A DISers Guide to Star Wars Celebration

[The Sunrise Student]

I am getting reports from friends that if you can't get in via webiste, use your phone (smart phone/cell phone I mean)... seems to be working better for people than using a computer.

 

[tstidm1]

Tickets look plentiful, so I'm going to be waiting until late Summer for Friday and Saturday Tickets.

We now know the confirmed exhibit Hall hours as well. They have been updated in the second post of this thread. For those who aren't locals, You may want to check hotel rooms because they look to be getting more scarce especially at in the Block hotels.

 

[P&L@WDW]

Tickets look plentiful, so I'm going to be waiting until late Summer for Friday and Saturday Tickets.

We now know the confirmed exhibit Hall hours as well. They have been updated in the second post of this thread. For those who aren't locals, You may want to check hotel rooms because they look to be getting more scarce especially at in the Block hotels.

From experience, that's a pretty risky option, especially for Saturday. Friday you may have okay luck with, but Saturday I would be buying as soon as you can.

 

[tstidm1]

From experience, that's a pretty risky option, especially for Saturday. Friday you may have okay luck with, but Saturday I would be buying as soon as you can.

Would I be okay buying Full weekends say in August? Traveling to Boston over July 4th, so I would want to wait until later to buy tickets for Celebration.

 

[P&L@WDW]

Would I be okay buying Full weekends say in August? Traveling to Boston over July 4th, so I would want to wait until later to buy tickets for Celebration.

I would say most likely not. The VIP tickets sell out first, followed by the Full weekend pass. From the past, I'd expect the full weekend pass to sell out within a month or two, possibly a little longer.

 

[The Sunrise Student]

If you are waiting to buy your 4 day passes, don't wait too long. I agree with P&L@WDW, they will sell out... Normally the next year's celebration is announced during the current year's and tickets go on sale that moment, but this year they didn't wait that long... You will see a great number of people whom once they have gone to Celebration Europe will then change their focus to the following year's celebration. I honestly wouldn't chance buying my tickets too much more after mid July when Celebration Europe is in full swing.

EDIT:

Here is an example.... They announced Celebration Europe during Celebration Anaheim (which occurred in April 2015) by July 2015 all adult 3 day passes were sold out! (remember that Europe is only a 3 day even while we get 4 glorious days in Orlando )

http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/2015/07/3-day-adult-tickets-are-sold-out-for.html

Additional Edit:

Also remember next year is the BIG 40 for SW, this is bound to draw some fun stuff, people would be disappointed if they didn't pull out some bells and whistles to celebrate the big 40.... so this also plays into tickets selling out faster!

 

[angai379]

I've got my 4 day tickets. Excellent point Sunshine!! 40's a good anniversary.

 

[Jawa Livin]

Need some help from Celebration veterans! My sister and I have never been and although initially we were very excited at the prospect of going, since thinking on it we aren't so sure...can anyone help us?

Here's our dilemma...is celebration really for us? We aren't interested in autographs or getting pictures with celebrities and we aren't the type of people who like waiting hours and hours for a panel. We've been to SWW and have waited an hour to an hour and a half for some of the shows but that was with a FP. We'd probably pick one or two panels a day and see if we can get in (don't really care where we'd sit). We like dressing up in our SW costumes and would like to see all the cool vendors and other exhibits but would NOT like the super crazy madness I heard about at the Anaheim Celebration store. We have WDW annual passes and are just weighing the cost of the 4 day ticket plus hotel and airfare vs what we'd actually enjoy from Celebration.

Any thoughts or comments? Appreciate all feedback! Thank you!

 

[angai379]

I'm by no means a veteran. (This will be my 1st celebration as well ) . If you'd still like a little taste of celebration. Why not try going the first 2 days?They might end up being the "slowest" ones. You could use your AP the rest of the time if you decide to stay in Orlando longer.

 

[Jawa Livin]

I'm by no means a veteran. (This will be my 1st celebration as well ) . If you'd still like a little taste of celebration. Why not try going the first 2 days?They might end up being the "slowest" ones. You could use your AP the rest of the time if you decide to stay in Orlando longer.

Thanks for the reply!! We thought about that, the four day ticket is almost equivalent to a two day so if we decide to go we'd be getting a four day. Hoping to get some more info on other fun things at Celebration so I can talk my sister in to going. She's a little more on the fence about it than I am.

 

[tstidm1]

Heads up for folks thinking about hotel rooms. All hotel room block hotels are sold out of rooms for Wednesday-Sunday. The big problem is that there are no Saturday night hotels at this point in time. With it being so early, I would keep checking the website especially with how many folks are holding rooms until closer to con. You don't get a room charge until early March for the one night deposit. Closer to then Rooms will open up.

 

[The Sunrise Student]

Need some help from Celebration veterans! My sister and I have never been and although initially we were very excited at the prospect of going, since thinking on it we aren't so sure...can anyone help us?

Here's our dilemma...is celebration really for us? We aren't interested in autographs or getting pictures with celebrities and we aren't the type of people who like waiting hours and hours for a panel. We've been to SWW and have waited an hour to an hour and a half for some of the shows but that was with a FP. We'd probably pick one or two panels a day and see if we can get in (don't really care where we'd sit). We like dressing up in our SW costumes and would like to see all the cool vendors and other exhibits but would NOT like the super crazy madness I heard about at the Anaheim Celebration store. We have WDW annual passes and are just weighing the cost of the 4 day ticket plus hotel and airfare vs what we'd actually enjoy from Celebration.

Any thoughts or comments? Appreciate all feedback! Thank you!

First Question - Have you ever been a a convention like Mega Con? Wizard Con or Pop Con?

At SW Celebration - Beyond the panels and autographs there are 100s of booths, all focused on Star Wars... the 501st is already planning their booth/display area People dress in costumes to their favorite SW shirts. Lots of vendors too!

 

[Jawa Livin]

First Question - Have you ever been a a convention like Mega Con? Wizard Con or Pop Con?

At SW Celebration - Beyond the panels and autographs there are 100s of booths, all focused on Star Wars... the 501st is already planning their booth/display area People dress in costumes to their favorite SW shirts. Lots of vendors too!

Hi! Nope, have never been to any type of Con before...just Star Wars Weekends. I think this is our hesitancy to buy tickets. We knew how to work the SWW crowds and shows but we know Celebration is a whole different experience.

 

[P&L@WDW]

Thanks for the reply!! We thought about that, the four day ticket is almost equivalent to a two day so if we decide to go we'd be getting a four day. Hoping to get some more info on other fun things at Celebration so I can talk my sister in to going. She's a little more on the fence about it than I am.

First, I definitely recommend the 4 day ticket. There's TONS to see and do, and it can be exhausting going all day every day. 4 day tickets give you the opportunity to relax for part of the day and not feel rushed.

Second, I am not a huge celebrity and autograph person, either. I didn't do any of that in Anaheim. Lines for panels can be hit or miss - some you need to get in line for hours in advance, many you can line up 30-60 minutes before with no problems. It depends on what the topic is, if it's a celebrity panel, etc. There are usually several HUGE halls of vendors with amazing things, unique photo opportunities (Meet Roxy the Rancor and gotten your picture, meet favourite SW characters at the 501st and Rebel Legion and Mandalorian Mercs booths, games to play, samples to try, etc). You will not be bored, trust me!

 

[The Sunrise Student]

Hi! Nope, have never been to any type of Con before...just Star Wars Weekends. I think this is our hesitancy to buy tickets. We knew how to work the SWW crowds and shows but we know Celebration is a whole different experience.

This is totally different than SWW, I do both religiously, conventions and SWW, conventions have many many booths, open nearly the entire time the main areas are open... these booths can be from displays to people selling items.... In the case of a SW Celebration Convention displays can range from 501st huge SW display, to Roxy the Rancor type areas, and sets from SW that people have made, to things like Ranch Obi-wan had a large booth last year displaying a sample of what they have collected over the years, then even the company that made the R2D2 star wars planes announced them and had models at the convention. Then there are the vendors, from the star wars collectors that have figures dating way back to ones currently out there to big stores like Hallmark and Her Universe. The main areas are amazing.... and it does take a while to walk through it all...

In addition to the booths selling items there are many many artists there displaying their star wars creations for sale, and they are all open, all at the same time, instead of the schedule you had at SWW. And the art isn't limited to paper, canvas and sculptures, last year there was a huge tattoo area, where the best of the best SW Tattoo artists come in and people were even getting tattoos, and you could walk through the area, not too close but you could see their work and some of the people getting their tattoos!

I am also in agreement with @P&L@WDW - the panels are not all long lines, some of the panels are easier to get into than others... Now Opening Ceremonies is crazy.... people camped out all night for that one... Big Celebrity panels are the ones that have hours wait.

I agree with @P&L@WDW 4 day passes lets you see them all at your own pace...

 

[The Sunrise Student]

Oh I also thought of another area that was crazy last year... the SW TFA Costume area, where they had the real costumes from the movie on display for people to see. We ended up having to skip that because by the time we got a chance to get in line for it the wait was over 4 hours But that was on Sunday, earlier in the convention we had heard the lines were much shorter. It's a pick your battles thing for sure.

 

[tstidm1]

Sorry for the slow updates as there hasn't been much Celebration Orlando news over the last month as Lucasfilm is focused on Celebration Europe this weekend in London. To give folks an idea of what Celebration is like Here are links of official guests, programming and other things:

http://www.starwarscelebration.com/Guests/ for SWCE Guests. Here's what they're charging (Pound to dollar is about 1.36 to 1 for reference purposes): http://www.starwarscelebration.com/Guests/Autograph-Hall/. For example, Mark Hamill is charging about $175 USD and Carrie Fisher is charging about $105 USD. Not sure what to expect for 2017 rates if they are there.

Programming highlights are a panel with Directors from Episode VIII, Rogue one and the Han Solo film along with Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and other focus panels. Here's what the Main stage looks like: http://www.starwarscelebration.com/...734|0x$quote$xCelebrationx$sp$xStagex$quote$x

Will try to keep an eye on what news comes out for Celebration Orlando over the weekend as well and post here if there are any.

 

[tstidm1]

For those who are thinking about going, Here's the views from Collider website from Day One:

and Day two

. Pretty interesting experience from these videos.

No Celebration Orlando news so far, but maybe at Closing Ceremonies tomorrow.

 

[tstidm1]

So was any of our European friends at Celebration Europe? Biggest Celebration news was that the focus of Celebration Orlando is going to be 40th year of Star Wars and Episode VIII as kind of expected. Thrawn coming back to mainstream Canon is probably the biggest news Movie or TV wise. It was a disappointment on that front. If your going to Celebration for news only and seeing first Episode VIII trailer, Don't expect that to happen.

 

[The Sunrise Student]

It has begun!