Star Wars Disney Weekends to Include John Ratzenberger

Disney has announced which members of the Star Wars universe will attend the 2014 edition of Star Wars Weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park. The event, which is included in regular park admission, will run for a record-setting five weekends, beginning May 16.

Park guests will see actors from the six motion pictures, “The Clone Wars” animated series and “Star Wars Rebels” television series that’s set to debut this fall on Disney XD. As previously announced, Mark Hamill, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original film trilogy, will make his first-ever Star Wars Weekends appearance. Another first timer will be John Ratzenberger, best known for playing Cliff on TV’s “Cheers.” He had a small role in “The Empire Strikes Back.”

Orlando journalist Jim Carchidi suggests that John Ratzenberger may attract a “Toy Story crowd” to the Star Wars Weekends. He writes: “Well, Ratznberger also has voiced one character in every Pixar film. Most notably, Hamm, the piggy bank in the Toy Story franchise — another saga. The inclusion of Ratznberger to the Star Wars Weekends guest list brings together two fan bases responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in movie ticket sales, merchandise sales and, you got it, Disney resort spending.To read the full article, click here >>