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II. The Star Wars Celebration, May 1, 1999 The next day was Saturday, and I took my 6-year old, Angel, thinking that it would be more casual because there was more time. Little did I know... The main parking lot was now only for exhibitors, and the closest spot we could find was six blocks away. Everything was packed with cars. So we walked for six blocks, and I carried Angel half the time. This time, we approached from the opposite side, and could see the lines of people once we were still a few blocks away. The "long" line for Stage A we saw on Friday was now about 20 times as long. It not only looped in front of the tent, but then lined all the length of both of these huge tents, and circled back the entire length. It then ran into 2 other lines, and circled back out of our view. |
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We learned that the fire marshall had limited the number of people allowed in the hangar, so there was now a line to get into the hangar. They were letting in about 100 people at a time, every 20 minutes or so. At the front, the line resembled the line for the rollercoaster at Elitch's, looping back and forth and around. However, another look revealed that the 'around' part was around out of sight, and when we walked over to see how long it was, it continued straight down the street so far that we could not actually see the end.
Here is a montage of some great pictures I stole from Katie Horn's virtual tour of the Celebration.
Notice that the pictures were taken from one of the longest lines!
The third line started somewhere in the midst of these 2 lines, and wrapped around 3 sides of a medium-sized food tent. We later learned that this was the line for the GIFT SHOP! We almost gave up right there. We decided to get some food, which had short lines. While eating, I asked someone if they had gotten to see anything. They were very helpful, and told us that Stage B had no lines at all, because it didn't have the movie screen. The person we wanted to see was Ahmed Best (who is Jar Jar), and he would be on Stage B at 2:30.
Relieved, we headed over to Stage B. The rain had begun in earnest, and there was already mud everywhere, so we basically took refuge in the heated tent while we waited for Jar Jar. But... Angel got bored with Terry Brooks (author) after about half an hour, and we headed back out for more food. The mud was like quicksand now, and they had finally put some wooden palettes down as bridges. When we returned, we found that they were going to clear the tent before Jar Jar started, so we needed to get in line. We were about sixth. It was lightly raining, and we had some pizza, so we were okay. Little did we know...
A few minutes later, a radio announcer in the middle of it all announced the new lines (there was also one for Ray Park (Darth Maul), who was on after Ahmed Best (Jar Jar)). The line very quickly grew, and the rain got a little heavier. There was a covered area about 10 feet from the side of the tent, so the line moved out there. Unfortunately, the tent had been blocking the wind, so it was actually colder there. And the line was now split from the first 4 or 5 people, so we had to stand guard to keep people from jumping in the middle of the line.
I think we waited about an hour, and by that time, the line had become another mile long line. As we shooed people away from the middle of the line, they would look down at the end and make some exasperated sound or something. The rain eventually poured down, and we were glad to be under the awning, but the wind was blowing very hard, and there was lightning, and we were actually pretty nervous. I held Angel most of the time, so I was sore, too.
People finally started coming out of the tent from the previous show, so we re-connected the line, which moved Angel and I out from under the covered area. We were soon drenched and miserable. It took another 15 minutes before they actually let us in. At least the wait had gotten us a great seat to see Jar Jar. Angel pretty much changed clothes in her seat, and we ate some not-so-warm (or dry) pizza, and in a few minutes, all was forgiven. Angel was excited to see him, and commented that 'he SOUNDS like Jar Jar!'. He even did a couple of the lines from the trailer for us.
At the end, people crammed up to the front where he signed some autographs. I thought we wouldn't get up there in time, but we had brought Angel's autograph book, so we gave it a try. We turned it to the 'A movie star's autograph' page, and I put her on my shoulders, and showed her how to hold it out in front of her like everyone else. Although we were several people back, Mr. Best saw her and picked her out of the crowd. Everyone was saying "Please sign my pass!" and he pointed to Angel to let them all know who was next. He took her book and read it like he was surprised to be called a movie star and signed it very large and on the line. Angel was very pleased.
We made a stop at a collectible area which was in the back of the Stage B tent, and Angel bought a Pokemon (ironically, our only non-food purchase). The area had standing water everywhere, including some areas with small ponds of water. There were electric cables strewn all over the ground, too, so it was not a safe situation. (Funny that the fire marshall didn't have a problem with THAT!)
Anyway, we stopped to pack to go home, and Angel eyed a magazine that she thought her sister would like. An old man was standing by the booth, and saw her looking at it. He handed it to her and told her he wanted her to have it because it would make her happy. We thanked him and started to pack it up, when a lady came over...
"You crazy old man, you get out of here before we call the police!" she told him. You could tell she felt guilty asking us to give the magazine back, but she said, "I'm sorry, he comes in here, and he's drunk, and he has nothing to do with this booth. He really can't give that to you." It was pretty funny. Angel didn't really care about the magazine, but she was obvious impressed by the situation. She asked me to tell the story to several people after it was over.
At that point we were exhausted, but I'd actually forgotten about the trek back to the car. I had to carry Angel most of the way, and the wind and rain were still pounding away at us. Away from the tents it was really cold.
So we hated it, right? WRONG! We loved every minute of it! Even my soggy, shivering, 6 year-old daughter loved it.
