Star Wars Nite at Disneyland

Tonight was a special opportunity for R2, as he got to entertain guests at Disneyland for their first ever Star Wars Nite. We were joined by fifteen other droids (sixteen counting a mouse droid), along with their builders and wranglers. Mike Senna and William Miyamoto were also in the park, on their secret missions.



Our call time was 6:00pm, so I went straight from work to Disneyland, and arrived right on time.

We gathered in a visitor parking lot where we unloaded our droids and secured them to wooden, wheeled platforms, in preparation for loading onto a box truck.



We loaded the droids onto the truck and then ratchet-strapped the platforms to the inside attachment points.



Sixteen droids + 1 mouse droid ready for transport to the Disneyland backlot.



We boarded a shuttle and followed the box truck to our staging area in the backlot. Once we were in the backlot area we were not allowed to take pictures.

In the meantime we unloaded our droids from the truck, and stored our toolboxes and gear in a conference room nearby where we were to appear.

At 9:30pm we made our entrance into Disneyland, and were escorted over to the fire station on Main Street USA. It goes without saying that it didn't take long for a crowd to gather for pictures.



Around 9:45pm they had a Star Wars-themed fireworks show. Unfortunately the shops mostly obstructed our view.




We were scheduled to go until 1:00am(!), so we kept on entertaining the crowd.





At midnight the Star Wars Costume clubs (501st Legion, Rebel Legion, Mandalorian Mercs and possibly others) had a parade, and we lined up to greet them at the end.






Finally, at 1:00am it was time to wrap up. We were escorted out (in a good way), and we were done with our appearance. After returning our droids to the backstage area, we returned to the conference room to gather our belongings, and then start packing up.

The droids were secured back to their carts, and the carts loaded and ratchet-strapped onto the truck once again for the return drive to the visitor parking lot.

By the time we got to the lot it was already 2:00am, and we unloaded the box truck and loaded our droids into our vehicles for the drive home.

Two and a half hours into the new day and I've already burned 90 calories! Time to close up the Droidmobile and head home.



Suffice it to say my head didn't hit the pillow until after 3:00am, but it was well worth it. Everyone had a great time and I hope we get to do this again in the future. Some people may get to do it sooner than later.

The full photoset is here.