I love the smell of Steak 'N Shake in April....(Celebration 3)

1) The Sansweet Chat was a Hyperspace item, so you won't be allowed to post it here. I've incorpated the important items/details into my IK C3 Faq and reference the chat as such, but there weren't a whole lot of details because not much has been nailed down yet.

2) I'm only addressing this now so I won't have to later...As for the modding of the C3 forum, I was asked, but this is a bad time of year for me work wise (EOY accounting review coming up next week), so I already told strawbary et al I would think about it after that's done with. I'm juggling a lot more things now, so I don't know if I can take on something like this to the extent I did last time...we'll see I guess. In any case, thanks for the kind words.

3) Designated driver? What Zuckuss said. I've got some out of town friends already laying claim to my couches, so I may need to employ a personal DD Chauffer to cart us to and fro downtown.

4) Do you think they will have 2 and 3 day passes? If they follow suite with what they did for C2, you'll have a 4-day all weekend pass and then single day passes, which you can mix and match as your schedule permits. A 2 or 3 day badge wouldn't make much sense unless they hole punched it or something.

 

LadyNaberrie: i also stayed at the courtyard and it was a nice place. the pros: nice room, reasonably priced, we were able to check in SUPER EARLY (5am the morning C:II started), friendly staff, and very close to the con center.
cons: overpriced breakfast that left a lot to be desired (i.e. i payed over $10 for a buffet consisting of mini-muffins and mini-bagels), but there are plenty of other nearby restaurants, so no biggie.

re the info in the IK C:III thread: damn, looks like fan club members get the same non-existant benefits as last time. oh well. at least there's an additional day ^_^ also, i noticed that it mentioned only the hyatt as far as the blocked rooms go..am i reading that right? they won't have rooms at any of the other area hotels?

 

Hyatt's the only one I know about. It's a pretty big hotel with many, many rooms...so they might not need a block anywhere else.

I think you may have misread that thread...the Fan Club & Hyperspace member benefits haven't been set yet...I listed what people got at C2 for reference. Sansweet implied that there would be more benefits for C3 than C2.

 

I checked the Courtyard website and the one referenced above seems very nice. Does anyone have an actuall list of the local hotels in indianapolis?

 

This list all the hotels in Indy which you can sort and mess around with at your leisure.

 

" I think you may have misread that thread...the Fan Club & Hyperspace member benefits haven't been set yet...I listed what people got at C2 for reference. Sansweet implied that there would be more benefits for C3 than C2."

ohhhh, ok. thank you for the clarification sebulba. ^_^

 

So, is there going to be any C III forums??

 

Hyatt's the only one I know about. It's a pretty big hotel with many, many rooms...so they might not need a block anywhere else.

Are you kidding me?! Book a room elsewhere now! Otherwise, you may not have one when the time comes to book at the Hyatt.

 

Just as a FYI, the Westin sold out over the weekend for C3, for those that were looking to stay there.

We stayed 15 minutes away from the Convention Center, got up at 5:00, got line before 7am, with having breakfast, showering and catching the weather. The parking garage is across the road and pops you up across the street. It's not bad. We paid 65.00 for three days of going back and forth, about 8 times, for the actually comings and goings, parties, concert, etc.

 

Keep in mind some hotels aren't booking for the convention yet they have the policies of 360 days before arrival. Keep your eyes peeled on where to stay. We were lucky and I got our rooms 2 weeks before C2, 15 minutes out, but not in downtown. And that was LUCK. If your going to book near the convention center, book early. Don't book through Expedia.com or other travel places, they want to charge you the whole cost up front prior to your stay. What happens if you cancel?

Our reservations got messed up with the Westin, so I had to book another room for Saturday night else where. If your going to book, call them. I booked online, and they couldn't proove my reservation for 24 hours nearly. Just a little FYI from me.

 

I imagine a lot of hotels surrounding the Convention Center will show sold out for the C3 weekend. I'm guessing the folks running the show will have booked blocks in lots of the hotels and will be offering them up this summer when registration begins. I can't imagine them only using the Hyatt. I remember there were loads of surrounding hotels offered on the official C2 website.

There were lots of other hotels farther away from the Convention Center which were available. People who didn't want to pay the high $ for the hotels surrounding the Convention Center were finding hotel rooms helped by people posting rates and locations they were getting.

Since the GenCon folks are running the show does anyone remember what they did regarding hotel blocks for the 2003 GenCon? I tried to check for the 2004 GenCon and found you had to register for the Con before you could view the hotel choices (either that or I just couldn't figure it out).

Carolyn

 

elven: you said you got in line before 7, how far back were you? cause im trying to calculate what time i'll need to be there in order to be first in line. on thursday the doors dont open till around noon, at least thats what i read, so what time do you think people will start arriving?

 

Zuckuss,
Depends on the morning. On Friday morning we were standing back near the windows where the Jedi Star Fighter was housed, that would be about 25 feet from the foot court where you could go in, near the costume exhibit. I wouldn't say there were more than 500 people in line. But as the weekend progressed we ended up further and further back in line.

Friday was no way nearly as busy as Sunday. So honestly the longer the convention the more packed it becomes from what I saw in my experiance. Consider getting up earlier on Friday, Sat and Sunday, because the crowds will get larger. That's going to depend too on where you are "living" for the Convention, and how long it'll take to get there. If you've not been to Indy before take Wednesday to scout out downtown so you know where your going. Otherwise, it's VERY confussing. We got lost a few times during the weekend, because of the one way, etc streets.

Also estimating on the concept of more expensive downtown cheaper out of downtown this can be true. I've noticed some hotels aren't as expensive as others, if you estimate based on the hotels current prices. Remember we're fortuante, because hotels change their prices for Summer in May/June, so we're might be getting Winter Rates, enless they choose to change rates for the Convention. I've noticed tax is higher downtown also, when it comes to preferances, it all depends on where you want to be, if you mind driving in, if you mind having to pay for parking, or if you want to walk.

 

Zuck is from Indy, so I think he'll have a handle on getting around.

As for Indy being confusing, I guess any city can be to visitors, but downtown Indy was preplanned back in the horse & carriage days to be a grid, so even with the alternating one way streets, it's just a matter of making 2 turns to get back to where you need to go.

Indy Grid Coordinate Map

 

thanks elven. as seb said, im from indy so i should do ok with finding my way around, its time im not so good with. i want to get up way far in line with as late a start as possible. i think i'll be running on about 2 hours of sleep a night that weekend

 

An 'Associate' badge is a beautiful thing.

 

There was a hyperspace webchat with Steve Sansweet the other day. He gave us some info about Celebration III. Here's my summary of the main points:

Celebration III tickets should go on sale sometime near the end of this summer.

Ticket prices are still being discussed

There might be a special meeting area for Hyperspace members

If you want a lot of info, check out the starwars.com archives of Celebration II to get a feel for how things work. Also, you can check out starwarscelebration.com

Discount hotel rooms will go on sale shortly after the tickets do.

A few other cities were considered for Celebration III, but Indianapolis was decided on because they liked it so much last time.

There will be "dozens" of celebrities at Celebration III

There will be a Celebration III-exclusive action figure, much like "Jorge Sacul" from Celebration II

There is a slight possibility of more Star Wars Celebrations even after the films are complete, depending on how high the demand is for something like this.

There will most likely be exclusive Episode III footage at Celebration III, much like the 8-minute digital preview that was at Celebration II

Steve thinks it would be awesome if Ian McDiarmid could attend.

Thre will be no age restrictions for attending Celebration III

They are planning special benefits for Hyperspace and Fan Club members at Celebration III

Someone commented that they'd like to see Hayden Christenson and Mark Hamill on stage together. Steve agreed.

They plan on having much more stock and a much larger gift shop area at Celebration III

They are coming up with plans to solve the problem of the really long lines from Celebration II

International Star Wars Fan Club members (not in the USA) will have the same benefits at Celebration III as those in the USA do.

He said that even if you're at Celebration III for all four days, you still won't see everything

He said that no matter which day/s you go, there will be plenty to satisfy you

The autograph area will be larger than the one at Celebration II

 

An 'Associate' badge is a beautiful thing.



how'd you get one of those? was that for volunteering?

 

You catch on quick, young padawan.

 

An 'Associate' badge is a beautiful thing.

Oh man was it. Didn't have to wait in line everyday. Plus we got in early to boot.

 

The Westin isn't sold out btw, it has a bundle of rooms booked for: "the Star Wars people" which will be available trough Star Wars housing bureau.

you know I've been nicknamed supergopher at the first con I volunteered.. stuck ever since, now I wonder if I want to just help out or just Chair C3..

I don't think they'd let me anyway. *sigh* I hope they do good this time again..

I got a question for you guys (and gals) do you thing it would have gone slighty better if there had been some sort of "road" mapped troughout the convention center?

I remember barelly beeing able to move on saturday afternoon...(the Lay's set wasn't well placed.)

 

You catch on quick, young padawan.


thankfully this padawan is now old enough to volunteer for the next one, provided the ik will do that again. i just dont know if i want to volunteer and miss the actual convention. ah, such tough decisions.

 

True, I missed just about everything because of working...but then again, I got to see and do a lot of things most other people didn't. Needless to say, I won't be volunteering the entire weekend like I did last time, and hopefully I'll find that all important balance.

 

I'm working with a vendor for C3. I only have to work 1 day!

 

I'll happily volunteer a bit for C3. I'm also sure I'll work the FF and Rebel Legion tables as well.