Star Wars Weekends: Darth Mall Tour

Disney is hosting Star Wars Weekends over at Hollywood Studios right now, so John and I have been out a couple times to take in the sights. Extreme crowds and 90+ degree heat means we tend to only stay a few hours at a time, but it's well worth it to see Star Wars characters roaming the streets.

I'll probably have more character shots for you later, but first I thought I'd show off a little of Darth's Mall, the massive merchandise area with it's own ride-worthy queue just to get in the door.

The queue has some fun decorative areas like this, though, plus some super nifty virtual reality photo banners that interact with your smart phone. Of course, it took John and me the entire queue to figure out how to operate the app - and then to get it to work on our phones - so we'll have to try again next time.  >.<

Once you get through the doors, you're greeted with a massive, dimly lit warehouse that smells like old sneakers:

The grungy look fits the theme pretty well, though, and if you're patient you can navigate the sea of people without too much trouble.

In the middle you'll find tons of t-shirts, toys, and pins.

These are flashlights - their heads flip back to reveal the light. 

We'd seen almost everything before, but these flat-packed metal puzzle kits caught my eye:

They're thin metal sheets that you pop apart and assemble into miniature models. You could choose from R2D2, the Millenium Falcon, an AT-AT, and Vader's Tie Fighter. John and I got one each: R2 for me and the Fighter for John.

Here's the display model of R2:

 Pretty cool, right? Can't wait to put ours together!

On the one hand: yay for Vader costumes for girls! On the other hand:

Skintight tops and miniskirts? Ug.

This is why I love all the girls like Makenna here, who do their own thing:

I love it when guests dress up! I'll try to post a few more favorites later.

 Which reminds me: Ashley Eckstein's Her Universe had a big setup in the Mall again this year:

I like a lot of her designs, although that bedsheet reproduction dress is a flimsy stretch polyester; I'd much rather have one made from the real sheets. (Plus it's always weird to see products manufactured to look upcycled and/or handmade, isn't it?)

Love these R2 styles, though:

The art section is a lot smaller this year, sadly, but they still have some amazing pieces:

I think that levitating rock still-life was my favorite.

Inspiration for our next AT-AT rocker, perhaps?

 :D

And the only other items in the whole mall to tempt me: exclusive mini-prints & pins of concept art by Ralph McQuarrie:

They're only $20 each, but I've already seen some listed on ebay for double and even triple that. Yeesh. (Great, now I'm regretting not buying them!)


And for some much-needed shopping fuel, there's the Ackbar Snack Bar:

Ackbar the animatronic occasionally turns his head or drink from his "Stormtrooper Stein." (I recommend the Vader cupcake, btw, which is chocolate & peanut butter. NOMZ.)

Also along the walls is a character photo area, with yet another queue. It's always next to impossible to get a good photo of just the characters in-between guests, so mega props to Mickey & Minnie here AND my ever-patient John, who waited for ages to get this shot long after I'd given up.

Hope you guys enjoyed the mini shopping tour! And for you locals: Star Wars Weekends lasts through next weekend, ending on the 15th. Just remember to bring your sunblock!