Official Star Wars Weekends Thread Tips and Tricks 2015

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Well it's was a fun weekend and I'm currently on the way to the airport on ME. This is the least crowded ride/event that I have done all weekend :goodvibes me and two other people are on the bus. Maybe it has to do with it being 350 am.

Got to the airport and made it through TSA in about 5 min. Oh nobody doing the bag screening said anything about the lightsaber I built being in my bag. I was actually hoping someone would ask what it was so I could say my lightsaber :darth:.

It's been fun so everyone take care, have safe travels home and may the force be with you.
 
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Hard to believe its over already. Feels like yesterday we were there for the first day. Its been a fun ride. We have a big family trip coming up to WDW in November, but my wife and I already talking about plans for SWW next year. Thanks to everyone and especially yulilin3 for all of the great info and updates! Looking forward to SWW 2016.
 
It's not closed yet :) I guess I'll post this here as well
Here are my thoughts on this year’s SWW:
Crowd Levels: Higher than last year and I’m expecting them to grow for next year’s event. The first Friday was crazy busy, along with second and third Sunday. Also much more people seemed to know it was SWW. In years past you could see people lost about the whole thing but this year. I saw many more people prepared and ready to take on their SWW day

Celebrities and host: James A Taylor did a superb job once again; he’s funny, engaging and entertaining. All of the celebs were awesome, as usual, with one exception, Amy Allen; she just seemed to not care, like she didn’t want to be here. I heard she took several breaks during her autograph sessions and wasn’t particularly nice to the CM. On the other side of that, Frank Oz, OMG, could've listened to that man speak for days, so engaging, entertaining, thought provoking. I hope they continue with these Conversations.

Having McDiarmid and Oz not signing autograph sucked but I understand completely why this was done. DHS couldn’t handle the amount of people camping out for days for them. It was a smart decision, IMO.

Shows and Theater: All the shows were pretty much the same as years past. Loved the addition of the huge screen in the background. The theater was not as hot as I thought it would be but the benches are so uncomfortable. I hope we have a better theater for next year but I wouldn’t count on it.

Character meals and specialty food: We had previous experiences with Jedi Mickey and Galactic Breakfast but the surprise hit was Rebel Hangar. The food, the ambiance and decorations and the prices were great. The character interaction was also good. Once you get over the fact that it’s not a character meal and you shouldn’t expect each character to come to your table it’s great to just see them walking around. The key to this experience was showing excitement for the characters and they would come and stop by your table, or you can just get up and get a quick pic. If Disney changes this to character meal the prices are sure to go up. I like the fact that there was an experience for all budgets.

Between breakfast and dinner I liked breakfast better, the atmosphere inside Sci Fi lends itself to SW, the dinner was fine but just not SW feely enough for me.

Characters: More characters came out in the morning around Backlot making for some fun and fast interactions. Amazing interactions with all of them, the queue lines were kept organized, rotating characters is always an issue but once you figured out their schedule it wasn’t hard to do. Having the schedule on MDE this year helped a lot, especially for those coming other weekends. My only negative was the lack of a Sabine, Ezra and Chopper meet.

Legends of the Force Motorcade: same as years past, yes the parade route is short but there’s no way to have it anywhere else on DHS. They can’t have the full motorcade go to the JTA stage like they use to do because there’s simply no space over there for the amount of people following.

Autograph sessions: All of them in the afternoon created a problem for people wanting to see the shows. They should have some of them in the mornings, from 9 to 10am would work fine. The lines outside the park this year seemed shorter to me for weekend I thru III. Maybe it’s because all of the guests have come so many times before. Ray Park’s line weekend IV and V was a huge mystery. I’ve never seen his line be so crowded so early.
The other big change this year was that they were done inside the old AIE audition rooms. My theory is that this was the downfall of the standby and walk up line. Celebrities used to sign under tents around Echo Lake, they would see the people waiting in line, in the sun, for them. This gave them a sense of urgency and they got done with their guarantees and had time to take standby and even walk ups. This year this was not the case, only a few people were able to walk up. There was no sense of urgency once inside the A/C room, there was more general chit chat. We’ll see if they continue signing inside

Packages: having done the PP last year and DPP this year I think they are good deal. With the DPP being the better deal of the 2. Having the ability to go to all the SWW shows and not having to wait in line for Darth’s Mall was great. The parade viewing for DPP could’ve been better, but again not a lot of options on the short route. Thankfully they added the umbrellas by weekend II. Dessert party was great, plenty of tables this year, good desserts and drinks. Fireworks viewing better than last year because of the removal of the hat, still not awesome but you did get a great view of the Summoning of the Force pre show

The question of “is it worth it” is completely subjective; it might work for some and not others. You can still get a great view of both parade and fireworks without the package and a little planning.

Darth’s Mall: I love all the extra décor that they put into it but I felt that the merchandise was lacking this year. Nothing really seemed to catch my attention. Again small even though they tried to make it a 3 shop experience. They need to leave enough room for the Her Universe changing room. Most of the merchandise stayed well stocked throughout the event. The Boba Fett stein being the exception but it looked like it was something beyond Disney’s control.

My What were they thinking?!?!

Not having Sabine, Ezra and Chopper out for regular meet and greets. If you’re promoting the show have the characters out.

Ray Park having only one autograph session weekend V. Why? He only did his show Friday at 7pm he could’ve done 2 sessions that day and then 3 Saturday and Sunday

Not having standby tickets for Frank Oz…having people waiting in line for 8 hours is not smart. They get tired, cranky, dehydrated…then having only 50 standby wristbands for Saturday and Sunday. What’s the point, you still had people waiting for hours…bad costumer service on Disney’s part


My They knocked it out of the park!!

Rebel Hangar: good food, good atmosphere, good music and good prices.

Characters: All of the interactions were great, it seemed better than years past. Mickey sitting on the floor playing with kids, Chewie’s awesome hugs, bad guys at their baddest selves. Greedo asked for a kiss from Stephanie, they were all just awesome, fun meets.

It was so great to meet so many of you, truly, my favorite part. I’ll repost this to the reports thread along with links to all of our pictures
 


I have to echo the sentiments re Amy Allen, I didn't experience any of the autograph sessions , but her inclusion in Stars Of The Saga alongside Ian McDiarmid was unnecessary. Essentially she came across as a Lucasfilm production assistant that just happened to be in the right place at the right time during post production and fit the costume. She offered very little else and didn't even seem to be interested in the experience or Star Wars for that fact.
 


Thanks @yulilin3 for this thread and being so helpful. I'm glad I got to see you/Stephanie again this year. I agree with a lot of your thoughts in your post. Today is our last day in Wdw then it's back to reality. :(. I will post my thoughts on the other thread when I'm back. And thanks to @delmar411 for meeting me for the poster trade. I have two online trades set up for Yoda and Boba Fett but still need to find a Darth Maul. Also, never found a Sww 2015 magnet. :(
 
I think I'm going to change my avatar pic to this. Vader waffle was delicious
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Thanks to all who posted on this thread.You were polite and helpful to each other.I need to close thread now because of 250 page limit.I will say if thread like this is posted next year it will most likely have a special exemption again.Not a promise but will receive our highest consideration. Best to all Danny
 
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