Star Wars Weekend Part I - Meeting the Characters!

We took the boys to Star Wars Weekend at Hollywood Studios.  Four weekends a year, Disney has a special event at Hollywood Studios with Star Wars characters and the boys were super excited about going this year once we told them about it.  It is a very interesting experience and great marketing by Disney.  Star Wars weekend is during a time of year where Disney may not otherwise be really busy, so they have an event that is a big draw, but after standing in line, you don't get on a ride...you just get to take pictures with a Star Wars character!  That said, we look forward to doing it all again next year if the boys are still into Star Wars.

 

This first series of pictures are those we took from meeting with various characters.

 

Storm Troopers marching around.

The first character the boys met was Darth Maul.  I don't think they really knew what to do, since your typical Disney character wants to give you a hug.  The bad guys are really into character and stomp around.  It could be somewhat intimidating, but the boys weren't phased a bit.

This picture could be repeated throughout the day...waiting in line.  Thank goodness for our phones though since the boys just played games while waiting.  Don't know how our parents did it back in the day without smart phones.

Meeting Darth Vader!

 

Captured by a clone trooper!

Meeting Anakin...the good guys were all super friendly.  In particular, Anakin and Queen Amidala were two that could actually talk and spent quite a bit of time chatting with the boys.  We were ready to just take the pictures and leave, but the characters really helped make the boys feel special and weren't rushed at all.

Not sure what this guy's name was, just that he is one of the alients that plays in a band.  Christopher was very particular about who he took pictures with.  Nathan wanted pictures with everyone.

 

Meeting Queen Amidala.

We wanted to meet Yoda, but he wasn't available so we had to make do.

 

 

Longest wait of the day was for these guys...C3PO and R2D2.  It was a rotation of Luke, Leia, and the robots.  By the time the boys got to the front of the line, it was time to meet the robots.

In the grasp of Rancor!

In a brief brake from Star Wars, the boys got a picture with Jake.

Nathan also got a picture with Handy Manny.  Christopher wasn't interested.

Boys also got to meet Jedi Mickey, Leia Minnie, and the Disney R2D2.

In another break from Star Wars, Nathan met with the characters from Monsters Inc.

One of the biggest coups of the day was getting a picture with a Gamorrean (guards for Jabba the Hutt).  The Gamorrean was a roving character so you had to be fortunate enough to track him down, then stop him long enough for a picture.

So the only lines we didn't stand in was one for Chewbacca and the Ewoks because it seemed to stretch forever and the Bounty Hunters (Bubba Fett and Jingo Fett), but we need to save something for next year right?!