Star Wars Weekends

The Toughest part of Star Wars Weekends 2008 has been the MUSTAFAR Heat.  No real suprise there, so lets move on to the second most difficult thing, finding the characters throughout the park.  After talking to many SWW veterans I found that I wasn’t alone.  The Jedi members were moved from their location over by the smoking area at Tattoine Traders back to the Indiana Jones Outpost by Echo Lake.  Many people walked past this area all weekend long without knowing that this was the meet and greet area for the Jedi, Mace, Shak Ti, Anakin, etc.  I figured it out early but have to admit with everything going on, I never got back that far.  There seemed to always be an obligation of some sort deeper in the park.

If finding the Jedi was bad, the Sith & Empire had it worse.  At least you passed the Jedi early on in your travels.  The Imperial sector is cut up and spread out all over the place because of the changes to Mickey Ave/PIXAR Place.  With Pixar Place being so narrow, many of the wander characters have been force back beyond the Backlot Tour area.  Anyone needing a Bounty Hunter photo and autograph or Darth Maul really needs to look hard at the end of the Streets of America area.  The best advice I can give you on this is locate one of the CM’s that is a character handler (usually marked with a Micky Hand) and ask them point blank about the character schedule and where you can find different ones.  Since this info varies day to day based on casting it is really the best way to figure out how to get these photos.

Also you want to be aware of the rotation with Leia Minnie, Darth Goofy & Storm Trooper Donald and Jedi Mickey.  Yes, Jedi Mickey is now available, but the difficulty is timing your meet.  Last weekend there was a three way rotation.  Goofy and Donald come out for 20 minutes, followed by 20 minutes with Leia Minnie, followed by 20 Minutes with Jedi Mickey.  You can easily become frustrated (as I did several times) by mistiming this and finding that the characters you hoped to meet are gone, leaving you with one you met earlier.  Best advise, ask about the rotation and try to time it so that you are getting in the line while one of the other characters you are not trying to get is in.  You can then hope that there will be a change before you get to the meet spot.  This will take some planning and a little luck, but it is the only way to gain success. 

As for the other roaming characters, again this was very hit or miss.  They are spread out over such a large area that you are either in the thick of them when they come out, or you are wondering where they are.  Again, ask a CM for general info on this.  The fact that the Emperor is not available with his Imperial Guard is disappointment this year.  Hopefully that was a weekend #1 thing and not a missing element from the entire event.