With recent news and all, this year's Star Wars Weekends at Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida (May 17 to June 9) is a little more special and relevant and may offer hints of the franchise's future, which we hope expands beyond the cutesy collectible and pins with the obligatory mouse ears. 

The D-Tech Me Carbon Freeze Me figures are starting to arrive for those fortunate enough to travel to Disney Star Wars Weekends in Orlando, Florida the past few weeks. Galactic reader Frank sends in his photos which include front and back scans of the package along with a short report.

Hasbro's Star Wars action figure line has a long history of including "bonus" pack-ins with each figure: Freeze Frames, 3-D dioramas, Commtech Chips, Force Files, display stands, mini-hologram figures, collector coins, weapons lockers, and most recently...battle cards and battle dice.

Because we can't get enough of the awesomeness of this new shop at Disney Tatooine Traders, here's video of the Droid Factory stand courtesy of Attractions magazine.

Attractions Magazine posted this video featuring Attractions - The Show host Banks Lee getting "frozen" in the new Carbon Freeze Me Experience debuting today at Walt Disney World's Star Wars Weekends.

Our pal DarthChuckMc trasmitted over Twitter some photos from Star Wars Weekends opening day and their "Darth's Mall", which featured some previews of Droid Factory Droids and new Star Wars Muppets figures.

It's a good time to be a fangirl of the Star Wars saga as Her Universe, the female sci-fi genre line of fashionable apparel and accessories, revealed today it's new Spring/Summer line to debut at Star Wars Weekends at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida on May 18th (running each weekend till June 10th) and online at www.heruniverse.com on May 21st.

StarWars.com updates with more information and images of the Carbon-Freeze Me Experience which officially opens on May 18th for the launch of Star Wars Weekends.

This summer's Star Wars Weekends is shaping up to be quite the event with the launching of Droid Factory and now news from "Eyes and Ears", the Disney employee newsletter, that you can have your own 8 inch Carbonite figure of yourself!

StarWars.com has posted an update on what we can expect for exclusive new merchandise at this year's Star Wars Weekends in at Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida. 

Disney Parks Blog has posted celebrity guests information for this year's Star Wars Weekends at Disney World in Orlando, Florida from May 18th through June 12th.

James Arnold Taylor and Ashley Eckstein will be providing hosting duties for Star Wars Weekends 2012. Taylor, the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, will be the official celebrity host, while Eckstein is the host for "Behind The Force", a behind the scenes show of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Star Wars Weekends 2012 begins on May 18th and runs through June 10th at Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida. The Official Star Tours Facebook Page has posted some photos of merchandise appropriately featuring Donald Duck as Darth Maul.