Comments on: Opening Ceremonies Statement

By: Con-Goer

Con-Goer — Thu, 31 May 2007 16:52:51 +0000

I have to agree with you Moonblow! The opening ceremonies were nothing at all to be excited about. I really believe that it was the most boring 3 hours of my Star Wars life….it didn’t help that the last half of it was all about reading the convention schedule to us…I figured out what I wanted to see from the schedule posted on line thank you very much!

Aside from that…the people outside would not have know they were missing a total bust of an even and I can understand why they would be upset. The lack of information about the threat to those people was the right thing to do…there would have been plenty of people that could have gotten very scared if they knew what was going on and that would have created an even worse situation…it is just a shame that it happened at all.

By: Moonblow

Moonblow — Thu, 31 May 2007 16:41:12 +0000

I was in the opening ceremonies. It sounds like the real excitement was outside on the street, not in the snoozefest inside.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 29 May 2007 15:27:36 +0000

So I was at the opening ceremonies…I obviously got in before they shut it down and had no idea what happened until Saturday morning while waiting for the Robot Chicken panel. Here’s the thing – the opening ceremonies are a pagent, but compared to the rest of the event (and this was the case with CII and CIII as well) they are (hate to say it) slow paced and lame.

I know this probably doesn’t make a difference. I would have been annoyed too, but you only missed out on a piece of cake and Steve Sansweet in an Ewok costume. – Oh and the flying Fett (which was so freaking loud in a confined space you wanted to die)

Most of the other material was derrivitive of other con material or political (USPS, LA Mayor and Council member). I, personally, thought it was the weakest event of the 5 days.

By: CH

CH — Mon, 28 May 2007 03:44:40 +0000

What I don’t get is why were the people in the hall enjoying the opening ceremonies “safe” while those of us a few feet from getting through the doors were in such danger we had to evacuate immediately. Does this make sense to you? VampireKitten and others are right.

By: VampireKitten

VampireKitten — Mon, 28 May 2007 00:14:55 +0000

Safety = Evacuating EVERYONE, not just the line (including the mayor of LA).

The “bomb” ended up being a bag of clothes says Channel 4 news.

By: Dan

Dan — Sun, 27 May 2007 17:06:25 +0000

Chris, you are putting words in my mouth to a point.

What was severely mishandled was the lack of information and tact supplied to attendees by CIV and GenCon “officials”. And I use that term very loosely, because I imagine that it’s hard to really make a slave force of unpaid workers really care about the herds of public they are serving.

In the end, those who missed the opening ceremony weren’t missing much. The presentation yielded no new information or anything enjoyable whatsoever unless you enjoy stale cake. In the end, that stupid event was nothing more than a sales pitch and a eulogy combined.

By: Clone124

Clone124 — Sun, 27 May 2007 12:00:07 +0000

It may have been Mooninites or star trek fans

By: Chris Markus

Chris Markus — Sun, 27 May 2007 07:29:54 +0000

Dan, I’m confused. How is a bomb scare that is called by the LAPD and handled by them the fault of LFL or organizers? I dunno, sounds like you really don’t like this event, so I can’t figure out why you came again? We had such a good time — I’m up late because I’ve just been downstairs talking with a bunch of fellow Celebrators. I’m not hearing a lot of negativity. Yeah, no one ever likes lines or likes to be told what to do (tho’ the shirts the volunteers wear say GenCon, not Lucasfilm — isn’t GenCon actually the company that organizes and operates the show as a licensee? I don’t think Lucas actually controls everything here), but come on, even at Disneyland you get long, unhappy lines, unruly guests and sometimes a bad experience. But those are few and far between, like at Celebration, and in the end the overall experience is what counts.

I think by tomorrow we’ll have seen everything and be ready to go home, but hey, that’s three days full of exploring and wandering around and seeing great shows….and for $110, it’s a lot cheaper than three days at Disneyland!!! (And, for me, more fun, too!)

By: Tony G.

Tony G. — Sun, 27 May 2007 06:28:21 +0000

Hey everyone,
I feel bad for those who were standing in line and had to be turned away. Thankfully, we were able to attend the ceremony, but oddly enough, we knew nothing of this incident until we watched it on the news this morning! I don’t know what is more disconcerting, the fact that this was happening, or that we weren’t told. In short though, by 7:45 the theatre was pretty full, so it would have been a big downer and a big disappointment for all to be turned away at that point. It truly would have been a major let-down.

On the positive side, Dan, I have not yet had a look at those “negative” board comments, but I must say I’ve been here since Wednesday night and have had an AMAZING time. I thought everything was handled quite well – from passes, to hotel reservations, to buses, to lines, to… everything. The longest lines we’ve faced were by choice with getting autographs or coming in. But everything has been orderly, people have been wonderfully friendly and excited. Sure there may be slight disappointments, but this has not been poorly run in any way from my experience. I was quite impressed.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sun, 27 May 2007 05:12:40 +0000

At 720 the police wouldn’t let us get on our busses. Everybody official was rude(Volunteers cool). They knew what was happening before openning started. Other then that awsome…..
So, who left their light saber or helmet laying around? Go figure a bomb looking device at a STAR WARS CONVENTION? Never…..lol

Oh well, always error on the side of caution.

Do we know what it turned out to be?