TIPS: Star Wars Weekends 2011

[d-r]

What time is everyone planning on lining up for the autograph FP in the morning? I was planning on 6 am, but now I'm thnking that may be a little early.

Any thoughts?

If you are going for Tom Kane, Peter Mayhew or Ray Park I don't think I'd go later than the 6 am. That's when we are planning to go tomorrow.

 

[RedM94]

If you are going for Tom Kane, Peter Mayhew or Ray Park I don't think I'd go later than the 6 am. That's when we are planning to go tomorrow.

We were planning on being there for 6 am also. I was hoping someone would say that 7 am would be fine.

We are hoping to get Ray Park and Peter Mayhew. I guess my son and I will be saying good morning to the Meece family tomorrow.

Can I ask where you are staying? We are at OKW.

 

[RedM94]

How are the lines set up for the autograph FP's? It will be DS 10 and me tomorrow and we will be getting in two different lines. Are the lines side by side?

 

[BuckIMike]

Been reading this in preparation for tomorrow for the last few weeks...and I have gotten lots of great advice and feel ready (I think) going into my first SWW.

Our main goal is to get the kids (2) into JTA in the morning and ride Star Tours a couple of times and also TSM.

What time is best to arrive without going to get autographs?

Our concierge promised that they dpon't open til 9 am although after reading all of these posts we will definitely be there and expect an 8 am opening...

Any thoughts for the newbie?

 

[MelissathePooh]

We were planning on being there for 6 am also. I was hoping someone would say that 7 am would be fine.

We are hoping to get Ray Park and Peter Mayhew. I guess my son and I will be saying good morning to the Meece family tomorrow.

Can I ask where you are staying? We are at OKW.

We'll be at Kidani until Tuesday. My kids will either be playing lightsabers in the courtyard or camped out in the stroller playing video games. We have a large black double stroller - nicknamed El Diablo

Just remember you can only get one fp every 2 hours so if its just the 2 of you and you want to see both celebs you'll need to split up in the lines. Some celebs do take walk ups if they get through their guarantee's and standby's, but its hard to say. I'm betting Peter Mayhew will be inside given his knee surgery and the heat. He goes really quickly through the line.

See you in the morning!

 

[Karpkg]

How are the lines set up for the autograph FP's? It will be DS 10 and me tomorrow and we will be getting in two different lines. Are the lines side by side?

Last year's line. Very similar to this year's.

 

[RedM94]

Last year's line. Very similar to this year's.

You are awesome!!!!!! Thank you for posting the picture!!!

 

[MelissathePooh]

How are the lines set up for the autograph FP's? It will be DS 10 and me tomorrow and we will be getting in two different lines. Are the lines side by side?

There are 5 lines over on the far right of the park entrance before the turnstiles. They'll probably be pretty jumbled at 6, but around 7 they will line everyone up and clean things up a bit so that all the lines are under the one security area. Once you've established your spot in line people are pretty easy going about letting you step out to use the restroom or catch up with someone for a minute or two.

They've been starting the wristbands a little after 7am. You should be fine. We'll be in Peter Mayhew and Tom Kane.

 

[RedM94]

We'll be at Kidani until Tuesday. My kids will either be playing lightsabers in the courtyard or camped out in the stroller playing video games. We have a large black double stroller - nicknamed El Diablo

Just remember you can only get one fp every 2 hours so if its just the 2 of you and you want to see both celebs you'll need to split up in the lines. Some celebs do take walk ups if they get through their guarantee's and standby's, but its hard to say. I'm betting Peter Mayhew will be inside given his knee surgery and the heat. He goes really quickly through the line.

See you in the morning!

Melissa,

Our DVC is Kidani. I used the majority of our points this year to book a one bedroom at BLT in September. We were going to book a standard view studio at Kidani for this trip but DS 10 wanted to try something different. OKW is nice, but I love Kidani. I'm wishing we would have booked a standard studio at Kidani.

DS will be glued to his DS tomorrow while standing in line. I will look for El Diablo in the morning.

 

[wisconsinmom]

Thanks to everyone who has been updating this thread! We leave tomorrow and we'll be at SWW Saturday and Sunday!

 

[yulilin3]

To everyone going to SWW today and this final weekend, have fun!!
I'll be there Sunday to enjoy all the shows one last time

 

[delmar411]

How are the crowds this morning? We didnt get back from MK last night until midnight so there was no chance of getting the kids up at 5am. Im tempted to delay leaving in the morning to try for autographs but I doubt thats going to work. Weve got a 17-18hr drive home.

 

[MelissathePooh]

How are the crowds this morning? We didnt get back from MK last night until midnight so there was no chance of getting the kids up at 5am. Im tempted to delay leaving in the morning to try for autographs but I doubt thats going to work. Weve got a 17-18hr drive home.

DR will get a report up tonight (I think) - we're whipped!

Crowds were super light when we arrived at 5:45ish. By 7am it was INSANE - as heavy as I've seen it. A lot of folks came late today and what a difference that hour made.

We split up between Tom Kane and Peter Mayhew - lucked out and got 1st session for both. Neither are particularly talkers, but both very pleasant and friendly. I don't know if they got through to stand bys or walk ups or not, but the guarantees went fast.

The park seemed more crowded to me than it has been. It was a decent crowd at 8 given the still published opening time of 9am. Managed to sign Holden up for JT and both for PMC. Hoping that is out of their systems. Saw Stars of the Saga and enjoyed it quite a bit. We got in the line about 3:10 and were able to get seats in the back. Line was long, but the theater holds a ton of people.

Kids want to see Ashley again tomorrow and we've got to finsh off Darth Goofy and the Ewoks. Not sure what time we'll be there tomorrow - probably around 7. Will be nice to sleep in

Was a pleasure to meet RedM94 this morning

 

[RedM94]

My DS and I just arrived back at our resort. I want to thank everyone on this thread for making this a very successful first SWW!!!

We had an awesome awesome time!!!!

My DS and I arrived just before 6 am. I got in line for Peter Mayhew and he got in lone for Ray park. I really can't believe how everything fell into place.

After gettin our autograph FP's we went to sign up for JTA and the PMC then we rode Star Tours. We ended up doint Star Tours twice today. We didn't know that there were different versions of the ride. We loved it!!

Ray Park autotgraph
JTA
lunch
Peter Mayhew autograph
TSM
Back to resort to enjoy the pool
Dinner
PMC

A couple of observations. First was Ray Park. The CM let me accompany my son. The CM's were very rigid as far as telling us one item and one item only. The made us take off back packs and turn in all bags before approaching Ray. The line was moving really slow. The CM's were not happy with Ray at all.

They were making remarks back and forth and exchanging looks because he was running way behind. When it was close to our turn I saw why. The CM's were saying one item. The guest would hand Ray there item and he would turn to them and ask if they wanted one of the B&W stock photos autographed. It was almost like he was pushing to do more autographs. It was hilarious to watch because the cast members were rollig their eyes.

The CM's were great today as far as letting parents give their wrist bands to their children. I asked about giving my Peter Mayhew to my son and it was no problem at all. They let me go with DS for both Ray and Peter.

I also want to say that I met a lot of great people this morning in line!! I met two young ladies from Scotland who flew over for SWW. My son who is blessed with Asperger's was in a different line. We had eye contact the entire time. Everyone was great about getting in and out of line.

Acutally the group I was with urged me to go stand with my son and they would hold my spot for me. I just moved back and forth between the two lines.

Then I saw El Diablo out of the corner my eye. It was really great to meet MilissathePooh and her husband this morning!! We ran into them again signing up for PMC. Thanks for all of your help and it was great to meet you!!

we are going to try for Ashley Eckstein tomorrow. We are also planning to sleep in a little later in the morning.

Have a great night everyone!!! Thanks again

 

[delmar411]

We didnt end up getting to the park until 11am. Bjt both Peter Mayhew & Tom Kane were taking walkups so Dh and Yds got to meet them both and get their stuff signed. Peter Mayhew even signed yds's hippack even though the cms said he wouldnt. I was also able to get thr featured artists to sign the SWW poster so that was nice. Picked up a few discounted items including the poster. Seems the SWW stuff is 40% off. Kinda makes me sick to think how much extra we paid on the other weekends.

I left around 6 to come back and pack while dh and the kids rode rides and watched the hoopla.

Pretty successful trip and I really enjoyed the new star tours. We rode it over 30x and saw every single place.

 

[RedM94]

One last observation about today's autograph sessions. Both Peter Mayhew and Ray Park were awesome with my son. I just looked at the pictures from today.

The cast member who took my camera for Ray Park as able to take her time and took nine pictures. The cast member for Peter was only able to take two pictures.

Last but not least, if your child is a Star Wars fan, SWW is a must do!!!!

Good night all.

 

[MelissathePooh]

One last observation about today's autograph sessions. Both Peter Mayhew and Ray Park were awesome with my son. I just looked at the pictures from today.

The cast member who took my camera for Ray Park as able to take her time and took nine pictures. The cast member for Peter was only able to take two pictures.

Last but not least, if your child is a Star Wars fan, SWW is a must do!!!!

Good night all.

Awesome! DR said he ran into you guys yesterday morning and you were nailing it! So glad you had fun! We've slept in a whole hour this morning going to see Ashley one last time - the kids just love her!

 

[bizeemom4]

Ray was awesome! He signed the lightsabers that my DSs brought and took his time with each of them. It might be irritating to the CMs but for those of us waiting (in the insane sunshine!), it was worth it to get a little 1:1 time with a very cute movie star.

We saw 3 shows yesterday - the stars of the saga at 3:15, a day at the maul at 4:45 and Taylor's show at 6. We just walked out of the theater and went around and got in line again. Each one interesting although Maul's show was by far my favorite.

The regular line for TSMania was 140 minutes yesterday! It was 5 minutes when we rode it at 8:20 AM. haha

When we got back to the Dolphin last night, we opened the door and could hear Star Wars 'voices' and we were like hmmm. The Dolphin was showing the last movie at the grotto which we can see from our room. We sat on our balcony and watched the movie and ate dinner. An unforgettable day for sure.

We have had the best times the last two weekends. My 15 and 12 year old boys keep saying Thanks, Mom!

 

[Karpkg]

Oooh, more, more! I'm at my DH's conference in Amelia Island and am stifling the urge to make a run to Orlando...

 

[bizeemom4]

Forgot to say that when we left last night, there was a woman sleeping on a blow up bed at the bag check. I guess she really wanted her FP for the celebrity of her choice this morning. I'll post a pic.