Click here to download video footage from Celebration IV
Provided by TheForce.Net and RebelScum.com

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6

 Ever since I attended Celebration III in April of '05, life has never been the same for me. CIII was all I could think about after it was over. It was the biggest Star Wars Convention on Earth, and I was a part of it. So, of course when it was all over with, I hoped for a CIV. I got my wish, and so here is my story...

Introduction:

It is every fanboy's dream to be involved with Star Wars in some way. Whether it is getting a job with Lucasfilm, or simply bumping into a Star Wars actor somewhere, all fanboys must immerse themselves into that galaxy far, far away. It is a requirement, a duty and a priviledge - and we thrive on every minute of it.

The Star Wars Celebration Conventions are the best way to immerse yourself into the Star Wars universe, hands down. If you have absolutely no connection to George Lucas, Lucasfilm, the actors and actresses, etc., this is the easiest way to get close when all you are is an enthusiastic fanboy like me. For example, at Star Wars: Celebration III, I was fortunate to be interviewed by Lucasfilm and I ended up appearing in the StarWars.com web documentary The Journey. Another highlight (probably the main highlight) of CIII was waiting in line from 1:00AM to 10:00AM in the cold and rainy weather just to see George Lucas in person. And, of course, when you are at a Star Wars convention, there are many, many, MANY more Star Wars related activities to do. You have the opportunity to meet many of the actors from the films and get their autographs. You can meet the authors of various Star Wars books. There are many props from the actual films on display. There are usually sneek-peeks at upcoming Star Wars projects (last time, I saw digital footage from Revenge of the Sith before any of the general public). There are crazy fans dressed up in the most authentic-looking costumes. And, of course, the merchandise. Oh, the glorious merchandise.

Star Wars Celebration IV was just as good, if not better than Celebration III in many ways. In other ways, it was not. Either way, I had an awesome time. So what I want to do with this article is just take you through each day of my trip to Los Angeles for this Convention to the best of my ability. My hope is that you, the reader can feel the way I felt when I was there.

Day One - Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Unfortunately, it wasn't until after I booked our flight to L.A. that Star Wars fans were made aware of a 6-movie marathon occuring the day before the convention. We were flying out on that same day, so there was no way we could participate in it. Hopefully they do it again at the next Convention.

So anyway, I woke up quite early at my house in East Lansing, MI to take care of the rest of my packing for the trip. Then, at around 12:30PM, my dad, my friend Steve and I all got together, made sure we had everything - including our Convention badges, lanyards, and even my iPod with the Forcecast Celebration IV coverage from TheForce.Net as well as the iPod CIV Survival Guide from RebelScum.com (which was quite handy, not to mention frickin' awesome!) - and went to Garden City, MI where we met up with some friends of ours who were willing to let us leave our car at their place and drive us to the airport in Detroit, MI, which is only around 15 minutes away from where they live. Saved us some parking expenses!

Once we arrived at the airport, we checked in, went to our gate, got some food, and did all the normal things one has to do when catching a flight. Once that was all taken care of, the anticipation was really building. It had been building up for the last couple of months, and now it was finally time to leave for Los Angeles, CA to experience Star Wars: Celebration IV. When the three of us first went to Celebration III, we knew it would be big and fun, but we really had no idea until we actually got there. Now that we had attended Celebration III in Indianapolis, IN, we knew EXACTLY what we were in for. This thing is huge, and we were about to experience once again one of the greatest times of our lives.

What was great about the Detroit Metro Airport was that there were other people going to Los Angeles for the Convention as well! A guy and his son (who was sporting a Revenge of the Sith baseball cap) were watching Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope on their laptop while we were waiting to board our flight. Once we were boarding, we found out that a couple more people who were in line with us were also attending. I was already feeling the camaraderie of Star Wars fans before I even arrived in California!

The flight, sad to say, was quite boring though. It was approximately 4 hours, and I was not sitting with my dad or Steve. I did have another two people in front of me who were attending the convention, and I would have talked to them a lot more, except for the people behind me. Basically, one of them was talking about how her mom was attending Celebration IV, and she was kind of making fun of her. The people she was sitting next to also were sort of laughing about it, just not understanding what Star Wars fandom is all about. So needless to say, that while I'm used to jocks and other various people make fun of us, it still made my flight out to Los Angeles kind of a downer. So, of course, I put my headphones on, and tuned into the Forcecast Celebration IV Megacast on my iPod. Then, I was reved up and ready for what I knew was going to be a fantastic time.

Four hours later we arrived in Los Angeles Airport (LAX), got our luggage and went to our pre-paid Super Shuttle service that took us to our hotel. It was around 10:30PM and so we didn't arrive at our hotel (The New Otani Hotel and Garden) until around 11PM or so. We were all tired, and yet we were so jazzed because we were in L.A., and that the next day we would be attending the Fan Club Only day at Celebration IV.

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