The Official Celebration Horror Stories... post/complain here.

And finally my complaints are finished....at least this is all...for now

I had several problems with the way C3 was run, and they mostly have nothing to do with the store. Let me just go chronologically from Thursday morning on.

I didn?t mind how long the line was, that was inevitable. What I did have a problem with the fact that when there where three sets of doors at the fan club entrance, but only one was used. They should have at least used two of the sets of doors. Please do not use the ?only so many volunteers? excuse. Gen-Con supposedly runs conventions, they should have enough staff to do something like this. Another problem with the entrance was that no one checked for fan-club lanyards or friends and family passes. So basically anyone who wanted to stand in the fan-club line could, and would get in quite easily that way. Another problem with the entrance was that press got to waltz right in. Now if it where real press, and not just people that ran their own site, it would be one thing. (By the way, the line was not all that bad in and of itself, I enjoyed talking to other fans, but would have preferred to be inside doing C3 stuff instead of outside on the roof.)

Once inside, the first thing we did was go to the fan-club lounge to figure out what we wanted to do. With all the lines, I completely forgot to see what I wanted to do first! Surprise surprise, no one was checking to see if people had a lanyard or had friends and family passes. So much for ?fan-club only.?

We milled around the exhibit hall, and stuff of that nature until our group decided to go get in line for the opening ceremonies somewhere between 3 and 4. While we had no problem, because we were some of the first few lined up, other people had to go out the door and up on the roof where the fan-club line had been that morning. So then, as a Public Service Announcement, I made a sign that I, and others in my group, where holding up about how long the line was. Now that was fun! So that was pretty much all for Thursday, as the movies where already full.

Friday morning my brother and I did not have to wait in line much, as we had tickets to the fan-club breakfast with Jay. That was a lot of fun, and as soon as we got out from the breakfast, we headed on over to the store. While on the one hand I was irritated that a lot of other people where in front of us because of the fact they had been in the store Thursday and could not get to the registers before the store closed. So these people got wristbands, which I guess really was only fair, but it had been advertised that we would get first crack at the store if we went to the breakfast. So all in all, I guess it was fair.

After the store, we found a locker (which the convention center has FAR to FEW of!) to put our purchases in. After that, we went to the Rick Spectacular, which was great except for the fact that you had to go through several rooms of the labyrinth barricades, when all it was at that time was just people moving through the room. I wish someone could have just knocked the end of each row out for while it was just moving through, I could have done without all the extra walking.

After Rick, I believe we went to meet up with our group for lunch in the fan-club lounge. Of course they did not have anyone checking for fan-club passes again.

Soon after that our group was alternating spots in the rain (and hail storms, I might add) for the George line, and my brother, two others from our group, and I went to Wal-Mart for supplies for the line (tarps, chairs, snacks, etc.) One of the things that really ticked me and my group off is that the goons with Gen-Con where telling us (and apparently the volunteers) that they were gonna call the cops to disperse the line until midnight! This of course was a bold faced lie! So we stayed in line awhile longer, but then some very nice fans decided to number peoples hands, so everyone in that persons group would just get the same number and we reformed the line at midnight, with our group again trading shifts. My

 

I was at the breakfast friday morning as well, and thought that the "first crack" at the store was the biggest bonus of the whole thing. Then we saw all of the others walking in and getting in line for the store. These were the people who waited in line the day before nad were not let in. They were let in sometime around 7. HELLO open the damned store early!!! Pay your temps for an extra hours work in the morning to clean up the mess you made the day before rather than create a domino effect.

Again sorry I am just thinking common sense. I guess I misunderstood about going right into the store from the breakfast, it wasnt "first crack" but rather "hired temps on crack" Actually that would have been better at least they would have moved. They were out of what I wanted and it still took 4 hours to get through the store. It was as Disgusting as the ice cream scoop of eggs at the breakfast.

Actually the breakfast was really very nice, the food sucked beyond belief, but other than that it was well worth it.

 

Yes, they should have opened the door early since we had been promised first crack
Personally i kinda thought there wasnt to much to the breakfast, because I dont like tomatoes, and the eggs were a little undercooked to my taste...but I did LOVE the ham...now it was GOOD

 

But no where near as good as the Ham at the 501st party, now that was some damn good down home smoked and honey glazed Ham!!

 

Well, I wasn't there, and I am not used to eating at 'fine dining' places....I didnt expect there to be cloth napkins

 

Celebration III Horror Story.

The Friday prior to C3 I call to confirm our hotel reservation - they lost the first night of our reservation. My wife spends an entire day (with our kids tugging at her) on Monday straightening that out. Blame: Embassy Suites - eventually they fixed it - ultimate blame - Paris Hilton.

Having been to Celebration II we expected long lines. Having been to ComicCon out in San Diego, we knew what we were in for. Sure, we knew there would be lines - what we were not prepared for was that the Fan Club entrance on Thursday would be through ONE door. For C2 there was more than one entrance to let fans in every day. So we hightail it to the store because at C2 we didn't make it into the store until Sunday - and we figured - get it out of the way before the REAL crowd gets here on the weekend.

That was a mistake. Our wait outside of the room was 2.5 hours. For the Fan Club entrance. The wife, the five year old and the three year old roamed for most of this time. They walked right into the Archives - checked out a few of the other sights. Kids were in awe of all the costumed people which really made it for them. They joined up with us in line (by the way, I had my three year old up in a blue Yoda pack for most of the convention and the wife or our buddies had a hand grip on our five year old who walked the entire four days and was a total trooper about the whole event).

Someone informed us that once in the room the kids and wife would not be allowed to leave and come back - they decided to stay with me. I wish they would have gone back to the hotel. They stayed. Our total wait time inside the room was 6.5 hours from line to check out. We sang. Obnoxiously. We let our kids go a bit crazy running around the empty aisles that were capped off behind us. But we stayed. The kids survived - we got our stuff. We felt beligerent but turned it into humor. It's what we do. That annoy other people in line with obnoxiously loud singing. By the way, those people eventually ended up joining in.

Total wait time for getting into C3 on Thursday 2 hours - total wait time for the store NINE hours (plus some change to wait for our stuff).

During our wait a very nice lady and gentleman from the 501st informed us that if we had any issues that we were to take them up with Gen Con. The store at C2 was run much more efficiently than this fiasco - and the members/volunteers that we spoke with in line agreed. We were given the name of a customer relations manager who would be there the next day.

Friday we went late - the kids had to sleep in. They were dog tired - we didn't mind. We saw much more on Friday but my wife spent much of her time in the kids' room. Even this could have been run better. The FEMALE volunteers in the kids' room were first rate. Some of the staff who tried to come in and assist were less than perfect. A lot of the games and activities were oriented to older kids and there were mostly preschoolers with moms who were in there. Some of the moms had infants - a kids room with a changing area or CONVENIENTLY located bathroom - nothing like running two toddlers halfway across a convention center and having to cut through a line to get to a bathroom to test your kids' bladder control - simple little fixes that could have been made to make the convention better.

The kids loved lightsabering each other. This was their highlight. Playing with other kids whose parents are as obsessed as they are.

The kids' room was the place for parents to go and complain. Everyone had a horror story. Everyone discussed C2 vs. C3 vs. ComicCon San Diego vs. Dragon Con vs. whatever. Every parent who was complaining was saying the same thing - where the heck is the basic event organization?

The customer relations manager who we were directed to speak with WALKED out due to everyone's complaints. At some point you gotta be thinking, this is NOT customer relations.

The blue shirts (ie: Gen Con Hitler Youth) also known as security should also be aware that when they are wearing the shirt they represent

 

Man, I think people spent more time complaining than enjoying the convention.

 

Actually no, we just waited til after the event and are now venting on the boards.

Ultimately if you are an EVENT PLANNING COMPANY and are hired to plan an event - then it is your fault.

This sums it up completely.

 

"Blame: Embassy Suites - eventually they fixed it - ultimate blame - Paris Hilton."

 

But no where near as good as the Ham at the 501st party, now that was some damn good down home smoked and honey glazed Ham!!

The ham was excellent. The fact that water was then $3.50 was not so excellent. Actually, you gotta admire the catering planning-- a ton of free salty food, and then they charge you for drinks!

 

I dont know why everyone is so upset. Sure the lines were long...but you met AMAZING people in line who would do just about anything for you after only knowning you for 15 mins! Its part of the experience. I didn't mind waiting in line that much. the ONLY suggestion I have when it comes to line waiting is this: For the devoted fans who get to the convention center at 3 a.m. (or dont even go to the hotel!), there NEEDS to be an overhang or the line needs to be inside or SOMETHING because, as a floridian, I WAS FREEZING! and I think fans who show THAT MUCH devotion should be rewarded. But other than that I had a BLAST!

 

Yeah. The longest line I stood in was for the first Lucas show, but I had a blast talking to everyone. I had a lot of fun standing in line taking my pics with Stormtroopers or whatever.

 

The best part about Star Wars is standing in line. That has not changed since 1977. If I wasn't working I'd stand in line Wednesday to watch the 12:01 Am showing of Sith.

The problem with the lines at Celebration wasn't that they were so long. (that was expected) it was because there was no order or control.

 

well...I don't want to get off on a rant here. I saved that for the e-mails I've sent to gencon however I will bring up 2 of my complaints.

after standing in line for the store and getting to the front i was allowed to place my order. GREAT. I paid for my order. I waited for my order so far so good. only one day gone waiting but I'm getting there. Given my order. back to hotel room. Wait a second. I'm missing a starcase. yeah it's only $3.00 BUT IT'S MY $3.00!!!! when I went back to ask about this I was told I'd have to wait in line again. I could only tell the gencon customer (non) service to get stuffed.

sunday. I have some things to ship back to Tasmania. I go to the UPS store. the door is on the other side of the line for the store. I go to the line and say excuse me I just want to get to the UPS store, i have no ambition to stand in the narfing store line again. While attempting to get through the line to the UPS store I'm GRABBED from behind by a Security guard and dragged out of the line toward the back. I'm told I can;t cut in line. This ammounts to assult in my book. I didn't fly half way around the world to be manhandled by a wannabe cop. It's unwanted physical contact.

there are many other complaints I could go on about however I've sent those onto Gencon, Lucasfilm, and my credit card company. My opinion of gencon could not get any lower. the only way I would go to another gencon operated event is if I was dragged there with a tag on my toe. and even then I'd be putting up a struggle from beyond the grave.

az

 

Well, well.... Guess what I got in the mail today, A letter from GenCon thanking me for my comments and an apology for "any inconvienience we may have caused you...". They also included a complimentary Celebration III program and Darth Vader Lanyard.
Nice touch considering they didn't have to respond at all.

 

^Was it a real program, or one of those fake printed ones?

I bet you got a laynard, that someone needed, but didn't get when they actually bought it.

 

It was the program they were selling for $5 at the show. The Lanyard is the one sold at the store that has the Darth C3 logo on it. Kind of like a western tie.
Since I already have the program (Purchased it in line on day #1) and I see no need for the lanyard I'll probably sell them on eBay along with everyone else.

 

Did anyone else get the email from starwarsshop.com offering presale of the comic-con special figure? Nice move!

In an effort to cut down line-time so fans can enjoy all there is to see and do at Comic-Con, StarWarsShop is offering the chance to purchase figures in advance, allowing shoppers to simply pick them up at the Star Wars Pavilion. Advanced purchasers can come to the Pavilion throughout the show, during any hours the Comic-Con exhibit hall is open, to pick up their figures.

They also noted you must present your receipt and id to pick up the figure.

I don't guess I'll go unless I get a wild hair and decide to take a cross country trip this summer, something I've been wanting to do for the last couple of years.

Since it's Disneyland's 50th bday this would be a good year to go.

Anyway, they're learning!

 

I had an awesome time at Celebration 3.

I already have some buddies of interested in going if there's a Celebration 4.

The only horror stories I have is that i got lost on the way driving from Oklahoma to Indianapolis. Then my drivers side window broke.

But the biggest horror story came on that Saturday when I camped out like so many others in the rain for George Lucas that day and my cell phone battery died early that morning and I had no way of contacting my buddy who decided not to camp that night because his daughter was getting tired Friday night so they went home. Because he didn't have a cell phone and I didn't know his home phone number by heart. Luckily I met a few people who had the same phone as me and allowed me to borrow their battery to get his number and make a quick phone call to him.

It wasn't too bad we were split up the whole day but I met and got my picture taken with Ray Park, and met Jeremy Bulloch at the Marriott that night.