Star Wars Madness

The Force was been Awakened...

     I had the blessing of being in Disney during what is the beginning of the Star Wars takeover. It seemed, as the premiere of The Force Awakens got closer and closer, the more and more Star Wars we saw around the parks. On Main Street, you started seeing BB8, Rey, Finn and Han Solo balloons next to the Mickey balloons. Star Wars toys and tee shirts lining all of the shops, even I caved in and bought myself a Star Wars hat.

     Leading up to the premiere, Hollywood Studios started getting into the mood as a new planet was added to Star Tours and Star Wars Launch Bay opened up where the Animation Academy once was. Inside you got immersed in Star Wars fandom with props from the movies, replicas of the different vehicles even characters from the films. Jawas would roam around aimlessly, pin trading with guests and there are two meet and greets, one for Chewbacca and another for Darth Vader. At the end of the walkthrough attraction, the store they have is all Star Wars gear. I have to say the coolest piece of merchandise they had for sale was a Lightsaber umbrella where the shaft lit up at the push of a button.

     Finally the movie premiered and it essentially became a race to see the movie. If you didn't see it within the opening weekend you were the thorn in the side of everyone who had because we could not talk about it. The first thing most people asked each other when they returned to work was, "have you seen it?" so not to spoil it for anyone. But after a while we stopped caring and talked about it nonstop, regardless of who had seen it or not. To promote the movie they even gave Cast Members exclusive The Force Awakens buttons to wear during the first week the movie was out. It was a genuinely cool experience to be in Disney as all of this was happening because everyone on property was getting hyped up and excited as the movie came closer and closer.