We attended our first Star Wars Weekend 05/30. My kids and wife are not Star Wars fans. So I bought the Feel the Force Premium Package in order to be able to watch the parade and fireworks without inconveniencing them too much. I had hoped the reserved viewing area would mean we could show up at the start of the parade and have a good view. But after reading reports from the first weekend, I adjusted my expectations.

We got there an hour before the parade and still had a lousy view. The castmembers were not even trying to police the rope and several people simply slipped under. There was more elbow room in the reserved area than everywhere else. But there was only enough good viewing for about 1/3 of the people there.

They had a kid's area where adults were not allowed to sit by their kids. The kids who were willing to sit apart from their parents were able to see at least. But several kids refused to be separated from their parents and couldn't see a thing. A large area of the rope was also dedicated to people in scooters. Amazingly, these people were allowed to have family members join them. I found it very odd that kids could not be accompanied, but people in scooters could be joined by as many family members as they wanted.

The scooters actually got the best viewing area of all. And when people realized it was not being monitored at all, it became a madhouse. Everyone was fighting to get in. Every time a new scooter would arrive, the line would shake up. As people got forced out of this area, they would spill into the kid's area and other nearby viewing areas.

The last scooter to arrive was the biggest scooter I had ever seen. Atop it was the biggest woman I have ever seen. I always remind myself that you don't know these people's backstories. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt whenever possible. So my assumption is that this person has a serious condition which requires her to be confined to a scooter. Having said that, she arrived with a tub of popcorn, a stack of Mickey bars and two Cokes. The only time she stopped snacking was to get up off her scooter to yell at her misbehaving kid.

Later in the week, I had a FP for the Festival of Fantasy parade. We showed up five minutes before the parade started and had a terrific view. This was a great use of a free FP. For the Feel the Force Premium Package, I paid $50, showed up an hour early and I still couldn't see much of anything. And I was in one of the better viewing areas. A lot of people saw less than I did.

Basically, the parade is a wash-out. Where the Premium Package arguably has some value is the dessert party for the fireworks. We had a good view of both the stage and the fireworks. Granted, fireworks are pretty easy to see. A reserved viewing area is not nearly so important as it is for the parade. But the wife and kids had a great time dancing to DJ Lobot for an hour before the fireworks started.

The biggest issue I had during the fireworks was the lack of tables. There were not nearly enough tables for everyone. I had heard that on other nights, people shared tables. But on the night we were there, people were very territorial. Almost every table was covered in someone else's stuff whether they were there or not. Basically, the first however many parties into the reserved area claimed all the tables and refused to move on.

We ended up camping out atop a garbage can because it was the only flat surface on which we could eat. I had a drink which someone immediately knocked over. It landed right on me. I wasn't too upset. It was too strong for me anyway. But I only sampled a few desserts because trying to eat them was so inconvenient.

Would I ever do the Feel the Force Premium Package again? Resounding No. But I don't feel 100% ripped off either. The lousy view of the parade was still better than the view I would have had without the package. Plus we all got a drink and an ice cream. And the dessert party was arguably worth the money. It just would have been nice to have access to a table for at least 15 minutes.

Mileage will vary. I can see why other people - especially people who drink more alcohol than I do - would get more out of the package than I did.

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