[Schph Gochi]

Last month an important transmission was received from Lucasfilm via Mary Franklin. The Chigago Legoland Discover Ceter in Schaumburg was holding its first ever "Star Wars Weekend". The 501st was contacted and asked to provide support and judges for the planned costume contests to be held. Where we could not provide support on Saturday, we were able to come in force on Sunday. I took on the job of event coordinator.

Thanks go out to River, and Jason, Carolyn, and Alyssa Patterson who assisted both me and the employees of Legoland conduct two costume contests.







To say that a good time was had by all is probably an understatement...
and never let it be said that Darth Vader does not have a sense of whimsy as Jason Patterson (along with Jeff Baron on the Legoland Ewok ride) provided the spectators PLENTY of whimsical moments.







Even the Dark Lord of the Sith had to wait his turn...



Then there was this rather amusing moment....



While patrolling the halls...I heard screams of terror and wondered what it was...
turns out that Drew Dziura in his Jawa costume had left quite the impression on a few of the kids. Drew decided to suit down early rather than spread trauma throughout the center.

Crix and Luke decided that the President needed some Jedi security...



And there were plenty of photo ops...







Artoo Gochi tried to strike up a conversation with the other R2...but really didn't get anywhere...




Big thanks go out to all our participants..please let me know if I have forgotten anyone.


PARTICIPANTS:

Jason Patterson - SL 1719 - Darth Vader
Alyssa Patterson - Tie Pilot
Ryan Patterson - Vader's Apprentice
Carolyn Patterson – Shaak Ti
Joe Rivera - CC 3166 - Captain Rex - RL -
Bob Dziura - TK1656 - Stormtrooper
Drew Dziura - Jawa
Neil Auer - TK 3446 - Stormtrooper
Gehrig Auer - Jawa
Thomas "Crix" Turner IC 4913- Jedi - RL-TJA -
Luke Turner - Jedi
Matt McDonald - TK 8148 - Stormtrooper
Jessica Hudak - Padme Lake Dress –
Jeff Baron – TI 9131
Phyllis - TK 1951 - Rebel Fleet Trooper or X-Wing Pilot - RL-TJA
Artoo Gochi - R2 D2


MORE PHOTOS:


http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa30 ... 208-22-10/

[InvaderSith]

Had a lot of fun!

Ryan was actually Vader's Apprentice in the Sith Robes from Force Unleashed instead of an IC.

[mattbobmcd]

Great event guys! I wish Jess and I had stayed longer, but we were both sooo wiped out from the comic con. We'll be more energetic at the next troop. =)

[TK3446]

My family and I had a good time. Sounds like they are going to ask us back at the end of January. Thank you Phyllis for setting this one up and making the plaques for the kids. They were great. Nick from Legoland was a great guy. Got us whatever we needed and even gave me the last two rare Boba Fett figures the place had for my boys. I did have one issue on the second level. In the eating area I was shaking a little boy's hand who was sitting at a table when the crazy mom noticed me, got up pushed my helmet with an open hand and tried to turn the helmet away from a little kid that was also at the table. She pushed my helmet so hard that I thought my lenses where going to be pushed out. Great example to show her kids I guess to use violence instead of words. Needless to say, I was really po'd. If I did something like this to anyone I would have been kicked out of the place or worse. I wonder if any other troopers ran into her first? Other than that little thing it really was a fun time. A great place to troop with your family.


http://s959.photobucket.com/albums/ae72 ... /Legoland/

[Schph Gochi]

Thanks for the photos Neil..
and..
I wonder what that woman was trying to do?

The problem is we really do risk life and limb sometimes when we go out in costume.

Jason Sands has a woman jump on him when he was in his Sandtrooper-knocked Jason to the ground and broke his thigh piece.
I have been punched and kicked while wearing my Stormtrooper and during one event, my wallet was gone into and every dollar I had taken.

R2 sustained damage to one of his Octagon Ports on Sunday.
But, like I told Nic as he worried about R2 - I reminded him that if I was that concerned about damage, I would leave R2 home....lol..

But seriously...ANYTHING can happen...
we can only hope that the good always outweighs the bad..

[TK3446]

Thanks for the photos Neil..
and..
I wonder what that woman was trying to do?

The problem is we really do risk life and limb sometimes when we go out in costume.

Jason Sands has a woman jump on him when he was in his Sandtrooper-knocked Jason to the ground and broke his thigh piece.
I have been punched and kicked while wearing my Stormtrooper and during one event, my wallet was gone into and every dollar I had taken.

R2 sustained damage to one of his Octagon Ports on Sunday.
But, like I told Nic as he worried about R2 - I reminded him that if I was that concerned about damage, I would leave R2 home....lol..

But seriously...ANYTHING can happen...
we can only hope that the good always outweighs the bad..

If my wife saw what she did she would have given the woman an ear full. I just walked away. And called her every name in the book. In my head of course!

[crix]

I dont know why, but this one was a tough one..

maybe from doing 2 events the day before..or just from chasing Luke(son) all over

I did have fun..when I went into the birthday room they seem to really like..they really liked me

the rest of the day I think I was chop liver...it was all oooo vader ooooo stormtrooper...blah blah..

DAM YOU DARK SIDE!!

there was one lady, who I think was tring to do a scavenger hunt, asked me where the "pink castle" was...I said I have no idea....I turned around and I was standing right in front of a huge pink castle... ahhh that was funny..sometimes you just got to amuse yourself..

[Schph Gochi]

lol...you were probably just tired Crix....

I don't have any kids....so I can only imagine how hard it was to keep up with Luke not only at Legoland...but at WW also...
and..

by the time the afternoon rolled around...I found that the heat, sweating, and lack of sleep for the two events caught up to me big time also. I sweated so much both Sat and Sunday that I don't think there was anything left. It is odd how much one sweats at these things even in my RFT costume which I consider my "cool" costume in terms of heat build up.

Then there was R2 and messing with him....lol..
When I left Legoland...I was eternally grateful that Nic and another store employee brought a flat dolly to get R2 to the Jeep...I didn't take him apart because traffic in the parking lot was nuts...so Nic and friend just lifted R2 in one piece and put him in the Jeep. When I got home I was surprised (after the ride home with no ac in the Jeep) that I still had the energy to lift R2 (in one huge piece) out of the back of the Jeep...carry him up the front stairs and back into the house.

R2 was, however, loved to death at the two events....
R2 has a larger fingerprint collection than the FBI..

[Schph Gochi]

A message from Nic:

"LEGOLAND Discovery Center Chicago cannot thank you and your team enough for all your hard work Sunday. Our guests were thrilled that you were here. You all did an absolutely fantastic job with everything. Please send a huge thank you to the 501st on behalf of LEGOLAND Discovery Center. I look forward to working together again in the future. "

Nicely done everyone...

[InvaderSith]

I was told that they will be doing another one on the last weekend in January. I am looking forward to it!

[TK3446]

I was told that they will be doing another one on the last weekend in January. I am looking forward to it!

Your right. I saw a poster by the store entrance when leaving with the Jan. dates. Nic said he'll contact Phyllis about the next one.

[Schph Gochi]

I will make sure to post in the "Event Request" area if I hear from Nic for January...

I doubt strongly that I would be able to coordinate as January is my busiest month in terms of volunteer stuff for the Forest Preserve Dist of Will County...we have our annual meeting, our largest workday of the year (which I sponsor) and the Ill Dept. of Agriculture Pesticide training and testing...

Things I figured out from doing this event..

Plan on coming as dressed as possible...there is so very little room to store tubs and stuff...those poor employees barely have enough space for themselves let alone all of our stuff...I would recommend paring down your items you bring in to the very least amount you can..

Next I would try to come up with some sort of very loose schedule to make sure there was always someone near the front entrance...I went to the front entrance several times....and walked down the never ending line outside...lol...

And...make sure that the costume contest is well covered with both helmeted and non helmeted members...after being part of the first costume contest at noon...I made sure to be back for the 2:00 PM one also as someone who can see to write is very important...and I know that one of the main reasons they wanted us there was for the costume contest...

I am sure that the parents got the hint at the costume contests on Sunday that someone who comes up with something from scratch...
or adds home made items to the costume will have a better chance. There were sooooooo many kids in costumes that simply were just what came in the package from the store...
lol..
one thing was that it did make the judges job easier as we blew right past those costumes...