Possible to avoid Star Wars at DHS?

[RememberWhen]

Hello all,

So we have a trip coming up in September and we make our FP soon. It's going to be me, DW, DS4, my mom and my dad.
I have seen the older Star Wars movies, but I'm not ready to introduce them to DS. He has seen glimpses here and there from other children and ads in stores and whatnot. I've been able to redirect him, but won't really be able to if he sees a storm trooper marching around carrying a big gun.

Has anyone been recently? Can we do TSMM, ToT and maybe the frozen sing along without encountering Star Wars or is it completely everywhere? We can just skip DHS if need be.

 

[sxeensweet]

No it's not everywhere that I find. They have the meet and greet at launch bay, Star Tours ride, and a store dedicated to SW Merchandise. Also Star Wars firework show but you don't have to watch it. I wouldn't miss Fantasmic for DS though. Always love Fantasmic at the end of the night! You'll be fine.

 

[RememberWhen]

No it's not everywhere that I find. They have the meet and greet at launch bay, Star Tours ride, and a store dedicated to SW Merchandise. Also Star Wars firework show but you don't have to watch it. I wouldn't miss Fantasmic for DS though. Always love Fantasmic at the end of the night! You'll be fine.

Thanks! DHS is my least favorite park, but I think DS will have fun. He fell asleep halfway through fantasmic last time we went. Maybe we can try again! He was only 2 then, so he should have a bit more stamina this time.

 

[HurricaneHanna]

I was just there last week and also in March. I honestly don't see how you're going to move about in Hollywood Studios without your child catching glimpses of Star Wars. You can probably get to ToT safely, but I'm not sure how you'd get to TSMM without walking near the area where the launch bay is. If your child so much as glances in that direction he's going to see Storm Troopers and banners/signage depicting Star Wars characters and scenes. Frozen Sing Along is over in the Echo Lake area. That's very close to Star Tours and the Jedi Training Academy groups romp all through that area. Also- I think I recall that on my last few visits there were Star Wars themed clips showing on video boards in the center of the park. The merchandise is everywhere. The children holding or wearing the merchandise are everywhere. Avoiding any reference or visual cue of Star Wars is going to be really difficult in my opinion.

 

[RememberWhen]

I was just there last week and also in March. I honestly don't see how you're going to move about in Hollywood Studios without your child catching glimpses of Star Wars. You can probably get to ToT safely, but I'm not sure how you'd get to TSMM without walking near the area where the launch bay is. If your child so much as glances in that direction he's going to see Storm Troopers and banners/signage depicting Star Wars characters and scenes. Frozen Sing Along is over in the Echo Lake area. That's very close to Star Tours and the Jedi Training Academy groups romp all through that area. Also- I think I recall that on my last few visits there were Star Wars themed clips showing on video boards in the center of the park. The merchandise is everywhere. The children holding or wearing the merchandise are everywhere. Avoiding any reference or visual cue of Star Wars is going to be really difficult in my opinion.

This has been my assumption. Posters are probably not too bad, no worse than our local target, but I don't want to see armed soldiers marching around. I'm comfortable skipping the whole park. We've been before and we will go again, so it's not a once in a lifetime trip for us.
I do understand that this is a huge money maker, but it doesn't really work for my family. In my opinion, a 4 year old doesn't need to be exposed to war images. Even if they are pretend. Obviously everyone can have their own opinion, and do what is best for their family. My family may just skip this whole park.
Thanks for the honest description.

 

[Variable]

Are you going to let him watch the last toy story? You know,the one where the bad toys incenerate the good toys? You can even buy nice big plushies of the evil guy himself - the one sending the others to the fires.

Evil manifests in unassuming places, and doesn't always carry a blaster.

 

[disneyKaiju]

Just a heads up, last time I checked Disney has Star Wars represented in all parks including Disney Springs, most of which is merchandising. As for DHS, its pretty hard to steer away from anything Star Wars. Last time I went in the morning they had all the workers lined up on Hollywood Blvd with lightsabers creating a walkway for guests to walk through and even a remote control BB8 zooming up and down interacting with guests. Then dead center in front of the chinese theatre they have an hourly (i think its hourly cause it seemed to be in all day) show where stormtroopers and most of the major characters make an appearance. And like someone mentioned above you have star tours and the jedi training to the left and star wars launch bay (another area where stormtroopers are seen) to the right. The only way you could avoid all of this is to blindfold your kid and head straight for sunset blvd (ToT, RnR, etc.) but make sure you stay to the left of the sidewalk because they have a Star Wars store on your right hand side as you turn onto Sunset Blvd. Hope this helps!

 

[JIMINYCR]

You would probably be better off just skipping DHS because SW characters and SW items will be very difficult to avoid. To use a park entry and just do TSMM , ToT, and Frozen wouldnt pay off. And just your anxiety worrying about when and where your child might be exposed wouldnt allow you enjoy your day. If the sight of " war images " bothers you then skip DHS and enjoy your trip more.
My DW felt the same with our DS when he was young, even though we avoided certain things at home, he got lots of exposure at school from his classmates when was out of our sight and control..... Just saying, we tried but learned, you can do what you can to keep him away from some things but you cant isolate him from it all because hes going to be exposed to things out in the world when youre not with him. Oh, and DS turned out great.

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

" This is not the theme park you are looking for . . . Move along now "

 

[RememberWhen]

Are you going to let him watch the last toy story? You know,the one where the bad toys incenerate the good toys? You can even buy nice big plushies of the evil guy himself - the one sending the others to the fires.

Evil manifests in unassuming places, and doesn't always carry a blaster.

He hasn't seen any of the toy story movies. He has seen Winnie the Pooh, the heffalump movie, tinker bell and finding nemo. And he just watched finding nemo this past weekend. So eventually he can watch the Star Wars movies, just not at 4.

 

[RememberWhen]

You would probably be better off just skipping DHS because SW characters and SW items will be very difficult to avoid. To use a park entry and just do TSMM , ToT, and Frozen wouldnt pay off. And just your anxiety worrying about when and where your child might be exposed wouldnt allow you enjoy your day. If the sight of " war images " bothers you then skip DHS and enjoy your trip more.
My DW felt the same with our DS when he was young, even though we avoided certain things at home, he got lots of exposure at school from his classmates when was out of our sight and control..... Just saying, we tried but learned, you can do what you can to keep him away from some things but you cant isolate him from it all because hes going to be exposed to things out in the world when youre not with him. Oh, and DS turned out great.

Thanks. We aren't trying to completely shelter him, just trying to minimize the discussions about guns and fighters that we will be having while on vacation. I'm sure he will see thigs in the other parks and we will deal with that as it comes. We have APs, so park entry isn't an issue. And we're staying at the boardwalk, so we can always bail if need be. I appreciate your thoughts.

 

[Variable]

He hasn't seen any of the toy story movies. He has seen Winnie the Pooh, the heffalump movie, tinker bell and finding nemo. And he just watched finding nemo this past weekend. So eventually he can watch the Star Wars movies, just not at 4.

You know, I completely agree with you.
And with those that say skip DHS this round. You're in full on MK mode man, and he'll have plenty of fun! And naps.

 

[jenos0524]

I know Star wars is prob hard to avoid there. (I am going in August and haven't been in 10 years) but you could always try to get a Pre-Park Opening ADR at Hollywood & Vine with Disney JR characters and then go to TSMM. finish with ToT and leave before a lot is going on. (By doing the pre-park opening breakfast you avoid anything going on when the park officially opens.) plus it will get you in the park early to go to TSMM to be one of the first to ride it.

Of course this is assuming you have Park Hopper passes. (My daughter is almost 3, so out plan at HS is basically the Disney Jr stuff and eating. I will do RnR and ToT if I can sneak away for a little bit)

 

[RememberWhen]

Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions!
Our current plan is to skip DHS. One of us will try to wander over there during an afternoon rest/pool/video time. If it doesn't seem too bad we can all go. I'll try to schedule FP for an afternoon/evening sometime. We're there for 9 days, so we do have plenty of time.

 

[RememberWhen]

I know Star wars is prob hard to avoid there. (I am going in August and haven't been in 10 years) but you could always try to get a Pre-Park Opening ADR at Hollywood & Vine with Disney JR characters and then go to TSMM. finish with ToT and leave before a lot is going on. (By doing the pre-park opening breakfast you avoid anything going on when the park officially opens.) plus it will get you in the park early to go to TSMM to be one of the first to ride it.

Of course this is assuming you have Park Hopper passes. (My daughter is almost 3, so out plan at HS is basically the Disney Jr stuff and eating. I will do RnR and ToT if I can sneak away for a little bit)

If you think of it, I'd love to hear your experience when you get back!

 

[jenos0524]

If you think of it, I'd love to hear your experience when you get back!

I will do my best to remember...
I get back August 25th so anytime after that just reply to this message and I will let you know (If I don't remember to come back and let you know first)

My daughter knows nothing about star wars, so I personally am not to worried. She is more into fun rides/shows and the princesses. I am sure I will have pictures when I get back also. I know your trip is in September but you may want to see if you can get a pre-park opening ADR for breakfast, you can always cancel it if you end up deciding to just totally skipping the park. (I just know the early ADR's are tough to get)

with all the construction at HS this would be the trip to skip it. (I was told i NEED to do TSMM) Other than that I have done everything else in that park that I want to when it use to be MGM.

 

[bpadair32]

I have not been there in about a year, but when I went it last it was certainly possible to avoid most of the SW stuff. That being said, we have the opposite problem, I have to try and fit everything SW possible in the next time that we go. My DS (6) is a huge SW nut!

 

[21stamps]

He hasn't seen any of the toy story movies. He has seen Winnie the Pooh, the heffalump movie, tinker bell and finding nemo. And he just watched finding nemo this past weekend. So eventually he can watch the Star Wars movies, just not at 4.

Pretty much everyone I know made fun of me for not allowing my kid to watch tv or movies period before age 3. At 4 it was Disney Junior/Sprout/Nick Jr 30 minutes max. Now at 6- we are in full blown Star Wars mode.

Obviously how you parent is up to the person doing the parenting. At age 4 though this will probably be the last year that they really are into the Disney JR characters. My son enjoyed H&V Play & Dine at age 5, but while we were having dinner I thought about how at age 4 it would have been even more exciting. I look back and there are a few things that I do wish I hadn't been so strict on. We pretty much missed the whole super hero stage- he had all of the toys of course, but never got into Batman or TMNT the way other kids who actually watch the shows did.

My advice, really think about what your child likes. HS is the most pre school/pre k geared atmosphere/offerings than any other park, in my opinion. 4 is a great age for what they offer. Violence is in every Disney movie. Parents or a parent dies in pretty much every Disney movie-including Finding Nemo. Most kids don't even pick up on that when young, and your 4 year old will probably be paying attention to other things besides Stormtroopers with blasters at HS.
If your child is around any other children - they will learn about Star Wars sooner rather than later, doesn't mean you have to take them to see the movies, or skip a great park over it.

 

[RememberWhen]

Pretty much everyone I know made fun of me for not allowing my kid to watch tv or movies period before age 3. At 4 it was Disney Junior/Sprout/Nick Jr 30 minutes max. Now at 6- we are in full blown Star Wars mode.

Obviously how you parent is up to the person doing the parenting. At age 4 though this will probably be the last year that they really are into the Disney JR characters. My son enjoyed H&V Play & Dine at age 5, but while we were having dinner I thought about how at age 4 it would have been even more exciting. I look back and there are a few things that I do wish I hadn't been so strict on. We pretty much missed the whole super hero stage- he had all of the toys of course, but never got into Batman or TMNT the way other kids who actually watch the shows did.

My advice, really think about what your child likes. HS is the most pre school/pre k geared atmosphere/offerings than any other park, in my opinion. 4 is a great age for what they offer. Violence is in every Disney movie. Parents or a parent dies in pretty much every Disney movie-including Finding Nemo. Most kids don't even pick up on that when young, and your 4 year old will probably be paying attention to other things besides Stormtroopers with blasters at HS.
If your child is around any other children - they will learn about Star Wars sooner rather than later, doesn't mean you have to take them to see the movies, or skip a great park over it.

I appreciate your thoughts. He does hear about things that I wish he didn't. We were at WDW in April. We had a great time without setting foot in DHS. He likes Doc McStuffins. He's seen Sophia and Jake, though I don't love them. He is a sweet, kind kid. I'd like to let him be innocent just a tad longer if I can. He loves the animals at animal kingdom, and meeting all the characters, despite never having seen their movies. He loves spaceship earth. It's his favorite ride. Who knows why?
Our plan for now is to skip it. But we are flexible. If it seems ok we will try it.

 

[NeedMoreMickey]

We watched the fireworks at HS in March and I enjoyed them more then the other parks. If you are staying on property and have park hoppers I would suggest trying to catch the fireworks. Spend day/evening in Epcot catch the boat at International Gateway to HS in time for the fireworks. Most kids love fireworks and I don't think it will matter if he doesn't know anything about the movies.