Ariel Wanna-be
“And when my time is up, have I done enough?”
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2003
We attended the party last Friday night. I'm glad we did it, but we probably won't do it again, for many of the reasons that previous posters have stated. Here's a thumbnail review:
Pros:
Pros:
- enthusiastic, courteous cast members (special kudos to the clean-up crew - they were so efficient at quickly clearing tables)
- the bar...I'm ashamed to admit how many Cosmic Citrus Twists I had. :/
- the selection of savory items and desserts was *much* better than the HEA party we had attended earlier in the week
- it was fun to watch the interaction of the Stormtroopers and Jawas with the guests
- the opportunity to meet the characters was great - we literally had one person in front of us to meet BB8
- walking out with the Stormtroopers was, in theory, quite cool* (*see below)
- the viewing area was nicely situated
- the Chewie stein is a cute souvenir (we wouldn't really use them, so we gave ours to some lightsaber-toting kiddos while leaving the park)
- the fireworks and show were fun and action-packed - we loved the laser and fire effects
- I found the lack of tables disturbing...the price is significant enough that I should not have had to sit on the floor (I can deal with not having a chair, but a flat surface to hold a plate/drink is kind of a necessity, ya know?)
- way, way, WAY too crowded for my taste - I can't believe that they used to fit more people
- having to wait for the tour group (but thanks to the DIS I knew about this ahead of time...others waiting were quite unhappy)
- *as far as walking out with the Stormtroopers: I was not prepared for the amount of jostling/jockying that took place twenty minutes ahead of time to get a position by the stairs. We noticed a crowd gathering, so we went to stand at the foot of the stairs. There are three "bays" to the staircase, and a very nice (and patient) CM directed us to line up at the bottom of two of the bays (the third bay was kept open for people to pass through. However, I was not prepared for the brigade of stroller-pushing people starting to sidle up at the top of the stairs on the landing. (I'm not sure if they were directed to go there by the CMs (because of their strollers) or if they had just taken it upon themselves to circumvent the line.) As soon as the Stormtroopers arrived, those of us who had been waiting at the bottom of the stairs had to climb the stairs to get behind the Troopers. But most of the stroller brigade was able to slide in front of us (there were probably 15-20 people in that group) while we were climbing the stairs. So, most of the people who ended up right behind the Troopers were those people who had slimed up at the last minute. There was one particularly aggressive woman who had ended up right behind me who was using her (not empty) stroller as a battering ram. (She and I had a talk.) One of the primary reasons I booked this party was to avoid the "drama" of getting/defending a good spot for the fireworks, but I still found myself having to (theoretically) "fight" for a spot, and I had my ankle clipped as a bonus.