Legoland 2012 – Day 1

Thursday, 07.06.2012 * Nightly Arrival - New Booth - Clash of Convictions - Friends of the 501st

On Thursday morning we met quite early between 4 and 5 a.m. at the Legoland Germany to build up our stand with our assistants unhurriedly. Doing so was a very special moment for each and every one of us, because we would look at our new extended stand for the first time as well.

After we had assembled everything and all sabers lay in their right position, we went to the Legoland Arena to go through our stage program for one more time. For that day was announced to become warm and sunny, a huge crowd of people had gathered shortly after 9 a.m. before the Legoland's gates, which finally opened at 9.30 a.m.

When the park opened we hurried back to our stand and spent our time before noon answering questions of the many visitors and did not hesitate to give one or another short introduction of lightsaber combat. 
Because of the great number of visitors we were happy, when the time for our first show finally arrived at 1 p.m. and left some of our assistants at the stand, while we got changed into Jedi and Sith for the show.

Dafür hatten wir genug Zeit, denn vor unserem Auftritt würde noch die Tanzgruppe Laudonia das Publikum mit ihrer Performance in das Universum von Star Wars entführen. 
Das Debüt unseres neuen Programms „Clash of Convictions“ verlief reibungslos und nicht wenige im Publikum hielten den Atem an, als Lord Vader mit seinen Sturmtruppen zum Schluss die Bühne betrat, um unseren Jedi herauszufordern.

Right after the show one half of us got back to the booth to help managing the great rush after the show, while the second half went searching for lunch. 

Time passed by really quickly that day and we barely had space left to go and wander around the park in small groups as we had done the years before. This way we also spent the afternoon with answering questions of small and big Star Wars fans and entertaining the audience with two more exciting stage performances. 

After the last show some of us stayed in their costumes to walk through the park and to take some pictures. 
Of course we also had some time left to welcome old and well-known faces from the German Garrison, which would again make the Star Wars weekend to an unforgettable experience.

When the park closed one hour later than normally, we unhurriedly made our way to the dinner table to get a calm evening after the long night and the exhausting day and activate new power for the next challenging day.

Friday started as calm as Thursday had ended for our team. At 8 o'clock we were back at our stand and began cleaning up and putting the sabers back into their right position. For we had some time left, most of us went for breakfast until the park would open at 9.30 a.m.

This day again the rush onto the park was very great, however it would be hard to beat the 20.000 visitors the day before. Friday passed by as busy as Thursday. By and by more members of the German Garrison and 501st arrived at the Legoland, so their stand, which was located in the same room as ours, also became a huge attraction and their photo point always was manned with more than a few stormtroopers or other Star Wars characters.

For this day was not as warm as the day before, our Vader stayed in his costume after the first show and even visited our room for some funny pictures. When the park closed at 7 p.m. we helped the Legoland staff cleaning everything up and after that drove to the tavern, in which we would meet our friends and acquaintances from the Garrison.

All in all the first two days were quite exhausting, but successful and especially our stage performance fascinated both the young and the young-at-heart.