It's been exactly one year since Revenge of the Sith premiered, and exactly one year since the Star Wars Weekends of 2005 began. One immediate observation about the atmosphere in the park this weekend as opposed to its counterpart last year; this year, everyone is much more subdued.

Of course, I can understand how the release of ROTS would have caused that high-voltage buzz of energy we constantly felt during last year's event, but I see no reason to lose all that great energy just because no movie premiere is happening. I fully expected fans to be pumped up because Friday, the first day of the first weekend this year, was May 19, the exact one-year anniversary of the release of ROTS.

But, that was not so. Sure, there was excitement, but nowhere near the levels I saw last year. The cheering wasn't quite so loud, the fans not quite so wound-up.

That being said, the first SWW of 2006 was a success! (I hope some of you may recognize me; I was wearing a brown 'fan fashion' shirt that said "The ability to speak does not make you intelligent.") On Friday, my family and I got to the park around 7:45 a.m. We waited in line while studying my hastily compiled SW trivia guide. Of course, we groaned when the voice-over guy in the park-opening preshow pronounced Kashyyyk "cash-ick" instead of "cash-eek".

I decided that I would bypass the autograph sessions on Friday, instead focusing on getting merchandise and entering the Tatooine Trivia Trials. But when I finished signing up for the trivia event and went to get in the merchandise line, I found it backed up for at least 300 feet on Mickey Avenue. No way I was ever getting in a line that long!

So I went into Who Wants to be a Millionaire--Play It! Star Wars Edition for the 10:00 show. It was fun, but this show was even more fun than usual. Why? My brother will kill me if he reads this blog, but what I'm going to say is true. My little brother was the first Star Wars Edition Million Point Winner in 3 years.

WE'RE GOING ON A DISNEY CRUISE!!!

And man, that game was something to see. He breezed through every single question. He only used one lifeline in the entire game; the 50/50. And he won the 1,000,000 points!

So, after we claimed the prizes and calmed down enough for most of us to stop shaking, it was too late to do much else. So we went shopping near the park entrance and found some lunch. Of course, everyone we'd seen had been congratulating my brother (and even me for having such a smart brother ), and now I was starting to feel the pressure to win the Trivia Trials. In fact, I worried so much I nearly made myself sick. (Thank goodness that Golden Age Souvenirs carries peppermints.) A trip to Journey Into Narnia calmed my nerves a bit, but not enough. When it was time to register, I was about to freak.

Now, here's the really nice part. After registration, as I sat down to wait I met this really nice guy named Pete (if my memory serves; I just remember it started with a P) who recognized me from the last three years. He started a conversation with me about trivia, favorite characters, the EU, and the "unaltered" trilogy, and I actually found myself relaxing!

Then, a woman who had been convinced by her son to join the Trivia Trials came and asked about the format of the competition. We both talked to her about it, and a few others joined in. Then my friend Wendy came, and there was a group of about five or six of us just standing there talking. None of us had ever met before (except for Wendy and myself) but we were all giving each other advice, bits of trivia, and general encouragement. It was a wonderful thing to be a part of. That, to me, is the true nature of the Star Wars community. Last year, I saw the worst of Star Wars fandom, this year, I've seen the best.

Inside the Trials, we were surprised that we actually had a sizeable audience! Warwick Davis hosted the show, which was very cool. (The banter with the VO guy was LAME, though.) The show commenced, and I did happen to win, though I was sorry that none of my new friends had made it to the top 3.

After that, at about 5:00, I went to the merchandise line. I walked right into the store, waited in a 15 minute line, and got the Limited Edition pins I wanted. (The moral: you don't have to be first in line!)

We didn't stay for the Hyperspace Hoopla, but after hearing about it, I'm glad I didn't. Seems that this year's version is as annoying as last year's was funny and endearing.


Saturday, autograph day. We had to leave at 2:00 p.m. to get home for a special event of mine, so we decided that we would get FastPasses for the 10:00 session. Waited in line for almost an hour for McCallum's and Mayhew's autograph FastPasses, only to get a 2:45 slot for Mayhew and a 4:50 slot for McCallum. (The moral: don't ever have to leave early!)

Got to WWTBAM--PI: SWE. Went to both shows. Second show, a guy lost and vacated the hot seat. The whistle blew; we were out of time. A last check of the audience scores... I was on top! Arrgh, I was upset! I would have been in the hot seat!

Oh, well. I can always try again during all the next weekends. (I just hope I don't win us another cruise!)

May the Force be with you,
--i12bajedi