Choose Your Side

The Force may be strong, but sometimes the growl in our stomachs can be stronger. Guests attending Star Wars Weekends are in luck, as both your needs to satisfy your hunger and your inner Jedi are never far, far away. Aside from the kid friendly Power-Packs found throughout the park’s quick service locations, which come encased in an R2-D2 carrying case, there are a couple of treats that require your attention.

For starters there is the Darth Vader Cupcake. A chocolate Vader sits atop a peanut butter and chocolate concoction that may be the darkest thing to join the Empire since Anakin went rogue. Underneath the dark chocolate Dark Lord of the Sith and shavings are a chocolate cupcake and a mountainous dollop of peanut butter and chocolate buttercream. The frosting, coated in chocolate and sprinkles, is almost a mousse of peanut butter and chocolate flakes. Meanwhile the chocolate cupcake, which is the foundation of the dessert, is spongy and filled with chocolate flavor. It may not be a secret recipe that you need to send back to the Rebel Alliance, but it certainly gets the job done!

Of course, you need something to wash the cupcake down with, right? As the Force would have, Disney’s Hollywood Studios has got you covered there as well.

Star Wars Weekends serves up two adult beverages, The Force and Dark Side. The Force is a Wildberry Lemonade concoction with Grey Goose and Chambord. It is extremely sweet, but carries enough alcohol in it to make imbibers tingle with the Force. The Dark Side, on the other hand, is a Pomegranate Lemonade that will make you pucker even before the beverage reaches your lips! It comes with Parrot Bay Coconut Rum and Cointreau, and while you can taste the spirits, the true kick to this drink is in the tart pomegranate lemonade.

Wait, you’re telling me that once your child sees the cool blue or red beverage you’re chugging down they’re going to want one too? No worries, both The Force and Dark Side are available as their base models of Wildberry Lemonade or Pomegranate Lemonade, just without the alcohol. Making them the perfect way to placate your padawan, or to get them ramp up on sugar just before the Hyperspace Hoopla!

Okay, so maybe cupcakes and sugary beverages aren’t exactly the way to a slimmer, healthier you. They certainly aren’t going to make you one with the Force. However, Star Wars Weekends is a time to revel in a fictional world that we all found so intoxicating as children. Let loose, have a drink or two and munch on a cupcake, it won’t be the end of the world! Well, unless you’re dining on Alderaan, but that’s a whole other problem…

A Relatively Easy Job

When constructing a theme park there are always going to be wild stories, right? When it came to EPCOT Center some of the best stories came out of the landscaping. Imagine the sight of installing a thirty-five-foot tall peach palm into the greenhouses of The Land pavilion. Let’s up the ante and make it so the tree had to fit through a six-foot wide door and that the landscapers had vaseline available in case they had to grease the door jams. Sounds pretty interesting, doesn’t it? Would you believe it if I told you that that was nothing compared to the ordeal the peach palm and crews went through in order to obtain the tree?

Tony Virginia had been put in charge of the tree’s excavation from the tree farm in Miami as it was extremely rare and expensive and the process had to be closely monitored. It would turn out to be much more of an adventure than he had planned, but perhaps I should let him tell the tale, “At first we thought it would be a relatively easy job. We began digging out the root system and then discovered that the palm was growing out of a bed of pure coral. The roots were all through the stuff, so we brought in the jack hammers. It was 10:30 at night before we broke through. We had a big crane hooked up to lift the tree… we made the last cut and signaled the operator to pull up… there was a surge as the tree broke loose, it hit a power line, the transformer flew off, the pole caught on fire… sparks were flying, beneath was a greenhouse full of rare palms… five police cars, three power company trucks and a lot of angry neighbors were all on hand!”

Just your typical day of landscaping, right?

Legends of the Force

After my last trip to Walt Disney World I did a report on what was great and what needed work on the last trip. This time I was able to experience the first day of Star Wars Weekends and I thought that we could give it some kudos and some constructive criticism in the same vein of the last report from the field for this massive event that takes place annually at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

 

The Good – Hyperspace Hoopla

If you’ve never experienced a Hyperspace Hoopla from Snig and Oopla, you have not truly seen all that Star Wars and Walt Disney World entertainment can do together. Suspend your dyed-in-the-wool beliefs of what a character can and can’t do, and let the continuity fly out the window. This is pure, unadulterated fun! A host of Star Wars characters dancing to Gangnam Style? Check. A dance off between the Empire and Rebel Alliance? Done. The best pyrotechnics in a stage production? Absolutely. And don’t even get me started on the amazing costumes and accessories! The Hyperspace Hoopla is a massive investment in time in order to get a good spot, but it is incredibly worth it.

The Bad – Character availability

Once upon a time, I remember a cavalcade of characters wandering the park and meeting with guests as if it were a populated spaceport. Now they are roped off in lines the stretch through switchbacks for ridiculous amounts of time, and then after all that waiting, you may not even get to meet the character you got in line for.

I understand the logistical nightmare of allowing characters to roam freely, and how it helps to give them a specific location. I also recognize that the costumes can get hot and Cast Members need time to cool off regularly. However, it can be excruciating to explain to a child why they saw hordes of other kids get their picture with Jedi Mickey and why they were the one stopped in the line to watch him leave and see Stormtrooper Donald come back in his place, or to the girl who looks up to Ashoka only to find the bait and switch has put her in the clutches of Ventress. I watched both of these situations take place during the day, and it was heartbreaking to watch.

I don’t have all the answers, but maybe it would be better to put in a ton of photo-op lines all over the open spaces of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Then have one character solely occupy one location. It may not be as free spirited as characters moving about of their own accord, and the wait between when a character leaves and comes back could be longer than you’d want as a guest, but at least it brings the event back to its core audience, children.

The Ugly – Autograph Fastpass Distribution

Here was the situation on Friday morning. There were five celebrities available for autographs that had Fastpasses being distributed in order to meet them, but there were only two lines to get those Fastpasses. The lines stretched from the ticket windows back to Crescent Lake. At one point a Cast Member came through and gave everyone a wristband which guests were told would allow them a Fastpass to meet their celebrity. Once the line began to move we were told we were all getting Fastpasses for Jeremy Bulloch, the original Boba Fett . Luckily this was the participant I had my heart set on meeting. My wife and the girl in front of us, on the other hand, had wanted to meet Ashley Eckstein, and were told by Cast Members that their wristband would only allow for this meet and greet, that they could not exchange it for another wristband, but that they were welcome to come back in two hours to retrieve another Fastpass for another meet and greet. Two hours later and, surprise surprise, all the Fastpasses had been distributed for the day.

I’m not entirely sure why there wasn’t a Cast Member explaining where the correct lines were at the back of the two lines. And I’m certainly not sure where the other three line were. I don’t know why guests weren’t told that the wristband that was being affixed to us was only for one celebrity participant. And I’m befuddled as to why a child, or any other guest, couldn’t switch wristbands before they had accepted the Fastpass and while the other line was empty. The system absolutely needs to be reworked before one guest too many has had enough and causes a scene at what should otherwise be a festive event.

The Magical – Obi-Wan and Beyond

There are a lot of special shows that take place during the weekend. From a Clone Wars panel to the tales of what it is like to work in the Star Wars universe by special guests, but the one show that takes the cake is James Arnold Taylor’s one man show. Billed as Obi-Wan and Beyond for Star Wars Weekends, the show is actually an abbreviated version of the deeply personal 80-minute exploration written by Taylor and titled Talking to Myself.

Sure, as the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi in video games and the Clone Wars cartoons, Taylor shows his range in a five-minute finale that boasts somewhere around two hundred voices, but that’s not what makes this show hit home. Audiences are given insight into the life and times of a vocal actor, everywhere they are utilized, and everything they have to be able to do. Yet, still, that isn’t what makes the show. When you get to the heart of the story, it is the journey of one man. From his childhood fascinations the show springboards into heart-wrenching personal moments of strife, struggle and, ultimately, success. Taylor gives you reasons, if not the tools, to push through your personal complications, no matter how dire the situation may seem.

Sure, I do voices at home (my wife was stunned to hear Taylor explain the way to change voices in the same way I have described my switch between Grover and Yoda), but I’m not actively seeking to be a voice actor (at least not today). My struggles come from trying to find a way to make writing and talking about Walt Disney World my day job. I’m not there yet, nowhere near there yet, but it’s nice to have a reminder that I can get there.

Disney This Week - 19 May 2013

This Week – On the Main Street Gazette

What is your favorite trip aboard Star Tours' Starspeeder 1000?

One of my worst nightmares as a child? The Supreme Leader.

We stopped by Morocco for some people watching and to sip on the Kasbah Coffee.

The World News Roundtable dished on Big Hero 6, Food and Wine, Be Our Guest menu changes, and the new Adventurers Outpost.

Have you ever stopped to look at the advertisements on Main Street's omnibus?

Silent Saturday let us soar high over Downtown Disney West Side.

This Week – Around the Disney Blogosphere

FoxxFur continues her musical journey through the Magic Kingdom at Passport to Dreams Old & New with Part 1 of the Country Bear Jamboree.

Personalization of a La Cava glass? AJ Wolfe has the details over on The Disney Food Blog.

Mitch continues to miniaturize Disneyland at Imagineering Disney, this time with the Submarine Voyage and PeopleMover.

Dinner at Rose & Crown is on the menu for Eating WDW and Sarah Holodick.

The Times Square Disney Store has some new looks and Estelle Hallick leaves no corner unphotographed at This Happy Place Blog.

Adam and Andrew share their experience playtesting A Pirates Adventure in the Disney Hipster Blog.

Disney Every Day grants readers a backstage pass when Amanda Tinney explores The American Adventure Parlor.

Richard Tobin offers up his five favorite safety spiels from Disneyland at Mouse Troop.

This Week – The Gazette Out and About

Don't forget to stop by the Main Street Gazette's Twitter page on Tuesday night at 8:00pm EST for Disney Post-It!

Silent Saturday - West Side (September 2009)

Purity and Splendor

If you’ve been hanging around the Main Street Gazette for a while, you know one of my favorite modes of transportation in Walt Disney World is the omnibus. While no longer a practical means of maneuvering about World Showcase, the omnibus still motors up and down Main Street, U.S.A. This beauty offers views like no other of Main Street and the hub. It also features some killer advertisements for the shops and stops of that populate Main Street, U.S.A.

Take a look, and be sure to keep an eye out for the witty wordcraft at play!