Mamapajama's Star Wars Weekend Day 3 added About This Page:

[mamapajama]

Cast: Me(Elise) 37: 12th trip , DH(Craig) 36 going on 86 : 10th trip, DD (Logan) 11:10th trip, DS (Sam) 8: 8th trip
Link to Pre-Trip Report
Friday May 20th: The alarm goes off at 4:30 am! That was a fast night’s sleep! But no worries we’re going to Disney! DH & I get showered. I get the kids up and we’re off...but we’re back! I forgot some cash I had been socking away for DH’s AP. Okay now we’re off. We stop at a deli near DH’s job to get breakfast.... a really great egg sandwich with hash browns on the sandwich !! We arrive at DH’s job and load up the van with our stuff. It’s funny arriving at the airport in a police van!! I had checked in DD and DH online but DS couldn’t be checked in online because I bought his ticket over the phone. We get to the security checkpoint & lo & behold....DS was selected for search ! So off we go to the other side and DS gets the once over! He took in all in stride and we were through. Logan and I hit Starbucks (of course, I've trained her well!) and we wait.

The flight went very smoothly. Song has added a lot of new features to the TV choices since our October trip. Last time there were 2 movies to choose from. This time they had about 8 to choose from, plus a programmable MP3 player and games you could purchase for $5 for all the games. I wish they would add more kids channels; they only have Cartoon Network & our kids like Disney Channel & Nick better. The kids played games & I played trivia. We arrived on time and I hustled us all off the plane and the Disney dash began!

I wanted to walk fast so I wouldn’t be at the back of the DME line. I got in line and busted out my cell phone to time each leg of this adventure with the stopwatch function. I waited in line 7 minutes and 9 seconds to get to a DME agent. That conversation took about 3 minutes and we were off to the hotel queues. We waited 1 minute 53 seconds to get on the bus. This was actually taken from Pop. I didn't get a chance to take one on the way in. There was a little confusion on the bus and some guests going to GFR and CR ended up on our bus and had to be moved. We waited 9 minutes until we got moving. It was during this arduous wait that Sam blurted out"so much for Express!" Not very patient! The trip took about a half-hour or so (for some reason I didn’t time that leg but we seemed to make decent time). We arrived at Pop for our longest line.... the dreaded check-in! We waited 29 minutes to get to a CM! to Pop Century!!! The good news is our room was ready! We got all our requests: non-smoking, 70’s building, on the back side of the building. We were room 423...the fourth floor which was a bit of a drag but no biggie. Our room was fine. I had made up some envelopes for Mousekeeping before we left and I brought some Lindt truffles to leave with the tip each day. I hope the maid liked them as much as I do. We dropped or things changed and we were off to MGM for our first taste of Star Wars Weekend!!

We got to MGM and it was pretty crowded.(I’ll have to add some more pics later...they are in DH’s phone & he is at work). Sam really wanted to do the Padawan training. We waited for 3 different shows before DS was picked. It was very cute. He fought Darth Maul. He got a certificate and they gave him a clone trooper figure. While DH was getting video and pics of that, I was waiting in line for Chewbacca.
Then we got in line for Anakin, Mace Windu & Shaakti but they we didn’t make it to them before they had to go. So then we rode Star Tours and waited in line for 30 minutes to buy stuff. The line for the collectible items like framed pin sets was 3 hours long We bought a Jedi Mickey beanie, a Darth Mickey beanie and an Ewok beanie, Darth Tater, a light saber set, some SWW “livestrong” type bracelets, a SWW tee for DH, some SW key rings and some magnets for DH’s friends. Then we headed over to meet Jedi Mickey & Queen Amidala.

We decided to head over to Epcot then. We took the boat over; it was about a 10 minute wait. We ended up getting off at Beach Club and walked thru the international gateway. We ended up beating the boat over there! Something was already wrong with DH’s pass even though we only just got it. It hadn’t worked in the Fast Pass machines at MGM and now it wouldn’t go thru the turnstile machine. A CM took it and made him a new one. Then we left the boys & walked ALLLLLL the way to the front of the park to pick up my DDE letter! On our way we stopped at got FP’s for Soarin'’. Then we had dinner at the new food court inside The Land Pavilion. It was really good!! The kids had mac & cheese and Chicken kids meals (the chicken came with really good mashed potatoes), DH & I had a beef stir-fry over jasmine rice that was really good. He had a salad & I had a fresh fruit cup. We also had 2 little bottles of our favorite wine: Beringer White Zinfindel. We took a potty break and then had some ice cream (Edy’s). Then it was time for our FP’s. It's a good thing too because the combo of the 4;30 wake-up, traveling & park touring with the sun, heat & wine was starting tokick in and I felt myslef getting very sleepy. I had to get moving! We had 8:03 and the CM made us wait at 8:02 for 30 seconds until the clock changed! This ride was unbelievable! One of the best I’ve seen at WDW. The first time we were in the second row and saw some feet dangling!

After that we decided to call it a night. When we arrived at our room our luggage was there! Yay!!
We unpack a little, get our stuff ready for the next day and set a wake up call for.......6:15 (ouch!) Then head off to sleep It was about 10 pm!

Next up.......Epcot!

[lauren-roxy]

Sounds like a great start!! Your pictures are so cute!! Can't wait to read more!!!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great start! Love all the SW pictures

More please

[Cam22]

Wonderful report! Great pictures, too!

[DopeyGirl]

Great start!!! Love the Star Wars stuff!!!

[luvnwdwgal]

Great start! Looking forward to more!!

[mamapajama]

Sunday May 22: This was the last day of SWW. We were up at the usual 6:30 and were out for breakfast by 7am. We had 3 oatmeals, a banana, OJ & a watermelon cup for 12.12 saving 2.85 with DDE. I had brought “to go” cups from home....coffee cups with lids so we didn’t have to drag our refillable mugs around with us. Whatever we didn’t drink we poured into the cups & DD ran them back to the room.

We were on the bus by 7:45 and on our way again to MGM. We about third at the turnstiles and waited. We were waiting for the Stormtroopers and soon they arrived. They did a little shtick about our shorts and tees, something about our uniforms or something, I can’t really remember.

When they let us in there were 2 holding areas: to the left, before H & V, went those wanting to wait for collector stuff (there was a separate line at Tatooine Traders for that) & those who wanted FP’s for autographs. At the rope at the hub, we were told to the left is the “light” side and to the right was the ‘dark” side. We had seen the light side the other day so we headed to the right to Mickey Avenue. It was pretty empty over there. We were able to get pics with Stormtroopers, Darth Sidious, Darth Vader, Jango, Zam Weissel (some female bounty hunter from Episode II). It was great! After that we went back over to the light side and got any autographs we hadn’t gotten but still missed Mace Windu, and Shaakti.

We did the 10:30 Millionaire show, which was the first of 2 SW themed shows. It was cute...there was a Jawa in the audience. The contestant in the hot seat who “had run out of time” the day before came out & it was another Jawa! Apparently they were brothers or something. But he lost on a question about the creatures who kidnapped R2 & 3P0 and he deliberately answered “Ewoks” and got kicked out!! Very funny. The first kid in the hotseat was all decked out in Jedi robe & then needed help on who owned the Millennium Falcon before Han Solo. He got it wrong & I knew he was a wannabe!! The second guy got up to the second level.

After this we headed over to watch the SW parade.

Logan and I then split up from the boys and did ToT & RnRC. She had previously gotten FP’s for ToT & RnRC was a 15-minute wait...not bad. We rejoined the boys for the 1:00 show of Lights, Motors, Action. (The first of the day.) I am glad we saw this but I was not very impressed. It was an insanely long walk to the theater and it holds what seemed like thousands of people. Personally, I will most likely not see this again. I’d much rather see one of the other shows. Getting out of the show was a nightmare and virtually brought that entire side of MGM to a standstill all the way down to the gates. Many people left after that show (us included). The bus stop was pretty full but we got on a bus (had to stand though).

When we got back to Pop we had lunch (saved 6.96 with DDE) and then went back to the pool. It was a bit more crowded this time because it was earlier in the day. We managed to get a table and I did some laundry. After we were done, we went back to the room and the kids showered while DH & I went to the pool bar & had a foofy drink. Then we showered up & headed over to DTD for some shopping.

The first place we stopped was the Christmas store but we didn’t buy anything...then we found Goofy’s Candy Company. Wow! What a great place! The kids each got a Build-a-Drink. This store was yummy! They have a counter where you build your own treat. You can choose from an apple, 3 pretzel logs, four marshmallows on a Mickey straw, biscotti, a Mickey Rice Krispie treat or a Mickey Gingerbread cookie. Then you choose what you want it dipped in, milk chocolate, white chocolate, or caramel. Then you can have it rolled in nuts, crushed Oreos, sprinkles, crushed mini m& m’s and drizzled again if you want. The kids got the marshmallows & I got the pretzels & they were yummy! Next stop was the under $10 store where the kids each got a grab bag for 6.99. It contained a white seal beanie from The Living Seas, an invisible writer with black light pen, 3-d fireworks glasses, a mini deck of card then one had a windup Figment toy & one had a big WDW magnet. DD added it up and it was over $20 in stuff.

Next stop was the Lego store (DS is a Lego nut) He bought a SW Ep. III set & a SW Lego tee of the Millennium Falcon and some little SW Lego men with his own money. Then it was off to WoD to do some real damage!!! We bought tee shirts for the girls next door who were dog sitting, I got DH a cute “Jessica’s Chopper’s” tee, DD got a Cutie’s and a Tink tee, I got a HCOE mug and a key chain and we bought some key chains and some shot glasses for friends. We also were able to purchase a really nice Litho for $5. It got a little wrinkled on the way home but I am still going to frame it. We saved $20 with the AP discount. Then it was off to bed for us!!!!

[lauren-roxy]

Sounds like another really great day!! Your pictures are really cute!! Can't wait to read more!!

[luvnwdwgal]

What a great day you all had!