A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
Actually, it wasn't that long ago. Only about five months now. And it was actually in this galaxy. Florida to be exact. But we were on our way to a celebration of all things in that galaxy far, far away.
Ever since the announcement of Star Wars Celebration V (henceforth to be described as CV) my son and I had made the commitment to going to this one. I had not gone to the previous four Celebrations, dating back to the very first one in 1999 out in Denver, Colorado. Celebration II and III were both held in Indianapolis and Celebration IV was way out in Los Angeles. But now CV was being held in Orlando, Florida. This made it possible for us to attend. So after months of planning, saving, reserving, more planning, lots of reading, did I mention planning, and spread sheets to keep track of all the collectibles we needed to buy, we were finally heading to the greatest gathering of Star Wars fans on the planet.
We decided to fly out of Portland, Maine. My dad lives not far from there so this allowed us to be driven to the airport and not deal with traffic and parking. Our tickets were with Jet Blue and our flight was at 7:00 in the morning. Ryan had never flown before, so he was a combination of excitement and terror. My biggest fear was that he would get on the plane and flip out on me. But after going through security we finally were aboard the plane. Should I ever find myself flying again (not something I really look forward to) I would not hesitate to fly Jet Blue. The fact that every seat had a TV made the flight much more fun. In fact, I was able to watch NCIS the entire trip! (Thank you, USA Network for running an NCIS marathon that day!) It was a sunny, beautiful day to fly and I did my best to joke with Ryan upon takeoff to keep his mind off the fact he was on an airplane. Once we were in the air, Ryan discovered that he loved flying. Though he seemed more interested in what was on TV than looking out the window. We had a short layover at JFK and then straight on to Orlando. We made good time and actually arrived in sunny Florida 20 minutes early.
Orlando International Airport is not exactly like Burlington or even Portland. It was huge! We had to take a train from our gate to the main part of the airport. Pretty amazing. Once we got there and I finally managed to figure out how to secure us some transportation to the hotel (note to self, figure this out ahead of time should we ever do something like this again. I think not knowing how to get to the hotel was the most stressful part of the trip.) But soon we were on our way by taxi to our hotel.
This was my first trip to Florida and I found it very beautiful. It was very humid, but it looked like I expected it to and enjoyed the ride in very much. We soon found ourselves at our hotel which was one of the official CV hotels. This meant that we were on the free bus route that would take us every morning to the convention center. We had arrived early and our room was not ready. So the hotel graciously secured our luggage and I asked direction to the convention center. With those in hand, Ryan and I decided to kill the time by venturing out and getting the lay of the land.
We started our hike and was taken by all the sights and attraction that were along the route. There was one attraction, what it is escapes me at the moment, but it looked like an upside down building. There were many restaurants, shops and attractions along this strip. As I mentioned, it was very humid and it wasn't too long before Ryan was whining about the heat. But he soon stopped complaining and just kept marching. Several times he questioned my internal navigation skills and suggested I didn't know where the hell I was going, but I soon proved him wrong as we came around the corner and there before us was the sight of our destination. And what a sight it was!
The Orange County Convention Center is a huge structure. We knew we were in the right place at the sight of the massive CV banners hanging on the front of the building. We made our way up to it, just to look around, when I noticed that the doors seemed to be unlocked. Figuring I had nothing to lose but being told to get the hell out, I opened the door and we headed inside.
What greeted us was a Star Wars geek's greatest fantasy. We had walked into a hall where some guys were finishing the assembly of a massive AT-AT. the air conditioning inside felt great, so we decided to have a look around. We wandered the halls, looking at signs and getting an idea of how the convention center was laid out. Before long I spotted lines of people in front of some booths. So we wandered that way and found we were able to register early and get the lanyards for our convention badges. Since I am a Hyperspace member (that is part of the official fan club) I had a special lanyard and it would allow us to go in a special entrance and get in a little bit earlier than the general public.
After registering, the next line was where we were able to pick up the autograph tickets we had pre-ordered. I had pre-ordered autograph tickets that would allow us to get autographs from Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Ray Park (Darth Maul) as well a few general autograph tickets that could be used with other celebrities. Since I was one of the first 200 people to pre-order a certain amount (don't ask how much) I was given an exclusive pack of autograph cards. These were trading cards of all the celebrities that were going to be appearing at CV. The cards had their character picture as well as a space where they could sign, should you meet them and should you want the card signed. I tucked away the pack of cards as a neat collectible.
We continued to wander around the convention center. Mostly because we were killing time before our room would be ready, plus it was air conditioned inside the convention hall. We sat down at one of the many tables inside to rest for a minute, when I noticed a group of people walking towards us. Instantly I recognized one of the group; Steve Sansweet! This is a name that is instantly recognized by Star Wars fans, but probably not by anyone else. Steve Sansweet is the head of fan relations for Lucasfilm. he was one of the main planners of Celebration. But aside from that, he is the premiere collector of Star Wars memorabilia in the world. His collection has no equal. He has written books on Star Wars collecting and is frequently on TV for his collection. Seizing this opportunity, I sprinted from the table straight into his path were I was able to say hello and shake his hand. My first encounter with a Star Wars celebrity. It would not be the last.
At one point we wandered into a hallway that opened onto these glass walls and we found ourselves looking down on convention floor. On one wall we were able to look down where the Celebration Store was being set up. Box after box of exclusive merchandise was being unpacked and set up. The other wall looked out over the dealer's room. This is where all the companies that make and sell Star Wars merchandise were set up. We could see where a full size TIE Interceptor had been built, and row after row of Star Wars dealers were setting up. This was going to be amazing!
Finally, Ryan and I decided it was time to head back to the hotel. We made another long, hot trek back to the hotel, but our room was ready and we gratefully crashed inside the air conditioned room. It had been a long, exciting day and the convention hadn't even started yet! We walked next door to a Friendly's and had dinner before heading back to the room for last minute planning before getting to bed early, for the next day we would begin our Star Wars Celebration experience.
And so ended our first day in Florida. Be here next time when I will regale you with tales from the first day of CV! So until then May the Force Be With You!
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