Star Wars Weekend at Hollywood Studios Review

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….

Do you recognize these famous words?  Are you a fan?  Even if you’re not, Star Wars Weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is NOT to be missed.

I was fortunate enough to visit the park last year in May 2014 on Memorial Day Weekend for Star Wars Weekend and this is coming from someone who really isn’t much of a fan… it was AMAZING.  SO worth the visit!  My 7 year old son was the real fan and he had the best time ever.

This was one of the days on our short weekend for the 24 hour event so we were quite tired to begin with but we made it an all day thing and tried to get everything in.

There are celebrity guests each weekend and meetngreets are available for them.  Some lines for meetngreet passes start forming in the EARLY morning hours (I’m talking 2am here folks)  Tickets are handed out before the park opens and you need to be in line at the time you are given or your spot is forfeited.  We opted NOT to do this since we were running on hardly any sleep at this point.

The day starts off with Storm Trooper poking fun at “all these people being held back by a teeny, tiny, little rope”.. eventually the rope is let down and everyone is welcomed to “Star Wars Weekend at Disney’s Hollywood Studios”.

Our first item on the agenda was to get a place in line for Jedi Training.  This is always a fun event for little ones between ages 4-12.  They actually get to fight the dark side (Darth Vader) with lightsabers!  Normally the line up for the training is inside a room just past the American Idol building but during Star Wars Weekend sign up takes place at Indiana Jones Stunt Show queue.  The line was entertaining since they had artifacts scattered throughout.  My son was so excited to see these things and yet I had no clue what they were (ha!)

We waited about 20 minutes in line and eventually walked out holding one of these:

The CM’s are very helpful.  If you have dining reservations, they will work around them.  The children that are participating MUST be with you in line.  They will be asked questions to make sure they’re not afraid of the dark side and that they know not to jump off of the stage.

There are lots of special characters out for meetngreets!  Some have longer lines than others and some just walk around interacting with guests.

There are also special dining events going on.  We booked the Galactic Dine In Breakfast at Sci-Fi Dine In Theater.

When you enter the restaurant, you get your picture taken with some very “dark” characters.  This restaurant is styled like an outdoor movie theater with cars that you sit in.  It’s a great theme and goes surprisingly well with Star Wars Weekend!

We were served a plate full of yumminess to hold us over till we received our appetizers… full of theming!

Our drinks came… (yes, that’s blueberry milk!)

Parfait:

Fruit cup:

Our entrees:

Dessert is brought out in a big smoking cylinder… very neat!

The food was good but for the price, I would expect a little bit more.  The portions were small.  Prices are $49.99 per adult & $31.99 per child.  The dining plan IS accepted for this meal but it requires two table service.credits.

The real reason to book this meal would be for the opportunity to meet these characters with NO line… in fact, they visit you at your table!  We had so much fun with all of them!

Be sure to bring along some shiny items to trade with these guys!  They have pouches full of all sorts of things and they love shiny! (think marbles, pins, foil, etc.)

If you’re more into Disney characters dressed up as Star Wars characters, you might want to make reservations at Hollywood & Vine for Mickey Jedi’s Star Wars Dine.  Dinner is available from 4:15pm-8pm.  This costs $57.99 per adult & $34.99 per child or two table service credits if you’re on the dining plan.  You can opt to add on Fantasmic dining to this meal for a bit more and you’ll get priority seating for that night’s show.

After our breakfast we had to get over to our viewing area for the parade!  We had purchased the “Feel the Force Premium Package” which included access to this special area, snacks, drinks & the dessert party later on that night along with access to this same area for prime fireworks viewing.

This parade is amazing… sooo many people partake in it.  I can’t imagine there’s a character that they do not have in there.  At the very end, the celebrities featured that day are also driven out in convertibles to the stage including the host, James Arnold Taylor.

The attraction Star Tours will experience longer than normal wait times on these special weekends… be sure to fastpass this!

Be sure to visit “Make Your Own Light Saber” that’s located in the gift shop after you exit Star Tours.  This is a great souvenir opportunity where you get to pick the parts out to build your own light saber!  There’s a single and double option (the double is a bargain!).  I think we paid just under $30 for the double.  They light up and make noises.  CM’s will tape the ends for you so you don’t have to carry around a large stick all day.

By this time we were ready for our Jedi Training!  After receiving their robes and simple instructions (along with a few trivia questions), they were led out to the stage area and instructed to stand on the blue dots for training.  Normal Jedi Training takes place on the stage only but for Star Wars Weekend, they double the amount of kids and have them both up on stage and down below (you’ll see why in a bit).

The Jedi Master comes out and shows everyone how it’s done.  The kids practice while Photopass photographers take pictures (yes, you get these all included if you have purchased Memory Maker – another great perk!)

Darth Vader makes his way out and then he has a friend join him…

Darth Maul!!!  My son was hoping this would be the guy.  He is SO scary looking.  There were two kids in our group that started to cry and would not fight him.  If your child might find this scary (and let’s be honest, he IS ridiculous scary looking), don’t even bother signing up.  You don’t get to choose if you’re fighting Vader or Maul.

Each child gets their chance to go up against the dark side and plenty of photos are taken by the photographers.  They are all awarded with a certificate at the end.

This is a GREAT experience for any fan… many guests do not know that you need to sign up for this AT park opening.  We even had a man trying to buy our spot for $100!  This is a GREAT reason why it pays to use an experienced Disney travel agent!

This is how one of the meetngreets were set up for the celebrities:

Another great place to visit is Darth’s Mall (haha, get it?!)  The line can sometimes be long but we timed it right going later on at night and only waited about 10 minutes to get in.

Once inside there is a TON of Star Wars merchandise… along with some watchful eyes from up above!

Star Wars car wrap, anyone?

Be sure to hit up the AckBar Snack Bar where you can purchase snacks along with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

Yes, that’s a glowing Death Star ice cube included with your drink!

The CM’s were especially playful in this building… when we checked out our merchandise, they were all trying to make wookie sound impressions.  Haha!

It was almost time for our Feel the Force Premium Package dessert party.  Unfortunately we had a bit of a weather issue… it was drizzling outside so the party was moved inside of the Disney Junior Live building.  This was actually a blessing in disguise.  We LOVED being inside and having a place to sit!

The desserts offered were phenomenal!  Yummy, delicious and beautiful all at once… here’s just a sneak peek at some of things offered:

Besides all of this there were beverages and ice cream treats (creamsicles, fruit bars & Mickey bars) all available.  Once it got closer to fireworks time, we were led out to the viewing area.  It was only slightly drizzling at this point.  We waited about ten minutes and the stage show began with a bunch of characters.  They led the audience in the famous quote “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” and the fireworks began!  Let me just say that these were the most amazing fireworks I have ever seen at Disney.  I’ve seen Wishes, Halloween, Christmas, Frozen, Fantasmic, Illuminations & Star Wars.  These are the BEST!!!  The finale felt like it went on forever.

Star Wars Weekends will be held this year from May 15th-June 14th.  I highly suggest going if you’re there during these dates!  It is not to be missed… even if you’re not a fan.. Disney will make you one!

Feel free to contact me for a quote!  youcandreamittravel@yahoo.com