Day Two - Thursday, May 24, 2007 (Fan Club Members Only Day)
The first day of Celebration IV was here! The doors would open at noon, so we decided to get up at 8:00AM. This was not enough sleep for any one of us, but we did not care. The convention was here and our adrenaline said we were ready. So Steve and I packed our food inside our backpacks, and my dad would just eat whatever we took with us. As we were getting ready, I played part of the Force-Cast Celebration IV Megacast through my dad's laptop.
As soon as we were all ready to go, we took a look at our shuttle schedule (shuttle service was free for all of the CIV sponsored hotels!), and hopped on to the next one coming our way. Off we go!!
So, what did we do first? We waited in line to get in. We arrived at around 10:00 AM, so it was a good couple of hours before we would even start moving in. In the meantime, we talked with various people in line about all things Star Wars. Everything from the movie-marathon we missed out on, to the new TV series coming out. People on the outside of all this think that waiting a couple hours in line multiple times a day is tiresome. Star Wars fans at a convention usually see it as a great opportunity to meet other fans and make new friends. I mean, where else can you go where you can just strike up a conversation about Star Wars as if everything is completely normal?
There were costumes galore. Everything from Stormtroopers, to Princess Leias to Jedi Knights. There were kids playing with lightsabers. The sun was shining. Life could not be better at this point, and we had not even entered the Convention Center yet!
Probably the coolest thing that happened while we were in line was Anthony Daniels (C-3P0) walking down the line outside just greeting the fans. This was completely unexpected, since he is a celebrity and he is around people who admire him more than any of the general public. He just walked right up to people as if he was just another guy, and no one hounded him or anything! People were respectful and just happy to see him there. So there was much picture taking going on. The funny thing was that Steve was laying on the sidewalk, basking in the sun with his eyes closed, and Anthony Daniels was standing right beside him taking pictures. So when Steve turned toward him and looked up, all he saw was a man in a black suit with his rear end facing right at him. Steve was clueless as to who was standing above him. I was hoping Daniels would kind of stumble over Steve, not falling onto his face of course, but just a funny sort of stumbling over and catching of himself. That would have been quite comedic. So I did not tell Steve to move or anything, just to see what would happen. But alas, Mr. Daniels carried himself as proper as a British butler and walked around.
And then, it was noon. The line (which was probably a few miles long) was moving! We were finally entering the L.A. Convention Center. I had already planned out what I was going to do first. Of course, I had to pick up my pre-ordered Quick-Path tickets for the Celebration store (since the lines for the store at CIII were way too long), buy the $5.00 program and pick up the free show bag with all the goodies inside. This bag also included the Insider's Guide to Celebration IV schedule book, which came in quite handy for planning out what we were going to do for each day.
When we finally entered the building, I was amazed at how big it was. As always, pictures cannot convey the epic scope of something this huge. There were Star Wars decorations everywhere. What was great about the place was how open it seemed, because much of the walls and ceilings were made of glass. So tons of daylight was coming in. It was like a Star Wars city. Unbelievable!
Once I got all the main items from the Will Call and Show booths, I proceeded to the Autograph Hall. My reasoning for going there first was because you have to have a numbered wristband to even get in line for autographs. I believe you could have any number from 1 to 4. Having a number 1 wristband meant that you have first dibs at getting in line for autographs. So anyhow, I would get that wristband as fast as possible and pick up my pre-ordered autograph tickets for Carrie Fisher and Anthony Daniels. Had to get all that out of the way.
But before I even got to the Autograph Hall, I realized something was different about the layout. Basically, the Exhibit Hall (where you buy Star Wars merchandise), the Star WarsArt Show, AND the Autograph Hall were all in one gigantic room! At Celebration III, there was at least a separate room for autographs, if not for all three of these things. Surprisingly, this room at the L.A. Convention Center had room for all three. I was amazed, to say the least. The Autograph Hall was in the back of the room, so I got to walk past a bunch of other cool things before I even got there. A full-size Jabba the Hutt! Sideshow Collectibles! Toys! Artwork! Video games! Sculptures! I will honestly say that almost everything to do with Star Wars was in this room. It was overwhelming.
So, I proceeded past the gaudiness of it all and took care of my place in line for autographs. I did not, however get any autographs on this day. I decided that I'd take care of all that starting the next day with Carrie Fisher. In the meantime, I'd get some expensive tacos at the food stand next to the Autograph Hall and do some shopping. My first stop was the Hasbro booth were I would pick up the exclusive Celebration IV Ralph McQuarrie Luke Skywalker action figure. This was one of two CIV Action figure exclusives available (the other one was in the Celebration store). The line was about an hour wait, which circled around the Hasbro booth as well as other booths.
Steve was waiting with me in the line, and we were talking to someone who was in front of us. His name slips my mind, but he was telling us that he had already been in the Celebration store and that there was absolutely no wait to get in! This was surprising information to Steve and I, because at Celebration III, people had to wait all day just to get in. It was poorly set up, mostly because the people at Gen Con who ran the Convention had no idea how big and cluttered the line would actually be. It was not entirely their fault, but the plan for the line ultimately just did not work. Basically, at CIII they had it set up so that everyone had to wait in one big line for any item they wanted. So if you simply wanted one CIII exclusive action figure or something, you would have to wait in line with everyone else who wanted more than one thing. It was quite a disaster. I recall one guy who was protesting and yelling outside of the CIII store because he had bought a one-day badge for the convention and spent his whole day waiting in line for one item, instead of checking out the rest of the stuff going on. Now, of course it was his fault for waiting any longer than a couple of hours for one item and wasting his one-day pass. He should have had enough sense to leave the line and do other things. However, the store should never have had that long of a wait either.
So Steve and I were grateful to hear that there was no line for the store this time! At CIII, Steve actually volunteered to work at the store and so we were able to get our items within a half hour. This time, it was not necessary. As soon as we were done getting our Hasbro figure, we went with my dad to the Celebration store to see if the claims of there being no wait were true. Sure enough, there was no wait at all! Not only was the store open 24 hours a day, but it was operated like a real store. There were various booths set up with items to buy, and you could just walk right up and snatch whatever you wanted with virtually no wait whatsoever. After you put all you wanted in your bag, you could just proceed to the checkout and leave. It was the most smoothest operation at the Convention. Mad props to Gen Con for successfully correcting the store mishaps from last time! The "Quickpath" Store tickets I pre-ordered were not even necessary (they were free anyway)! So yeah, I got my CIV Ralph McQuarrie R2-D2 and C-3P0 exclusive action figure, as well as a CIV Pilzner glass, coffee cup, poster, T-Shirt and some free-bees along the way. I loved the Celebration store!
So far, the day was going great. We were meeting lots of cool people, getting cool merchandise, and just taking in the whole atmosphere of this fantasy world filled with thousands of fans. We found there was not much to do on the Fan Club day as far as events were concerned. But this allowed Fan Club members to be able to buy things they wanted before the rest of the general public could even attend the Convention, and just allowed everyone to pace their day out and kind of relax while meeting people. At Celebration III, there was only early entrance every day for the Fan Club members. We could enter an hour early. But as it turned out, it did not make any difference. By the time the people in the middle and at the end of the line were getting in, the non-members were already getting in anyway. So this time at CIV, there was just simply one Fan Club Day where we could all get in before any non-member and take care of various buying tasks and the like. It worked out much better this way, and I think Fan Club members would all agree.
The day was not over, however, and so we kind of struggled at coming up with things to do besides hang out. So we decided to visit the R2-D2 Builder's Room. This was something we were not able to get to at CIII, so we thought we would see what it was all about. Basically, this is where various Droid-building hobbyists hung out and basically built Star Wars droids all day. There were may astromech droids being built, and many more that were already completed. They also had other kinds of droids as well. This was actually quite facinating to observe, and it was amazing talking to the various droid builders. They would tell us how they made these things, how much they cost (EXPENSIVE!), etc. All the robots were very authentic and most functioned just like the ones in the films. Incredible!
The people running the show had to kick everyone out by 8:00PM, and so we had to move on and find other things to do. I believe we went back to the Exhibit Hall for a little while to look at more merchandise. But after that we decided to check out some films in the Star Wars Fan Movies theater. Some of the films were okay, while others were quite entertaining. There was one cartoon called Wampa where the plot took place on the ice planet Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back, only it was from the point of view of the wampa creature that tries to kill Luke. The idea was that the wampa was simply trying to play with him and his Taun Taun, and ends up killing the Taun Taun and almost killing Luke just like in the actual movie. The voice was extremely funny, as well as the whole execution of it. Another highlight was the cartoon Carbonite Confusion. This was extremely funny, and you'll just have to click the link to find out why.
Oh my goodness! The first day was already over with, and there was not a whole lot going on in the first place! We had a great time, but it is really true that time flies when you are having fun. The next day would be even better (and faster). We were all tired from so much walking, so it was off to our hotel for some rest.
Heh, rest. Like we actually got any of that! We actually met up with my cousin Mark and his girlfriend Leti, who are both currently living in L.A. Mark is trying to make it as an actor just like everyone else there. We talked a while in our hotel room, and then made our way down to one of the restaurants in our hotel. I cannot remember the name of the restaurant, nor the names of the three guys we met there who were also attending the convention. Any case, we all had a great time just getting to know each other, and it was just cool to see my cousin and his girlfriend. I never thought we would have time to even hang out with them. As it turned out, we would be seeing them a couple more times throughout the weekend!
The first day of Celebration IV was here! The doors would open at noon, so we decided to get up at 8:00AM. This was not enough sleep for any one of us, but we did not care. The convention was here and our adrenaline said we were ready. So Steve and I packed our food inside our backpacks, and my dad would just eat whatever we took with us. As we were getting ready, I played part of the Force-Cast Celebration IV Megacast through my dad's laptop.
So, what did we do first? We waited in line to get in. We arrived at around 10:00 AM, so it was a good couple of hours before we would even start moving in. In the meantime, we talked with various people in line about all things Star Wars. Everything from the movie-marathon we missed out on, to the new TV series coming out. People on the outside of all this think that waiting a couple hours in line multiple times a day is tiresome. Star Wars fans at a convention usually see it as a great opportunity to meet other fans and make new friends. I mean, where else can you go where you can just strike up a conversation about Star Wars as if everything is completely normal?
There were costumes galore. Everything from Stormtroopers, to Princess Leias to Jedi Knights. There were kids playing with lightsabers. The sun was shining. Life could not be better at this point, and we had not even entered the Convention Center yet! 
When we finally entered the building, I was amazed at how big it was. As always, pictures cannot convey the epic scope of something this huge. There were Star Wars decorations everywhere. What was great about the place was how open it seemed, because much of the walls and ceilings were made of glass. So tons of daylight was coming in. It was like a Star Wars city. Unbelievable!
But before I even got to the Autograph Hall, I realized something was different about the layout. Basically, the Exhibit Hall (where you buy Star Wars merchandise), the Star Wars Art Show, AND the Autograph Hall were all in one gigantic room! At Celebration III, there was at least a separate room for autographs, if not for all three of these things. Surprisingly, this room at the L.A. Convention Center had room for all three. I was amazed, to say the least. The Autograph Hall was in the back of the room, so I got to walk past a bunch of other cool things before I even got there. A full-size Jabba the Hutt! Sideshow Collectibles! Toys! Artwork! Video games! Sculptures! I will honestly say that almost everything to do with Star Wars was in this room. It was overwhelming. 
So, I proceeded past the gaudiness of it all and took care of my place in line for autographs. I did not, however get any autographs on this day. I decided that I'd take care of all that starting the next day with Carrie Fisher. In the meantime, I'd get some expensive tacos at the food stand next to the Autograph Hall and do some shopping. My first stop was the Hasbro booth were I would pick up the exclusive Celebration IV Ralph McQuarrie Luke Skywalker action figure. This was one of two CIV Action figure exclusives available (the other one was in the Celebration store). The line was about an hour wait, which circled around the Hasbro booth as well as other booths.
So Steve and I were grateful to hear that there was no line for the store this time! At CIII, Steve actually volunteered to work at the store and so we were able to get our items within a half hour. This time, it was not necessary. As soon as we were done getting our Hasbro figure, we went with my dad to the Celebration store to see if the claims of there being no wait were true. Sure enough, there was no wait at all! Not only was the store open 24 hours a day, but it was operated like a real store. There were various booths set up with items to buy, and you could just walk right up and snatch whatever you wanted with virtually no wait whatsoever. After you put all you wanted in your bag, you could just proceed to the checkout and leave. It was the most smoothest operation at the Convention. Mad props to Gen Con for successfully correcting the store mishaps from last time! The "Quickpath" Store tickets I pre-ordered were not even necessary (they were free anyway)! So yeah, I got my CIV Ralph McQuarrie R2-D2 and C-3P0 exclusive action figure, as well as a CIV Pilzner glass, coffee cup, poster, T-Shirt and some free-bees along the way. I loved the Celebration store! 
The day was not over, however, and so we kind of struggled at coming up with things to do besides hang out. So we decided to visit the R2-D2 Builder's Room. This was something we were not able to get to at CIII, so we thought we would see what it was all about. Basically, this is where various Droid-building hobbyists hung out and basically built Star Wars droids all day. There were may astromech droids being built, and many more that were already completed. They also had other kinds of droids as well. This was actually quite facinating to observe, and it was amazing talking to the various droid builders. They would tell us how they made these things, how much they cost (EXPENSIVE!), etc. All the robots were very authentic and most functioned just like the ones in the films. Incredible!
