Star Wars Weekends

Ok, despite being overwhelmed by Imperial agents during the past few days, I’ve broken lose long enough to get my first look at the merchandise and was surprised to see some familiar faces.    There are some (what I will refer to as Jawa sized mini Figs, five to be exact.  We are treated to some new takes on movie poster artwork.  A look at some of the T-Shirts available and the pins have surfaced.Read more

Ok, with merchandise information being worth less than an R5 unit with a bad motivator, a celebrity list that was released in fits, no news of any added events we are left with pieces to consider for the first weekend.  The big news will be Star Tours re-opening.  Merchandise has been moved down Sunset Blvd.Read more

With the celebrities named for this year’s event and people selecting which weekends to attend the focus can shift a little toward the other offerings at Star Wars Weekends, in particular, the ones that will be most interesting to the Padawans (youngsters).Read more

Matt Lanter has confirmed via his Twitter account that he will be attending Star Wars Weekends 2011 during June 3-5.  

Lanter is the voice of Anakin Skywalker on the Clone Wars cartoon series.  This is his first apperance at Star Wars Weekends and will join fellow Clone Wars stars Ashley Eckstein (voice of Ahsoka Tano) and James Arnold Taylor (voices Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Clone Wars) as well as Star Wars alums Ray Park (Darth Maul) and Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett).

Ok, as the news continues to trickle in at the speed of a Bantha crossing the Dune Sea it might be worth considering what someone coming to Star Wars Weekends might start planning for if it is their first time.  The Celebrity schedule will fill out before long and we should soon be getting news of Merchandise that will be available, but right now is the time to plan for what we already know. Read more

Ok, no celebrity list, no problem.  The truth is that a lot of us cannot plan our trips on the arrival of celebrities, but rather have to take the vacation window given to us.  That said, there is no reason to panic on the lack of information.  Take solace in the fact that there is more than enough to do between the shows, the photo opportunities with characters and the opening of Star Tours II.Read more

Last week on the Star Wars fan podcast The Forcecast, James Arnold Taylor (the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi) let out that Ray Park (Darth Maul) would be returning as a guest to Star Wars Weekend.  The SWW Event Host, either intentionally or unintentionally, told the Star Wars enthusiast podcast that he was preparing for Ray Park's popular "A Trip to the Maul", a stage show in which Park invites kids up on to the stage and teaches them basic martial arts.

While he was not sure on the remainder of the guest list, Taylor's announcement at least provides one more name to the guest roster this year.  The specific dates of Park's attendance, however, were not revealed.

You can hear the full interview with James Arnold Taylor with the Force Cast at http://forcecast.net/

The fine folks over at theforce.net have hinted at the possibility that Star Wars creator George Lucas may be attending the first weekend of Star Wars Weekends from May 20-22, 2011.  According to the Star Wars news site, Disney cast members have been asked to cancel all vacations during that time so that everyone could prepare and ready for the Maker's arrival. 

This wouldn't be the first time the reclusive film maker has appeared at Disney's Hollywood Studios.  In August, Lucas attended the Last Tour to Endor hard-ticketed event and was in fact seen at the Indiana Jones and the Jedi Temple of Doom stunt show and was also spotted walking throughout the property. Read more

Aside from our Dark Lord of the Sith, I am perhaps looking forward to Star Wars Weekends the most out of everyone here at Studios Central.  Nothing else gets me excited like this four weekend event at Disney's Hollywood Studios.  There is nothing quite like walking through the turnstiles with John Williams' iconic music playing in the background and Imperial Stormtroopers yelling down insults at you from above.  This event is one of the major reasons why the Studios top my favorite parks list in Walt Disney World.

With that being said, it is always about this time of year that Star Wars Weekends really gets on my nerves for one particular reason: Disney's inability to announce which celebrities are going to present during which weekends. Call it bad planning, blame it on the booking of celebrities, or point fingers at Disney's desire to drag out these news items out; whatever the reason, it makes planning Star Wars Weekends difficult.Read more

You will find that a great many things depend on our point of view and Obi-wan couldn’t be more right in this case.  For the die hard Star Wars fan, Star Wars Weekends has been experiencing an evolution from the live action movies to the animated series.  Just a few years ago, this entire event was based on nothing but the movies.  Now anyone booking this trip needs to be aware that the Clone Wars is a very large piece of the current puzzle.  Anyone with any doubts need look no further than the decision to name James Arnold Taylor the host for each weekend, with Ashley Ekstein working in the same role she had last year as the host for all things Clone Wars.&nbRead more