cheaper.... Woohoo! So I can stop having my baby fit and get excited about going!

 

[kastoney]

Big costume reveal!!! We were the Frozen characters in their pajamas. Brian's mom was sleepytime Olaf, Stephanie was sleepytime Elsa and I was sleepytime Anna.

How clever. Love these, shoes and all ; )

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things does not belong.....

A word of warning: that rascal Mickey cheats at card tricks.

You know you never can trust a mouse, a little to close to the rat family for my liking ; )

I thought the FP+ area was excellent. There was plenty of space, the CMs did tell people to stand about 10 minutes before Wishes started, but everyone just sat back down and no one said anything. If you think the area is too crowded, just sit towards the back where there are less people. You can still see just fine.

So glad to hear this. We are doing this next month and can't wait. I don't do crowds, so we've never actually seen Wishes from in front of the castle (we usually watch from Fantasyland)

Love all your wishes pictures, totally giving me goose bumps

What happened next was the most fun COP experience ever!! The park was super crowded and a lot of other people were seeking shelter from the impending storm as well so we had an almost full theater. Everyone was really into the show and were clapping and singing along and laughing. It was soooo much fun.

How much fun would this be. I always feel like I'm the only one singing along. Would totally love a group sing along.

I was disappointed that we wouldn't be staying for the whole night, but I felt awful and to be honest this party wasn't as much fun as the one the year before. There were no special character meet and greets that night and when we got out of the restaurant the parks were still packed. I believe we ended up leaving a little before 2 am and the parks were still super packed with people, the crowds weren't clearing up at all.

I can't believe this many people were still around that late in the night. Hope you got a good nights sleep for SWW.

Well, looks like someone panicked about the sky falling. All the disney hotels were back up this morning on orbitz and akl was even a little cheaper.... Woohoo! So I can stop having my baby fit and get excited about going!

Congrats on AKL. Its an amazing hotel and definitely some place you could get lost for days in. They have tons of activities going on all day, that we found really interesting. And if you can try Jiko. Love it!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Day 4 Part 1

'You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.' - Obi Wan Kenobi


This day we all slept in until around 3:30 pm and woke up looking something like sleepytime Anna from Frozen.

Sleeping in was sooo nice and needed.

We all leisurely got ready. Brian and Stephanie's mom was feeling a little under the weather so she said she'd meet up with us later.

Soon enough we were at the bus stop and headed to our first SWW experience!



We had missed our first FP+, which was for the Stars of the Saga show. We ended up missing it, but that was ok. I'd planned for that contingency so I'd also made the same FP+ for the next day in case we weren't awake by then (smart planner!! haha, do you guys hear that sound? That is the sound of me tooting my own horn). We had a FP+ for Warwick Davis' show, An Ewok's Tale, at 5:15. But first we made a quick stop outside the theater because Chopper wanted one of these:



You guys see whats in there?!!?



A millenium falcon glow cube!!!! Not only do I love the glow cubes, I also love Star Wars. So keep making SW themed glow cubes and I'll keep handing you my money, Disney.

By the time we went into the show there weren't that many Fp+ seats left and we were seated near the back. I was OK with that since I was still riding high from the Ewok Tale last year where Warwick chose yours truly to play Hermione. I was willing to let everyone else have a shot at being in the show





Warwick puts on a pretty entertaining show, he picks audience members to act out important people from his life (i.e. his mom, grandmother, george lucas, ron howard, val kilmer, hermione and ron from Harry Potter). There is a lot of humor and the audience participation really adds a wild card, you never know what kind of personality you will get. If you want a good chance of getting picked, try to sit near the front.

R2 also came out so that Warwick could try to poison him (its a long story).



Before this year, all the SWW shows had been in a different, indoors theater. There was some controversy with using the Beauty and the Beast theater since the benches are aluminum and hard and the theater is outside in the heat. I actually liked the Beauty and the Beast theater location a lot. There were large fans blowing and only the last couple rows of benches were in the sun. I thought the screen set up at the back of the stage was a lot clearer than the screen for the old theater. The image seemed a lot sharper. Another great aspect of this theater was the screens on either side of the stage (I have pictures to show later). On these screens, before the show started, there would be fan polls that you could vote with text message. It was so much fun to do these polls with the big crowd of like minded SW fans. I remember one question asking who had the best cape. The choices were Vader, Lando and I forget the third choice. But the crowd was chanting for Lando and the vote was neck and neck at one point and every time Lando moved up or down people would cheer or boo. It was a lot of fun. I mean, come on people. If the question is 'best dresser' there is no other answer than Lando stylin' Calrissian.

After the show we had a narrow window of time before our FP+ started for the next show. That means it was time for...

characterpalooza!!



A couple of weeks before Kenny the Pirate (the go to Pirate for Disney character needs) had announced that Characterpalooza was going to be randomized. We were worried about this because we love Characterpalooza. Before, it had always been at the backstage gates near the TOT at approximately 6. So we showed up a little before 6 and got super lucky because the gates opened around 610!!!

Oddly enough though, there were only 2 characters waiting to greet us.

There really weren't many guests in the area, so we didn't have a long wait.



First up was the lovely Tiana! We asked her if she knew anything about Star Wars. She said she did not and I said that is funny, I thought you may have meant Yoda before. I had to explain who Yoda was and she said that she'd be sure to look out for him, since they like the same type of habitat.

Next up:



Pocahontas' hair was looking a bit...different? Or is it just me?

I enjoy asking Pocahontas whats around the river bend. I believe the answer this time was Meeko! That rascal.



Is that a cellphone in my pocket or am I just happy to see characters? Haha not a great joke but I crack myself up which is all that matters.


Anyway, after we visited with all 2 characters at characterpalooza, it was time to use our FP+ for Obi Wan and Beyond!!



We were only a couple rows back since we were on time for our FP+ this time. We enjoyed answering the poll questions again:



Woooo Darth Maul! Love your lightsaber too Ezra!

I cannot say enough good things about the Obi Wan and Beyond show. It is hosted by James Arnold Taylor (also known as JAT), who is the host of SWW. He is a voice actor. He did Obi Wan's voice for the Clone Wars cartoons and now for Rebels. He will be doing the voices of Yondu and Cosmo in the new Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon. He does Ratchet from the video game Ratchet and Clank. He does Johnny Test from the cartoon. Here is his IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852517/?ref_=nv_sr_2

He also does the Fox Sunday night 'Animation Domination' voice over. And like 20 million other voice overs. He is also the most charismatic and nicest guy ever. I could sit and listen to him for hours. We stumbled on his show last year at SWW and have loved him ever since. Last year when he was doing autographs I even got him to do my voicemail in his dramatic announcer voice.


















At the end of the show, he does this amazing bit where he does about 50 voices in 5 minutes and shows how people's voices are just slight variations of other people's voices and it is so amazing. If you youtube it you can probably see it.



We had a late dinner ADR that night for the Jedi Mickey meal at Hollywood and Vine. Brian's mom finally met up with us after the Obi Wan show and we decided to see if we could find some roaming characters.



We found one! SWW has a lot of roaming characters. I kind of don't like that, because it is almost like a full body contact sport to try to meet with these characters. They usually have a large crowd and their strategy is to meet one or two guests then they move on. So people follow behind them like lost puppies and you sometimes have to be somewhat aggressive to get these characters to notice you and/or stop.

Our next move was to hop in the Jedi Council line before it closed. As luck would have it, we only had about a 10 minute wait and we got to see my favorite Jedi Council member, Kit Fisto!

I think Brian was off doing something so I got to meet Kit by myself. I let Kit know right away that he was my favorite. To be honest, I don't like the prequels much so the bar wasn't set very high in order to rank first in my 'top jedi of the prequels' list. He smiles a lot in the movies and seems to be a very pleasant, fun loving fellow so I like him.



I like my happy face juxtaposed with the faces of the people waiting in line.



I'm not sure how often he hears that he is the favorite so he got pretty excited and grabbed a lightsaber off his CM attendant. He decided to give me an impromptu lightsaber lesson.







Well, that is about it for this update. Coming up next...

a super great DIS meet, dinner at Jedi Mickey's, Fantasmic and more!

 

[Dugette]

The guy flopped over in the background is cracking me up.

A couple of weeks before Kenny the Pirate (the go to Pirate for Disney character needs) had announced that Characterpalooza was going to be randomized. We were worried about this because we love Characterpalooza. Before, it had always been at the backstage gates near the TOT at approximately 6. So we showed up a little before 6 and got super lucky because the gates opened around 610!!!

Glad you got to meet some characters! We didn't even try, since I didn't think it was still happening.

The only SWW show I went to was JAT's and I really enjoyed it! You are right, he is such a charismatic and talented guy!

Look forward to hearing about your Jedi Mickey meal!

 

[soniam]

@OhioStateBuckeye

This, and watching Clone Wars, is making me long so much for SWW next year. Only a few more weeks until Yulilin is back with the SWW 2016 thread I hope we are there when Warwick is there. I really want to see an Ewok's Tale. I think of Jenny Weasley more than Hermione, when I think of you, but maybe it's the red hair I bet that was a blast. I read about it in your trip report from last year. This year's shows and your character meets look like fun. I am very jealous of your spaceship. Are you guys going to SWW gain next year? Does your magic band have a skin on it? What does it look like?

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

How clever. Love these, shoes and all ; )


One of these things is not like the other, one of these things does not belong.....


You know you never can trust a mouse, a little to close to the rat family for my liking ; )


So glad to hear this. We are doing this next month and can't wait. I don't do crowds, so we've never actually seen Wishes from in front of the castle (we usually watch from Fantasyland)


Love all your wishes pictures, totally giving me goose bumps


How much fun would this be. I always feel like I'm the only one singing along. Would totally love a group sing along.


I can't believe this many people were still around that late in the night. Hope you got a good nights sleep for SWW.


Congrats on AKL. Its an amazing hotel and definitely some place you could get lost for days in. They have tons of activities going on all day, that we found really interesting. And if you can try Jiko. Love it!

Haha, thanks for complimenting the shoes. I think if I ever wear this again, I'll get huge oversized Olaf slippers or something and put those over the tennis shoes.


I really enjoyed the FP+ area. Also, remember there are two different sides so try to gauge which one is emptier. It is usually emptier near the back, as well. Hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as we did! Lying on the fake ground before Wishes is great.

This year's party was soo much more crowded than last year's. Last year we were starting to walk onto every ride around 2:30 am.

We actually haven't been to Jiko yet. We've had breakfast at Boma and lunch at the Kidani place. Maybe it is time for Jiko.


I'm not sure why Brian wouldn't dress up. He goes all out for MNSSHP with his Jack Sparrow and Star Lord costumes.

The guy flopped over in the background is cracking me up.


Glad you got to meet some characters! We didn't even try, since I didn't think it was still happening.

The only SWW show I went to was JAT's and I really enjoyed it! You are right, he is such a charismatic and talented guy!

Look forward to hearing about your Jedi Mickey meal!

Pretty sure the guy was flopped over because it was HOT and soooo humid.

We got lucky with characterpalooza, we got to see it a couple more times too this trip.

@OhioStateBuckeye

This, and watching Clone Wars, is making me long so much for SWW next year. Only a few more weeks until Yulilin is back with the SWW 2016 thread I hope we are there when Warwick is there. I really want to see an Ewok's Tale. I think of Jenny Weasley more than Hermione, when I think of you, but maybe it's the red hair I bet that was a blast. I read about it in your trip report from last year. This year's shows and your character meets look like fun. I am very jealous of your spaceship. Are you guys going to SWW gain next year? Does your magic band have a skin on it? What does it look like?

Haha you and I will be some of the first to jump back on that thread. I miss the SW camaraderie. Not sure if we're going next year for SWW...but I'll certainly try.

That is funny you say Ginny. People say I actually look a decent bit like the actress. Our first MNSSHP that we dressed up Brian was Harry and I was Ginny and we wore their Quidditch outfits.

Oh yes, the magic band has a skin. It was my special one that Brian made. Has Chopper on one side and SW Rebels the logo on the other with a starfield. I am still in love with it.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Day 4 Part 2

Blue Milk, anyone?

I had scheduled us a pretty late Jedi Mickey ADR for this night. Last year we had to take a late night dinner because it was the only ADR I could find, but it turned out to be really nice. We were one of the last tables and we had plenty of time with the characters and it was nice to be able to take our time eating and it was much less chaotic as people started to leave.

We checked in and got our pager and then I just had to run off and try to find @yulilin3 and her daughter at their usual fireworks spot.

They were very easy to spot because of her daughter's Sabine costume, which was so amazing! We had to get a picture:



We just had a couple of minutes to chat before Brian was texting me to let us know the table was ready. It was great to meet those guys though, and for those who don't know, she is the Emperor of SWW and she runs the thread on the DISboards. Also, couldn't be nicer in person. Yay Yulilin! @soniam and myself are both waiting excitedly for next year's thread!!

Anyway, the first thing you do at the meal is get a picture with Jedi Mickey!



Mickey was enamored by Chopper...but really, who isn't??





I guess it makes sense to have Jedi Mickey greet at the door, since it is his dinner. Last year they had the Chipwoks at the door and I think I liked that better. Chip and Dale are always so much better when they can play off each other. At this year's dinner they walked around separately.

This was my first plate...look at that, somewhat healthy choices!



This was not a good eating night for me. When it is very hot outside, I'm not hungry at all. And it had been amazingly hot the whole day, and I was still a little woozy from lack of sleep from the past few days. So really, this was not a good value for me food wise but all the characters were a lot of fun!

Anyone else just feel the need at the shockingly priced disney character buffets to shovel the food in to try to get your money's worth? I definitely do. So this was a sad night for me. I wanted to eat, the spirit was there, but the body was not willing.

Chipwok sighting!!



This is not a good picture, but I think the face that Brian is making is very funny:



We had a good time messing with Goofy, feigning surprise and saying 'Goofy! You remembered to put your underwear inside your pants this year!'.



Stormtrooper Donald, what a gentleman:





I always try to convince stormtrooper Donald that he is just undercover in the stormtrooper armor like Luke or Han, and he is like nope, I am bad. ahhaha.



See? Everyone loves good old Chop Chop.





After we saw most of the characters it was dessert time! Whose ready for blurry cupcake pictures?!





Oh blue milk ice cream...I love thee so.



Seriously, why does Disney not set up Aunt Beru's snack cart outside of ST and sell blue milk ice cream?! Gold mine.



By the time we were finished eating the restaurant was mostly cleared out. Stephanie and I went towards the front to hang out with the characters and saw this awesome Mara Jade costume:





At the end of the night, the characters all line up for last minute pictures together.








The fireworks were booming outside but we were having too much fun with the characters. Besides, we'd see them tomorrow.

Overall, I enjoyed this meal, but if we go to SWW again next year I think we might skip the SW character meals. I think a better value for us would be to do the medium level day package, with the parade seating and the fireworks dessert party. You'll hear about this next update, but I think the parade route was just out of control this year. There are way too many people and the route is way too small. Even though I enjoy the character meals, they are very expensive. I also think I'd probably choose the Sci Fi meal over Jedi Mickey's (that is coming up on a later day as well).

After we were all finished we made our leisurely way to Fantasmic!



Fantasmic is my favorite nighttime show at Disney. I love the characters and Fantasmic features many. I also love the music. I always think that the best Fantasmic strategy is to see the second showing if at all possible. Usually those are half empty and we can slowly make our way inside and still get great seats. I'm really thinking for our next trip I want to see it 2 or 3 times.










And my favorite laughable moment:



Poor Ariel with her blanket, left alone on the boat as it slowly floats away.

We also prefer to slowly make out way out after most of the crowds have left. Much more relaxing that way.

I also think the Fantasmic stage looks a lot like Admiral Ackbar's head.




Or is it just me?

Even though we were having an early morning the following day at SWW again, we made the choice to get on a MK bus! They were having extra magic hours until 2 am. Our gamble paid off! The park was super empty! Every single ride was basically a walk on or a 10 minute wait. So pro tip for everyone: if you are at Disney for a 24 hour day and MK has EMH the following day, go the following day!





We even walked right onto Peter Pan!









We had an amazing time running around the MK! I've said it before, but seriously....nothing better than the MK at night when it isn't crowded. Talk about magic, you can feel it in the air. We stayed out much later than we should have and ended up leaving a little bit before 2. We had a 5 am wake up call the next morning so we could get in line for SW celebrity autographs. Ugh, typing that makes me cringe. 2 am bedtime, 5 am wake up call. Just another day at Disney!

 

[Dugette]

Looks like a good time at Jedi Mickey's. Ours was a bit on the stressful side, due to an extra crabby toddler that had to be woken from a nap to go inside. We did have great interactions with Chip and Dale, though. I was so glad that I happened to stumble across the blue milk ice cream, as I'd totally forgotten about it while we were there. So good! I agree with you - they should absolutely sell it out in the park!

Glad you enjoyed Fantasmic! We finally saw it again for the first time in a few years (but had to do the earlier show, due to said toddler).

I love those super-late non-crowded MK nights too! They are the best, even if they cut into your sleep time!