Star Wars Weekends

My husband and I planned our vacation to DisneyWorld with SWW in mind.  He stayed back at the hotel with our little one while I escorted our two older kids, ages 8 and 10, to Hollywood Studios to brave the early crowds.

We took a taxi from our resort and got in line, with a shade umbrella, at 7:00am on Friday for an autograph Fastpass.   My son Ethan was only interested in getting Ray Park's signature.   We had no intention of circling back through the line to attempt to get other celebrity Fastpasses, hence the 'late' arrival.  If you arrive super early, multiple Fastpasses/stand-bys may be possible depending on the lines.  Disney was prepared for the switchback and had an exit line just for those people.  The Fastpasses were handed out at 8:45 and we ended up with a second session autograph time slot.

We took in the first showing of the Jedi Academy.  We sat off to the side at the  Backlot Express dining area and had a great view until the show started.  People began crowding in and standing in front of those already seated:(  Ethan, the 8yr old, enjoyed the rock star entrance of Ventress.  He's a fan.

The Character Encounters scattered around Star Tours and Streets of America are worth waiting in line if your kids are interested.  Mine weren't.  We got a pic with Commander Cody and that's it.  The 15+ minutes of wait time wasn't worth it to them.  Sidenote:  I'm not a fan of the autograph books.  They're fun for the kids but the lines would go much faster without those pesky books.

We stood in line at 10:30 for the 11:00 show of Behind the Force and got great seats.  Both James and Ashley did a fine job of explaining the process of voicing the Clone Wars cartoon.  We were also treated to a Season 3 trailer.  We liked the show so much that my son watched it again later in the weekend.  For the last show, James had his daughter come on stage and participate in the voice overs.  It was a sweet moment.

We caught parts of the Star Wars Motorcade.  By the time our show let out, the parade line was crowded and not worth the effort.  We watched it on YouTube earlier so we knew what we were missing.

Our autograph session wait time for Ray Park was about 45 minutes beyond our Fastpass time.  I didn't hold it against him.  He greeted each person with interest and conversation.  Waiting in the sun, however, was almost unbearable due to the heat and close proximity to other people.  I thought my kids were going to pass out despite the fact they were well hydrated.  Only water was allowed in the wait area, nothing sticky like a frozen treat which would've been great.  There was a Disney Castmember that periodically checked on the well being of those in line.  I appreciated that.

We saved the best for last and closed out our weekend with Ray Park's show.  Visit to The Maul was so fun.  We got in line at 4:20 for the 5:45 show because I wanted to wait in the shade of the Muppet building.  Roving Clone Troopers made the time in line enjoyable as they interacted with people...waking those napping, stealing kisses, posing for pictures, and getting misted by squirt bottles.  The show itself was entertaining and involved a lot of participation from the kids chosen to help in the show.  Ray's demonstration of the martial arts and class-like instruction was memorable.

It was wonderful to see all the actors come out and celebrate Star Wars, sweating it out with the rest of us in the heat.  I thanked my lucky stars I wasn't a Wookie.