This past Saturday I got the chance to attend Star Wars Weekends at MGM Studios for the first time. Though I've always been a Florida resident, I've just never gotten the chance to go to this great event. Unexpectedly, on Friday night, I found out that a friend of mine could get me in. I was so excited, but I also was unprepared. This would be the first gathering of Star Wars fans that I had ever been to, besides the Episode III midnight premier. I searched online for a few hours to find any information I could about what I may need, what was the best time to go on Star Tours, and all of that good stuff.

After my research, I felt satisfied that I would be prepared to face the long day of lines, heat, and fun.

I read online that it was good to get to the park about thirty minutes early, which is reasonable, considering the park opens at nine.

That was my first mistake.

I arrived at the MGM, and the parking lot didn't seem too crowded, which I took as a good sign. When I reached the park's gates, I immediately saw two things that I knew would be good photos, but would have to wait until I left the park. I couldn't stop to take pictures, because I could already see the crowd gathering at the gate. I went to the cast member entrance, where signs were indicating lines for the celebrity autographs. The odd part was that nobody was in these lines! Before I could reach the signs, some Disney employees popped out of a side door and removed them! I questioned a passing worker, who said that the lines had been moved inside the park. My guess was that not enough people had showed up to get in the lines outside. Sadly, I was wrong.

I looked around me as I waited for the park to open, and saw quite a few Star Wars fans, who stood out with their Star Wars t-shirts. The cantina theme was playing over the speakers, but stopped abruptly, as the sound of blaster fire was heard in the air. Suddenly, on top of the gate, two stormtroopers appeared. These guys did a great job at keeping the crowd entertained while we waited to go inside, having conversations with each-other and interacting with the crowd.

The gates were opened about ten minutes early, giving all of the fans more time to get to the autograph lines. Unfortunately, I was unaware that Disney would stray from their set opening time, and had informed my friend to get there at nine. I had to step out of line and wait for him to get there, loosing my excellent spot.

I doubted it would matter though. I figured that I could still make it to the autograph line and secure a good spot. Oh, how wrong I was. I ran through park, past the crowds of families that were swarming in the opposite direction, and found the lines for the three celebrity guests, Anthony Daniels,Jay Laga'aia, and Warick Davis. These lines were backed up very far, but unless you've been to MGM you wouldn't realize how far if I told you. My main goal of the day was to get Anthony Daniels' autograph, and he had the longest line. I really couldn't understand how the lines could be so long- there hadn't been nearly this many people standing outside the front gate! As I took my place near the end of the line, a Disney staff member was walking past, telling everyone that there was a very slim chance of getting a Fastpass ticket, and that we would be lucky to get the stand-by pass. The line moved much slower than I expected, but I was luckily under some sort of shade most of the time. I believe the temperature was 94, and would rise to 98 later on in the day.

As the line moved on, the same Disney employee came to my section of the line and said that all of the Fastpass tickets were gone, but to stay in line, because a standby pass was still possible. I was about ten people away from the front of the line when it was announced that all of the standby passes were also gone.

I was quite frustrated as I left the line and sat on a bench. Out of nowhere, a lady who worked at Disney started talking to me. She said that she had attended all of the Star Wars weekends, both as a worker and a visitor. I told her that I hadn't gotten an autograph ticket, and she claimed that there had been people lined up for them at 12:30 in the morning, and that Disney had let them in at seven. I couldn't believe it! I realized my big mistake of thinking that arriving thirty minutes early would be good enough. These were experienced Star Wars fans that I was competing with, some who I found out had also been to CIV. I've learned from this though, and I'll be sure to be there far before the crack of dawn next year.

Another interesting thing that the lady told me was that Anthony Daniels was very picky about his autograph signing. She said that he allowed one signature and one photo, and that when she had tried to take a picture of him from afar the day before, she had been told to leave the area!

This kind lady informed me of quite a few things, such as how only one picture could be taken in the Q&A, because Anthony Daniels didn't like them. I considered her my Star Wars Weekends "Yoda" from than on, grateful that she would pass some of her knowledge to me.

After my little mess-up, the day went smoothly. Though I wasn't able to obtain any autographs, I was able to see the stars, which I'll talk about later. I decided that my next stop would be the merchandise store, cleverly named "Jabba's Hutt" which was on the other side of the park. On the way there I snapped some pictures of the banners that had been hung throughout the park, to show how MGM had been decorated for the festivities.

I also passed two of my favorite villains, Jango Fett, and the Dark Lord of the Sith himself- Darth Vader.

A lot of the kids who took pictures with Jango didn't seem to mind, but some of the kids who took one with Vader seemed nervous, and even a little scared, especially the younger ones. After seeing the terror that Vader is in the movies, getting up close to him in his tall, black suit must be pretty nerve-racking for young children.

I think that I'll conclude this entry with a picture of the merchandise shop. They had some really neat items in here, but most of it was expensive. They had an auction for some artwork, one-piece beginning at $7,000. It would be interesting to know who won, or if anyone even bid. All I got was the Star Wars Weekends poster, which looks like this, and a nifty mug that is black and has the same picture on it. The shop was located inside this building, which was built to resemble a movie theater.

Next time I'll be writing about the second half of my day. I had intended to put it all in one entry, but it would have been too long. I still have to tell of the parade, a crazy gamorrean guard, finding a certain droid, and my run in with the police.