We were joined by Michael and Kyle McMaster with their droid, LX-R5 (from Jedi Temple Challenge on starwars.com), Gordon Tarpley as C-3PO, and William Miyamoto, who was driving his Transformers Bumblebee car in the parade.
I arrived a little before 1pm (they close the streets early) for the 6pm parade. I quickly met up with the others, and we joined William at his car.
We also checked out a number of cool cars. There would be dozens of Star Cars participating, including this cool Mach 5 (not to mention the Lamborghini adjacent to it).
While wandering Hollywood Boulevard, I found my star on the Walk of Fame.
I also passed our starting line.
We then walked over to Johnny Rockets for lunch at Hollywood Ovation, and then went back to check in with the other Star Wars clubs (501st Legion, Rebel Legion, Mandalorian Mercs and more), to figure out our lineup within the Star Wars character groups. After a few discussions, we ended up deciding that the droids would be leading the Star Wars clubs(!). That was a first for us. We left the discussion as the characters were getting ready in the parking structure.
Meanwhile, William returned to his car to get ready, while we returned to our vehicles around 5pm to start unloading the droids, and Gordon started suiting up as C-3PO.
Finally, Michael, Gordon and I made our way to the front edge of the red carpet, where we stood by for the Star Wars clubs to arrive. The clubs were 18th in line, although I think we might have gotten moved up a few spots. My former coworker Xin, and Mark Chu-Lin took a couple of photos of us.
In the meantime, we watched the parade get started. That meant we got to see William drive by.
About 10 minutes later, right behind Might Mouse we saw the Rebel Legion, which was our cue to get ready to jump in.
Once the Rebel Legion advanced to the red carpet, we lined up right in front of them. A parade official gave us the go-ahead, and off we went. I was able to snag a couple of photos online (thank you to those photographers).
We managed to get through the parade in one piece, with no mishaps. LX-R5 has a slower gear ratio, so he trailed us a bit, but the important thing is that we all got through it successfully. We exited the parade as planned, at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, and then we made our way to the gross alley that leads back to the parking structure. On our way, we encountered some delighted tourists that got some photos.
We took one last picture before loading droids back in the car and helping Gordon get out of the suit.
Afterwards, we grabbed some food at Mel's Diner across Highland Avenue while the parade continued. Since the streets would still be closed off, we weren't in much of a rush. After about an hour of hanging out, we were able to wrap up and head home.
Another successful parade is in the books, and we all had a good time. The full photoset is here.
Edit: And through the magic of post-dating, here are some pics from the broadcast on Friday, December 15, 2023 on the CW network.
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