May The Fort Be With You- A TCD SWW Trip Report!

[dvccamper 32]

Okay, I'm on board, better late than never.

The Wookie Family Portrait may be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Not only do they have cats in space, but apparently the Eiffel Tower as well!

I was thinking the Food and Wine Festival would be a great time for a long weekend trip, but I may have to rethink that and go with a Star Wars Weekend.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Oh, my superhero loving family has seen the Avengers movie and loved it. I will probably wait for it to be out on DVD,although come to think of it, I really would prefer to see it in the theater. Hmm.. I did just get a call from the local blood donation center offering free movie tickets if i could donate blood this week.

Oh, and it is probably just me, but I tend to think of FB pokes as virtual hugs from fiends! :hugs2:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

As always great trip report and don't worry I have not seen the Avengers yet and really do not have plans to.

Another non-Avengers watcher.

This is interesting.

Has any Fiend seen the movie?

I think it's just that none of the IDIOT managers are willing to show some initiative and take down that map. They're much to busy harassing the drivers and it would take some thinking. I've never seen anyone use it.

The drivers for the Fort buses are assigned at TTC and not out of that shack.

How do you like the fancy waiting area for drivers waiting to be assigned a bus, nice?

They did add a couple of umbrellas last year.

Yes, you Bus Drivers are living large!

And you just raised an interesting point. None of the buses leaving from the MK go to the Fort. So, why is there a Fort poster there?

Great report

Another one that has not seen the Avengers movie

If it wasn't for Jay Leno I wouldn't know who LMFAO was either

Yuck on the nose level loaded pants but I had a laugh at it your expense.

Michele

Well, there you go. Another Fiend who hasn't seen the Avengers.

So did LMFAO appear on Jay Leno?

I'm glad you had a laugh at my expense-that happens all the time in the TCD house.

Enjoying the SWW TR. The crowds actually don't look all that bad so far. Glad the girls enjoyed themselves.

I will be getting to the crowd thing in just a bit.

You are right-the crowds weren't as bad as I expected. After all, it was the opening weekend.

With good planning, you can have a lot of fun at SWW.

In my opinion, for something like this, the more crowded the better.

Yeahhh---another TCD report. My favorite print is "Easy Being Green It is Not". If only rich I was. I'm of the same era as everybody else--never heard of LMFAO. Glad you decided on a one nighter--Fast passes made it all worthwhile. Can't wait for more. As always very interesting.

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

Thanks.

But, what the heck is Kermit doing with Yoda in the first place?

And you're right about those Fastpasses- that little find changed our whole experience. I will remember that when I have extra Fastpasses that I can't use.

Yahoo for another TCD TR!!

My whole family is loving all the Star Wars pictures, esp. the paintings and prints.

I have avoided the video, as it looks rather PG-13 for my G rated group.

Can't wait to read more!

Yes, that show is definitely pushing a PG-13 rating. I did my best not to look gawk, but the dancers playing Padme and Princess Leia in the Good Guys dance had apparently washed their costumes in hot water and dried them in a hot dryer. They were a little snug.

I know I'm late. I am glad I get to experience this thru a TR. We have been there during SW week (it wasn't on the weekend) and their were so many people we did the minimum and left. It was REALLY crowded that day.

We finally rejoined FB but funny thing happened... all but a few of FB friends are fiends. Oh, they poke alot. :rofl2:

You aren't late. This report is just getting started.

And you are a big Star Wars fan, yes?

Well, there's a lot more Star Wars stuff coming your way.

Well, I like LMFAO, they're music actually isn't bad to skate to and yes I roller skate. Also, since I'm late to the party, the artist Christian Waggoner, has a few paintings I like. There is one of Boba Fett that he did that is great.

Best Regards,

Norm

That is a cool painting.

I see that this artist's thing is to have images reflected in his subject's visors and such. This one is pretty neat. I like how distressed the helmet is and the reflection of the Han-sicle.

I would call BS on your comment about skating, but then I remembered you're from New Jersey. So, I believe you.

A couple of random thoughts.....

I was thinking the other day "I wish TCD would post a TR or something....I am jonesing". Perfect timing.

As for mouth breathing around the loaded shorts.....I would rather have the microscopic particles of poop in my nose than in my mouth....but to each their own.

I loved the original SW movies and toys as a kid. I never entered geekdom, though. And we have never been during the SW times either. It looks pretty cool.

I would have been tempted to buy that Chewbaca costume. That would rock while snowboarding....or maybe for just cutting the grass and freaking out passers by.

I watched the whole vid posted. Pretty well done. They should have went all out with the LMFAO and donned bikinis.

For the record, I didn't actually stand next to the poopy pants for the whole show. I maneuvered my way upwind from that guy.

If I was going to buy one of those costumes, I would go for the stormtrooper. I could wear that to SWW and have access to the whole park. It would be a riot if I got up on stage during Hyperspace Hoopla! Since the Chewie costume is so cheap, let me know if you want me to buy it for you. I would love to see a video of you snowboarding in it.

I am glad that they didn't go with the LMFAO speedos. After the show, one of the twins showed by an image of the guys from LMFAO in their speedos. Yikes!

Thank you for sparing us all a recreation of the horrifying sausage photo.

And don't you know that Kim may be reading this? The band should be referred to as LMSBO....Laugh My Silly Butt Off. Oh Lawdy!!!!

We use the term LMBO at our house. I never heard of LMSBO, but I like it!

And don't be so sure I didn't recreate the horrifying sausage photo. Maybe I did, and I'm saving it for a special occasion.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Caught up and enjoying this TCD TR as always. I wonder if Yuri will be making an appearance?

I'll save you the suspense and tell you no.

We just saw him on our trip last month.

So, I was careful to keep this trip as quiet as possible.

We were blessed to not see Yuri this time around.

Enjoying reading along. We will be there this weekend with the insanity...can't wait to see HH in person.

Oh, I didn't know you were going this weekend.

I thought it was in June.

Have a great time.

I will have some tips coming up. And some intel that I learned from other attendees. I hope you will benefit from that.

Did that 3Cpo girl have on two different color shoes? I didn't see the Avengers either. Loving the Star Wars art. DH decorated his cave with movie posters...he has all of the Star Wars movies represented with original marquee posters…got them free for the teenagers in the family that worked at the theater.

I don't know about the C3P0 girl's shows. I am not going to look at that photo again.

That's another Fiend who hasn't seen the Avengers!

I'll bet your DH's posters are worth some money!

Okay, I'm on board, better late than never.

The Wookie Family Portrait may be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Not only do they have cats in space, but apparently the Eiffel Tower as well!

I was thinking the Food and Wine Festival would be a great time for a long weekend trip, but I may have to rethink that and go with a Star Wars Weekend.

I think the Wookie Family Portrait is funny too. But if somebody had $3500 to spend on a piece of art, would this be what he would buy? And what would you do with it if you bought it? It doesn't exactly fit in with fancy decor.

For what it's worth, if I had to choose between the Food and Wine Festival and a Star Wars Weekend, it wouldn't even be close- I would do Food and Wine in a heartbeat.

Oh, my superhero loving family has seen the Avengers movie and loved it. I will probably wait for it to be out on DVD,although come to think of it, I really would prefer to see it in the theater. Hmm.. I did just get a call from the local blood donation center offering free movie tickets if i could donate blood this week.

Oh, and it is probably just me, but I tend to think of FB pokes as virtual hugs from fiends! :hugs2:

So, your family saw it and you didn't?

That makes another Fiend who hasn't seen the movie.

TCD

[Lou... 3,118]

None of the buses leaving from the MK go to the Fort. So, why is there a Fort poster there?

Ah ha, Mr. Rock Star, may I call you RS? In the morning, the buses from the Fort to HS and AK are MK buses.

So if you want to get to MK by bus from the Fort in the morning, get on one of those buses. Just make sure you confirm it with the driver that they are returning to MK.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Ah ha, Mr. Rock Star, may I call you RS? In the morning, the buses from the Fort to HS and AK are MK buses.

So if you want to get to MK by bus from the Fort in the morning, get on one of those buses. Just make sure you confirm it with the driver that they are returning to MK.

I am not sure what you are saying here. Are you saying that the buses that leave the Fort to go to HS and AK in the morning become buses to the MK from HS and AK when they get to those parks? I am not sure why anyone would want to do that, but if this is what you are saying, then that is something I didn't know. But, there aren't buses from HS and AK to the MK, are there? I thought that the best you could do from those parks is the TTC.

TCD

[SCTigerCock 171]

About the Fort poster, can I throw out a theory?

Could the thing just be there to block the sun? I.e. was lying around and someone picked it to create a cheap, outdated, themed sun block?

Just a thunk.

Now back to our regulary scheduled TCD report. And thanks for sharing.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

This will be a short post to finish up our Friday evening.

Hyperspace Hoopla ended at around 8:45. That gave us just and hour and 15 minutes before the park would close at 10.

We had to use our time wisely.

First stop was to use our Toy Story Fastpasses, so we headed that way.

On the way, I mentioned to the girls that I had heard that there was a new model of the Fantasyland expansion that had just been added to the One Man's Dream exhibit. We were walking right past there, and we had a few minutes, so we decided to take a look.

I hadn't seen photos of this model, so I was surprised by how big it was.

And the detail that it showed was awesome!

Here we are looking at the left portion of the model. The carousel and the area that Dumbo was removed from would be in the open area you see on the left. You can see the new Beast's castle toward the back:

Now we are looking a bit to the right from that previous photo. Here we see the Ariel ride in the back, down the big wide path. The thing that surprised me is the size of the new Snow White coaster, which you see in the right front:

Another shot:

Here is the far right portion of the model. Here we see the double Dumbo, with the Goofy roller coaster to the right. The new train station is along the far right center of the poster:

We were kind of rushed looking at this model. I could have easily spent more time looking at it. The thing I liked is that it shows the ride buildings, so it gives an accurate idea of how things will look when they are finished. The artwork that Disney has put out so far is typical- it shows what the attractions are supposed to look like from a guest's perspective. But what is actually built is quite different. Take the Haunted Mansion, for example, the average guest doesn't realize that the attraction itself does not take place in the creepy mansion that we see. The actual building for the Haunted Mansion is huge. You can see the huge buildings in this model. I see that there is a big building attached to the Dumbo attraction. I don't know what is going in there, but it is pretty big. Also, the buildings that look like tents are big. In the old Toontown, one of these housed a big gift shop and a character meet and greet area. I don't know what is going in these new ones.

There was also a display in the area that showed some of the details of the new Little Mermaid ride. I didn't get photos, but we will get back there sometime soon.

Next, we headed over to Toy Story.

The twins' scores were pretty close:

But, twin #1 got the best in vehicle score:

Then we headed back to Rock N Rollercoaster.

We stopped for some ice cream at the stand there outside of Tower of Terror.

Surprisingly, the crowds really died down after Hyperspace Hoopla.

The stand-by at Toy Story was only 30 minutes, and the stand-by at RNR was 20.

We used our Fastpasses right before 10 pm. Which was kind of a waste, because the line was so short anyway:

The TCD twins said they were doing a Jedi mind trick in that photo.

Whatever.

When we came out of RNR, it was after 10.

The park was closed.

So, we mosied our way out.

There was a 10:30 showing of Fantasmic scheduled.

That isn't something I remembered seeing before.

The show didn't start until 30 minutes after the park was closed.

I expected to see a big crowd waiting to get in.

But there wasn't one.

That is something to remember for a future visit.

We could have walked right in to Fantasmic at that point if we wanted to.

No waiting in a huge mob.

And, we probably would have gotten good seats.

But we weren't feeling it.

So, we headed on out.

Back to the hotel.

We finally checked in, and headed to our room.

I love the folks who stay at the All Stars.

They were all still going strong when we got there.

Even though it was 11-ish.

There were tons of people in the pool and in the food court.

The bar was crowded.

The Fort is dead this time of night.

The party people are over hear at the All Stars.

Our room was in the the Basketball section. It was nice and quiet back there.

We had a new TV and a fridge in our room.

Nice.

We were planning to hit Hollywood Studios for the 8 am opening in the morning.

So, we called it a night around midnight.

TCD

[TheLug 10]

Fantastic!!!! I almost bought one of those prints a few weeks back. They allow the Annual pass discount, so it woulda bee like ~$320. O well maybe next time.

Keep it going old man! I'm waiting.

[Lou... 3,118]

I am not sure what you are saying here.

The buses that show up at the Fort, in the morning only, with marquees that read HS or AK/BB are actually dispatched from the MK and are part of the MK bus allotment.

They drop off the guests that were picked up at the Fort at either HS or AK, then continue on to a resort that's near those parks and pick up for the MK. They don't pick up guests at either park for the MK.

If you knew which buses they were and got on it, you could theoretically go from either of those parks directly to MK bypassing TTC.

In other words, if I'm working out of the MK and even though there aren't buses that pick up at the Fort for MK, it is possible to take a bus from the Fort and end up at MK, via a stop at HS or AK, plus a stop at a resort before returning to MK.

And no, don't do it unless you can't take the boat ride. Although on a good day, the HS bus might actually beat the boat over to MK.

The opposite is true. Buses belonging to AK pick up at the nearest resorts to AK and pick up for MK and HS.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Fantastic!!!! I almost bought one of those prints a few weeks back. They allow the Annual pass discount, so it woulda bee like ~$320. O well maybe next time.

Keep it going old man! I'm waiting.

What? They will give you a passholder discount on the art?

That changes everything!

I am going to get that Wookie Family Portrait to hang in my Pop Up!

Nice!

The buses that show up at the Fort, in the morning only, with marquees that read HS or AK/BB are actually dispatched from the MK and are part of the MK bus allotment.

They drop off the guests that were picked up at the Fort at either HS or AK, then continue on to a resort that's near those parks and pick up for the MK. They don't pick up guests at either park for the MK.

If you knew which buses they were and got on it, you could theoretically go from either of those parks directly to MK bypassing TTC.

In other words, if I'm working out of the MK and even though there aren't buses that pick up at the Fort for MK, it is possible to take a bus from the Fort and end up at MK, via a stop at HS or AK, plus a stop at a resort before returning to MK.

And no, don't do it unless you can't take the boat ride. Although on a good day, the HS bus might actually beat the boat over to MK.

The opposite is true. Buses belonging to AK pick up at the nearest resorts to AK and pick up for MK and HS.

Thanks for the explanation. I got it now. It's amazing how this is all organized. I am not sure I can think of a time that I would use this information, but it is good to know just in case. Sometimes knowing the full details of the bus routes can come in handy. Like if you are at the Wilderness Lodge and your golf cart is at the Outpost. Instead of taking the Fort bus, hop on a HS or Epcot bus, and it will take you to the Outpost. Or, if you want to get to the GF for some reason and don't want to take two boats, you could bus it to WL and take the WL Downtown Disney bus. For some reason, that stops at GF first.

TCD

[TheLug 10]

Not on the "Original" art work. Only prints and Gicleé, Spit paintings... see below..

If you watch the Youtube video you posted from the Orlando vacation thing at about 18:50 Gamorrean (The Pig) slips, and falls. It appears that it was not planned as he hits the lady standing next to him. Did you see it?

(Gicleé:-. A Gicleé (zee-clay) is a coined art term. It is a French word which means to spit or spray. Gicleé reproductions are actually produced with a high quality ink jet process. Edition prints made with high resolution ink jet printers using pigmented inks and archival, artist-grade papers. Lightfast ratings close to original paintings.)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

As you can tell, Friday passed very quickly, and before we knew it is was Saturday morning.

We didn't use our hotel room very much on this trip.

It was after 11 pm when we finally moved in, and we were out of there by 7:30 am.

It was that kind of trip.

As per usual, I was the first one up, and headed out for a cup of coffee as the girls were getting ready.

Normally, I would have paid a visit to the Fort, and I would have really liked to on this bright, somewhat cool morning, but by the time the sun would not have risen enough for me to get good photos, as we wanted to be at HS by 8, so it was not to be.

Instead, I got to enjoy the beautiful All Star Sports Resort at sunrise.

This is the main pool:

And this is the outdoor seating area by the food court. The pool is just to the right in this photo. The barstools you see to the left are lined up at the bar:

This is the bar menu. Despite the prices, this bar is always busy- the All Star people like to party:

We were in the Hoops Hotel section of the resort:

This is one of the many decorated areas around the resort:

You can say what you want to about the value resorts, but I like them. They did a good job with these, and for the money, I do think they are a good value. This is a nice wooded area adjacent to a sidewalk leading to another part of the resort:

Our room was here in building 3, on the first floor right around the corner from what you see in this photo:

Our room overlooked a preserve area:

I call this photo sunrise over the Hoops Hotel preserve area at A.S.S.:

This pond was there in the preserve area:

The folks who decorated this part of the resort knew what was what:

That's all I have to show of our resort.

We were there for just 8 hours.

And we were asleep for most of those.

Our bus came right away, and we made it to Hollywood Studios by 8 am without a problem.

There was no crowd waiting to get in.

The gates were already opened.

So here comes a tip for anyone thinking of heading over for a SWW.

They open the park earlier than advertised.

Last year, every piece of written material you could find said that the park did not open until 9.

But they opened at 8 every morning.

That was handy information to have.

Based on what I heard from several folks this year, they are opening at 7:30.

But everything published says 8:00.

They were definitely open before 8 this day.

On SWW, they bring in some really obscure Star Wars "celebrities" for folks to meet and get autographs from. This weekend, they had a couple of the voice actors from the animated Clone Wars series, as well as the actor who played Darth Maul in Episode 1. One of the Clone Wars people couldn't make it at the last minute, so we found this sign announcing a change when we arrived:

Impressive, right?

I really have no interest in meeting any of these losers actors, so we didn't make an effort to arrive early to claim Fastpasses. But in case you are interested, this is what the Fastpass lines look like:

You can see that some of the lines have signs posted saying that the Fastpasses are all gone:

Just for giggles, I walked up to the Fastpass line for the guy who provided the voice of Watto. The castmembers there said that they were just giving out wristbands for standby. I asked what that meant. They said all of the Fastpasses were gone, but I could have a wristband and stand outside of wherever this guy was and maybe he would have time to see me. I asked if they were serious. They said they were. I said no thank you. But other people were taking the wristbands.

Remember, it was just 8 am when I arrived.

So, what happened to the Fastpasses?

That brings up my next tip. From what I heard, folks arrive and line up for Fastpasses at 4 am. I met a lady in line later in the day who had to leave to go meet the Darth Maul guy. She said she got one of the last Fastpasses for him at 5:45 am. Really. So, if you have a burning desire to meet one of these "stars" you need to plan on sleeping in the HS parking lot. Apparently, that is allowed.

With all due respect to any Star Wars geeks reading along, I really don't understand the attraction of meeting someone like the guy who played the voice of Watto. You can get his autograph. Big deal! What are you doing to do with it? And, who has ever heard of the guy. Harrison Ford I can understand wanting to meet. But a guy who provided the voice of a puppet? I don't get it.

Anyway, my point is that if you want to get an autograph, plan on getting there very early.

When we came through the bag check, there were castmembers passing these out:

Disney geniuses at work.

There is no need for a Fastpass for the first show of Lights, Motor, Action. But here they are passing them out. It would make the average guest happy, I guess. And maybe help with drawing some people away from other stuff.

As we approached the entrance turnstiles, we heard the stormtroopers above speaking to each other:

This is something fun.

And they only do it in the morning.

They have stormtroopers up above the entrance talking to each other and also to the guests. They are funny and entertaining:

This is one of the guide maps that has the info you need to know for the special events of the day:

I don't know if they have done so in the past, but this year, Disney has posted the maps on their official website. Next weekend's map is there right now.

I would have liked to hang out and watch and listen to the stormtroopers for a while.

But we had a busy day ahead, so we headed on in.

First stop, Toy Story Fastpasses.

Then, the Star Wars ride.

And then, we planned to meet our first Star Wars character.

Ever.

TCD

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Love the update!!!

[stefa70 205]

Sorry to be so far behind, but I had to make a beer run for my Fort trip....priorities ya know?!

To backtrack for a sec:

I would gladly pay $495 for one of your purple crayon drawings!

Oops, forgot a period.....$4.95 for one of your purple crayon drawings.

No more super soap weekends. I think the last one was in 2008. They were huge and packed!! From what I understand it was the soap stars/ agents that pulled out. They now do a touring appearance to appeal to more fans in different areas.

Now for what I've missed:

I have stayed at All Star Sports before, and I agree, they are all neat hotels at a decent price. It's just not the Fort. All those loud young people who stay up past 9:30 would make me crazy crazier.

Fast passes for LMA show?! For a stadium that holds like 5,000 people? :hah:

Ok, I'm caught up for the moment, carry on.......

[dvccamper 32]

This is the bar menu. Despite the prices, this bar is always busy- the All Star people like to party:

Maybe with the money they save on the room they spend it on booze. Or Wookie Family Portraits.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

The buses that show up at the Fort, in the morning only, with marquees that read HS or AK/BB are actually dispatched from the MK and are part of the MK bus allotment.

They drop off the guests that were picked up at the Fort at either HS or AK, then continue on to a resort that's near those parks and pick up for the MK. They don't pick up guests at either park for the MK.

If you knew which buses they were and got on it, you could theoretically go from either of those parks directly to MK bypassing TTC.

In other words, if I'm working out of the MK and even though there aren't buses that pick up at the Fort for MK, it is possible to take a bus from the Fort and end up at MK, via a stop at HS or AK, plus a stop at a resort before returning to MK.

And no, don't do it unless you can't take the boat ride. Although on a good day, the HS bus might actually beat the boat over to MK.

The opposite is true. Buses belonging to AK pick up at the nearest resorts to AK and pick up for MK and HS.

And you say that I post useless information.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Two years ago, when we arrived before the 8am and the fastpass lines were longer than the lines to get into the park.

I may have once been a star wars geek but I refused to stand in line for the photos much less autographs.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Not on the "Original" art work. Only prints and Gicleé, Spit paintings... see below..

If you watch the Youtube video you posted from the Orlando vacation thing at about 18:50 Gamorrean (The Pig) slips, and falls. It appears that it was not planned as he hits the lady standing next to him. Did you see it?

(Gicleé :-. A Gicleé (zee-clay) is a coined art term. It is a French word which means to spit or spray. Gicleé reproductions are actually produced with a high quality ink jet process. Edition prints made with high resolution ink jet printers using pigmented inks and archival, artist-grade papers. Lightfast ratings close to original paintings.)

Wow.

I guess I never thought about how they make the prints of the paintings. So, it's a giant ink jet printer? And that makes it worth $350 and up?

No, I did not see the pig man fall. And, I did not know his name. Remember, I had a partially obstructed view. In between dodging poopy pants, I missed a few things in the show. I never saw R2D2. After the show, when discussing things with the girls, I mentioned that it was odd that neither R2D2 or C3P0 were in the show. That's when they told me that the shufflebot was C3P0 and that R2D2 had come out briefly during the Good Guys dance with an afro on. I never saw him. Those darned girls in the small outfits, who I was doing my best not to look at, distracted me.

Sorry to be so far behind, but I had to make a beer run for my Fort trip....priorities ya know?!

To backtrack for a sec:

I would gladly pay $495 for one of your purple crayon drawings!

Oops, forgot a period.....$4.95 for one of your purple crayon drawings.

No more super soap weekends. I think the last one was in 2008. They were huge and packed!! From what I understand it was the soap stars/ agents that pulled out. They now do a touring appearance to appeal to more fans in different areas.

Now for what I've missed:

I have stayed at All Star Sports before, and I agree, they are all neat hotels at a decent price. It's just not the Fort. All those loud young people who stay up past 9:30 would make me crazy crazier.

Fast passes for LMA show?! For a stadium that holds like 5,000 people? :hah:

Ok, I'm caught up for the moment, carry on.......

Of course I understand about the beer run. I would be disappointed in you if you neglected that duty.

If I could sell two of my drawings for $4.95, I would have enough to buy a drink at the A.S.S. bar.

Maybe with the money they save on the room they spend it on booze. Or Wookie Family Portraits.

LMSBO!

That's funny!

And you say that I post useless information.

LMSBO x 2!

Two years ago, when we arrived before the 8am and the fastpass lines were longer than the lines to get into the park.

I may have once been a star wars geek but I refused to stand in line for the photos much less autographs.

I agree with you about the autographs.

But, we did stand in a couple of lines to meet characters.

And, we were glad that we did.

More on that coming up.

TCD

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Wow I like star wars, always have but i wouldnt stand in line for 30 seconds to get any of their autographs. The people who stand in line for those are the same people being made fun of by Triumph the Dog on the hilarious youtube video of the star wars convention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zWNJHS9PBE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Just saying. Thanks for another awesome update!

[Just Beachy 18]

:suspense:

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I would not stand in a line to meet a voice-over character. My sons might want to. I refuse to ask them because if it is something they would want to do, that would make it even harder to explain to them why we are not going to SWW next year.

BTW, are the other parks less crowded on these days when everyone goes to HS for SW? Just curious.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

As you may have noticed from the photos, it wasn't very crowded at all when we hit the gates right at 8.

I imagine that there must have been a small crowd comprised of the folks who arrived really early to snag Fastpasses who had already entered the park.

But, we walked right up to the turnstiles, and we were in.

So, it pays to go early.

I'm glad we did.

Once in the park, the plan of attack was to get Fastpasses for Toy Story, then ride Star Tours, and then get in line for a character meet and greet by 9.

And that's what we did.

Along the way to Toy Story, we noticed someone up on the stage in front of the hat.

It was Bobba Fett:

He was guarding a frozen Han Solo:

This character was also talking to the audience and making gestures to tell folks to go away.

It was pretty cool.

We grabbed our Toy Story Fastpasses, which had a 9:40-10:40 return window, and then headed on down the street toward Star Tours.

Along the way, we saw a backdrop that would be used for a character meet and greet. We guessed that it would be where we would be able to meet Bobba Fett.

Here is Twin #2 trying out the space handcuffs:

This sign was posted next to the backdrop:

We then turned up the New York city street to head toward Star Tours. It isn't often this deserted:

This Mom was in a Princess Leia slave outfit:

I wonder if Mrs. TCD would wear one of those if I got it for her?

Star Tours was a walk on.

Except for the dumb butt who straggled behind his party to take photos of everything in the queue. He held up the whole line taking photos of crap that nobody would even want to look at.

Twin #2 did not get chosen to be the rebel spy.

She is losing her touch.

A new thing that we heard about in the Star Tours gift shop was the Droid Factory.

From what we heard, they had parts for robots that you could build yourself.

I had pictured it as being like the build your own Mr. Potato Head they have in Downtown Disney.

But, this is what the Droid Factory looks like:

As best I could tell, there was just this little work area:

And the droids themselves were tiny little things:

That didn't seem like much fun.

But what do I know?

After Star Tours, our next plan was to get in line to meet a character.

It was Chewbacca.

We saw his meet and greet place last year.

It was in the same place this year.

The line for Chewie gets long.

I have heard over an hour.

But, I had noticed in the morning that just a few folks line up before 9.

And the line is in the shade.

So, we planned to get on this line early.

And we did.

Here we are:

This line is roped off from a main walkway.

This allowed for great people watching as we passed the time.

The little person you see in this photo had on a Yoda t-shirt that said "Size Matters:"

The nerdy looking guy in this photo had on a t-shirt that said "Crushing rebellions like a Boss." And one of the fine ladies he was traveling with was sporting the Princess Leia hairbuns:

Just across from where we were waiting was the smoking area:

You see those metal things that look like a giant erector set?

Those are the backs of the New York Street buildings. This is the tallest one:

They don't look very tall at all from back here.

And, I'll bet that most people don't even realize that this is what they are standing behind.

While we were waiting in line, the folks in front and behind us had members of their parties coming and going. The unwritten rule seemed to be that as long as one representative stood in line, others in the party could come and go. That sounded fine to me. So, I asked the girls if they wanted to go and get some breakfast. The Writer's Stop was right there. That is where you can get a carrot cake cookie. I said that's what I wanted for breakfast. I waited in line, and the girls went and got me the cookie:

The girls wanted to go all the way over to Starring Rolls to get cinnamon buns. I said fine. So, that is what they did:

That worked out great for us.

When 9:00 rolled around, there was no Chewbacca.

A castmember came by and said that he wouldn't be out until about 9:15.

Boo.

But, the line was long behind us, and we weren't about to get out of line.

I decided to take a break and look for a restroom.

The Sci Fi diner is right here, and I know there are restrooms in there.

I wasn't sure if they served breakfast, and the door was closed, but it wasn't locked. So, I went in.

The don't serve breakfast, but I was able to use the restroom.

And have a look around:

I never noticed these tables before:

And, I also never noticed this table for a big party:

These are from up by the screen looking back. This place is not as big as I thought it was:

I walked down a hallway and found a door that entered in to the Writer's Stop.

The coffee smelled great, so I got a cup. Here's the drink menu in case you're interested:

I then got back in line.

The never ending parade of guests kept us entertained.

I told the girls I want to get my face painted like this kid:

As my kids sometimes say, "cute couple alert!":

The dude in the Superman shirt earned the TCD best facial hair award for this trip.

This ginger turned his head just as I tried to get his photo. My bad. You can see his sweet red hair and matching beard. He had on the same shirt as the little person we saw just a moment ago. Which made me stop and think: Who should be wearing this shirt? And does it make sense for Yoda to say that size matters when he is so small? Maybe I read the shirt wrong:

I liked the old guy with the longish hair over there in the smoking area. I'm thinking that would be a good look for me:

The people in the smoking area provided a lot of good entertainment for us too.

I loved this guy.

He is just chillin' like a villian and having a smoke:

It was right about here that we saw a giant furry creature come out and go to a spot near the front of the line.

I think that meant we were in business!

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

The line Yoda actually said was, "Size matters not." It was when he was trying to get Luke to raise the X-wing fighter out of the swamp using only the Force. Not sure if the t-shirt says that or not.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow I like star wars, always have but i wouldnt stand in line for 30 seconds to get any of their autographs. The people who stand in line for those are the same people being made fun of by Triumph the Dog on the hilarious youtube video of the star wars convention.

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zWNJHS9PBE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Just saying. Thanks for another awesome update!

That video is hilarious!

I didn't have as good as people watching as Triumph did!

I would not stand in a line to meet a voice-over character. My sons might want to. I refuse to ask them because if it is something they would want to do, that would make it even harder to explain to them why we are not going to SWW next year.

BTW, are the other parks less crowded on these days when everyone goes to HS for SW? Just curious.

That is a good question.

And, in just a bit I will give you my experience with another park during a SWW Saturday.

Stay tuned.

The line Yoda actually said was, "Size matters not." It was when he was trying to get Luke to raise the X-wing fighter out of the swamp using only the Force. Not sure if the t-shirt says that or not.

Duh on me!

You are right!

This is the shirt:

So, it makes sense that the little person was wearing it.

Or if a kid was wearing it.

Or Stef.

But what was the normal sized red headed dude trying to tell us?

That reminded me of a funny story from back in the day. Back in the late 70's, early 80's t-shirts with funny sayings were all the rage. My friend's mom bought him a shirt that said "It's not the size of the boat . . . It's the motion in the ocean." I asked him why he wore that shirt, why his mom would buy it for him. He said he didn't know. Another friend said, "well she used to change his diapers. . . " That made me laugh just thinking about it again.

Maybe you had to be there.

TCD