Star Wars Weekends - any hints?

[ahoff]

Has anyone been to a Star Wars Weekend? My DS wants to go this weekend, and was wondering about some of the features.

How hard is it to get an autograph?
What is the 'jedi training' like, and is it hard to get a spot in it?
Any special features to see? I understand there is a special parade with the Star War characters.

Any helpful hints? Thanks!!!

 

[QuickGold]

There's some hints and other useful info at http://www.mgmstudios.org/sww.html that you might find helpful.

 

[georgina]

Does anyone know if all the Millionaire games on the weekends are Star Wars themed? We'll have to go back to MGM another day if that's the case, I don't know much Star Wars trivia!

 

[K and K's Mommy]

Just by coincidence we were there this year on the first Star Wars weekend. I was a little worried because we are not big Star Wars fans. We really just know the three original ones. However, it turned out to be a lot of fun. Most of the action is down by Star Tours, the ride in MGM. There are Star Wars characters everywhere, and the lines weren't too bad to see them. The regular MGM parade had a few characters mixed into the regular Disney characters. There is a stage by Star Tours where they give out information about what is going on throughout the day and have the Jedi training. We watched a little bit of one, and I think there were four or five kids being trained. Who Wants to be a Millionaire had two or three special Star Wars shows, but it also had its regular shows.

 

[Kaybee]

Have your son do the Jedi training it is great. A CM told us about it the day before Star Wars weekend started. There is a stage right next to the Star Wars ride. You stand by the stage, and kids are picked from the audience. We did the 11:45 show and they picked 30 kids from the audience. It was great. They learned how to be Jedi knights, then Darth Vader came out to fight them along with Darth Maul!! There were several shows scheduled all day for them to do this. The chances they get picked are pretty good. Just about every child jumping up and down hollering "pick me" got in the show!!We lined up about 15 mins. before the scheduled show time.

 

[ktglads]

The first 2 shows of the day were Star Wars themed. This means the questions are 100% Star Wars trivia. Last year they gave away 3 cruises during these shows, so if an avid fan gets into the hotseat, there is a good chance of seeing them get rather high on the scoreboard. Even if you know nothing, they push you to the 1000 point level by giving insanely easy questions. People who don't know anything about the movies can get that far since the questions are that obvious.

If you wait until the afternoon (after the 12:45 show), the shows are back to normal.

The parades are nice - I missed them due to autograph times that you really can't choose. One note on this is that you have to be there EARLY if you want the celebrity autographs. You are then led to the millionarie area where you wait in line. It is a one person - one ticket - one fastpass - one autograph thing. One person can't get passes for the whole family. They give you a 15 minute window then to return at. You have to choose which person you want the autograph from and then if you want another, you have to get back into line. There is a standby line that will let you go inbetween the fastpass times, but that is more of a hit or miss thing. It worked well for us, but you could end up waiting a long time in line. Standbys are not garunteed.

 

[hightown]

We just got back (5/14-22) and did SWW for my DD10 who has loved Star Wars since she was 3. We were there Saturday 5/15 and it was very busy being Saturday and all. We just did the autographs that day and not much else Star Wars. But Friday 5/21 was nothing but.

DD wore a Jedi costume Friday and it got a lot of attention from cast and the dressed up characters. She also brought her toy light sabre. She really got a kick out of interacting with the bad guys. Got a million photos.

For the autographs, get there first thing and get in the crowd to walk over to millionaire with the herd. If you are a resort guest, Saturday will be early entry and that will put you there earlier but you still have to wait at a rope by Millionaire till opening to get in the autograph fastpath line. Since DDis 10, I let her get in one line and I got in the other to get fastpasses for the different celebs. The only thing bad is that Friday, she was separated from me while waiting to walk with the crowd (the CM says walk but it's a very fast walk) While going toward millionaire, she said some man pulling his son shoved her out of the way and she was pushed into a pole. It was hard enough to hurt her and bruise her chest. I can't know if it was a purposeful shove or not but won't let her get away again in such a crowd.

It seemed pretty easy for the kids to get chosen for the academy but the more attention the attract the better.

If you are into pins, right after the autograph fastpass, go to the Star Wars gift shop and get the LE pins for that week.

Have fun!
Sharon