Thursday, April 16, 2015
There was no way I was camping out for the 10AM kick-off panel with J.J. Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy. After a turbulent flight and a full day at Disneyland the previous day, I was sleeping in a bed. I would get there when I got there and see if I get into one of the five rooms showing the panel.
I got there 8:30AM and shortly after got a bracelet for the Behind the Scene Stage room. I just missed the cut off for the Digital Stage Ballroom.
They didn’t let us into the room till 5 after 10 and by then panel had already began.
I am sure by now many have either seen the panel online or read about the highlights. J.J., Kathleen, John, Daisy and Oscar were being really cryptic about the story and their roles.
I liked John Boyega’s story about asking Harrison to sign his Han Solo action figure and John’s spot on impression of Harrison, “This is weird.” LOL
I was surprised to see the BB-88 was functional in real life. Does the head stay on with magnets?
Oscar Isaac said his character, Poe Dameron, is the best pilot in the galaxy. What about Han Solo?
He does look hot in this photo though. They are all really good looking people.
So after the exciting trailer I went downstairs to the Exhibit Hall. Besides opening the doors later than 11AM, it was insanely crowed and overwhelming. I really did not know where to go first.
After taking a look at the crazy Autographing queues I went to Her Universe instead. It was a mad house because Ashley was there talking to fans and taking photos with them.
There needed to be some sort of security organization. There was no organized queue and some woman in Sith Twi’lek cosplay cut me in line to ask a question. After she left I squeezed in to make my purchase.
I bought: the “Star Wars” written-with-Lightsabers-that-glows-in-the-dark T-shirt, and matching skirt; the AT-AT DaVinci style; and the Salacious Crumb’s Bake Shop shirt. I wish I had known about the Salacious Crumbs cupcakes being sold on the other side of the Her Universe booth. Buy the cupcake of the day and get $5 off the t-shirt. I found out about that on day 2.
Next was the Celebration Store debacle. I was on the queue TO GET INTO the store for about 30 minutes. It wrapped around the store and it did not move, except when people were leaving the line. I decided to try first thing the next morning.
So I went back to Autographing. I bought my Saturday photo op ticket for the Geonosis Jedi – Amy Allen (Aayla Secura) and Orli Shoshan (Shaak Ti). Then I waited on the autograph line. That took about an hour. I bought tickets for Ashely, Amy Allen, and Orli Shoshan. I was holding off on Mark and Carrie. They were expensive and I do already have their autographs on other photos taken at NYCC.
As I was making my way to the Untold Clone Wars panel I ran into Ashley and David Eckstein. She’s so sweet. She asked about my sister and I said she’s well but could not make it to Celebration. I asked about the Vader/Ahsoka shirt that I did not see at the Her Universe booth. She said it is available on the web site but they decided to bring the new “Ahsoka Lives” shirt to Celebration instead for #AhsokaLives Day. After a quick photo I said I’d see her later at her autograph table.