[General Specific]

Information, or lack thereof, has been a problem for Star Wars Weekends. In recent memory, important facts about the event such as celebrity appearances have not been revealed until April, too late for many Trip planners.

In late December, it appeared as though SWW 2010 was going to buck this trend with announcements of dates, new pins, and leaked logo art all surfacing within a week. However, it is now February, and absolutely nothing else has been said. Disney cannot let this occur, with Celebration V set to be held in Orlando in august of this year, many diehard Star Wars fans are going to have to decide between the two. Should nothing of interest to the fanbase be announced by the end of March, I'd expect a low turnout at SWW 2010.

In short, Disney needs to put its mouth where its money is (yes, you read that correctly).

[QuickGold]

As you mentioned, the celeb list usually doesn't come out until April or so and that's just how they operate. Obviously, Disney can only move so fast as celebs need to be contacted and contracts signed. I do think the process could be finished earlier, especially with the dates coming out so much earlier for this year. Not to mention it makes it hard for guests to plan their trips in advance without knowing who will be attending which weekend.

[General Specific]

QuickGold, on Feb 2 2010, 11:55 AM, said:

Not to mention it makes it hard for guests to plan their trips in advance without knowing who will be attending which weekend.

And this is exactly the problem. If you're a Star Wars enthusiast who lives outside of the State of Florida, and the month of March is at a close, and you need to make a choice for SWW 2010 or Celebration V, are you more likely to:

A: Book a trip for one of the Star Wars Weekends and hope for the best.

or

B: Book a trip for Celebration V, knowing what you're going to get?

[darthstich]

Disney announces the Celeb list so late to guarantee to the best of there power that they will show up. Let's say Disney promises today that Harrison Ford will be there on weekend 3, you plan your trip for that weekend, and than in august his shooting schedule for Indiana Jones 5 got moved around and he's coming on weekend 1 now. You'd be very angry.

Either way, i say start saving money for Celebration V my friend. Star wars weekends mixes Disney magic and the Force of Star wars, but you can't best Lucasfilm at it's best, not to mention all the free exclusive stuff you'll get there. I've attended SWW religiously since '05, but it just won't compete, and i doubt it'll even try to hard to, with Celebration V

[General Specific]

darthstich, on Feb 2 2010, 03:46 PM, said:

Disney announces the Celeb list so late to guarantee to the best of there power that they will show up. Let's say Disney promises today that Harrison Ford will be there on weekend 3, you plan your trip for that weekend, and than in august his shooting schedule for Indiana Jones 5 got moved around and he's coming on weekend 1 now. You'd be very angry.

Either way, i say start saving money for Celebration V my friend. Star wars weekends mixes Disney magic and the Force of Star wars, but you can't best Lucasfilm at it's best, not to mention all the free exclusive stuff you'll get there. I've attended SWW religiously since '05, but it just won't compete, and i doubt it'll even try to hard to, with Celebration V

Well, the simple solution for this is for Disney to finally drop some real $$$ on ACTUAL celebrities (NOT technical workers and glorified extras). After being paid the higher sum, Disney should make the celebs contractually obligated to appear on a specific weekend, and have these deals done and announced to the public no later than the end of February.

[yulilin]

General Specific, on Feb 3 2010, 01:46 PM, said:

Well, the simple solution for this is for Disney to finally drop some real $$$ on ACTUAL celebrities (NOT technical workers and glorified extras). After being paid the higher sum, Disney should make the celebs contractually obligated to appear on a specific weekend, and have these deals done and announced to the public no later than the end of February.

I don't know about that idea of having celebs "contractually obligated" to be here. I like that the people who come, come because they want to, maybe they're being paid something but all of them have always been gracefull and curteous with us. Alot of SW fans like to talk to the extra and the tech people, it's real interesting to hear their stories and learn about their jobs. Don't get me wrong, I would love for somenone like James Earl Jones or Harrison Ford to come, but lets be realistic, the Studios doesn't have the capacity to handle the craziness that that would ensue.

[The Dark Lord of the Sith]

Lucas gets approval on everything for both events and I'm sure there will be some crossover between the two events with C-5 being the crown jewel. Disney does and A-1 job with this and you would have little to worry about. At the same time I feel your frustration and have complained about it for years myself. I found the easiest thing to do was to book the room for the weekend that was going to work best for my family. Then wait. If I'm unhappy I can change the reservation or cancel it with no penalty well before I would have to make the trip. Weekend 1 is usually a safe bet because of the excitement of the event. That said I had to make a return trip to finally meet David Prowse after missing him the year before because of what I booked.

On the surface, "she may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts kid".

[IHeartTheStudios]

The celeb list comes out so late because the list is constantly changing right up until they release it (and sometimes after). Certainly they could put something in the contract that said, say, they not only don't get their $ for coming they also owe the company $ but the fact is that no agent would ever let their client sign that. Not for something like Star Wars Weekends. If a celeb gets a better offer once they've said they would come, they are simply going to take the other offer. That's how Hollywood works. Even the low tier celebs still have agents working for them who are trying to get the best deal. And soemtimes the celebs just change their mind for personal reasons that have absolutely nothign to do with what they are being paid.

This is no conspiracy. Believe me, they would love to post the info a year ahead of time if they could. But if they change it and people book based on what they've seen it makes the majority far angrier than if they didn't know for sure in the first place. Yep, it's hard to plan this way. But lets say they announced Harrison Ford said he was coming, even signed a contract, and you booked to come that weekend. But he decides to produce a film and backs out and now you've got 3rd Stormtrooper from the left coming... You'd be pretty pissed off.

Also, I don't think people really understand the amount of money we would be talking about for a major celeb like Harrison Ford. Yes Disney has a lot of money, but it has to be fiscally responsible for the event it's self. On top of that, I don't think most people understand celeb publicity and agent booking. It's unlikely that Harrison Ford's agent and management would advise him to do an event like Star Wars Weekends. It takes up a lot of time for not a lot of payback, financially or publicity wise. Additionally, you're talking about an event out in the open with a LOT of access... Some celebrities, and their personal security teams, would consider it unsafe and would not want them to be so exposed so publicly.

Like I said, it's not some Disney conspiracy. it's just the way it is.

[QuickGold]

Well said!

[darthstich]

the common misconception for Disney events is Disney has a lot of money. While it is true the entire Walt Disney Company as a whole has a near endless supply of money, DHS has access to maybe 5% of that money in a year, and probably .5% to spend on SWW in particular. We would sacrifice characters, events, and/or exclusive merchandise to get an expensive Celebrity. Back in the early years of SWW, we had Carrie Fisher and Billy Dee Williams which are definitively higher on the list than some background characters, but there was so much less going on in those years that they could afford it better.

[General Specific]

IHeartTheStudios, on Feb 9 2010, 02:42 AM, said:

This is no conspiracy. Believe me, they would love to post the info a year ahead of time if they could. But if they change it and people book based on what they've seen it makes the majority far angrier than if they didn't know for sure in the first place. Yep, it's hard to plan this way. But lets say they announced Harrison Ford said he was coming, even signed a contract, and you booked to come that weekend. But he decides to produce a film and backs out and now you've got 3rd Stormtrooper from the left coming... You'd be pretty pissed off.

Like I said, it's not some Disney conspiracy. it's just the way it is.

I'd much rather have something promised and then have the lesser option substituted later, considering I personally could change my plans at any time. At least then it would look like Disney actually tried. Also, I'm not implying there's a conspiracy, I just want Disney to not suck. And being accepting of the way things are is for Universal fans and idiots, but I repeat myself.

darthstitch said:

We would sacrifice characters, events, and/or exclusive merchandise to get an expensive Celebrity

Gladly.

[IHeartTheStudios]

General Specific, on Feb 9 2010, 09:26 PM, said:

I'd much rather have something promised and then have the lesser option substituted later, considering I personally could change my plans at any time. At least then it would look like Disney actually tried. Also, I'm not implying there's a conspiracy, I just want Disney to not suck. And being accepting of the way things are is for Universal fans and idiots, but I repeat myself.



Gladly.

You are in the minority being able to change you plans at any time. And I can tell you from experience that you are definately in the minority being okay with a lessor option substituted.

[darthstich]

General Specific, on Feb 9 2010, 09:26 PM, said:

I'd much rather have something promised and then have the lesser option substituted later, considering I personally could change my plans at any time. At least then it would look like Disney actually tried. Also, I'm not implying there's a conspiracy, I just want Disney to not suck. And being accepting of the way things are is for Universal fans and idiots, but I repeat myself.



Gladly.

I wouldn't say you are in the minority for feeling this way as a Star Wars fan, but what you want is what Celebration V is offering vs SWW. SWW is more the experience than a convention, and from the way your putting it, the convention is more what your looking for.

[YoPaulie]

LOLOLOL


In other words...


"These aren't the droids you are looking for."

[General Specific]

For some clarity, below is the list of all celebrities who have not yet appeared at SWW that would cause me to instantly plan on attending the weekend they were scheduled to appear (at this point, having one or more of these individuals attend might be the only thing that would guarantee my prescence). I tried to be fairly reasonable in my expectations in that not every individual is incredibly unattainable.

Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker)
Harrison Ford (Han Solo)
Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker)
Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu)
James Earl Jones (Darth Vader Voice)
Denis Lawson (Wedge Antilles)
Christopher Lee (Count Dooku)
George Lucas
Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine)
Ewan McGreggor (Prequel Obi-Wan Kenobi)
Liam Neeson (Qui-Gon Jinn)
Frank Oz (Yoda)
Timothy Rose (Admiral Ackbar)
Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian)


Also, this rant isn't just about poor celebrities, it's about stagnation. I know I can't possibly be in the minority when it comes to getting a bit less excited for SWW for every year that Disney puts out the EXACT same event.

[YoPaulie]

Ah, but, to your earlier point... if they announce they have Liam Neeson a particular weekend... and you book... and he cancels... will you be super-thrilled to fill it with the voiceover artist from A New Hope's remastered film?

[General Specific]

YoPaulie, on Feb 11 2010, 04:42 PM, said:

Ah, but, to your earlier point... if they announce they have Liam Neeson a particular weekend... and you book... and he cancels... will you be super-thrilled to fill it with the voiceover artist from A New Hope's remastered film?

I would appreciate Disney's effort, and being an Orlando native, easily re-assess the situation accordingly. Were I not an Orlando native, I would be more disappointed about my booking, but I would not be as jaded to the actual Disney parks that I could still have fun.

[YoPaulie]

My guess would be (and this is COMPLETELY a guess) that a lot of attendees would not be local, and be choosing a weekend to attend based on the guest, IF that was an important aspect for them to experience.

That said... cancellations would irk FAR more people than would placate by having a big name announced.

Lesser of two evils, as it were. Bette to have the majority happy with booked, confirmed talent than a minority happy with talent, purely for glamor, that fails to come through.

[darthstich]

General Specific, on Feb 11 2010, 04:19 PM, said:

Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker)
Harrison Ford (Han Solo)
Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker)
Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu)
James Earl Jones (Darth Vader Voice)
Denis Lawson (Wedge Antilles)
Christopher Lee (Count Dooku)
George Lucas
Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine)
Ewan McGreggor (Prequel Obi-Wan Kenobi)
Liam Neeson (Qui-Gon Jinn)
Frank Oz (Yoda)
Timothy Rose (Admiral Ackbar)
Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian)

Not Happening
SOOO Not Happening
maybe...
"This Party's over" No
Hmm... Probably not
I can picture that one
Nah to busy
Uhm, no won't happen
Maybe
Nope
Nope
No way on earth
I would love to see that
Came before, probably won't come again

[QuickGold]

Trust me, we're better off without Billy Dee Williams