This has been a huge weekend for theme park updates. Not only because it’s Easter, but because of Star Wars Celebration.
First, over in Walt Disney World, the various hotels and parks were celebrating the holiday with some fun egg creations.
On Main Street at Magic Kingdom, ladies dressed in their Sunday finest and Easter bonnets lined the sidewalk as guests walked in.
Over in Fantasyland was a special photo op with Cinderella’s Coach.
Disneyland had its own display of Easter decor too.
Star Wars Celebration is, of course, the large news focused item on Disney fans minds. There was a huge amount that came out of it. The Last Jedi had the trailer, poster, and little tidbits of info. For more on that, check out this post.
Star Wars Rebels had some news as well, mostly that Season Four will be its final season. In addition, are plenty of other items that graced the panel with voice actors and Dave Filoni.
Other panels that were going on during the Celebration were Smooth Talkin’ with Billy Dee Williams, a Disney Parks panel (that you can find more about here).
The show floor always had a lot to do and see for Star Wars fans. Lots of cosplay was abound. Also art, merchandise, Jedi Training, droid makers, cars, and so much more took place everywhere you looked.
The StarWars.com stage always streamed the panel events for those that couldn’t get into the main stages, but it also had some great surprises for attendees. One such surprise that I got to witness was Mark Hamill coming out to do a very small interview and shoot shirts out of a t-shirt cannon. This was on the last day of the convention, and his voice was shot. But, he was so gracious and enthusiastic towards fans that he stuck it out and greeted many.
Over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, during the Celebration, was a special event called Galactic Nights. The park became a Star Wars center where a few new tweaks premiered for existing shows.
One new “show” was the Imperial March. Much like the March of the First Order, Stormtroopers were led to the Rebel Base stage with an Imperial Officer. Darth Vader comes on the scene at one point to lead them back to defeat Rebels.
At Jedi Training – Trials of the Temple, Seventh Sister now appears with her mask off. At A Galaxy Far, Far Away on the Rebel Base stage, Rey made her debut when BB-8 appears.
Throughout the night were some special fan shows celebrating the 40th anniversary of the popular film franchise. And a special Star Wars overlay for Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster was only for the night, using the iconic music and some special effects for the ride.
In addition to all this other entertainment, a special motorcade parade featured several stars from the various films and shows, including Peter Mayhew, Warwick Davis, and Alan Tudyk.
There were plenty of photo opportunities everywhere, like getting photos and dances with Ewoks, bargaining with Jawas, or encountering Stormtroopers in Star Tours.
A scavenger hunt let guests get pieces of a collage that were put on their lanyard, and had a special message seen with blacklight. The collage was also given out in poster form at the end of the night.
In all, this has been a big weekend full of fun, news, and festive atmospheres. There’s plenty of video and photos that are up everywhere on the site. And next week will be more Star Wars celebrating too!
