I arrived right around 12:30pm for the 6pm parade and met up with Gordon Tarpley, who had planned to be C-3PO (more on that later), and minutes later with William Miyamoto, who would be driving his Bumblebee car in the parade.
With a lot of time to kill, we checked out the cars.
We also walked the parade route, looking for any hazards that might be hiding under the red carpet. I did find a couple of manhole covers that we would need to avoid, and the center of the street looked like the best bet.
Then we ate lunch at Johnny Rockets, where we were joined by Darren Moser, who would be joining us as K2-S0. On our way back from lunch, we stopped in front of the Chinese Theater as we did last year, where R2-D2's, C-3PO's and Darth Vader's footprints live. William has costumed as Darth Vader in the past, so we each filled the footprints of our respective characters.
Before we knew it, it was time to get set up. Gordon unpacked his pile of C-3PO costume, and we got ready.
Only one problem: Gordon got all suited up, but when it came time to put on his C-3PO helmet, it just wouldn't fit over his head properly. We tried for 20+ minutes over dozens of attempts, but it just wouldn't go on, so we had to abandon that, and Gordon suited down. Gordon and I then joined Darren at the front of the red carpet, where the parade was already under way.
In fact, I had some concern that we may have missed the Star Wars groups, since the parade started around 6pm and we didn't get to the red carpet until around 6:40pm. But the Star Wars clubs were #26 in the parade order, and they were told not to line up until 6:25pm. Eventually, we confirmed that we had not missed them, they were still down Hollywood Boulevard too far out of view. It wasn't until around 7:21pm that they finally arrived.
Moments later, K2-S0 and R2-D2 joined in, in between the 501st Legion and the Rebel Legion. R2 and Chewie moved together, with K2-S0 just behind. I wasn't able to take pictures, but I found a YouTube video (plus when the parade airs on December 14, I'll post some more captures).
We marched/drove down the red-carpet portion of the parade route on Hollywood Boulevard, from Orange Avenue to Highland. Once we got to the end, a 501st wrangler worked with the security staff to get us through the crowd. We headed down the scary alley, back to the parking structure.
Things went well for R2 this year, and hopefully we'll will be back again.
