Planning a Star Wars weekend 2010

[Widows Son]

Hi
I was hoping to get some advice on the Star Wars weekends. My Son now 7, will be 8 is a major Star Wars the Clone Wars Fan and we were thinking of planning a trip to attend one of the SW weekends.

We have done Disney a ton. 6 trip in 5 years up til 2005 and most recently in 2008 with friends. We were thinking of staying off site at the JW Marriott for the week before the weekend and then either moving on site or attending from the JW. So questions are:
Is the SW weekend too mature for an 8 yr old?
are there events that make it worth moving to an on site hotel?
does any hotel get involved in the weekends as well?

Any other insight would be helpful as well

thank you

[Kenny1113]

Yes I think ds 8 will have a good time at SWW. We took ds8 for his 8 bday this year. It was great he had a lot of fun. Some tips, make sure u bring autograph book, make sure to find out what characters are where and when EARLY! I made the mistake of " winging it" hoping we would see character signing as we walked by, at the end of the night we found the good characters and the line was already closed.

I don't believe that the hotels do any events related to SWW.

Have fun!

[GreatBigBeautifulTomorrow]

I have never needed a good reason to stay on property, besides being on property! That said, POP is so close to the Studios, affordable and so much fun. There are not "events", but we ran across other young Jedi guests to meet.

Be sure to do the "Jedi Training", which runs several times a day (I think all year, now!)

In 2008, the Star Wars parade (with the special guests) ran in the morning, so be sure to be there early and schedule what you want to experience.

Also, kenny1113 is absolutely correct. If ds is looking for autographs, you must plan wisely! There are three generations of SW fans in attendance in those lines. Not just a little kid event... just ask my daughters, who stood with me in line for over an hour so I could meet Jedi Mickey!

[jokat]

Definitely not too mature for your son's age, and not too young for parents, either! We went to SWW in 2004 "for my DH", but when we got there and I saw storm troopers walking above the entrances to the park, I was totally excited. If your son hasn't seen the other Star Wars movies, recently or at all, be sure to watch them again before you go. You will see a lot of characters, not just the big names! And they are so "in character" the whole time...if two bounty hunters cross paths, or good guys vs. bad guys, they totally play it up. Planning is a must, as stated in previous replies, but since you're a seasoned WDW traveller you know that by now! You guys won't be sorry you went!

[WidowsSon]

Recently I received approval to do an exploratory investigation and present a high level financial forecast to my funding and approval committee.

I'll let you know what my wife and daughter say.

[KylesMom]

We've been attending Star Wars Weekends every other year (when we can based on our A/P expiration), beginning when DS was just a "youngling" (age 2 or 3). For the record, DS is now 11 & had a BLAST this past June.

If there's one thing we miss going in July versus June, it is SWW. While the hotels do not participate in separate events, DHS has had a.m. Extra Magic Hours in the past which gets you into the park an hour before non-Disney hotel guests on Friday. Who knows if it will happen in '10, but it is a viable perk if they do. The only issue with SWW is that they seem to be doing a lot of schedule switching the last several years, so it's just a guess right now as to when they will hold them in '10 - last two weeks of May/first two weeks of June, all June, or a different schedule completely.

Perhaps our favorite is the non-celebrity character meet-and-greets. The interaction of DS over the years with Darth Maul, Vader, Palpatine, Luke & Leia, Boba & Jango Fett, Aurra Singh, the Gamorrean Guards, etc. are priceless memories for all of us. Add in the great motorcade parade, the panel discussions, autograph sessions with the actual celebrities, face painting, merchandise and such, and you have one heckuva winning weekend.

Don't worry about it being too mature for your DS - it is absolutely geared toward kids, but us adult Star Wars fans love it, too! Good Luck with the funding & approval committee!