The Force is Strong in This One: SWW and Celebration VI, Disney Done Differently

[lovethattink]

Originally Posted by mommy2mrb

love the photos of Anakin and Goofy together
happy he got to meet Queen Amidala and how awesome the Cantina Musicians were to take a group photo!
we love eating at SciFi, so nice a cool....Goofy's hamburger looks like a heartattack waiting to happend can see how he couldn't finish it in one sitting

hope you all aren't getting hit too hard by the TS Debbie, stay safe!

Thanks! I think I will always be amazed and extremely grateful to this year's Cantina Musicians!

I had a little sliver of it back at the motel. That picnic burger is delicious!! The next day, Grumpy had some of it for breakfast, lol.

Our patio has overflowed once. The pool is filled all the way up to the tiles. It will be over the concrete in a couple more inches. Back in 2004, Grumpy got on a giant inner tube and splashed gallons and gallons out of the pool. That inner tube is long gone, but I've been out there dumping buckets and buckets of water from the pool.

Originally Posted by JLCJMC

Enjoying you TR. my son and I also do Disney Differently :-). We have never been able to do Star Wars weekends because of the timing, but we are headed down in a few weeks and cannot wait! I saw an article saying that they had a "freeze yourself in carbonite" keepsake at sww --- sooooo jealous! Would be our dream keepsake :-) Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your adventures --- many happy thoughts!

Welcome!! Thanks. Always nice to meet someone else who does Disney differently!

The Carbon Freeze Me was very cool. We were going to skip it completely, but with all the hype and not knowing if this was a once in a lifetime thing or not, we caved in to the publicity pressure. Still waiting for it to arrive. There was an error and we had to redo it, so...Oh I'm getting ahead of myself...that will come in a bit....please stay tuned!!

Always a bonus when you have a trip to look forward to! Hope you have a great vacation! Be sure to check out the new Agent P adventure at Epcot.

[lovethattink]

Originally Posted by JustRZ

She says to check out and memorize the schedule while you're waiting in line on the first day and plan accordingly. One man Star Wars Trilogy is fantastic, as is the costume contest, which her 1 year old will be in. Panel interviews are fun, but get monotonous, so pick the most important ones. Always know where you are in relation to a restroom, the convention center is gigantic.

Oh, and don't let security see your water bottles when you're heading into auditoriums, apparently they learned this the hard way

Thanks for the tips!!

Memorize, rofl!! My nickname is Dory.

Good to know about the water bottles.

[kaoden39]

Originally Posted by lovethattink

Hmm. Thanks, I'll look into it.



So maybe you can help me?



That's understandable.

Under day 2 and day 3, the writing in red is a link to Attractions Magazine's blog with their youtube videos of the parade and Hoopla. Maybe Grace would like to watch them? Next best thing to being there.



Oh cool, I hope it works completely so she can avoid another surgery.

You can watch the hoopla show if you click the red link on day 3. Scroll down a little on the blog and the video is embedded. The song is at the beginning. The show is a dance off between the good guys and the bad guys. Chewy is hysterical. The last number is the best, but you have to stick around to watch it after they announce the winner.

Of course I'll help if you need it!


Love the latest updates. I cannot imagine how hard it is for Queen Amidala to learn to walk with her headdress on. The balance has got to tricky to learn.

[lovethattink]

Originally Posted by kaoden39

Of course I'll help if you need it!


Love the latest updates. I cannot imagine how hard it is for Queen Amidala to learn to walk with her headdress on. The balance has got to tricky to learn.

I never thought of that, but I bet your right!

Also being careful not to bump into people while posing for pics. The headress extends out pretty far.

[kaoden39]

Originally Posted by lovethattink

I never thought of that, but I bet your right!

Also being careful not to bump into people while posing for pics. The headress extends out pretty far.

I hadn't thought of that. Oh wow.

[photographymom517]

Just read the first few pages! Love all of your SWW pictures!

[jmskinner]

Originally Posted by JustRZ

She says to check out and memorize the schedule while you're waiting in line on the first day and plan accordingly. One man Star Wars Trilogy is fantastic, as is the costume contest, which her 1 year old will be in. Panel interviews are fun, but get monotonous, so pick the most important ones. Always know where you are in relation to a restroom, the convention center is gigantic.

Oh, and don't let security see your water bottles when you're heading into auditoriums, apparently they learned this the hard way

These are great tips. We missed both the One Man Star Wars Trilogy and the Costume Contest last year. I think the schedule was posted online before the event, but I may be wrong since we only attended Saturday last time.

My biggest tip, bring lots of money!

I've been debating about the t-shirt, probably need to make up my soon.

[lovethattink]

Originally Posted by photographymom517

Just read the first few pages! Love all of your SWW pictures!

Welcome!! Thanks. Everything was taken either by Photopass or my phone's camera. Dh and I would love to get a real camera but we don't know where to start. I keep seeing that Ashton Kutcher commercial for Nikkon and it looks like a good starter? What do you think?

Originally Posted by jmskinner

These are great tips. We missed both the One Man Star Wars Trilogy and the Costume Contest last year. I think the schedule was posted online before the event, but I may be wrong since we only attended Saturday last time.

My biggest tip, bring lots of money!

I've been debating about the t-shirt, probably need to make up my soon.

I was hoping the schedule would be up before the event so we can browse through it. We are going all 4 days, or at least have tickets for all 4 days.

When you say bring lots of money, are there many things that take cash only? Also what about eating there? Our oldest has food allergies. Not sure if he can eat there or if we'll have to leave to eat? Do you know if we have to pay for parking once a day like at Disney, or do you pay each time you go in and out of the parking lot?

We are passing on it. Yes, looks like you'll need to make a decision soon as it's not going to be sold at the event.

[jmskinner]

Originally Posted by JustRZ

When you say bring lots of money, are there many things that take cash only? Also what about eating there? Our oldest has food allergies. Not sure if he can eat there or if we'll have to leave to eat? Do you know if we have to pay for parking once a day like at Disney, or do you pay each time you go in and out of the parking lot?

I think all the booths took credit cards. I rarely have cash on me. There are ATM's around, but I'm sure the fees are through the roof.

I just checked the convention center website, Orange County Convention Center, and it looks like $13 per entry. Boy, they know how to get you. Glad you mentioned that because I hadn't thought of that.

By the way, since we attended only Saturday last time, which was the day of the George Lucas/Jon Stewart event, even though we were there by 9am, we had to park at the opposite location and wait for a bus, there wasn't any shade at the bus stop.

There is a food court area and there was a variety of food, but seems like there wasn't anything for my son, who only eats chicken nuggets. Of course, with his meds, he usually isn't hungry during the day.

[Moodyzblu]

Got a little behind .. but all caught up !

The Palms seems like a great stay .. our next trip will most likely be off property since we are going to do Universal .. so I'll keep this place in mind.

[EvangelineG]

So glad I stumbled on this this morning. It was so much fun reading about your Star Wars adventures!

[mickeystoontown]

Darn the Dis for not sending me email updates! Now, I'm five pages behind on your new report. I'm going to catch up now.

[Soarin4Disney]

Just joining in and love the TR so far.

Where did your husband get the Jedi outfit? I've been trying to find one for a while now.

[lovethattink]

Originally Posted by jmskinner

I think all the booths took credit cards. I rarely have cash on me. There are ATM's around, but I'm sure the fees are through the roof.

I just checked the convention center website, Orange County Convention Center, and it looks like $13 per entry. Boy, they know how to get you. Glad you mentioned that because I hadn't thought of that.

By the way, since we attended only Saturday last time, which was the day of the George Lucas/Jon Stewart event, even though we were there by 9am, we had to park at the opposite location and wait for a bus, there wasn't any shade at the bus stop.

There is a food court area and there was a variety of food, but seems like there wasn't anything for my son, who only eats chicken nuggets. Of course, with his meds, he usually isn't hungry during the day.

Those things are good to know. We were going to stay at the Hilton, and walk but I cancelled our resies a couple months ago and booked a bounceback for Pop Century, but thinking of cancelling that. Either way, we will be driving each day.

Do they pizza or some other kind of chicken? That's all Anakin eats, plus apples and broccoli.

Originally Posted by Moodyzblu

Got a little behind .. but all caught up !

The Palms seems like a great stay .. our next trip will most likely be off property since we are going to do Universal .. so I'll keep this place in mind.

The Palms is convenient to I-4, so either Disney or Universal would be ok. We did go to Walmart on Turkey Lake Rd (near Sea World) the one day. Traffic was backed up from exit 64 to the Sea World exit, but I think that was to stop and watch the smoldering from the brush fire.

Originally Posted by EvangelineG

So glad I stumbled on this this morning. It was so much fun reading about your Star Wars adventures!

Welcome!! Great to have you here!

Originally Posted by mickeystoontown

Darn the Dis for not sending me email updates! Now, I'm five pages behind on your new report. I'm going to catch up now.

There is a handy dandy index on the 2nd page, might make catching up easier

I have email notification turned off. But when I get on the DIS I just click on user CP and it shows me all my subscribed threads. Every now and then some slip through the cracks though.

Originally Posted by Soarin4Disney

Just joining in and love the TR so far.

Where did your husband get the Jedi outfit? I've been trying to find one for a while now.

Welcome!! Thanks! He bought it online, I think ebay. Costumes for less also have some SW costumes.

[lovethattink]

We didn't get to DHS until close to 2pm. The parking lot was nearly full when we arrived. We were parked way in the back, and had a long trek to the entrance.

You may be wondering why we didn't just take the tram rather than walk all that way? The w/c just doesn't fold up well enough to squeeze it on the tram, and the foot rests are so heavy. They alone probably weigh as much as the whole rest of the w/c.

We headed straight to the queue for Stars of the Saga. We are huge Ray Park fans. He played Darth Maul in Star Wars. This was his last weekend at SWW and totally missed seeing him week 1.

Anakin met a guest in line named Kelsey. She must really like kids because she struck up a conversation with him and he talked nonstop. I think the hotter he got and the more crowded the queue got, the more he talked. We told her that if she was all talked out that it was ok to let him know. She said she was enjoying him and he was fine. So he continued to talk, and talk, and talk. He told her how much he liked her Hans Solo outfit and yoda bag. She was surprised he knew she was dressed like Hans because no one else seemed to "get" it. In between all his chatter, she was able to squeeze in that if he sees Boba Fett to be sure to tell him she wasn't there. He was looking for her. (His wheels were turning. Remember this for Day 5.) She also told him that it was ok to tell Chewy where she was though.

As he was talking we continued to put frozen waters on him, and behind his neck to cool him down. For most of the time we were in the shade. Then we were told we had to move forward into the hot sun as they tried to squeeze more people in the queue. It was around 10 minutes we were in the hot sun. We opened up umbrellas for shade. It helped a little. But the temps in the sun went from hot in the shade to sweltering in the sun.



Kelsey was in front of us and continued to engage Anakin in conversation. She was such a godsend!

The line moved and we crossed the street to the Premiere Theater.



Andy Secombe and Ray Park were the celebrities. James Arnold Taylor was the host.

The preshow is awesome!! It's a storm trooper show. They are hysterical! This itself would be worth getting in line and a show of its own!



Stars of the Saga is a question answer type show.







It ends with a tribute to Mickey!



The Premiere Theater is airconditioned. It feels so wonderful in there!! Great place to cool off!