Tag: celebration chicago (2019)

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Rumor: Will the next Celebration take us back to Anaheim in autumn 2019?

Today’s “rumor” is basically the most probable guesswork for the next Celebration: Fall 2019 in Anaheim. It comes to us via Star Wars News Net, a site I generally don’t trust all that much. But this one does make sense for some key reasons:

1. Episode IX is coming out in December, and for those of us old enough to remember, the original three Celebrations – tied to The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith – all took place about a month out from their respective movies. Remember, Celebration Anaheim in 2015 was planned and announced before The Force Awakens moved from May to December, so this allows for a bit of reorientation.

2. The Galaxy’s Edge expansion in Disneyland is expected to open in Spring 2019.

3. It’s Anaheim’s ‘turn’, and quite frankly I’d be shocked if it wasn’t there, as I expect no domestic Celebrations will ever happen less than 20 minutes drive from a Disney Park ever again.

So yes, it’s completely possible that this will turn out to be true. (But don’t fear to be skeptical, either.) Now, whether anyone will be able to get Fastpasses…

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SWCO sets new Celebration attendance record

Another Celebration is in the books, and that means another attendance record. Celebration Orlando attendance was more than 70,000 people, StarWars.com says. That’s up from Anaheim’s 65K in 2015, and double our last Orlando outing in 2012. No wonder things got a bit… Messy. Attendees, look out for the surveys and be sure to fill them out.


We learned before the con that the next Celebration won’t be until 2019 – probably skipping the overseas outings that we had in 2014 and 2016. The leading speculation seems to be that we’ll be headed back to Anaheim, but since we didn’t get a location on Sunday we’ll be left hanging for a while longer. On the plus side, Pablo made a cannon canon.

In the meantime, here are a few other things we learned that I never got around to writing up, because cons are crazy.

→ Here’s a bit more from the Forces of Destiny panel.

→ Hasbro’s panel included looks at the new 6″ Thrawn and Jaina Solo figures, both of which will be available in the fall. Thrawn is also the SDCC exclusive, in a special box resembling his Rebels office. Also: The new Hallmark ornaments.

→ A few details on how the Star Wars lands will work. They’ll be “set” on a brand-new planet and be super interactive, which sounds like… Something. Something very new. Meanwhile, there’s a survey going around that seems to indicate that Disney is considering a Star Wars-themed resort hotel/experience in Florida that ties in with a lot of what they announced.

→ Doug Chiang talks Rogue One concepts and designs.

→ A bit of The Clone Wars and Rebels from Dave Filoni and Pablo. Filoni also told /Film that we won’t see the battle of Scariff on Rebels. (Though note that doesn’t count out other mediums.)

→ Meet the costume contest winners.

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Star Wars Celebration is skipping 2018

There will be no Celebration in 2018, Reed announced today. The next Celebration – after April’s Celebration Orlando – will be in 2019.

That’s the year Episode IX is due, and the Star Wars Lands are expected to open, and so far, U.S. Celebrations have been held in the years saga films are released. A return to Anaheim is probably the best bet – I doubt we’re ever going to see a domestic Celebration not held within a few miles of a Disney theme park ever again.

We don’t have a location yet, but these things have in the past few years been announced at the closing ceremonies of the preceding Celebration, so we may find out April 16. Skipping years in nothing new, either – Celebrations started at 3-year intervals with the prequels and swapped to every other year until Celebration Anaheim in 2015.

Meanwhile, we also got details on Rebels programming and new guests for Orlando.