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This weekend, Stat Wars Weekends 2015, kicked off with a bang with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” character appearances and a visit from Emperor Palpatine himself Ian McDiarmid. There was much excitement in the air for this year’s event with the upcoming new movie.
The popular “Stars of the Saga” talk show was back again this year, but with a location change to the “Beauty and the Beast” show stage as the Frozen sing-along is still occupying the normal location. James Arnold Taylor was hosting again and doing a fabulous job of it getting tons of laughter out of the audience. For the first weekend Amy Allen, Aayla Secura (Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith), and Ian McDiarmid, Senator/Emperor Palpatine (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace; Star Wars: Attack of the Clones; Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi), joined us to talk about their experience with the Star Wars universe.
“Star of the Saga” Pre-show Stormtrooper, joking Han Solo, Beauty and the Beast and more
Star Wars Weekends 2015 celebrity talk show with Ian McDiarmid and Amy Allen at Walt Disney World
An intro video was played showing J.J. Abrams and thanking the audience and showcasing their regret that they couldn’t be there. No spoilers for the upcoming movie was shown, but it pleased Star Wars fans nonetheless.
Amy Allen was first to take her turn on the stage recounting her history as a Jedi and playing a little Star Wars trivia game.
The most awaited star was, of course, Ian McDiarmid the emperor himself. Ian delighted the audience with tales about both the famous Emperor Palpatine’s voice and makeup process. He even answered the question of how Emperor Palpatine would say the name Yoda.
At the end, both stars got asked some fun Star Wars related questions like “Which character would you not like to play?”.
For the finale Jedi Mickey joined the stars on the stage, all donning Mickey ears, in a “Mickey Mouse Club” sing-along.
For the finale “Symphony in the Stars” fireworks we got to see the same stage show that debuted last year with James Arnold Taylor introducing various Star Wars characters.
But, surprisingly, new for this year was an appearance by the new Stormtroopers from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. You could hear the shocked gasp from the audience and it was a real delight to see this addition to the show.
Another new addition to this year’s event is the “Rebel Hangar” lounge experience. Taking place in a newly decorated room at Backlot Express the lounge serves up some themed Star Wars food and drinks from 4 p.m. every weekend. You can find more pictures and information HERE.
Darth’s Mall also did a location switch to the old Backlot Tour location next to Lights, Motors, Action. As usual the line was around 1-3 hours long most of the day. Close to this location LEGO has also set us shop giving guests the opportunity to create their own little Star Wars LEGO figure and check out some LEGO Star Wars characters.
All over the park you could also find meet and greet opportunities with the Star Wars characters.
Star Wars Weekend 2015 is held every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until June 12-14. All the events are included with park admission.
