Star Wars Weekends

Ok so this weekend I attended all 3 days of Star Wars.

Day 1. I arrived at the park at 6:30am and went to David Prowse's line. I got standby #10, and then a guarantee for Jeremy Bullock for the afternoon. Prowse is a wonderful man who just doesn't sit there and sign his name. He tells stories (he seems to love to do that) and really gives you an experience. I was fortunate enough to be taken during the first session. Where I had an 8x10 print signed.
With several hours to kill I attended the "Behind the Force" show with Ashley Eckstein and Matt Lanter. They did a cute skit of "what if Ashoka and Anakin went to Beverly Hills 90210. It was overall a good show which included a sneak peak of season II for the Clone Wars.
Killed more time before the next show which was "Stars of the Saga" Where Jay Laga'aia interviewed Bullock and Prowse. The show was good, both men seemed to really enjoy their experiences with the Star Wars saga.
Jeremy Bullock was super nice, there's no other way to put it. He was all smiles the entire time. I had him sign a Boba Fett action figure. About 4:30 I called it quits for the day, knowing that I was going to get up early the next day to sit in line for the next day of autographs.

Day 2.  I got to the park at 4:30am. It was very lightly raining out but the line was already quite substantial. For whatever reason Disney had the guard gate up where you get your bags checked. This caused the line to hook around. Then the first negative occurrence of the day happened. Someone who works for the park (but not on this day) told everyone to shift to the left. This made it so that a dozen or so people who arrived later at the park were now ahead of us that were there hours earlier. This ticked off (clean language here) dozens of people. Negative occurrence #2 happened as a few people were "saving places" for others. Ok. I understand maybe a spouse or a kid. But to allow 20-30 people in one group to show up at seven a.m. and cut people who were here at 2,3,4 is ridiculous. It's such a shame that 2 or three people ruin the entire experience for everyone else. It was suggested to me to do wristbands and random roll calls and if your not in line for your number to be called (or lets say 5 minutes if you're in the restroom). You lose that place and your to the back of the line. It kills me to have to write this but seriously, how "hard core" are you to have someone hold a place. Do you really think it's fair to those who were out there all night? Do you feel like you're entitled or something?  You really ought to be ashamed of yourselves for denying those spots to the real fans, the ones that are out there all night.  Now I want everyone to be reassured that 90% of the people out there were awesome, friendly people and were a blast to talk to and meet. Don't let the 10% of line holders and cutters to ruin the experience for you. Hopefully Disney or Lucas will do something to avoid the posers from ruining this in the future. I'm sorry if you're one of these people but line cutting in line is something you learn in kindergarten, please be considerate next time. I don't know if the celebrities got wind of what happened but these guys are WORKHORSES. They stayed through breaks not just signing but again giving an experience to all the guests. I was 38 for Prowse and 72 for Bullock and walked away completely satisfied and happy. Truly bless these two for making so many people happy. I tanked them both for making my childhood so special and hopefully my kids' as well. At Wicket's Warehouse I snagged Ryder Windham's book and had him autograph it to my 23 month old son. Another nice guy. I met many fantastic people this day all of whom expressed the same disappointment in how Disney handles the line maintenance prior to park hours. It's sad to see kids not be able to meet the celebrities.  I met people who would go through the lines several times and collect tickets and then give them out to kids in the park during the day. I like that idea and may do it myself.
Another thing I wanted to touch on was what people were having autographed. I had many people complain to me about this. There were some people with really old posters and action figures and other rarities. Then there were people who were having the standard handout and or t-shirts being signed. I'm really torn here. The guy with the Luke Skywalker/Darth Vader "I am your father" scene print which was signed already by Hamill and James Earl Jones may not get it signed by Prowse b/c the guy in front of him has a t-shirt that he bought 10 minutes ago. Now, as much as it kills me, if the guy with the shirt was there earlier in the morning, then he has the right to have signed whatever he likes. But if he's one of the line cutters who showed up at 7 that adds to people's unhappiness. Again, I hope this is something that is taken care of for next year so there aren't these angry feelings stirring all day long. Anger only leads to the Dark Side.
Again God Bless David Prowse and Jeremy Bullock for staying through their breaks and giving us all a lifetime of memories.

Day 3. This was family day. We had reservations at the SciFi theatre restaurant, the food and drink was awesome and my kid loved it! The food was good the drinks were better ( I had the space monkey..awesome) and the cherry coke was unbelievable. We made our way over to Wickets' where there was NO line for Darth Maul, I walked right up to him.My kid wanted no part, nor did he want me to stay with him either. We waited about 30 minutes for Darth Vader, which my son gave a big smile and a wave to, that is right until we turned the camera on, then he got all afraid again.
Fianlly the reason we came that night, Hyperspace hoopla. Folks there is one weekend left, 3 days. If you haven't yet, see the show. I may have to blow off work again on Friday just to see this show again. I taped it and if i figure out how I'll upload it to youtube. You haven't lived until you see Aura Sing shimmy.