How was your Star Wars: Celebration Orlando2017 Experience? Please list off the good, the bad, and the UGLY!
Ditto! I really agree with your post. The weekend they chose really stunk for me. I also had to leave on Saturday to get back to my family. In addition, (for those would do not celebrate Easter or bring their family with them) this week is also spring break for most K-12 school systems. Therefore, the costs of everything goes up (hotels, airfare, car rentals, gas, etc.) and the travel crowds/traffic is significantly higher.major complaint about the show was the disorganized chaos of the autograph/photo-op area and the insane line on Thursday. I was on line at 9am and didn't get in till 11:45am. I had a photo op and autograph with Mark Hamill for Thursday so I spent the remainder of the day on line from 12pm - 6:50pm so day 1 of the con was completely lost.
day 2 was much smoother as far as lines and the autograph sections (was able to get 4 autographs and a photo op with Sarah Michelle Gellar (an autograph) all by all by 2:30pm (Garrick Hogan, Denis Lawson, and Freddie Prince Junior) and be able to enjoy the show as well.
day 3 was my short day unfortunately as I had to fly home that night so I was only at the show from 10-2:30 (and was able to catch my first and only panel Star Wars Rebels - on the overflow stage)
Galactic Nights at Hollywood Studios was awesome and one of my favorite Disney experiences since CV and the Last Tour to Endor.
my only other major complaint was the weekend they choose to hold the event...... being a family man myself it was hard for me with Sunday being Easter. I was fortunate enough to have family watching my 5 year twins but I had to cut the celebration short to come home for Easter.
all in all I think the OCCC needs to retrain some of it's staff to be a little more knowledgeable about what's going on and more friendly as well, and Reed Pop / Disney / Lucasfilm needs to get back Official Pix as the autograph people as Topps had zero clue what they were doing and their staff was just downright rude at times.
PROS:
I loved seeing everyone at the show and had a great time chatting with friends and making new friends
the showroom floor was great and well organized
the panels (even though I only made the Rebels one) were great
the guests were awesome
the surprises.... George Lucas, Harrison Ford, John Williams etc were mind blowing
definitely looking forward to Celebration IX.
Oh my god, thats Celebration 2 level s**t right there. The longest line I waited in once the show started was 90 minutes at the show store. And judging how terrible the show store was run at Anaheim this was a HUGE improvement and I accepted it. I'm really sorry you had your first day wasted, thats terrible. You shouldn't have to buy a ticket to spend 9 hours waiting in lines.major complaint about the show was the disorganized chaos of the autograph/photo-op area and the insane line on Thursday. I was on line at 9am and didn't get in till 11:45am. I had a photo op and autograph with Mark Hamill for Thursday so I spent the remainder of the day on line from 12pm - 6:50pm so day 1 of the con was completely lost.
This happens after every single Star Wars Celebration, it shouldn't really come as a surprise anymore. I'll be honest, with how hard it is to finish these 10, 20, 30, and the eventual 100 piece patches happening at these shows I'm glad there are people putting up their loose patches on eBay so I have a chance of finishing them. Just don't check ebay and you'll never know better.3.people reselling swag on ebay
it was a bit ridiculous but worth the wait (not the pain as I was in full Jedi Gear and my feet swelled up in my boots that day.. took a while to get my feet out of them and then spent the rest of the trip somewhat limping from the pain). I've never run into a problem before with getting the photo-ops and the autographs. I think at CV I waited 15 minutes to get Carrie Fisher's autograph and the majority of the autographs I've got over the years the longest before CVIII was for Robert Englund at Monster Mania in Cherry Hill NJ and that was only 45 minutes...Oh my god, thats Celebration 2 level s**t right there. The longest line I waited in once the show started was 90 minutes at the show store. And judging how terrible the show store was run at Anaheim this was a HUGE improvement and I accepted it. I'm really sorry you had your first day wasted, thats terrible. You shouldn't have to buy a ticket to spend 9 hours waiting in lines.
That seems like an over reaction. They didn't set the tone for the weekend. That's just how it is. From what I heard pre-con, the queue hall was scheduled to open at 8. It did.Biggest complaint were the jerks who lined up days in advance for the 40th panel. They set the tone for the weekend and caused everyone to panic and line up extra early when the original rules were no one could line up before 8pm