SWC22 So How Was It? Thread for Good, Bad, and 'ARRGH!' Stuff

I was really glad they had the one book store near the celebration store upstairs in that separate building. It was a lot nicer then right in the middle of the exhibition hall like past Celebrations. I was able to meet Claudia Gray and Mike Chen and get them to autograph my copies of Bloodline, Master and Apprentice and Brotherhood. They were both really nice. As both a fan of the politics of Star Wars and Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan, it was great to tell Claudia how much I enjoyed her work.

 

What! Celebration is over already?! I feel like I blinked and it was over. Overall, I had a really good time. This was my 8th Celebration. The Force was with me as I won a seat for 2 panels out of 4, one for "Light and Magic" and one for "Bad Batch". I was disappointed to miss the panel on Thursday and then I didn't even know that there was a screening of Kenobi. The App seemed to work fine and I was able to make Lightspeed lane reservations for panel and the store on Friday and Saturday. It saved me some time in line, especially for the show store! I think there has to be a way for them to organize the store better! The best panels: Light & Magic, Anthony Daniels, Tales of the Jedi and 35 Years of Star Tours. The bad: I didn't get into the Mandalorian Experience and I just can't get over the fact that Reed didn't print "The Insiders Guide" for the first Celebration ever. Not only the App does not replace the guide, I would have liked to get the descriptions of the panels without having to go in the App and also the maps weren't easy to navigate in the App. I will make sure to tell Reed at survey time! I saw a fan who had printed everything from the website and made his own "guide". I hope they don't take things down too quickly as I'm still on my trip for 2 more weeks. I will print everything when I get home. As for the next SWC in London, I would prefer it be in the U.S. but I'm pretty sure that I can attend this time. I didn't go to the other two in London. So now is my chance!

 

Update: I got everything in PDF from the website, thanks to a Star Wars fan. So I can print when I go back home.

 

Ya, I honestly can't believe I'm saying this but Official Pix were even worse than Topps. They treated everyone like animals - including the actors! And it all goes back to overselling. Greed, plain and simple.

 

The family vibe that OPix used to have was definitely gone. I had a conversation with a guy in line about how things have changed over the years. I volunteered with Opix at CVI and it was like a bunch of old friends hanging out. It's very corporate now and they are pushing people through so fast you can't get the same experience.

 

My body still hurts. I only went on Saturday and my body was done. I need to make sure I get good rest and not skip meals next time lol Overall had tons of fun. The lines and waits were terrible though. Other then that had a blast and got lots of cool stuff.

 

There really wasn't any difference between OPix and Topps

 

Darkslayer, that's pretty sad about Opix, I think they were in charge the last time I saw Carrie Fisher at Cele. they were patient and civil. all celebrities were treated well. but to treat the celebrity badly may make them not want to come back to anything Opix is present at. I hope you got all you photos and autographs.

 

I've been to several other opix events and the family vibe is still there. I'm curious if it isn't an Opix or Topps problem. Disney has made everything so complicated and corporate that it may be affecting how Opix operates.

I hosted an event at CVI, CA15 and CO17 and they got more complicated and expensive as the years went on. By Chicago I was up against an impenetrable wall so I threw in the towel. I may attempt to bring it back for the next Orlando Celebration but a lot of things need to work for it to happen.

 

I was really disappointed in the autograph system. Online when I purchased my ticket, it said they would provide a hologram for the item and some sort of certification. That was not the case. My comic book Ewan signed was just handed to me, and I was sent on my way. They did'nt even mention that CBCS was there to offer authentication services. I discovered them later on and had to pay $100 for them to grade and authenticate my book.

 

groove, Disney has seemingly changed a lot of things concerning Cele. I noticed that The Stormtroopers Olympics is no longer there(I liked that so much!) and found that in Chicago, 501st was relagated to a couple tables instead of their beautifully set up display room. I had asked 501st personnel about it and they said Disney was doing this. If Disney has photo ops and autograph at any of their events(other than Cele.) do they treat fans and celebrities awefully? What was your event you hosted? I was at Cele's 15 and 17.

 

It is sad to see how it has changed. It is still a fun event but not at all what it was. I hosted a non-denominational worship service. One thing I did see this time around was a prayer room. That was a surprise. They fought me to offer what I did off-site and said I couldn't be anywhere on the convention center grounds so it was an odd thing to see on site.

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upon seeing the Cele. floorplan, I saw a "quiet room" and a prayer room, I said "huh?", I thought the quiet room was for parents and young children who may need a rest, I think in the past, before Reed took over, there was such a room for that, but I don't know what it was for this time, then I saw a prayer room, Did you find out what that was for? we both know what it's used for in your event in the past. I can't believe you would be chased off the premesis for trying to do something good!

 

I never made it up to the prayer room. I can't say they chased me off but they definitely had a long list of things I could and could not do. Their reasoning was that "it is a family event and all events that are associated with it have to follow the broad scope of what Star Wars is." A Christian service did not fall in that scope because it could be offensive to some. What really blew my mind was when I saw all the official celebration ads for the strip show that was happening down the street. My event couldn't be associated but the strip show was in the event program. It's all good though. It appears that anything that is not officially hosted by reed doesn't get any attention anymore. There was a severe lack of advertising for after events this time.

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They told you this from the past Cele.'s and also this one? Why then the prayer room? You did hold your service during Easter. there was nothing wrong with it. some people do still have faith. good for you!

 

This was my fourth Celebration and I enjoyed it for the most part. What was neat was that I was able to get some friends to attend, who had never been to a Celebration before and they had a great time (including Star Wars Nite @ Disneyland).

As others had commented, my biggest complaint was the Lightspeed Lane system. We were able to win the lottery for the Mando+ and the Bad Batch panels. Both panels were very good but Mando+ was amazing with the cast / crew and then top it off with the Sabine reveal was awesome.

We tried using Lightspeed Lane to get into the overflow rooms for the Lucasfilm Showcase and the Light & Magic panels. Unfortunately, that didn't work out but waiting in the will call overflow line outside the room did work. Was great to see both panels, if only via a live video stream. The bonus was getting the wristband to come back Thursday night to see the first two episodes of Kenobi in the same overflow room. It was an awesome experience to watch it with other SW fans, who were oohing and ahhing at various scenes during the episodes.

The Celebration Store and the Funko / Loungefly "raffle" or whatever you want to call it was extremely disappointing. None of my friends got in until the last day and everything was completely sold out. For future Celebrations, it's probably better to buy things from the Celebration store during the pre-sale before Celebration. As for the Funko stuff, all you can do is enter the raffle and hope you get it.

They really need to re-work that Celebration app (particularly the Lightspeed Lane system). Too often, I was told that I needed to activate my badge or sign-in, even though it was activated. I sometimes felt that overhead might have been the difference with getting in or not. Will never know.

It was definitely nice chatting with other SW fans either waiting in line, or getting coffee at Starbucks or Coffee Bean, waiting for a panel to start, etc.

 

If I had been there, and I've been thinking a lot about it, I would've headed straight to the store. I usually have to pick between the store, Hallmark and opening ceremony,
I saw the exclusives when they previewed the store goods, I was not impressed, I didn't get to see the Hallmark exclusives, except after Cele. on E-bey. not impressed, that line on the floor is usually wrapped around everyway! I think in terms of old times, "first come, first served" you know the routine of "long ago". I had found out that the "opening ceremony" was listed as a "panel" thought that was weird and no big deal made of it, except after it occurred, people were surprised that John Williams and Harrison Ford had come! I also heard the arena was half empty because Reed didn't make a big deal about it in announcing the surprise! I would've loved to have seen that in person in the arena!(accoustics was part of the design long ag0)
But since you have been to other Cele's in the past, you can now only wonder how much less there may be in the future,

 

You heard wrong, but I know at this point that you're never going to stop with your baiting post nonsense.

 

Huh? no, SW is G, I heard this on another forum. If it had been called opening ceremony instead of panel, with surprise guests, you know as well as I, the place would've been packed. I am not trying to "bait" anyone or thing.

 

You know what you're doing.

 

Believe me, I have no idea.

 

I apologize. I will work harder to avoid replying to these posts in the future. Please edit any of my posts you find problematic.

 

The arena was packed. The host and DJ said so and I was there myself. The Thursday morning panel was billed as a Lucasfilm Studios Showcase and it delivered exactly as it was described(including talking about non-SW related Lucasfilm productions), with some incredible surprises.

As for the official store, because of my issues with them not sending me some of the items I pre-ordered, they fortunately let me right in. But they had to refund me since the key art tote bag was sold out. However, she told me I could go ahead and shop for anything in the store after she gave me the shirt I'd already paid for. The store wasn't very busy at this time and the checkout lines were short.

When I got back to my room, I realized that the pre-ordered shirt she gave me was a women's cut instead of unisex. I didn't realize this until I unfolded the shirt. So I went back to the Store, explained to them at the entrance, they let me back in and I talked to the same sales representative that saw me before. She told me to go get the right shirt from the store and to do an exchange at the checkout line. If there was some more items I wanted to purchase, I was more than welcome to do so.

So I guess I got very lucky when it came to the Celebration store. However, both times I went, the store wasn't busy and there wasn't a long line to get in or out, so I don't feel like I cut ahead of anyone.

It was also a very easy and smooth process to return that same area for the Book Signings at the Mystery Galaxy book store/booth. I went there twice, first for Claudia Gray and later Mike Chen. I hope they continue that at future Celebrations with authors because I think it was less chaotic and a quieter, more personal experience than a booth right in the middle of the exhibit hall(Although I know they did signings at one of those too)

 

Brent, that's such a good experiance, I'm so glad you got most of your stuff, and the staff were really understanding! As for the other info the other person gave me concerning the attendance of the opening ceremony, they may not have been paying attention to the arena.