Star Wars Weekends

This year I tried something different for Star Wars Weekends and I did not go on Friday and instead went on Saturday and Sunday.  I had to change this year because I was at work on Friday and by the time I got out of work on Friday, the rest of the people I knew who were at the parks on Friday had bailed out due to fatigue and heat.  Saturday morning I had a lot of excitement so when I was woken up early due to a text message, I decided to get out of bed and go and I was at the Studios by 7:45am.  Oddly enough they were parking us in the Music parking lot and no trams appeared to be running so I had to walk to the front of the park.  There were lines for merchandise and celebrities but I wanted to see the storm troopers so I held back and got a nice shady spot to see the show and sure enough the storm troopers came out by about 8:15am and started their first show.  They opened the gates at 8:30, which was surprising to me since the park didn't open until 9.  So we entered the park and I headed towards Indiana Jones and saw there were lines for celebrities.  

At Primetime Cafe, Cast Members held back general crowds and only those wanting autographs could go past that point and get in line.  The Jeremy Bulloch line was pretty long, the Daniel Logan line had about 35-45 people and the Warwick Davis line had no one really.  I decided to get in the Warwick Davis line but changed lines to Daniel Logan, figuring it was a better option since Warwick Davis will be there all 4 weekends for me to meet. Something to note is Warwick only had one meet-n-greet session per day whereas the others have 3 and Warwick's is at 3:45pm and by then I think most people are wiped out.  I got a FASTPASS for Daniel Logan's second session and joined up with some members of Studios Central.com over near Jedi Training Academy.  Figaro's son made it into the show and we watched the beginning of the show and then headed over to the SWW information table to sign one of the kids up for the Star Wars parade and we were luckily able to.  Turns out unlike past years it's not as easy as showing up to the table to get your kid in the parade but with enough enthusiasm, one can oil the wheels of progress (so to speak).

We spent much of the rest of the morning meeting characters, like Princess Leia Minnie, and we did see Jedi Mickey doing meet-n-greets despite rumors to the contrary.  Others who went on Friday had reported Jedi Mickey was not there and it was great to see him there on Saturday.  We also stopped by Wicket's Warehouse and again, a big change between Friday and Saturday as there was no lines at all on Saturday.  While there, we got on line for Troy Denning to get some books signed.  Troy was very nice and seemed to be enjoying himself.

Afterwards we rushed back to Echo Lake to see the Star Wars parade which was fun as usual.  I love seeing the 501st and the Rebel Legion march in the parade because the attention to detail in their costumes is outstanding.  The Dark Lord of the Sith's daughter was in the parade and we met up with her and her mom at Backlot Express (in the saving grace of air conditioning) and rested up a little before our Studios Central lunch at Mama Melrose.

The plan for lunch was to have 12 people for lunch at Mama Melrose but going into the weekend, we only had about 9 accounted for.  Well between meeting up with various people in the park, we swelled to 15 and there was a bit delay sitting down as the Cast Members had to make some adjustments to the tables to make our group fit but we were able to sit down and enjoy the meal. I do think everyone had a great time at lunch and we swapped stories and observations about SWW.  Of course, the higlight of the lunch was The Dark Lord of the Sith's daughter and Figaro's son sitting next to each other at lunch and The Dark Lord of the Sith's daughter saying to Figaro's son "It sure is romantic in here" and then Bella Nocce playing right then and there.  The look on The Dark Lord of the Sith's face was priceless.

Following lunch we had a quick Studios Central meet for everyone in front of Sounds Dangerous and I had a chance to meet some folks I had not met before. It's always fun meeting users of the site and I really enjoyed it.  We had to cut our meet short as many of us had our 2:25 FASTPASS celebrity sessions and I went over to Echo Lake to meet Daniel Logan.  Daniel was very gracious and full of enthusiasm to everyone.  When I got to Daniel I talked to him for a bit and asked him if he was going to be in the live action series but he replied he hadn't been asked yet to be a part of it so no interesting rumors or tidbits to share there.

After that, we all split up for a afternoon break and I had to go check in to Pop Century for the evening.  We returned to the Studios at 4:30 and we saw the Behind the Force show in the Premiere Theater (formerlly the Backlot Theater).  First, the theater was nice and air conditioned and had a small outdoor queue that is uncovered that could certainly benefit from some shade but the wait was not that long.  The theater is rather bland looking without much theme but since it's a multi-purpose theater, it makes sense for it to be generic.  The show itself was interesting as it included some previews of the new Clone Wars film (which does look cool) but really, it's a large infomercial and if you aren't seeing the show where Warwick Davis hosts in person (the rest of the shows Warwick appears in taped pieces) it's really not that great of an event and if you end up missing the event, don't sweat it too much.

We went on to meet Darth Vader who had a large line but it did move fairly fast and it was covered which helped quite a bit to make the wait tolerable.  After Vader we got a spot to watch the Hyperspace Hoopla.  I wont wreck the Hoopla (although if you wanted to, I'm sure there are 80 copies of it on YouTube) but the Hoopla was very funny and entertaining.  It really wraps up the day nicely and I think it's a lot of fun.  By that point in the day, you're tired and sweaty but I really felt energized by the show to keep standing for another 20 minutes.

Sunday

Sunday I slept in and didn't make it to the park until lunch time.  The SWW crowds really affected my two favorite places to eat a counter service meal at: Backlot Express and ABC Commissary.  I'd be willing to bet the line would be shorter at ABC Commissary but both had some long waits there.  Throughout the day on Sunday I plugged up holes that I had been missing from Saturday but took it easy for the most part.  The highlight of Sunday was the Studios Central dinner event at the prop shop and I had a lot of fun there and I think everyone did enjoy themselves.  We started out dinner with......a visit by a squad of storm troopers who when they saw me wanted the Studios Central shirt but I told them they could but it online and that they took imperial credits. It was a fun surprise to see them there and right after they left, it was time to eat!  Following dinner we had a childs and adult trivia contests and congratulations to Sean who won the kids trivia and walked away with two light sabers, a Darth Vader inflatable chair and a goodybag full of prizes and congrats to Glenn who won the adult trivia and walked away with a $100 MEI-Mouse Fan Travel gift certificate and a $50 eBay gift certificate.  Thank you to everyone who came to dinner and I can't wait for next year!