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June 26, 2007 - #31

Every week I’ll be answering any question about the Disney-MGM Studios from planning questions to “what happened to...” questions. So if you’ve got something you’ve been wondering about or simply need clarification, please feel free to email them to me (use the form below).

Hey Matt, I got this question why can't Disney get Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher (which did come to 1 starwars weekends I believe in 2000 that occured), Billy Dee Williams (has been there before, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christianson you know where I'm going bigger names from the saga. Hopefully you have a contact that can tell you if Disney had even contact them to come and appear. If I was one of those people I would of come down it seems so much fun.

Thanks

- Lazaro

There's two reasons for why Star Wars Weekends doesn't attract bigger names. First and foremost, it's money. Disney doesn't shell out the appearance fees that you find at say the Celebration events or other major Star Wars events. The big stars demand the big bucks to appear and if you've ever talked to a Star Wars fans who has been to other Star Wars conventions, they'll tell you it is not unusual to pay admission to an event and then have to pay for the celebrity's autograph as well (something Disney doesn't do).

In addition, some stars just don't do the whole convention thing. Harrison Ford is well enough off he doesn't need to and other stars like Carrie Fisher have retreated from the public's eye.

When my sisiter and I went May 1st, we saw a street play and I was wondering what the name of it was. There was a man who had a girlfriend and another fancier girlfriend with a car. What was the name of this play? - Sherry

I'm willing to bet the play you saw was a Streetmosphere act. Streetmosphere is the name for the performers who pretend to be "Citizens of Hollywood" that live in the Studios and commonly interact with guests while performing games, skits or just mingling with the public. If you're interested in Streetmosphere, you may find this history of streetmosphere very interesting.

My wife and I really want to ride the RnRC but we are both afraid of heights and we do not ride the big thrill coasters. However we have ridden everist and really enjoyed it although that is about as "thrilled" as ae would like to be. So does anyone know the exact dimensions of RnRC drops ? I know splash mountain is about 55 feet and we really would not care for anyhting much higher than that. My wife is really concerned with the height of the "drops". What do you think? Should we ride? - Cynthia

There aren't any real drops on Coaster like you have at Splash Mountain and that's because Rock 'n Roller Coaster is not your typical roller coaster. Rather than go up a hill first, you're shot out onto the track via magnets. There are three inversions - two rollover loops and one corkscrew in the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.

In regards to your question about how scary it is, there is no definite answer as it varies from person to person. Your shot from 0-60 mph in around 4 or 5 seconds. That stat might scare you, but most people agree that the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster is one of the smoothest coasters. Unlike Space Mountain where your whipped around corners at a moments notice, the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster is much more fluid in its motion. There are however loops and corkscrews. Again, many don't complain about it. If your just scared of the entire notion, or one part of it, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster is a great way to overcome that fear.

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