Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019 (April 11-April 15)

ichnob

Well-Known Member
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Just announced, it will be at the McCormick Place in Chicago, IL. Not Anaheim or Orlando in preparation for Galaxy's Edge as most assumed.

Tickets and hotels will go live on June 5, 2018 at 12:00 noon CT.

Update 6/7/2018:
5-day passes are also sold out. Saturday passes are at 60+% sold.

Update 5/31/2018:
Website now has ticket prices available.

Adult 5-Day
$215.00* Advance | $225.00* at the door


Adult 1-Day
Thursday Bounty Hunter Preview - $55.00* Advance | $65.00* at the door
Friday - $75.00* Advance | $85.00* at the door
Saturday - $75.00* Advance | $85.00* at the door
Sunday - $75.00* Advance | $85.00* at the door
Monday - $75.00* Advance | $85.00* at the door


Kids 5-Day
$100.00* Advance | $110.00* at the door


Kids 1-Day
Thursday - $35.00* Advance | $45.00* at the door
Friday - $35.00* Advance | $45.00* at the door
Saturday - $35.00* Advance | $45.00* at the door
Sunday - $35.00* Advance | $45.00* at the door
Monday - $35.00* Advance | $45.00* at the door


Jedi Master VIP
$850.00

Update 5/21/2018:
Forcechella Karaoke party announced for 4/9/2019 @ 8pm CT. Location TBD, there will be karaoke and beverages

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I, for one, am incredibly thankful for this! I don't have the funds for a yearly trip to Orlando or Anaheim, so taking place in my backyard is fantastic! I've always wanted to go! I am not missing this for anything!
 
This will be my first Celebration. Do RPF meetups happen, or does it tend to just be the big costume groups that hold meetups?
 
Last year was my first Celebration and I had an absolute blast! I never expected SWC 2019 to be so close!

There was a small RPF meet up last year. About 7 of us I believe.
 
My SWC history is lacking, is this the first time it will take place away from Anaheim or Orlando?

First was in Denver. 2 and 3 were in Indianapolis. 4 was in L.A. 5 and 6 were in Orlando. 7 was in Anaheim. Not counting the non-US ones.

I am... not thrilled. I didn't want Orlando again. I have nothing against Orlando, beyond Florida in general, but I would prefer to go there and spend that much time and money doing Disney and Universal and Cape Canaveral -- not try to do those and a Celebration.

Plus... *sigh* My first Celebration was III. They were definitely still learning how to do it. IV was awesome. I still feel it was the high-water mark for these. Wednesday through Monday. Movie marathon that first day, Fan Club only that Thursday, filled the L.A. convention center, ran 24 hours a day, was the last of them to have an LFL Archives exhibit... I was there the whole time and felt like we were only halfway through by the time it ended. I wanted more.

V I missed because of school.

So then I was really looking forward to VI, cuz everyone was saying how much better V was than IV. It was... very meh. Barely filled half the Orlando convention center, shut down in the evening, and, as for content, I was done after the first day and just trying to find ways to occupy myself for the rest of it. I have not been terribly impressed with how ReedPop run their shows, and Celebration is no exception to that. If this had been announced for Anaheim, in late summer to coincide with a preview of Galaxy's Edge, totally. As it is...? Cost/benefit analysis so far is skewing toward nope. Which sucks. I've been wanting a Celebration in the US again worth getting excited about.

Which, also, the dates... The first three were in April/May because they were right before each of the Prequels were released. IV was May for the 30th anniversary of Star Wars' premiere. V and VI were later in the summer for a variety of reasons, uncoupled as they were from release date significance... So why is this one in April? Last time I checked, Episode IX was still slated for a December release -- which surprised me, actually, as I thought they were finally getting back to Memorial Day as the traditional Star Wars premiere weekend. April in Chicago tends to still be in the 40s and 50s, with a nonzero chance of a blizzard.

So I'll echo what many others are saying. Why Chicago, and why April? Bonehead move, Lucasfilm...

I, for one, am incredibly thankful for this! I don't have the funds for a yearly trip to Orlando or Anaheim, so taking place in my backyard is fantastic! I've always wanted to go! I am not missing this for anything!

Every other year, actually. Less frequently than that, earlier on. Frankly, I wish it still were every three to four years, so it feels more special. Also, it's awesome for you and others who live there, but what with hotel and food costs for the area around the convention center, the three of us who were looking at going, and sharing a room, are looking at an outlay of well over a grand each, not counting admission. For those of us who always have to travel to a Celebration, this is one of the fiscally-worse offerings so far.
 
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Tickets go on sale in early June, and it varies depending on whether you're getting one or more single-day passes, full-weekend pass, etc. I'm expecting something in the $150 range for full weekend.
 
Speculation is that price or slightly higher due to the additional day. 2017 VIP package was $700. But it allowed you early store access, front of panel line privilege, and front of autograph/photo op privilege if you also bought those.
 
With the CA and FL rumors floating around I kept assuming I'd be transporting 2 gigantic Pelican cases halfway across the globe again... The fact that I can hop in my truck and be to SWC 9 hours later sounds awesome. I already booked my hotel room. If I'm lucky enough to have the finger dexterity and internet speed to get VIP tickets I will be going that route this year.
 
There's some vitriol on the social media pages along with some FB groups. I'm happy to see genuine excitement from fellow RPF members. I'm mainly glad that I have a lot of soft parts for my Star Wars costumes.
 
Just to granularize the reaction with pesky facts...

Chicago itself is not really that significantly more or less dangerous than any other large city. There are bad parts of town, but they are all over a mile away from where the convention center is. The conventional (hah) wisdom I see regarding "downtown" is "if you go inland of Michigan [Ave.], try to at least keep it in sight". I've read accounts from a 5'2" blonde white woman who has lived in Chicago for several years and even when she's had to go into one of the worse neighborhoods, she's had nothing worse than "you don't belong here" stares happen to her.

Now, logistics. There is only one hotel attached to the convention center, plus another that will be semi-attached that is still under construction (but will be done by Celebration). The next closest is a cheap -- in all senses of the word -- place about ten blocks away. Everything else is further. Which means driving or transit. Both the buses and the trains tend to be crowded, occasionally sketchy, often late, but are options for regular con-goers. If you're wrangling a costume (strongly advise against wearing same on public transit), it's going to be a small nightmare -- added to by where to store things once at the convention.

So, driving. Apart from typical legendarily bad city traffic issues, attendees at C2E2 were pretty unanimous in their hatred of the parking issues at and near the convention center. Mainly, nowhere near enough for the size of venue that it is, for the kinds of events they're trying to attract. Then there's the matter of break-ins, which have been reported. Only a few out of thousands, but I don't know who will or won't feel comfortable rolling those dice.

All in all, I'm going, along with two others. I have hotel thoughts, but we're waiting to see if one of our clubs will be getting a room block at the Hyatt before final decisions. I'm waiting to find out when the various mixers, meet'n'greets, and group photos will be, but we'll probably only be there for a couple days of the convention. I expect ReedPop will be typically light on the programming. And then we're going to follow (as best one can) Route 66 down to St. Louis, and then head back West across Kansas and such. We're finding Celebration itself to be more of an afterthought to the trip, which is unfortunate. But we also don't want to miss/skip another one.
 
While I'm not saying this to deter anyone.. (I am trying to go myself)....

I live roughly 1 hour away from Chicago....

and I 'would' say it can be very dangerous. TONS of murders (check the to date count!)

They dont call is Chi-raq for nothing! Your friends must be (very) lucky.
 
Oh please. I commute into the city almost every day. There's dangerous parts of every city. You wouldn't be caught in the Bronx or Compton at night any more than you'd be caught in Englewood or Gresham. But the convention isn't going to be in Englewood or Gresham, and as far as I know, nobody's rooming in those neighborhoods either. The convention is going to be at McCormick Place. That's the South Loop, right outside the heart of downtown, and DIRECTLY next to 3 of the city's most popular museums. (Seriously, guys, if you can make it to the Shedd Aquarium, the Adler Planetarium, or the Field Museum, do it! You won't be disappointed) Don't let people scare you away. Downtown Chicago is full of great food, historically good entertainment. and unlike NYC, the entire downtown is within walking distance of anything. You can visit the Sears Tower skydeck, then a 15 minute walk away you can get world famous Garrett's Popcorn. If the half hour walk from south Michigan Ave. to McCormick Place is too far for you, you can always take the bus. The 146 to Museum Campus runs frequently.

I love Chicago. I love working there, I love visiting, and I hope to live in the city limits one day. Cook County, on the other hand. Now there's some crooks.
 
Dont get me wrong... I'm not saying 'dont go there' .... 'its a bad place'.

But I dont think telling people that going into the worst part of Chi-Town will only get you 'you dont belong looks'.. I dont feel thats very accurate or responsible. (not that IP was trying to 'sell anything') ;)

The crime and murder are up there like other big cities.

And yes,. Cook County does have some crooks.. and the jail there is no joke!
 
Dont get me wrong... I'm not saying 'dont go there' .... 'its a bad place'.

But I dont think telling people that going into the worst part of Chi-Town will only get you 'you dont belong looks'.. I dont feel thats very accurate or responsible. (not that IP was trying to 'sell anything') ;)

The crime and murder are up there like other big cities.

And yes,. Cook County does have some crooks.. and the jail there is no joke!
People are over-reacting. McCormick is fine and safe. I don't think anyone will wander to Austin or to the south side so again it'll be fine.

How cold is Chicago in April?
60-70ish. Not the North Pole weather people complaining seem to think we have.
 
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