Star Wars Celebration: Chicago April 11-15, 2019

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Well I was wrong about getting an announcement at the Rebels Panel.

But my friend bought me some things from the main store!!

An owl force spirit from Rebels



And a Chopper shirt!! Love Chopper

 

[rteetz]

I plan on writing a full review but I would say I really enjoyed my one day there. If I did 5 days I would have to spend a lot of time doing panels and stuff because the show floor aspects didn’t do much for me. I would definitely do another celebration.

 

[BigRed98]

I plan on writing a full review but I would say I really enjoyed my one day there. If I did 5 days I would have to spend a lot of time doing panels and stuff because the show floor aspects didn’t do much for me. I would definitely do another celebration.

Please do a review, I've never been so I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

 

[rteetz]

Please do a review, I've never been so I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

I will work on it over the next few days. I think I am going to make it multi-part. So much content even just in one day.

 

[eliseisawkward]

I’m so tired, but end of day three and my mind is everywhere at once. If you’re a Star Wars fan and you can manage even a single day at a Celebration I totally recommend it. The energy here is wild and everyone is so freaking nice! I’ve had people give me free stickers and snacks in line and everyone is just so excited to be here.

I was actually most disappointed in the parks panel since they really only did anything cool in the last 15 minutes, and shared cool voice and music info. I would have loved more on behind the scenes design and building. They didn’t even have to give me anything super new.

I haven’t been through the booth yet because the line has been insane when I walk by, but I’m making time for it on Monday when they have the droids on display!!

 

[Dis_Fan]

I plan on writing a full review but I would say I really enjoyed my one day there. If I did 5 days I would have to spend a lot of time doing panels and stuff because the show floor aspects didn’t do much for me. I would definitely do another celebration.

I am saving making a final decision until I finish the full 5 days but it is definite a show that started off shakey but got better as the days went by.

Ending the lottery and releasing winners the same week as the show was not a smart move and seemed to cause a lot of headache.

The Lightspeed reservation system being down for 2.5 days was also bad and I feel for the Thursday and Friday only people who never got to use it.

I also feel for the people who waited almost 9 hours to get to the Celebration store thursday. And 4+ hours friday.

There seemed to be a lot of people with lottery problems. I spent 90 minutes in line thursday to fix a lottery problem only to be told to go back friday. And then said to come back saturday. It did get fixed though.

Not a problem per say but I did not have my QR code scanned for the Episode 9 panel. Did not look like anyones were.

On a positive note the panels have been excellent. The main panels have been really good and I was impressed with the talent (I geeked out over Colbert) they got for a one hour panel.

Security and bag checks have been smooth.

The show floor is ok (I am not a Star Wars toy collector) but the sets and displays are amazing. And Droid races were fun. And of course the cosplay.

Food is good.

Swag has been great.

As a con vet (15 years plus of cons, including 9 cons in 2018) I feel Reedpop was not prepared for the weekend. They needed another week to iron things out. And to give people time to prepare better.

Which is strange because Reedpop was in Chicago 3 weeks ago for C2E2 (arguably a even bigger con) and it went off with no problem.

Now that they are fixing things and getting in a groove things are much smoother and more fun.

 

[rteetz]

I am saving making a final decision until I finish the full 5 days but it is definite a show that started off shakey but got better as the days went by.

Ending the lottery and releasing winners the same week as the show was not a smart move and seemed to cause a lot of headache.

The Lightspeed reservation system being down for 2.5 days was also bad and I feel for the Thursday and Friday only people who never got to use it.

I also feel for the people who waited almost 9 hours to get to the Celebration store thursday. And 4+ hours friday.

There seemed to be a lot of people with lottery problems. I spent 90 minutes in line thursday to fix a lottery problem only to be told to go back friday. And then said to come back saturday. It did get fixed though.

Not a problem per say but I did not have my QR code scanned for the Episode 9 panel. Did not look like anyones were.

On a positive note the panels have been excellent. The main panels have been really good and I was impressed with the talent (I geeked out over Colbert) they got for a one hour panel.

Security and bag checks have been smooth.

The show floor is ok (I am not a Star Wars toy collector) but the sets and displays are amazing. And Droid races were fun. And of course the cosplay.

Food is good.

Swag has been great.

As a con vet (15 years plus of cons, including 9 cons in 2018) I feel Reedpop was not prepared for the weekend. They needed another week to iron things out. And to give people time to prepare better.

Which is strange because Reedpop was in Chicago 3 weeks ago for C2E2 (arguably a even bigger con) and it went off with no problem.

Now that they are fixing things and getting in a groove things are much smoother and more fun.

Yeah definitely need to fine tune the lottery and reservation system. I did get the reservation system to work for the ILMxLAB panel in the afternoon thankfully.

I heard they weren't scanning for IX. They did scan today for SWGE.

I agree with the show floor. I am not a collector either. The displays are great but the show floor only does so much for me.

This was my first ever convention like this. It was positive enough for me to want to do another.

 

[rteetz]

I’m so tired, but end of day three and my mind is everywhere at once. If you’re a Star Wars fan and you can manage even a single day at a Celebration I totally recommend it. The energy here is wild and everyone is so freaking nice! I’ve had people give me free stickers and snacks in line and everyone is just so excited to be here.

I was actually most disappointed in the parks panel since they really only did anything cool in the last 15 minutes, and shared cool voice and music info. I would have loved more on behind the scenes design and building. They didn’t even have to give me anything super new.

I haven’t been through the booth yet because the line has been insane when I walk by, but I’m making time for it on Monday when they have the droids on display!!

That's one thing I thought too. Everyone is nice and excited to be there. I was expecting some grumpiness and craziness from crowds and I really didn't. Everyone talked to everyone and it was just fun.

The line for the SWGE booth is long but moves pretty quickly. The longest wait is the fanfessionals at the end.

 

[rteetz]

Highlights from today...

IMG_4030 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4034 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4035 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4038 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4041 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4045 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

Josh Gad hosting was a cool surprise

IMG_4049 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4050 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4060 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4083 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4102 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4103 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

That helmet was made of hundreds (maybe thousands) of miniature LEGO stormtroopers.

IMG_4105 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4107 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

DHS president Phil Holmes and hiding next to him Disneyland President Josh D'Maro

IMG_4109 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

Dok Ondar

IMG_4112 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

RotR ride vehicle

IMG_4125 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4127 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4130 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4131 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

The merchandise is incredible

IMG_4145 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4152 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4155 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4170 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

IMG_4177 by Ryan Teetz, on Flickr

 

[Dis_Fan]

Mandalorian Panel this morning. My final lottery panel. 3/4 was not bad though.

It will not happen but crossing my fingers that since Jon Favreau is writing/producing and Taika Waititi is acting/directing and we can be pretty sure they will be there, the special guest hosts will be the Russo Bros.

It would overshadow Celebration x100 but I want a MCU mini Reunion.

 

[Dis_Fan]

The sign for the Lego Stormtrooper display. Over 36,000 individual minifigs

 

[rteetz]

 

[rteetz]

Wish I was there for the Mandalorian Panel. They aren’t showing everything on the stream

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

And we're blacked out. Good thing I saw hundreds of phones at the ready in the audience.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

This ain't no d23. Will be on YouTube within minutes.

 

[rteetz]

Wish I was there today. Poster they are getting looks cool.

 

[Dis_Fan]

And we're blacked out. Good thing I saw hundreds of phones at the ready in the audience.

The footage was great after the stream cut.

 

[Dis_Fan]

And we're blacked out. Good thing I saw hundreds of phones at the ready in the audience.

It will be out. There were to many not to get footage but the security was higher and they were cracking down as best as they could

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Wow are you guys watching the galaxy' edge merch?????

All the sweet droids.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

It will be out. There were to many not to get footage but the security was higher and they were cracking down as best as they could

I did find a feed. Not great, but yeah.