'Star Wars' Celebration: 5 Things To Know If You Are A First-Timer

As a lifelong Star Wars fan, my dream of attending the world's biggest event finally came true when the BFF and I managed to nab tickets for Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023 held last April in London, England.

To say we were ecstatic was an understatement as it was simply impossible to get tickets for the previous five Star Wars Celebrations (held between 2016-2022 and mainly in the United States and once in Europe) as they sold out horrendously quickly, like, within an hour after being launched online.

We were thus very prepared when tickets for SWC Europe 2023 were released in June 2022. With sale time set at 5pm GMT (London time), both of us were by our computers at our separate homes a good hour before midnight (our local time in Asia).

I got into the waiting queue first and still it took another hour before I could access the ticketing page to nab a pair of 4-Day passes within a 10-minute timeframe. The BFF got in much later but by then, the VIP badges, 4-Day passes and weekend 1-Day tickets were all sold out!

Whilst and after getting our tickets, we realized that there were many other SWC-related things that we should have been aware of too.

For instance, we didn't know that you can order exclusive SWC merchandise while buying the tickets, which resulted in a mad scramble of texting to and fro with the BFF on what to order before the system kicked me out of the system!

So, if you are planning to embark on your very first Star Wars Celebration—the next one will be held at the Makuhari Messe in Japan from 18-20 April, 2025—here are five things you should know:

5 Things to Note for 'Star Wars' Celebration First-Timers:

1. Tickets

SWC tickets sell out very fast. You have to be ready by your mobile/tablet/PC et al at launch time and hope to get into the queue way ahead of thousands of others. Unless you are going solo, other members of your travelling party should queue as well so that whoever get into the ticketing site first can do the buying before they sell out.

Be clear of the type of tickets you want and just go towards that as you will hardly have time to think or browse—your ticket category could just sell out right before your eyes too—although the site has no qualms of asking you to do a survey inside your 10 minutes!

Note that you can also buy exclusive SWC merchandise such as T-shirts, lanyards and caps along with your ticket purchase. You should buy them then as there's no guarantee that you will be able to get into the Official Celebration Store during the convention (see #4 below). The merchandise can only be bought with a ticket purchase, so it's not like you can re-enter later to order the items separately.

Unless there is an option to have the SWC badges mailed to you, tickets are usually collected at Will Call.

2. Hotels/Flights

The SWC website usually have a list of recommended hotels located close to the venue. For SWC Europe 2023, the reasonably-priced hotels around ExCel London at Royal Victoria Dock were snapped up way before the ticket launch, so we ended booking a decent hotel at nearby Canary Wharf.

Most hotels these days allow cancellation prior to check-in dates, so play safe and book your hotel first as, remember, there will be thousands of other Star Wars fans attending too. That goes for flights as well if you are not residents of the venue host country. The earlier you book, the cheaper the air tickets (usually) are.

For Japan, you could stay in hotels close to the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba prefecture, or in or around Tokyo (Shinjuku, Shinagawa, etc) as their city subway system is very efficient.

3. Panel Discussions

Panels are where Star Wars actors, writers and producers appear to provide announcements or progress reports on the projects they are attached to, be it film, TV or animation.

Only Jedi Master VIP ticket holders get guaranteed seating to all panels at the main Celebration Stage. Other ticket holders have to go through a panel selection lottery system. We had 4-Day passes and we didn't win a single panel seat for any of 12+ panels at SWC Europe, something I'm still mighty miffed about!

SWC regulars will tell you that there are lots of other things to do beside attending panels. But truth be told, the panels are arguably the main draws of the entire convention as far as I'm concerned!

As the ticket buyer, you will get an email weeks before the SWC launch notifying which panel will be conducting a lottery. If interested, you submit your e-mail address (that was used to buy the tickets with)—and sometimes, your ticket Confirmation ID as well—for the lottery. If you want to attend together with a friend or group, you will need the e-mails of each ticket holder too.

If you don't win a seat, simply queue outside the main Celebration Stage (or screening venues, if any) hours before the panel starts to get a chance to get "unclaimed seats". In London, we queued almost two hours each for the Andor and Return of the Jedi (ROTJ) panels and were fortunate to get in.

Panels are fun experiences as you are in a hall filled with Star Wars fans from all over the world. For us, joy was also seeing Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and Andor actor Diego Luna on stage, and receiving exclusive greetings via video from legends Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford during the ROTJ panel.

4. Official Sta Wars Celebration Store

If you think you could simply waltz into the SWC official merchandise store during the convention, think again. You have to wait online on a stipulated day (again, close to the SWC launch) to make a LIGHTSPEED shopping reservation in order to enter the store without joining the notoriously hours-long queues. Each reservation is for one person only. Members of your group will need to have the ticket buyer's Confirmation ID to make their own reservations.

My BFF didn't get a reservation as all slots were taken up by the time she got online. During the convention though, the security guy checking tickets was kind enough to let her in with me as well as the store wasn't very crowded then. So if you can't get a reservation, simply queue for entry or see if you can enter by accompanying someone with a reservation.

Popular toy and merchandise brands such as Funko operate the same way.

5. Celebrity Photo & Autograph Ops

Just like other fan conventions, celebrity photograph and autograph ops are a big thing. This sector is usually managed by professional agencies such as Official Pix. Celebrations Guests will be announced as and when they are confirmed through the SWC and Official Pix website. You choose which celebrity you want, either photo or autograph op, and the preferred day and timeslot (though in most cases, it also depends on the celebrity's schedule.)

For photo ops, you have only 5-10 seconds to say "Hi, love your work!" before you are shown the exit. Two persons can be in one photo or a family of four (including two children). For autographs, certain stars have restrictions on what they will sign and, for most, no selfies too. There are too many do's and don'ts to list, so take note when you sign up for any of these.

Wanting to meet at least one Star Wars star up close, we signed up for a photo op with the lovely Ming Na-Wen, who plays assassin Fennec Shand in The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Star Wars: The Bad Batch (voice only). She sweetly posed with us while holding my Cosbi Bobble-Head Fennec Shand figure for which I was absolutely thrilled!

Attending a Star Wars Celebration is not a must for every Star Wars fan. But it will certainly be an experience of a lifetime immersing in a massive event that celebrates all things Star Wars!

To get more SWC insights and tips, sign up for the Star Wars Celebration newsletter, join Star Wars groups on social platforms such as Facebook or Discord, or check out Youtubers like Star Wars Sith and the Resistance Broadcast.

Till the next Celebration, may the Force be with you!

Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 will be held from April 18-20 at Makuhari Messe, Chiba prefecture, Japan.

Tickets will go on sale on May 2, 2024 at 7pm ET.

Read also:

* 'Andor': 10 Most Memorable Quotes & Scenes From The Star Wars’ 'Rogue One' Spin-off Series

* 10 ‘Star Wars Rebels’ Elements In ‘Ahsoka’ That Spark Joy

* ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’: 20 Best Quotes From The Hit ‘Star Wars’ TV Series

* Boba Fett’s 15 Most Memorable Quotes From ‘Star Wars’

* Darth Maul’s 15 Most Memorable Quotes From ‘Star Wars’