"May" the Force be with You - Star Wars Weekend Pre-Trip Report

Since I finished selecting FP+ for our May trip to Star Wars Weekend and since there is very little time between our April and May trips, this seems to be the appropriate time to kick off the pre-trip report! DH has wanted to do a Star Wars Weekend ever since he found out that such a thing exists. I happened to luck into an evening during SWW last June without him (I was in Orlando for work) and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. With our PAP firmly in hand, he insisted that I book us a SWW for this year. ("Oh no, please don't drag me to Disney again! I beg you, please, no!" said no one in this house EVER.)

Upon close examination of the calendar, we chose the only SWW that was neither adjacent to the week before/after Memorial day nor a weekend that could potentially be summer break (although with all of the snow we've had, kids in about half the country will be in school until practically July). Unfortunately, it's the first one of the year, so we don't get the advantage of carefully stalking the internet for tips and tricks from people who are on the ground at DHS. Then came the fun of balancing the desire to get as many days as possible out of our flight costs with using the fewest number of vacation days possible. We settled on Thursday, May 15 - Monday, May 19.

I am reasonably certain that DH loves Star Wars more than he loves me and he is not the odd one out in his family. His connection to these movies is like my connection to the 1950's-1970's Disney live action movies. It's part of childhood and we have great memories of time spent with our families that revolve around watching these movies. So it was only natural that we invited my in-laws to go! Plus, my parents are going with us on my Birthday trip next weekend, so it only seemed fair. We invited DH's mom, twin brother, favorite aunt, and cousin. Mom & brother ultimately bailed out, but we have aunt & cousin staying with us at a 2BR villa at OKW for 5 days.

DAY 1:

We did our usually very early morning flight in and very late evening flight out to maximize our time. We will be relying on Disney transportation unless I get a fabulous deal on a rental car. I estimate that we will arrive at MK around 11am where will grab lunch at either Casey's Corner or Columbia Harbor House before going to our first FP at Peter Pan's Flight. We'll hit IASW and Philharmagic before popping into New Fantasyland to FP Enchanted Tales and Under the Sea. Depending on what happens over the next few weeks, we may try to switch one of those for 7DMT. We'll head over to Liberty Square to grab a spot for Festival of Fantasy. When the parade is over, it's Haunted Mansion, Country Bears, and Enchanted Tiki Room before our ADR at Tony's. After Dinner, it's DTD.

DAY 2:

Our first SWW day--the goal is to be at DHS at 6am. We might need to get a taxi to make this happen and now I'm wishing that I had booked Boardwalk so we could just walk over. Oh well. We'll figure it out. We'll be doing autograph/character stuff except for using our FP for Star Tours and Toy Story. We plan to check out the parade at 11:00, grab lunch at ABC Commissary, and catch the 11:50 Lights, Motors, Action before going back to OKW for a nap or a swim. The centerpiece of the plan is the Star Wars Character Dinner at Hollywood & Vine that I booked today!!! Instead of waiting in line for the DIsney characters in their Star Wars garb, we will get to casually interact with them during dinner AND still get to take advantage of the reserved Fantasmic! seating. I can't even put into words how excited I am about this experience, so here's a happy little jumping guy to help me explain. Between dinner & F!, we'll pick up Little Mermaid, Indiana Jones, and split up FP for ToT (DH & cousin) and GMR (me & aunt). There is supposed to be a special fireworks show to take the place of hyperspace hoopla. I haven't heard any details about that yet, but that may cause some reconfiguring of the plans.

DAY 3:

9:00 rope drop will seem so late after being at DHS at 6am. FP for the morning are Space Mountain, Pirates, and BTMR. Lunch is at Tortuga Tavern of Pecos Bills and the only other goal for the morning is to soak up the magic of Main Street. Today is the "take it easy" day. In the evening, we'll head over to EPCOT to see the end of Flower & Garden Festival--specifically the Butterfly House. Aunt worked at the US Dept. of Agriculture for over 30 years and her job was to monitor the diet of the various bug species in the lab. She LOVES butterflies, so I'm really excited to take her to the butterfly tent. The only other firm plans for the evening is dinner at Biergarten. Thanks to mrhub, I know that we can take the friendship boats across the WS lagoon to save aunt some walking. She's got 2 knee replacements and she can manage slowly but surely, but this will be the first time in my life that the boat will probably be faster than walking around. After dinner, we'll take the long part of the loop to see the World Showcase and then hit the monorail to go to MK for Wishes.

DAY 4:

Sunday morning is wide open. No FP, no reservations. The boys will probably hit DHS again in the morning and I'd like to hit DTD so we can go to Earl of Sandwich for lunch. I might take aunt to MK or EPCOT if she's done with DHS or I might give her a chance to relax by the pool and join the boys for more Star Wars fun. In the evening, we're back to EPCOT with FP for Soarin' and the very sill Seas w. Nemo and Journey into Imagination. Dinner is at Garden Grill and we'll be squeezing in Living with the Land, Test Track single rider, and visits to Mexico and Norway (hopefully) before IllumiNations.

DAY 5:

Departure day. We'll be spending the day at AK where we have FP for KS, EE, and ITTBAB. Aunt and I will see Flights of Wonder while the boys ride EE. I'm not excited about the bug show, but I feel like we have to do it. Lunch will probably be at Flame Tree BBQ unless we decide to branch out and try Yak & Yeti. Finding Nemo is on the list unless FoLK moves to its new location early. Cousin will probably want to do Dinosaur, but we'll wait in the gift shop. I might try to brave Primeval Hurl. It looks like fun from the ground, but I'm not sure how happy I'll be about my choice once I'm sitting in the car spinning over the edge of the track.

After that, there's nothing left to do but return to OKW to board the ME in the not-so-magical direction. Thanks for reading! We're down to about 50 days.