One of the favorite Disney World Holiday events is returning for Christmas 2015.  The Epcot Candlelight Processional is returning and special dining packages have been announced which include guaranteed seating to one of the Candlelight Processional Shows.

Delicious Dining, Spectacular Shows

Dining Package Pricing

New for 2015 at Star Wars Weekends is another Star Wars themed dining experience for fans to check out and this one is geared for the adults in the crowd.  This marks the 3rd different dining experience available for guests of Disney's Hollywood Studios during Star Wars Weekends.

Rebel Hangar: A Star Wars Lounge Experience

Disney Imagineers have done a quick makeover to a section of the Backlot Express quick service dining location that can be found between the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and Star Tours.





They have taken an area that was supposed to be a studio backlot area with a bunch of excess props left behind and added a Star Wars feel to the area.  There are posters on the walls that encourage folks to join the Imperial Forces and Rebels themed items on the tables.







With just a few items, the transformation gives the area a great Star Wars look.  The above pictures give you a sense of the transformation.

The Star Wars Themed Food

The menu has a selection of small plate items and drinks that are befitting a lounge atmosphere.  The light up X-Wing fighters add to the appeal of the specially named drinks like: Rebel Red, Imperial Blue, Degobah Swamp Juice, & the Tatooine Sunset.





The menu is small, but there is a good variety of small plate offerings.  During our review we tried 4 of the choices: Lightsaber Bites, The Dark Fried, The Sith & The Jedi, and Chips & Sith.

The Chips & Sith was certainly the most visually appealing dish on the menu so we had to try it.  The Darth Maul looking hummus based dip not only looked great, but tasted pretty good also.  The next favorite were the Lightsaber bites which turned out to be an upscale version of corndogs that were cooked perfectly,served hot and went well with the accompanying mustard dipping sauce.  The Dark Fried was a Disney take on Chicken & Waffles that was good, but not exceptional.  The last dish that we tried was the barbecued pulled brisket and barbecued pulled chicken sliders.  Again these were good, but not overly memorable.

Rebel Hangar: The Experience

The experience is the key to the Rebel Hangar.  While we dined we saw Greedo, a Jawa, and from Star Wars Rebels - Ezra & Sabine walking around.  Unfortunately it was not like a character dining experience where they went from table to table and stopping to interact with guests and pose for pictures.  They would oblige if you stopped them as they went by, but they acted more like patrons of the Lounge and milled about.

The food was good, if not great, but we enjoyed the creative names and attempt to make them related to Star Wars.  The best result was certainly the Darth Maul looking Chis and Sith.

The props that had been included in this area looked great and helped make the area fun for the Star Wars Weekends guests.

The fact that the waitstaff did not push the food and drinks overly hard was great.  By that I mean that several tables got one round of drinks and maybe one appetizer for the table to split and that was it.  They were there see the Lounge and to enjoy the atmosphere.  In that respect the Rebel Hangar delivered.

All in all if you went in looking for a fun, Star Wars themed extra thing to include as part of your Star Wars Weekend then this is definitely something worth checking out.  If you are expecting some of the best culinary options that Disney World has to offer then this isn't for you.

Although they do take walk-ins, reservations are strongly recommended

Star Wars Weekends has added yet another exclusive dining experience that will only be available during the Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays of Star Wars Weekends from May 15 to June 14, 2015.

Rebel Hanger: A Star Wars Lounge Experience

Backstory:   Guests attending Star Wars Weekends will be able to find shelter and sustenance in the Rebel Hangar: A Star Wars Lounge Experience. Reports have been made that this location was once a known hangout of Rebel pilots, aliens and smugglers; with the immersive environment and stellar bites.

A Glimpse Of The Food Menu:

• Pilot’s Pomme Frites – these are tossed with parmesan cheese, garlic and parsley with a garlic aioli for dipping
• Ensalada Naboo – seared chicken breast, bibb lettuce, grape tomatoes, watermelon radish, almond frica, and a parmesan-peppercorn ranch dressing
• Lightsaber Bites – hand-dipped corn-battered knockwurst sausages with house-made chips and mustard dipping sauce
• The Dark Fried – Chicken and Darth Vader waffles served with maple syrup and sweet barbecue sauce
• Trio of Thermal Detonators – spicy pork wings topped with spicy piquillo-pepper sauce and slaw
• Slider Sampler featuring “The Sith” barbecue-braised brisket with cole slaw and “The Jedi” with barbecued pulled chicken with arugula
• Fruit and Cheese “Sabers” featuring Tillamook cheddar, Brie, goat cheese, pickled vegetables, crostini, cheddar crackers, blueberries, raspberries, honeydew melon, strawberry, olives and gherkins
• Chips & Sith – hummus with red pepper coulis, black sesame dust, and corn tortilla chips
• Yoda Key Lime Cake
• Trio of Star Wars mini cupcakes, including Mini Darth Vader (chocolate-peanut butter), Mini Yoda (chocolate-hazelnut), and Mini Jabba the Hutt (salted caramel latte) served in the Han Solo Carbonite Souvenir Box

A Glimpse Of The Drink Menu:

• Imperial Blue – Maker’s Mark Whisky, Cointreau, Blue Curacao, sweet and sour, topped with Sprite
• Tatooine Sunset – Stoli vanilla, Parrot Bay Coconut Rum, pineapple juice with grenadine
• Rebel Red – Grey Goose vodka, Chambord, sour mix and a splash of grenadine
• Dagobah Swamp Juice – Midori, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, sweet and sour, topped with lemon-lime foam
• The Dark Side – Stoli vanilla vodka, Bailey’s liqueur, crème de cocoa and brownie garnish
• Alderaan Ale

Exclusive Star Wars Dining Experience

New this year at Disney's Star Wars Weekends is a special character dining event called Jedi Mickey's Star Wars Dine at Hollywood & Vine that occurs each evening from May 4 through June 15th, 2014.

This special dining event combines Disney Characters dressed in their favorite Star Wars costumes and special Star Wars themed food set to delight any Star Wars fan.

Hollywood & Vine Changes For Star Wars Weekends

Jedi Mickey's Star Wars Dine at Hollywood & Vine

Reservations were required and hard to come by for this new addition to Star Wars Weekend for 2014.  Like many other Star Wars fans we were excited to see our favorite Disney Characters: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, & Chip 'n Dale dressed as classic Star Wars characters.  By making this a Disney World Character Dinner it meant that you can see, greet, and take pictures with all of them in one dinner instead of waiting in lines multiple hours to meet each of them individually.

Try the Stormtrooper Shrimp and Cocktail Sauce!

The buffet menu at Hollywood & Vine was also adjusted to make it different from the normal meals and put a Star Wars flair to all of the dishes.  The biggest difference would be noticed at the Dessert Table.

Chip at Jedi Mickey's Star Wars Dine at Hollywood & Vine

Star Wars Character Dining Review

The dinner starts out by checking in outside the restaurant and waiting in line for the opportunity to take a group picture with Chip 'n Dale in their Ewok costumes.  They had Disney Photopass photographers that took the complementary group photo and gave each family a special collectible Disney Photopass card.  They would also take pictures on your personal camera as well.

We then were ushered outside and again had to wait until our table was ready.  Fortunately they were running close to on time and this secondary wait was less than 5 minutes and we were shown to our table.

The inside of the restaurant only saw minor changes from its normal decor with the addition of a few Star Wars related banners around the columns and they handed out special 2-sided paper that could be rolled into "light sabers" supporting either the Dark Side or the Rebel Alliance.

Like most Disney World Character meals the roaming characters (Mickey, Donald, Minnie, and Goofy) were spread out in the restaurant and made their way from table to table.  Each family had to decide how close the next character was and then proceed to the buffet area to get food and then bring it back tot he table.

The Food!

The entire buffet had foods renamed to make them appear more Star Wars friendly.  Some our of favorite names were: Kit Fisto's Green Tipped Mussels, Jar Jar's Gungan Style Potato Salad,  Luke's Chipotle Citrus Barbecue Chicken Thighwalkers, Lando's Lobster and Shrimp Macaroni & Cheese, Salacious Crumb's Crusted Pork, Qui-Gon's Quinoa, Skywalker Ranch Chicken, & Naboo Bean Cassoulet.

Overall, the food was good, but not great.  It was very typical of the buffets at Disney World.  They were much better than a buffet you would find outside of Disney World, but they were not as good as many of the restaurants in Disney World that offered menu service.

The items that we enjoyed the most were:

• Palpatine's Pasta Station, which had a make to order Pasta Chef custom make each dish.
• Kessel Run Roasted Strip Loin from the Jedi Council Carving Station.

The Desserts!

Minnie Mouse as Princess Le

The Disney Characters!

Donald Duck as a Star Wars Stormtrooper

Donald Duck as a Stormtrooper makes for a wonderful picture.  The white of the Stormtrooper outfit works well with Donald's colors.  Not intimidating in the least, everyone wants to pose with Donald Duck for pictures.

Jedi Mickey at Star Wars Weekends

Mickey Mouse has no problem looking the part of a Jedi.  He certainly bridges the gap between classic Disney characters and Star Wars by simply donning a Jedi Robe.  If only it was that easy for all of us to pull off the convincing Jedi look so easily.


Goofy may not ever be serious, but he uses his height well to portrait Darth Vader.  Although it may be hard to think of Goofy representing the dark side of the force, he certainly makes a family friendly character to grab a picture with.

Summary of Jedi Mickey's Star Wars Dine at Hollywood & Vine

The meal did not come cheap.  It was $55.99 adults and $33.99 kids 3-9, or two table service credits for those on the Disney Dining Plan. The event does not accept Tables in Wonderland; however, Disney Visa Cardholder discount of 10% off was honored.

For Star Wars fans this certainly was a worthwhile event.  You most definitely have to value the Disney/Star Wars character interactions or you most certainly did not get your money's worth.  As mentioned earlier the food was good, but not great.  The value to this meal comes with the special Star Wars theming and seeing your favorite Disney Characters in Star Wars costumes and getting to interact, get autographs, and take pictures.

Combine the sumptuous desserts that can be found throughout Epcot's World Showcase, a variety of sparkling wines with the spectacular night time fireworks, laser, fire, & water show called Illuminations: Reflections Of Earth and you have the making for an incredible way to cap off your day at Epcot.

Epcot Presents: Illuminations Sparkling Dessert Party 

Disney World has announced a new party that will certainly get your attention.  The Illuminations Sparkling Dessert Party is coming to Epcot 3 nights a week (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday) starting March 15th.  The party will take place at Epcot’s Showcase Plaza, and will run from 7:45-9:20 p.m.

The menu will include the best sweets from several international pavilions, including tiramisu and Prosecco from Italy; Vanilla Pot de Creme from France; baklava from Morocco and much more.

The IllumiNations Sparkling Dessert Party will cost $49 for adults and $29 for children. Parties begin March 15, and booking opens March 12.