A Shining New Era is Tiptoeing Nearer for the TCD Gang

[jmaul 65]

OK, all caught up.

 

Must have been a pain and I would have panicked if I had to wait 2+ hours for a meet and greet.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OK, all caught up.

 

Must have been a pain and I would have panicked if I had to wait 2+ hours for a meet and greet.

 

Under ordinary circumstances, there is no way I would wait 2 hours to meet a character. (excepting, of course, Princess Leia in her slave outfit), but I had a very comfortable place to wait, and really nothing better to do, so it was all good.

 

Since you're caught up, that means I need to post an update.  Stand by.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We are now moving forward to June 8th.

 

The last part of this report ended with my departure from WDW on May 24th.

 

In the time between those dates, Twin #1 returned from Europe.  She had been there for a month.  Even though the TCD Twins go to different colleges, they had not been separated without seeing each other for a whole month before.   So, they needed to visit.

 

Twin #2 actually came home for a day trip the day after Twin #1 got back.  She brought one of her new roommates, and they got to enjoy the beach.  Then they headed back.  But not before making a plan for a Disney World visit.

 

Twin #1 needed to get to a Star Wars Weekend.  We had our trip to the Keys set for June 11.  So that meant we had to go the weekend of the 6th.  Twin #2 got on the Hub, and booked us a CM rate for the Art of Animation Resort for the night of the 8th.  We were in business.

 

Twin #2 had to work on the morning of the 8th.  The plan, therefore, was that Twin #1 and I would hit rope drop at Hollywood Studios, and then we would meet-up with Twin #2 later at the resort.

 

So, this is how we ended up at the gates of DHS at 6:49 am on Sunday, June 8th.  And I literally mean gates:

 

 

Wait, you say- the park doesn't open until 8.  Why get there so early?

 

Ah, wait and you shall see.

 

Even at this early hour, we are not alone:

 

 

In case you missed the news, this is a big day in Star Wars Weekends history.  For the first time ever, Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the films, is going to be here.  And today was his last appearance:

 

 

It didn't fit in to our plans to be around at 3 pm for Mark's show, so we didn't go through the craziness of trying to get FP+'s for the show.  We were going to settle for just trying to see him in the parade.

 

Mark was not going to do meet and greets.  But, there were 5 other "celebrities" who would be doing meet and greets today.  For some reason, they didn't use the FP+ system for these meet and greet opportunities.  Guests who wanted to meet those celebrities had to line up the old fashioned way.  This is a Star Wars Weekend tradition, and guests sometimes line up at 11pm or midnight the night before.   These are the lines for the meet and greet Fastpasses:

 

 

Usually, these lines provide for some good people watching, but I think this was an off day. I really didn't see anything too geeky:

 

 

There are actually five separate lines here, and they end at these signs, where the FP wristbands will soon be distributed:

 

 

Sorry for the glare- I wanted to post that photo so you could see the names of the celebrities.  Since they aren't legible, I will tell you that the first sign on the left is for Ashley Eckstein, who provides the voice of one of the animated Star Wars characters, then James Arnold Taylor, who also is just a voice actor, then Taylor Gray, who provides the voice of the female lead in the new Star Wars Rebels cartoon that will be on Disney XD this fall, then Ray Park, who played Darth Maul, and then Billy Dee Williams.  Billy Dee is the only real celebrity here, and his line is by far the longest.

 

Sorry, but there is no way I'd camp out all night to get a FP to meet any in this group.  As you can see, though, there are plenty of folks who did.

 

As I was wandering around, Twin #1 was guarding our spot at the gate.  She is sitting in front of the guy you see standing there on the right in this photo:

 

 

So far, I had not seen any moms in Princess Leia slave get-ups.  But, there was at least one Princess Leia present.  She's there in line next to the guy with the giant fannypack:

 

 

At a little after 7, they raised the gates.  This was our view:

 

 

As the great philosopher Ricky Bobby says- if you're not first, you're last:

 

 

This was the situation behind us at 7:19 am- just 30 minutes after our arrival here:

 

 

They have a section of the entry area reserved for the geeks guests who had waited all night in those meet and greet FP lines.  They are over here.  Again, the people watching was disappointing so far this morning, but there is a girl Han Solo over there-so at least there's that:

 

 

We were really lucky with the weather today.  This typically is a rainy time of year, but the day started out nice and clear:

 

 

Right at 7:30, they turned on the scanners, and we were the first through.  We power walked to the rope, leaving all these folks in our dust:

 

 

And here we stood, front and center:

 

 

If you ever do this yourself, you want to stand right in front of this blue thing.  You'll see why in just a moment:

 

 

We actually got beaten to the rope by a group of three nerds who appeared out of nowhere and ran up the street.  That's cheating.  But they did it anyway.  Luckily, they were stupid, and didn't know the best place to stand.  Take that nerd:

 

 

At 7:41 am, a Storm Trooper appeared:

 

 

I pity the fools who thought that the published opening time of 8 am was correct.  Some of them are going to miss this whole opening show.

 

Right after the first Storm Trooper came ST #2:

 

 

There is a whole opening show that happens here.  Since I've seen it before, I focused on trying to get a photo of the Storm Trooper shooting at the speaker that was broadcasting pro-rebel propaganda.  Not bad:

 

 

Then the Storm Troopers approached:

 

 

 

They stop in front of us, and began their humorous banter:

 

 

 

In the meantime, there is now a genuine mob behind me.  It is now 7:42 am:

 

 

The opening act is actually very funny, and includes some interaction with the crowd:

 

 

Now here's what I knew that the geeks who ran in didn't.  When they drop the rope, we are all going to have to squeeze between the Storm Troopers in order to proceed down the street.  I am in the perfect position to do that.  The nerds who ran are not:

 

 

Finally, the Storm Troopers tell the CM's to go ahead and unhitch the teenie tiny rope that's holding us back:

 

 

And the CM's comply.  The clip was under that blue thing that I was standing in front of.  Sorry nerds, you got poned by the old man:

 

 

Did I mention that one of the nerds was a girl?  That's rare, so I thought I should immortalize her with a photo.  Here she is.  Don't miss her wristbands, and name tag, and the stuffed animal she was holding.  This girl meant business.  And she wasn't going down without a fight.  She was one of the three that had run up the street earlier, and I could see that they were fixing to run again.  She underestimated her competition though. I'll show you what happened next in the next update:

 

 

TCD

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

Looking forward to you telling us how you hip-checked the Star Wars geeks.

Hope there are pics.

[Helmsey......Todd 134]

 

There was just the two of us, but I still ordered a GAG.  We did the best we could, but there was a ton left over.  We did pretty good on the sides, but Twin #2 only ate one piece of chicken, and I could only eat two.  No way was that chicken going to waste, so I packed it up, and shoved 7 pieces of fried chicken into my backpack.  Like I told Twin #2, maybe I would get hungry later, and I would be munching on a piece of fried chicken while watching a parade or something.

 

 

TCD

 

I have this vision of you walking around the parks with a bag full of chicken. I can just see everyone you come close to asking others, "do you smell chicken?? I could go for some chicken right about now"

[DaveInTN 3,247]

This is moving very quickly.  It seems that one minute it was 3:30am and there was a smell of chicken, and now it's a different week and we're at SWW. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Looking forward to you telling us how you hip-checked the Star Wars geeks.

Hope there are pics.

 

You will see how it all went down in the next update.  Which I am working on now.

 

I have this vision of you walking around the parks with a bag full of chicken. I can just see everyone you come close to asking others, "do you smell chicken?? I could go for some chicken right about now"

 

My backpack still smells like fried chicken.

 

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

This is moving very quickly.  It seems that one minute it was 3:30am and there was a smell of chicken, and now it's a different week and we're at SWW. 

 

Buckle your seatbelt.

 

A 4th of July trip is being planned. I would like to try to get this report mostly done before that happens.

 

This one is taking long enough as it is, and we still have to get through this June 8th-9th trip and then the Keys.  Then Universal Studios to see the Tonight Show taping, then Auburn.  This shining new era is crazy.  And, the second part of it hasn't even started.

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Great end to the 24 hour day and great beginning to SW weekend!

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

I kind of like the shining new era. It's providing you with lots of material.

[alexwyattmommy 181]

I like this new era thing too. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Great end to the 24 hour day and great beginning to SW weekend!

 

Thanks.  These trips are just running right in to each other now.

 

I kind of like the shining new era. It's providing you with lots of material.

 

Maybe too much.

 

I thought this TR would be done by now, but we're not even close.

 

I like this new era thing too. 

 

I'm not sure I like it.  But, we've started to enjoy some of the perks, which I will be sharing as we go along.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Here we go.

 

We left off with it about to go down between me and the nerds.

 

The girl nerd was in charge, and she told the guy we saw previously as well as the kid in the black t-shirt you see here to get ready to run.  You can see she has her game face on:

 

 

As they were about to release the rope, a line of CM's appeared in front of us down the street.  We were told that the rope would now be dropped and that we should all walk and not run to that line of CM's.  Despite that very clear announcement, the girl nerd told the boy nerds to get ready to run:

 

 

Luckily for them, the girl nerd told the boy nerds that they would be running to the left to head back to the Premier Theater.  Word was that they were handing out wristbands there for the Mark Hamill show later.  We were not going that way- we were just going to Toy Story Midway Mania, so I let the nerds fly when the announcement came.  And fly they did.  Here they go- look how the girl nerd's cape is billowing behind her.  Also check out the running technique of the long haired boy nerd and how the other boy nerd in the black shirt got smoked by the girl.  I don't know who the girl in green is-she wasn't with that crew of three, but I have to say, they impressed me:

 

 

The nerds didn't stop as directed at the line of CM's.  They blew right on by.  Go nerds!:

 

 

Now us being the rule followers that we are, we stopped at the line of CM's, and then proceeded on.  With just a few elbow throws, we maintained our spot at the front, and passed through the arch right behind the wall of CM's:

 

 

And we made it right to TSMM first!:

 

 

 

We headed right on in, and found a couple had somehow gotten into the queue ahead of us.  That's suspicious, but not a big deal.  We would be in the first car.  And we were.  What was cool about that is that all we had to do was beat the scores of that other couple, and we would start out with the high score for the hour and for the day.  Good thing we only had them to compete against, because our scores were bad:

 

 

Twin #1 always beats me, but usually scores above 200K.  Not today, though.  She got a little rusty over there across the pond.

 

And, those line cutters on the other side of our car beat her out for bragging rights!:

 

 

For those of you who don't believe in rope drop, let me share this photo.  It was taken at 8:02 am, as we headed away from the ride.  Note that the standby wait time is now 40 minutes.  It will only go up from there:

 

 

Again, I pity the fools who showed up at 8 because that was the published opening time.

 

Next stop for us was Darth's Mall. It's always worth a gander, and Twin #1 hadn't seen it this year.  Here's this year's $30 t-shirt:

 

 

Or if that's not how you want to waste your money, there's always the build your own light sabers:

 

 

But, If you really are a fool with your money, then the Art Gallery is the place for you:

 

 

The selection this year is much smaller than in the past:

 

 

But there are still many gems here.  Like this:

 

 

Beautiful.

 

I have previously marveled at the exorbitant prices they charge for the art, but this year, there were bargains to be had.

 

Such as this beautiful rendition of the Wookie Family:

 

 

How much, you ask?

 

A mere $350:

 

 

If you think that's steep, I guess you are forgetting that a couple of years ago, they offered the original of this painting for sale:

 

 

The price then was 10X the price for the "Gallery Wrapped Canvas" we are looking at today:

 

 

If Wookies aren't your thing, then how about a nice father and son composition?:

 

 

 

No?

 

How about spaceships?:

 

 

 

 

 

Still no?

 

How about something on the whimsical side, then?:

 

 

 

Or something deep?:

 

 

 

What I'm trying to tell you is that if you have more money than brains, they've got something that you'll like here.

 

I have to stop here because we've reached the photo limit.

 

But, we still have some more art to enjoy, and then take a look at the snack bar offerings.  Then we will be rushing off to meet some Chipwoks.

 

TCD

[alexwyattmommy 181]

I love the photos you all take with the Chipwoks.

 

I know having the girls not living at home has to be hard, but I do have to say you see your girls much more than other college families I know around here.  I think the bond you all share has a lot to do with it.

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

Rope drop is the only way to roll.

Where were the mouse police when the nerds ran the blockade? They should be tossed into the garbage chute.

[lklasing 16]

Wow - I missed a few updates and weeks in real life seem to have gone by.  Loving the constant stream of updates, spanning days, weeks, months, 24 hour events, FW, nerds, making it on the live webcam and wearable fried chicken.

 

Speaking of wearable chicken, next time go for this presentation.  It will really make those around you jealous that they aren't TCD.

 

 

Looking forward to more!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

You should have tripped the nerds. Their whole plan would have been ruined. 

 

Good job scoring the 1st car. 

 

I wonder how much of that nerd art Lou and Katman have in their houses. 

[DaveInTN 3,247]

That wearable chicken looks gross.  

 

People who don't follow rules and sprint past castmembers are hooligans that should be banned for life.  

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

No nerd art at my house. I do have a build your own loghtsaber in my collection.

[jmaul 65]

The CMs should have tripped the rule-breakers.  That's how we'd do it up here in Joisey.

 

Nice job on first car at TSMM.  Is that a TCD first?

 

 

 

 

I'll take of of these, but for 1/5 the price they're asking.

Maybe I could get our resident cranky soon to not be bus driver artist to create one.

 

The bucket chicken dude looks like a hippie.  You know how TCD feels about that.....

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I love the photos you all take with the Chipwoks.

 

I know having the girls not living at home has to be hard, but I do have to say you see your girls much more than other college families I know around here.  I think the bond you all share has a lot to do with it.

 

Aw, that's nice of you to say.

 

Surprisingly, it hasn't been that hard not having the girls at home.  They are all doing great away at school, and that is what we raised them to do.  It has been fun watching them enjoy college.

 

 

Rope drop is the only way to roll.

Where were the mouse police when the nerds ran the blockade? They should be tossed into the garbage chute.

 

Attaboy.

 

Yes, the garbage chute would be appropriate!

 

Wow - I missed a few updates and weeks in real life seem to have gone by.  Loving the constant stream of updates, spanning days, weeks, months, 24 hour events, FW, nerds, making it on the live webcam and wearable fried chicken.

 

Speaking of wearable chicken, next time go for this presentation.  It will really make those around you jealous that they aren't TCD.

 

 

Looking forward to more!

 

What in the Fort is that anyway?

 

Is this something for sale?

 

What's wrong with that fried chicken?  That ain't GAG chicken, I'll tell you that much.

 

You should have tripped the nerds. Their whole plan would have been ruined. 

 

Good job scoring the 1st car. 

 

I wonder how much of that nerd art Lou and Katman have in their houses. 

 

If the nerds were trying to beat me to where I was going, appropriate measures would have been taken.

 

BTW-I should have mentioned that this is not the last we will see of the girl nerd.  Anyone remember how the Slave Leia mom followed me around the last SWW?  Well guess who followed me around this time?

 

That wearable chicken looks gross.  

 

People who don't follow rules and sprint past castmembers are hooligans that should be banned for life.  

 

Agreed on all counts.

 

No nerd art at my house. I do have a build your own loghtsaber in my collection.

 

Glad to see that you're following along, Jason.

 

I have some of that Star Wars language that I will need translated coming up in the next update.

 

And, I'm calling BS on the no nerd art. I'll bet you have something.

 

The CMs should have tripped the rule-breakers.  That's how we'd do it up here in Joisey.

 

Nice job on first car at TSMM.  Is that a TCD first?

 

 

 

 

I'll take of of these, but for 1/5 the price they're asking.

Maybe I could get our resident cranky soon to not be bus driver artist to create one.

 

The bucket chicken dude looks like a hippie.  You know how TCD feels about that.....

 

I think being in the first car may be a TCD first.  The old rope drop technique used to be to hit the FP machine on the way in, which would let a few guests get ahead of us.

 

Lou could easily paint some nerd art.  Maybe that should be his next career move?

 

Yes, that guy is totally a hippie.  Purple hair.  Enough said.  As I said above, I have no idea what is going on in that photo.  But, whatever it is, it is quite disturbing.

 

TCD

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

ok i do have some but its all in the attic due to lack of walls and I havent seen it in 8 years. 

 

and it is nowhere near that tacky. 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

 

I know having the girls not living at home has to be hard, but I do have to say you see your girls much more than other college families I know around here.  I think the bond you all share has a lot to do with it.

 

When our kids were in college we didn't see them nearly as much as you do.  Especially our younger son who was in SC.  We only saw him on holidays, when we were on vacation nearby, and when they evacuated the campus because of an impending hurricane.

 

 

Where were the mouse police when the nerds ran the blockade? They should be tossed into the garbage chute.

 

I agree!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

As you can see, I am not playing around here.  We are going to get this report done!

 

So, here comes today's third update.

 

Yes, the third.

 

And they are all quality updates if I do say so myself.

 

We are still at DHS in the opening hour of Sunday June 8th.  So far, we have hit Toy Story Midway Mania, and now we are admiring the art for sale at reasonable prices in Darth's Mall.  Always a good time.

 

A couple more pieces of art, then we need to move on.

 

I liked this one, but not the price:

 

 

 

This may have been my favorite piece of art, but I missed the price.  I probably don't want to know:

 

 

I already posted a photo of poor Admiral Ackbar being used to sell overpriced snacks at his snack bar, but not one from this angle:

 

 

The snack bar is new this year, and I hadn't even looked at the menu:

 

 

Do you see the prices on some of the drinks?  Goodness.  I guess they need to pay for that robotic arm on the Admiral any way they can:

 

 

Also, Jason, Star Wars Nerd bragging rights if you can tell me what they have written on there with that weird alphabet they use in space.  Those bragging rights go to the first nerd to post the translation.

 

They even have those awful iced cookies in Star Wars character shapes.  Don't miss the nerd hiding over there on the left:

 

 

Twin #1 liked these stuffed Jabas just as much as Twin #2.  Weird:

 

 

One of the fun things about a SWW is seeing all the t-shirts worn by guests.  There are some really clever ones. But, most of those must come from somewhere other than here, as the shirts Disney sells are kind of tame and boring.  I did like these shirts, though:

 

 

 

You can make fun of the stuff they sell here all you want, but Disney is laughing all the way to the bank.  It was starting to get busy in here, and I understand that later in the day, guests actually wait in line just to get in the store:

 

 

After we had seen enough, it was time to go get in the line to meet Chip and Dale in their ewok costumes.  C & D might be the TCD twins' favorite characters.  So Twin #1 wanted to go there next.

 

On the way, we saw another car with a Star Wars wrap:

 

 

When I was here a few weeks ago with Twin #2, they didn't have a giant TV set up on the New York Street, but today they did.  It was so guests who didn't get in to the Mark Hamill show could still watch it:

 

 

There's a couple of guests in Star Wars get-ups over there on the right.  I think the girl is Disney Bounding as C3P0:

 

 

We got to the C & D line at 8:15.  Last time, we were second in line, and the chipmunks didn't come out until 8:30.  Today, the line was longer, but the chipmunks were already greeting:

 

 

There are the Storm Troopers and some Sand People heading in to the Sci Fi diner for the special character breakfast:

 

 

This was like a free bonus for the kids in the area:

 

 

Another Storm Trooper heading in:

 

 

So far, the people watching this morning hadn't been up to par.  These people were alright, I guess, but kind of boring to me:

 

 

These Star Wars print dresses have become very popular:

 

 

Does anyone watch the Tonight Show?  This guy would win the tight pants contest hands down:

 

 

There goes another girl Han Solo:

 

 

Still no mom in a Slave Leia outfit.  But here's a mom in some kind of outfit:

 

 

Don't hold me to this, but that might be George Lucas over there on the curb:

 

 

There's a really beautiful German Shepherd over there in the Chewbacca line.  I assume it's a service dog:

 

 

We didn't have to wait long to meet the Chipwoks:

 

 

We were done and out of there by 9.

 

And then we did something crazy.

 

We went and found a spot for the parade.

 

Which wasn't happening until 11:30.

 

But with Mark Hamill in the parade, we heard that things had been crazy.

 

We figured we would find a nice spot on the shady side of the street, get some breakfast, and people watch.

 

We found a great spot, and I headed out to fetch our breakfast.

 

The sunny side of the street was totally empty then:

 

 

Our breakfast.  I swear I didn't notice, but they skipped the cheese on one of the sandwiches:

 

 

I got the one with cheese:

 

 

Twin #1 got the shaft.  I offered to go and get her a new one, but she let it go.

 

And so we ate.

 

And waited.

 

I hoped that the people watching would improve.

 

And, like magic, it did.

 

In the next update, I will share some of what we saw before the parade.

 

I think you may agree with me that the pre-parade freak show was better than the parade.

 

You'll see.

 

We will kick it off with a photo of a hair style that is a lost art.

 

And this dude was sporting a perfect specimen.

 

Oh, and the girl nerd will be making another appearance.

 

Woo Hoo!  We are having fun now!

 

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I'm guessing a mullet.

[Duane 152]

 

 

 Those bragging rights go to the first nerd to post the translation.

 

 

 

 

It plainly translates:  "Thanks Suckers!"