Omaha, NE Official Celebration III Planning Thread

I know this was touched upon in another post, but with it being as big of an event as it is, it deserves its own thread.

Its time start planning our "Caravan of Courage" in earnest. As of right now I know of the following people saying they'd 'be there'...John and Misty, Craig, Myself...perhaps a few others. I know some connections to Marriott exist, and that John is in the 501st. Lets see what we can come up with for room prices and get some reservations set. Plan the caravan!

 

"Caravan of Courage". That's funny. If I remember right, there's a Marriot connected to the RCA Dome. I can see about reserving rooms now. Get them reserved by credit card so we don't end up out in the boonies. Granted, it wasn;t a bad drive. Pretty direct, but still it cut into all that nutty Star Wars goodness.

I don't know how many rooms I'll be able to get. As my connection can only get rooms for children or siblings, I may only be able to get one room. I'll see what i can do though. Rules were meant to be broken. We'll finger something out. The closer we are to the place, the better off we are.

Part of the room problem last time were the Indy 500 time trials. I know they were underway that first weekend in May, but I don't know when they actually started. All the racing fans come to town & gobble up rooms. With any luck, the trials will start after C3 is finished. Anyone here a racing fan? Know when the time trials start?

 

If you're on these boards and you are also a NASCAR fan you have got some serious issues. Of course, if you really think about Star Wars and all of that sibling kissing I guess it's not that much of a stretch. Hmmmmm.... Anyways, back on topic, the last I heard about booking rooms is that those of us without connections still have to wait because the hotels aren't taking reservations for that time frame yet. We should discuss this at the next OFF meeting. I know that at Celebration II I had a two bed room and my armor got a bed to itself. We could make this trip very cost effective. Besides, we can bring all that nutty goodness back with the OT DVD's and 10 hours of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. Oh Yeah!

 

The indy 500 is NOT NASCAR. It's Indy Racing League, a much better class of racing. Faster and it actually turns right from time to time.

 

SO SAY WE ALL!!!

 

Racing is racing. A bunch of dudes driving in circles. Anyhoo, at least there are wrecks from time to time. Breaks up the monotony.

I haven't seen a guest list or prospective list yet. Has anyone heard any rumors yet?

 

The soonest I can reserve rooms is 50 weeks in advance of the event. The price will depend on the hotel & how busy they are. I still need to find out if I can get multiple rooms or not. I'll keep everyone posted on what I find out.

 

Awesome! Keep us posted, sir.

 

And the true question is: Did he put NASCAR and Indy racing together to draw out those he was talking about, or did he not really know? Hmmmm.... Anyways, with at least two ACTIVE* 501st members in the Omaha Fan Force we should be able to work out who is getting the best deal on rooms. Also, it would be nice to have local representation in a couple of other "Fan clubs" as well. Notably, the "Rebel Legion" (cough, losers, cough) as well as more in the 501st (the club with a book dedicated to them =P ). At Celebration II I was able to volunteer to work the convention and got placed where I got to see all of the guest speakers. I got more out of volunteering than I probably would if I just went as a regular** attendee. Also, I was reimbursed for my 3-day pass and received a special "con badge". The details for Celebration III are still being worked out, but the benefits are amazing no matter what the perks are. Also, we got special priviledges in lines for the store and other events. That rocked! Well, enough of my rant. Please read the disclaimer below.

*ACTIVE denotes an active participant of both the 501st and the Omaha Fan Force. It does not denote activily getting drunk while in armor (wink, wink)

**regular attendee was not meant as a slight to anyone who see themselves as extra special or is in need of constant moral support to live day to day. It is just a generic term. If you take offense to the term your name is probably something like Chris and you need to move out of your parents basement. Thank you.

 

Ok...latest update.

I know that I will drive my car, and as last time Craig, you are a welcome passenger. I also know John and Misty will be driving in their vehicle. So that puts two vehicles in the Caravan of Courage at the moment.

So, note to other prospective passengers... John and I have tentatively decided upon leaving late Tuesday night April 19th, 2005. That would put us in Indy late morning/noonish Wednesday the 20th, giving us the rest of that day to check in and relax before jumping into C3 when it opens mid-morning Thursday the 21st.

As for leaving, that hasnt been solidly decided yet, but it looks to be either late Monday or perhaps even Tuesday.

Dont worry about the overnight driving, there are enough of us night owl and overnight workers going that that wont be a problem. Just want people to be aware of the schedule we will be following in case they planned on hitching rides.

 

Depending on how vacations work out. I may be driving my truck so thats two more seats that might be available. I can't commit to anything yet of course.

 

The boards for the Celebration are up- http://boards.theforce.net/FanForce_Celebration_III/b10611/

 

I think it's a good idea to keep our planning in this board. That way people who come here will be able to stay in the loop without running all over TF.n to find some obscure detail. Just my two cents.

 

Of course we keep the OFF's CIII planning right here, but the TFN board is good for "official" CIII info. They have the guest list and such ready. Also the planning thread for the next FF party is there too. Its worth checking out once in a while as we get closer to the event.

 

We are SO FRIGGIN THERE.

Wouldn't miss it!

Hope we can arrange a time to two to catch up.

'later!


KG

 

Of course!!

Oh and welcome back Kurt!