The 34th annual Festival of the Masters was held this past weekend at Downtown Disney. The West Side featured more than 150 award-winning artists – jewelry artists, painters, photographers, sculptors and more. The Marketplace featured the Central Florida Chalk Artists Association, and family fun could be found all around.

Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of “Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back,” Lucasfilm and Reed Exhibitions’ PopGroup will partner to produce what’s expected to be one of the largest official Star Wars fan events ever - Star Wars Celebration V will take place Aug. 12 to 15, 2010

Parents were instructed, via cast members and signs posted around the area, to wait in line to see the characters while their children were allowed to play nearby in the playground. When the parents reached a certain point in the line close to the characters, they were asked to bring over their little ones so they could enjoy the meeting with Winnie the Pooh and his friends.

Now it appears that testing continues this week but on a larger scale, taking place at the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Guests wanting to participate are given cards and invited to wait in a stand by area, rather than a stand by queue.

A lot has happened in the Orlando area theme parks in 2009. Some new attractions were announced, some have closed down and some have opened up. One both opened and closed in 2009 (we’re talking about you Stitch.) Below are the top 10 most read blog posts on our site during 2009.