*cue Star Wars opening theme*
Hello there
I hope you have all been doing well over the course of these last two months 🥰
As most of yall know, I am a huge nerd, especially for Star Wars…I do work in Galaxy’s Edge after all lol. And for those who love the franchise and stories such as myself, you may have heard of a wee little thing called ‘Star Wars Celebration’. For those who may not know, essentially SWC is comic-con but for just Star Wars. It is where individuals such as myself can meet up with others and share our love for all things located in a galaxy far far away. Now, unlike comic-con, which takes place in the exact same location every year - America's finest city San Diego (hometown represent); SWC prefers to change it up a bit. It does indeed occur each year, however, it bounces between Anaheim, Chicago, New York, and Europe (at least over the course of the last 7 years). It was announced in 2019 that the celebration for 2020 would be occurring in Anaheim (excited fan girl scream), and boy did I jump on the chance to attend. Huge shoutout to my parents for making it happen, and getting me a four day pass for my birthday <3
Flash forward to the next year, which frankly let's be real you all saw the mention of 2020 above and knew what was coming lol. Due to covid 19, SWC - of course along with many other events was pushed back. And after a long-awaited three years, your girl finally got to live out her best nerd life for the weekend!
Imma be honest, I didn't really know what to expect going into this - I’ve been going to comic-con since 2015 and have been to a couple of d23 expos as well. In my head, I was sort of picturing those, as that is what I’m used to from past experiences. But this, however, was nothing like those. Yes, they shared the same similarities of panels, and an exhibit hall/shopping floor - but besides that - my four days spent at the celebration was a totally different experience than any other convention I’ve been to - and honestly, I would probably have to say that it was my favorite as well, and yall are about to find out why hehe.
Prior to the celebration beginning, they did a lottery system for the bigger panels and on a whim, as a girl who never wins anything, I thought why the heck not - the worst that could happen is I don't win lol. I decided to submit an entry for a panel each day, as well as the funko/loungefly shopping opportunities, and waited. On the day that the emails were going out letting guests know if they had/what they had won, my phone was blowing up with missed calls and text messages from my friend Jesse telling me that we had won entry into the Lucasfilm studio panel for Thursday!! I won't lie, I totally let out an excited squeal or five when I found out, and then we proceeded to fangirl on my break. Now, I figured that the panel would be cool and that we would get a ton of insight into new and upcoming projects - but boy oh boy was I absolutely blown away by what occurred that day. The panel itself started with a choir singing ‘duel of fates’ and then THE obi wan Kenobi and Anakin skywalker/Darth Vader came out onto the stage. A tear or two, as well as some screams, were let out - and rightfully so. I grew up on the prequels, and in all honesty, they have always been my favorites (sorry not sorry), and to see two characters that I had grown up loving, and ones whose stories are still being told to this day as I'm an adult, like damn lol. I never thought in a million years that I would ever get to see them not on my television screen. And just when I didn't think that the day could get any better, I kid you not after that entrance I would have been ok to go home lol - my nerd life was made, it got 10000000x better. We were personally invited back later that evening to attend the red carpet premiere of the Obi-Wan Kenobi show…cue r2d2 squeal --- like I got to watch Obi-Wan with THE Obi-Wan. I am still shook. The panel itself just kept going up from there. From announcements to trailer/teaser releases and cast appearances from andor, willow, and the Mandalorian (love you john Favreau); but of course, they couldn't stop there. John Williams came out as well and performed the new Kenobi theme, as well as a few other popular pieces such as the Indiana Jones theme, in which THE Indiana Jones himself, Harrison Ford, came out. By the end of this panel, I was absolutely taken back and speechless - and the day had just begun. The remainder of our time was spent wandering the exhibit hall floor and shopping a bit (the beginning to the downfall of my bank account), that is until the world premiere and red carpet were ready to welcome us with open arms. My crocs and all.
Yes, you read that right. I did indeed walk the red carpet in crocs. Truly an iconic fashion moment if you ask me. And they may or may not have been blue….Kenobi saber reference maybeeee lol (it really wasn't, but could have been lol). Multiple costumes from the set were placed down the carpet on display, as well as some custom-made light side and dark side Volkswagen vans (where can I buy one?). Interviews with the stars were occurring on the left, and free snacks and drinks were being handed out on the right (which is totally ironic because five minutes before this I had joked with my friends that what if they gave us popcorn lol). The arena was full of life as more and more of us took our seats and waited for the show to begin. Ewan McGregor took the stage himself beforehand to welcome us all and even said ‘May the Force be with you’ as the lights went down and the beginning theme began to play.
There is something extra magical about getting to watch the premiere with thousands of other fans such as myself. It’s just truly incomparable to anything else. And it is definitely a day that will go down as one of the best days ever in my book.
The remaining three days of celebration, while not asssss exciting as the first, still were absolutely incredible. I, unfortunately, did a little more damage to my bank account (oops), but ya know treat yourself lol. I was lucky enough to be able to hit up a few more panels, such as the Disney Parks Star Wars Merchandise panel in which I finally found out the news that I have been waiting to hear since Galaxy Edge opened - we are finally getting Qui Gon Jinn’s lightsaber!!!!!
And for those who personally know me and my love for Qui Gon, know that I have been holding off on purchasing a lightsaber from the parks until we got his; and now its finally happening hehe.
Come Saturday, it was time to try my luck at the lougefly booth, as I was trying to get the prequel trilayer backpack for myself - which had sold out a few people ahead of me the two days before. Luckily third time was indeed the charm and I was able to secure the bag….literally lol. After my moment of joy, I went to hit up the Mandalorian experience, which was an exhibit put on by Fairview portals, Lucasfilm, and disney + which showcased costumes, props, and so much more from the show. My personal favorite (other than baby Yoda of course) had to have been the life-size animatronic bantha that they had on display (If I could have adopted them I totally would have lol), as well as the deconstruction of cad banes face prosthetics. To be able to see the inspiration and concepts behind the show was essentially nerd heaven. It was so cool that I went back a second time - well that and the fact that Jesse hadn't arrived when I went earlier with my lightspeed lane pass (shoutout to Jessica for creating magic for us that night and allowing us in after the line had already been cut off, you’re a real one). To end the night we went to Anthony Daniels ‘I am C3PO’ panel, and I don't know what I really expected going into it, but man oh man I was left with one of the biggest smiles on my face from laughing so hard.
Now, I was definitely fooling myself when come Sunday I said that I wouldn't spend any more money. Cute little fantasy right?
Of course, the night before they had released the new star wars Starbucks ‘been there’ series mugs in the park…I tried to get this set on May the 4th when it was released on shop Disney - and one it sold out, and two we didn't get our cast discount (rude lol). So instead of sleeping in and catching up on some well-needed rest from the previous days, I woke up earlier and went to the parks to secure myself these gorgeous pieces of coffeware. After securing the bag (once again lol) for my sister and myself, as well as treating myself to a few other galactic pieces of merch, and breakfast shawarma - I was on my way to the convention center for the fourth and final day. We were smart adults for the rest of the day and chose to stay by the Celebration live stage and because of this we were able to see so many cool guests such as our bestie Anthony Daniels again, as well as Billie Lourd, and Tem Morrison to name a few. And shoutout to Jesse and his height advantage for catching me a razor crest knob stress ball - in which every time the guy would ask ‘who’s stressed?!’ before he tossed them out, we would scream back ‘us!! We’re stressed!!!” and guess what, it finally worked lol. After one last and final lap around the convention center and some photos we made our way to work…yes we both closed that night and it was brutal lol. Coffee and energy drinks were definitely our best friends that night and the next day, especially since I was on a turnaround. But even with the craziness and lack of sleep throughout the weekend, I wouldn't have changed it for a thing. Did I spend a little too much money, maybe? But how often am I gonna be able to say I did the things that I did throughout the celebration. I mean a red carpet premiere experience?! And to experience it all with one of my closest friends is definitely something that I will never forget and a memory that I will always cherish - even when I look back on it when I’m older and it feels like light-years away.
Till next time folks.
It was fun catching up :)
T <3
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