I recently had the opportunity to go to the Star Wars Celebration right here in our neck of the woods O Town. I can tell you that with this being my first experience ever attending one of these events, I had no idea what to expect.
Now while the event is a family friendly event, I did not go with my husband or the kiddos. I wanted to do a press conference for Star Wars Rebels, which is an animated series on Disney XD. Not to mention I had been scoping out other families experiences throughout the other days had been. The celebration is a 4 day event from Thursday to Sunday, and was held at the Orange County Convention Center.
I talked to several different families who decided to go on opening day Thursday so that they could see the 40 years of Star Wars opening panel. Who would be featuring celebrities like Mark Hamill, Forest Whitaker, and Felicity Jones among others. However many families told me that they had to wait in a 3 hour line just to go through security, then get in another line to get a wrist band to see any of the special events which is another 2 hour wait. I also spoke with a family that camped at the convention center in hopes that they could get in the line super early the following day only to find out they had to wait in another 2 hour line for the next day events.
So you can see my fear of taking my 1 year old toddler and super active 5 yr old. Now mind you I am a Star Wars fan, but these people attending the celebration were on a whole different level of IQ system then me. They were serious fans, that knew every movie, celebrity name, locations etc I met some guys that had flown in from California who have dedicated Podcasts devoted to just Star Wars. I went on Saturday, and luckily by then they had figured out, how to do security better, so getting in was very quick.
It was funny because I decided to wear my Star Wars skirt, and purse that I had made on Etsy a year ago. I got a couple of compliments. I have to tell you though they amount of people that did Cosplay was unreal. These costumes can be super expensive, and the amount of time it takes to do makeup can take a couple of hours. The cutest ones were those of families that Cosplay together, I loved seeing baby Ewoks!
The panel that I attended was for Star Wars Rebels, so if you have Elementary, Middle or Highschoolers at home you may know what show I am talking about. I watched maybe a bit of season 1, so I knew a bit of what the storyline was about etc.
However, I was blown away, from how many adults were fans of the show. I was sitting next to a 50-year-old man you looked like a kid at Christmas, with sparkles in his eyes, as they showed us a preview of what season 4 was going to be like. I also saw his devastation when they said that this would be the last season for it, the amount of dedication these fans have is incredible.
I mean I was shocked when I found out that Freddie Prinze Jr was still alive and was voicing one of the characters along with his wife Sarah Michelle Gellar. I mean even they are die-hard Star Wars fans! So you can imagine I felt like a fish out of water, not knowing all of the terminologies, the space craft’s, and some of the characters.
However, I left the celebration with a sense of wanting more, and to learn more about Star Wars and Lucas Films. I feel that as a mom I have introduced some Star Wars movies to my kids, but that I would love to have my kids, and husband there next time to experience this journey with me.
Leave a Reply