If you’ve been following me for a while now, you know I LOVE Star Wars. The truth is I always liked Star Wars a lot (I even had a deeper secret obsession with it in high school when I finally watched the Prequels and the new at the time Clone Wars First season), but there are two reasons now why I LOVE it even more now.
The first being that there’s SO much more Star Wars media available - and it’s all fantastic. The Mandalorian - best show ever. Book of Boba Fett - fantastic. Bad Batch, Clone Wars, Rebels - some of my favorite Star Wars content ever. Even Galaxy’s Edge in Disney Parks - going on the rides and getting to make my own Light Saber - has led to extra hype and love. And with all the new media on the horizon, it just keeps getting better. It’s just absolute brilliant storytelling and how everything plays upon each other? Perfection!
The second reason I know love Star Wars even more now, is because I started dating someone who’s favorite thing on this planet is Star Wars. Being around that energy plus constantly watching it and discussing it and getting excited over it was a contagious vibe I could not help but catch.
Star Wars definitely has bonded us even more and its something so special that Justin and I love to share and nerd out about.
In 2019, Justin purchased tickets for us and his friend to go to Star Wars Celebration 2020 (something they had talked about doing for a while), but obviously due to 2020 having been, well 2020, it was cancelled and re-scheduled.
However, that re-schedule to now, May 2022, worked very much in our favor.
Because not only did it coincide with the premiere of the Obi-Wan Kenobi show, it also made us closer to premiers of new shows like Andor, Ahsoka, Bad Batch Season 2, and Mando season 3 - all of which we were given sneak peaks of.
We had a four day pass (since we were flying out from New York to Anaheim - we might as well! LOL) So here’s how our time at Celebration went by each day!
Day 1 - Thursday
So each day, Justin and I did a Star Wars inspired outfits! We pre-planned these in advanced. We wanted to dress up but we didn’t want to be in over-the-top costumes and armor because we booked photo-ops and autographs, and I personally wanted to meet these people as a real person, not painted green 🙈. But someday we definitely will make our own armor and more (honestly after celebration, Justin is even more amped on getting a 3D printer and making his own Mandalorian armor - so you may see that from us in the future LOL)
So day one, our outfits were inspired by two of my favorites, Rebel’s Hera Syndulla and Kanan Jarrus. (And yes I painted Chopper on that leather bag!)
Day One had a crazy start. And crazy in the absolute best way.
So before this whole things starts, you have to enter the lottery to get into the big panels. And we wound up winning 3/4 panels! One of which included the Lucasfilm Showcase panel, which was the first thing on Thursday morning.
We got to the Celebration Main Stage for the panel (which was a mad rush and crazy disorganized with lack of employees - which tbh was kind of a theme of the whole convention ) and before going in they gave us gold VIP bracelets, which we assumed were just for getting into this panel.
The panel started, they had a choir sing Duel of the Fates and Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen came out and it was amazing. They talked about the Kenobi show which was coming out tomorrow… and they asked Ewan if he had a sneak peak or anything for us…. He said he had better and paused - we all knew it was coming. The panel was quiet and someone screamed “YES” so loudly that it made everyone (including Ewan) laughed. Ewan told us he was inviting all of us back tonight to the Red Carpet World Premiere screening of the first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi show to watch with the whole cast and crew. Our gold wristbands were our ticket in. It was amazing - and this was the first thing of day one!!!
In this panel we also got the trailer for Andor! Diego Luna came out and he was so precious and grateful, he seems like an amazing soul, I always liked him but I definitely love him after the way he spoke to us, he had a lot of good energy radiating from him - and the Andor show looks awesome!
Star Wars Gods (LOL) John Favreau and Dave Filoni came out and gave us a sneak peak at Mando Season 3 - looks like it’s very Bo-Katan heavy and our boy Din is going back to Mandalore!!! Greef Karga was also in it and had a really awesome new red outfit (yes these are MY takeaways from it 🙈)
Another cool highlight of that panel: It was John William’s 90th birthday earlier that year, so they wished him Happy Birthday, invited him out, and he conducted the new Kenobi theme live for the first time for anyone’s ears. He also conducted some more Star Wars favorites and the Indiana Jones theme (and Harrison Ford came out and said some really nice things about John!)
After that amazing panel, we walked around - the shop lines were unfortunately way too long. We got some lunch (not too many options tbh), but overall the vibe and atmosphere of the place was really cool.
Not too many people were in costumes, but the ones who were went all out and they were amazing. Lots of clone armor, lots of Din Djarins and Boba Fetts, but also some custom Mandalorians which I appreciated. There were also a lot of really creative costumes (like the Daughter from the Altar of Mortis Clone Wars arc!)
Following our lunch, we saw Ashley Eckstein was hosting a Mindful Matters panel on the Kid Stage. OMG before that, we overheard on the kid stage meet a droid - where a man was answering kid’s questions about droids - we were in a nearby shopping booth and we heard them because they were using microphones and a little tiny, squeaky voice asked “is R2-D2 jealous of Chopper because he has hands?” 🥺 moments later another tiny voice asked “Are C-3PO and R2D2 best friends?” 🥺🥺 cuteness overload.
But yes we went to Ashley’s Mindful Matters panel, which was a 20 minute event on the kid’s stage, where she walks you through an exercise and how Star Wars teaches us to be mindful. I LOVE Ashley, she’s such a huge inspiration to me, not only for Star Wars, but just for mental health - but more on her later, because we did get to officially meet her!
Overall, the Mindful Matters was so cute and definitely brought a smile to my face and it was sooo amazing to see Ashley IRL for the first time!
Earlier during the Lucasfilm Showcase, Favreau announced that they brought the real, actual props, sets, models, and costumes from The Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett to this exhibit and there’s a special showcase downstairs where we could go see it!
You had to enter another lottery to see it, which didn’t really work, it worked for one of us and only allowed one guest, but let’s just say we were cleverly able to get all three of us in hahaha.
This exhibit was honestly one of my favorite parts of the entire weekend. It was amazing and soooo cool to see the real, actual props they use in the show!
The real Grogu was there in Din’s Naboo starfighter and he waved to us! They also had an animatronic Bantha, all the costumes (Like Ahsoka’s and Fennec’s and Boba’s!), the Tuskens, the Dark Saber, and some of the sets that they build as miniatures and scan to use in the Volume (their new way of filming) just all amazing stuff to really see.
After this, we walked back into the main area - which had a Celebration Live Stage, which just randomly brought out huge guest unscheduled and unannounced so you just had to be there at the right time.
The second we walked in the door, they were saying to welcome to the Live Stage, Ewan McGregor AND Hayden Christensen!
People started RUNNING LOL.
It was perfect timing - we got to see their whole interview and see them up close!
The funniest is in their interview video, you can see me jumping up on down (I’m amongst the first to react to Hayden saying let the fun begin 🤣🙈)
*there is a lightsaber in front of my face though LOL
After this, it was time to lineup for the Red Carpet premiere! We got online and were soon let in and got to walk the real actual red carpet! Celebs and stuff took pictures just a few feet away. We went into the theater and got upper middle for prime seats!
The whole cast and crew were there, Ewan McGregor and Deborah Chow, the Director, came out to introduce it and then it began!
It was so fun watching it with a group of such passionate fans - there were so many cheers and gasps and shouts! (A few spoilers ahead in this next sentence, so if you haven’t seen it scroll past!)
I have to say though the absolute biggest cheers were for when we saw the skyline of Alderaan, the 501st trooper, and the absolute loudest cheer and scream was when Vader opened his eyes at the end of the second episode. Just unreal, so so much fun.
Day One was fantastic.
Day Two - Friday
Day Two our outfits were inspired by the sequel’s Zorii Bliss and Poe Dameron!
This day, we started our morning with the Industrial Light and Magical Panel we won lottery tickets too, which was all about how Star Wars was made.
The panel featured several of the original creators behind Star Wars - such as people who made the characters, the ships, concept art, and George Lucas’ personal secretary. It was really fascinating actually how they did so much without computers and how it all took shape and form.
I was most blown away by how they said the originals were just made by 20 year olds. What a time the 70s was - where major motion pictures were solely created by people in their 20s - imagine??? Imagine if it was still like that, honestly we’d probably get way more creative and new stuff rather than just remakes. I think of my friends who studied film I went to art school with, how some of them are still struggling to break into the industry or they’re in and they’re minor to mid-level jobs only.
So crazy and what an amazing opportunity those people had back then thats such a rarity nowadays.
It was an interesting panel and there’s going to be an ILM documentary on Disney + soon!
After that, we shopped some art - I bought this really amazing Rey piece inspired by the Sun and Moon Tarot cards (how could I not?) by the artist Kaela Croft. (I took a screenshot of it from her instagram!)
And then… it happened.
We had our photo-op with Ewan McGregor.
We went in and he smiled at us and shook our hands, I told him we loved the Kenobi show it was amazing and he so genuinely said thank you and he appreciated that, and Justin told him congraulations and his recent wedding and baby and he genuinely appreciate that too and gave him an extra pat on the shoulder. He embraced both of us and we got the most amazing picture.
It was so unreal - my hands were shaking. What a legend!
After that, we had a few more photo-ops one with Anthony Daniels (who said my outfit was lovely!) and the next with Ian McDiarmind (who used a plexiglass between he and guest for COVID reasons but still cool!)
Day Three - Saturday
Today our outfits were inspired by Captain Rex and Clone Wars Anakin!
Though I have to say, I’m a little ashamed of myself, because I put my blue scarf (acting as the pauldron) on the correct side Rex wears it on … in the mirror 🤣🙈 So I had it backwards all day, it was only right to me in the mirror, and backwards to everyone else. I was so bummed afterwards when I finally realized but I think this is just my Virgo self needing every little detail to be perfect. 🤣
We started this morning off first thing with an Autograph session by Ashley Eckstein! She was sooooo sweet and genuinely took her time talking to fans - her line was a wait, but I genuinely didn’t mind because I was so happy everyone got their moment with her.
When I got up there, I told her how much she inspires me to make my dreams come true (I might have even given her my journal hehe) and to thank her for all she does for Mental Health, and she was soooo kind and said it made her day 🥺🥺🥺🥺 We were able to talk for a few minutes afterwards, and she truly is just the sweetest, kindest soul and such a major inspiration for me!
Justin even got to talk to her husband David, former World Series MVP, about baseball! It was so cool and such an amazing moment!
Not too long after that, we had more photo-ops! We got them with Matt Lanter (the voice of Anakin Skywalker on the Clone Wars), Dee Bradley Baker (the voice of all the clones and the Bad Batch! And just overall voice acting legend!) and once again with Ashley! Who thanked me again for earlier 🥺
After that, we were hanging around that Celebration Live Stage…and who comes out? But Pedro Pascal!!!! I was SO excited to see him live, Din Djarin is definitely a top 5 favorite Star Wars Character for me!
And after that, we got photo-ops with the legend, Temuera Morrison! Justin and I did this one separately, as he did the Tem + Daniel Logan duo (Both Boba’s!) so I did this one alone!
I told him I loved Book of Boba Fett it was amazing, and he thanked me and said he appreciated it!
(I really wanted to tell him that bc for some reason Book of Boba gets so much hate online, which is so absurd to me because to me it was such a good show about personal growth and development and anyone who hated it was expecting Boba Fett to be someone he was not and didn’t comprehend that a near death experience would absolutely cause someone to change their ways!)
Day Four - Sunday
Our final day at the convention - and our final outfit was a classic, Han and Leia!
This was voted our best outfit by my instagram followers! You all loved that Leia dress and I can’t disagree, I’m obsessed with the hood and I want to wear it all the time! It was a ShopDisney exclusive designed by Ashley Eckstein herself! It was sold out in my size online, but we had some help in acquiring it from Disney springs!
We started this morning off with a Bad Batch panel! I love the Bad Batch, it’s such a good show - all the Star Wars cartoons are really, truly tremendous - fantastic storylines and writing, such lovable characters - and they’re definitely not kids shows!
The coolest part of this panel was that Dee Bradley Baker and Michelle Ang (who’s just as adorable IRL as Omega!) did a table read of a scene from season 1 - where Dee went back and forth as ALL the voices of the Bad Batch, just one after the other, having a full on conversation with himself without missing a beat. What a legend.
They showed us an exclusive scene from season 2 (they’re on a tropical planet and Omega has grown up a little! They also have new looks!) and we got to see a trailer (They played it twice!)
We realized they also simultaneously released the trailer online HOWEVER our trailer was different! The one online you see is missing a scene we got to see!
I don’t want to give it away, but in our trailer, they showed Crosshair talking to a fan favorite character, someone we don’t know what happened to after Order 66. He’s there and he’s questioning his path. The crowd screamed so loudly when he appeared (granted we did too hehe) that I’m grateful they showed the trailer twice so we could hear what he said the second time around!!
The other highlight from the Bad Batch panel was when they were talking about characters, the host mentioned Captain Howzer and me and Justin (and a few others) screamed “YEAHH!” SO LOUDLY and the host said “ah I see we got a couple Howler fans out there?” And we were like “omg that was us he’s talking about? That was us!! 🤣🤣🤣 we laughed sooooo hard.
The Final Day we really just walked around some more, hung around the Live Stage, saw Dee Bradley Baker and Michelle Ang again, and then Temuera Morrison came out and was hilarious as per usual. He took control of the interview and sang “Drift away” and then did a tribal dance. He’s so awesome.
Earlier in the week, I forget which day, we caught a stream of the live panel of the Attack of the Clones anniversary special, and the section where Temuera and Daniel Logan were chatting was some of the funniest things I had heard all weekend. Definitely recommend looking that up and watching it if you haven’t already.
So, after that, we ended with the Closing Ceremonies, where Rupert Friend announced the next one will be next April in London…. So BRB Manifesting a trip to London!!! ✈️
Overall, Star Wars Celebration was amazing. We were super hyped up, but this absolutely exceeded all of our expectations. 20/10, would absolutely go again and again for many years to come! Definitely recommend for any fans out there considering it - in the words of Palpatine “Do it!!” Hehe you won’t regret it, you’ll haver the time of your life and see so many people you love and it’ll make your fangirl heart so happy.
