Star Wars Weekends

Star Wars Weekend Trip Report, June 5, 2005

We are from Atlanta, GA. We decided to go on Sunday June 5th. I took
my two sons(4 and 7 years) and my buddy took his son (6) and daughter
(4)We were in the parking lot by 8:00 am. We went to the gate early
because we had heard it was hard to get a fastpass for autographs if
you weren't one of the first groups in the park. At about 8:30am,
stormtroopers appeared on the roof of the ticket gates. They had
hilarious dialog and interacted with the crowd,
pointing out that we were all dressed funny, etc. They got the crowd cheering and they actually let us in before 9am.

We made a brisk walk (with 4 children!) for the autograph line
(which comes up quick on your left). As a tip, you can have one person
make a mad dash for the line to hold a place. Decide who you want to
get an autograph from first, because there are seperate lines for each
celebrity. You don't need everyone right away, but they should catch up
to you in line pretty soon. The MGM cast hold you there for awhile then
release you to walk over to the fastpass line. We waited in that line
for about 15-20 minutes until they let us walk over to the actual
fastpass machine. While in line for the fastpass machine,Chewbacca was
on the left near the speeder from Return of the Jedi, episode VI. The
kids got to meet Chewie and take a photo.

When we got our fastpasses for the autographs, we just made the very last session. Get there early or you may have to
wait in line standby and may not get an autograph! I politely asked a
MGM castmember (who seemed to be important because of the megaphone he
was talking through!) if it was possible to have our kids be in the
Star Wars motorcade parade (I had read about this in an earlier report
on this site). It was a longshot because I know they like to hand pick
those kids for that, but I asked anyway. Our four kids all had Star
Wars shirts on, and each had their own lightsaber. They are also very
well behaved.

The castmember told me to go talk to another person at the info
table after we got our autograph fastpasses for Warwick Davis. When we
got to the info table, the guy gave the kids wristbands to be in the
Star Wars motorcade! It was awesome! The kids walked right behind Jedi
Mickey's Landspeeder car at the beginning of the parade, dressed in
jedi robes, smiling, and waving their lightsabers (which they got to
keep, now we have like 8 of them!). It was truly a wonderful
heart-warming sight to watch our children experience that. Thank you
MGM castmembers!

We spent the entire day doing only Star Wars stuff. We only rode 2
rides. It was a truly fulfilling day for us! If you plan on going, and
are a total Star Wars nut, Don't plan anything else that day. There is
sooo much to do. Be sure to go over to Mickey Avenue and meet Darth
Vader (about 45 minute wait) and watch all the character interaction up
and down the street. Aura Siing (name?spelling?) was staring down
stormtroopers and closely examining us humans at point blank range. She
was an amazing character totally painted white with an antennae
protruding from her head. She looks scary but is really harmless and
fun to watch walk around and interact with people.

DO NOT MISS THE STAR WARS HOOPLA SHOW at 7pm. The hosts of the show
are hilarious! They tell some really funny dry humor Star Wars jokes,
and all the Star Wars characters come out and meet and greet all the
people (see photos). You want to try and get there early to get a spot
near the stage. They teach you a new Star Wars dance which is fun. The
end is absolutely the best part when the stormtroopers take over and
tell everyone to leave. Just when you think it's over, one stormtrooper
comes back onstage and does a dance routine that will have you laughing
for days.

What an entertaining end to an amazing day that was!! We just might
go again to meet Jake Lloyd! Other helpful tips, do your shopping first
thing in the morning at Tattooine Traders. Later on, the lines are
30-40 minutes to get in and there is barely enough room to fit inside
the store when it's empty. If your child wants to do the Jedi training,
which is AWESOME, get there about 25 minutes early and wait by the
ropes. Warn your child that Darth Maul and Vader come out and one of
them will be the one your child fights. My younger one got scared and
had to leave, but the lady was nice
enough to let him come back at the end and receive his Jedi Diploma and free toy!

Also, don't even think that you can show up late to the park and
enjoy any Star Wars action. It all ends by 7:45pm. As we were leaving
Sunday night, these people kept coming up to me excited and asked where
I got all the cool Star Wars stuff and where the action was. I just
looked at them with disgust and said, "Dude! You totally missed it!"
it's called "Star Wars WEEKEND!" Thanks again to Disney-MGM and all the
awesome castmembers. We plan to go every year in the future.

Sincerely,
Chad Paetznick
Atlanta, GA