Star Wars Weekends

There is really only one word to describe my first day at Star Wars Weekends: chaotic. This was my first weekend with a young child along. It quickly became evident that no plan was a good plan.
A portion of the group arrived at 5:00am and waited in Temuera's line while the rest of the group (including my nephew) arrived at 8:15, separating into the other lines. Mostly due to my dad and brothers, we managed to snag fast passes for everyone except Jeremy. The only downside-was that three of them were at exactly the same time. Like I said, chaotic.

Temuera was first up and was amazing in taking the time to play around with my nephew. We have an amazing picture with Brett on Temuera's shoulders with both of them goofing around. Daniel was second and was as charming as always, commenting on the paparazzi that consisted of my family taking pictures and video of the encounter. Lastly in the first group was Dee. It was just my nephew and I for this one and I don't think I have one serious picture from it. My nephew decided to be a ham for the camera and Dee refused to be outdone.

After a fastpassed visit to Toy Story Mania, which is a must for those who haven't had the chance to ride on it. I think it was the ride that everyone enjoyed.

With most of my family not visiting Hollywood Studios in years, they were completely overwhelmed with the difference-most importantly the number of people in the park. Things I had grown to take for granted like the Star Wars characters wandering around amazed my nephew and my brothers every single time.

My nephew's mouth never closed during the parade from on top of his father's shoulders and most of my brothers kept pointing out all of the characters and the costumes. The only downside was the intense heat.
A visit to Boba's Bounty was an absolute must. I of course spent too much money but I got everything I wanted and more. The Disney cast members said they were doing something different this year-only releasing a certain amount of the limited edition merchandise each day-an ingenious concept.

In the afternoon, I met with Ashley and talked about her new clothing line, Her Universe. She was amazed at how much I knew about it and said it should be available online in mid-June. She also had a lot of fun with my nephew and kept calling him 'Sky-Guy'.

By late afternoon, everyone was beat so we decided to call it a day. Hopefully I'll be able to catch more on Friday with only my sister and me attending.

A few words of wisdom, for those who want autographs, make friends with those around you while waiting in line. It makes the time pass quicker. Also, if you're bringing something for them to sign, have it be light and accessible (Official Pix photos are great). The days are hot making whatever you're carrying feel even heavier. Since I was the only one with a bag, I ended up carrying everything for my group-not fun.

Another word of advice, prioritize. Sunday was all about the autographs. Our top choice was Temuera, Dee and Ashley since we hadn't met them before. Everyone else was a bonus.

Final advice I'll leave you with is be patient. There were a lot of 'hurry up and wait' instances with celebrities, rides and events. Take a deep breath and try to appreciate everything around you before it leaves for an entire year. You may find that those moments are the most memorable.