Celebration 2015 (aka Celebration Anaheim, aka C-VII )

[MattG]

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So, the next Star Wars Celebration has been announced as being back in LA (Anaheim), in 2015...http://starwarscelebration.com/

The fact that it is so close to the EP-VII release, in LA, and with a bit more time to plan, suggests that all sorts of new things could be in the works (who knows...maybe the first Disneyland Star Wars Weekends?), and high probabilities of big name guests.

Team NZ List (as of January 20th):

MattG, Anaria, +1 (Marriott hotel)
Robo (Marriott hotel)
MedicWilson (Marriott hotel)
Harvey Mushman (Marriott hotel)
Tarragon, +1 (Marriott hotel)
Reverend Strone, +3 (Hilton hotel)
R2D2 (Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Inn)
Fredstar
Kmannzl, +1 (Menage Hotel)
wanderlustin (Days Inn Anaheim West)

PM me if you want to include any updates/changes.

[Anaria]

This is great news - west coast is so much easier for NZ'ers to get to than Orlando, plus lots of lead time for planning/saving. So close to Disneyland too - there's a chance they may do a 'Star Wars Weekends' type event.

[badges2nz]

Cool, this might be the time that we go as a family to Scotland with LA on the way over.

[oota goota]

wow I never know what I'm doing next week never mind next next year! Looks like a really fun convention to go to...

[Reverend Strone]

Maybe I am crazy, but we're seriously considering jumping on for this one. I have never been to a Celebration and always hoped to take my kids one day, when the youngest was old enough. When Disney bought Lucasfilm I expected that would be the end of the Celebration events and was sad to see that dream die before it could be realised, so this is a very pleasant and unexpected surprise. What's more, Catherine and I were actually talking about planning a 2015 California family holiday which was to include a couple of days at Disneyland. Bree would be almost 7 and Anushke nearly 11: excellent ages for a trip of this sort. We were looking at doing it in July, kicking off with Comic Con in San Diego and heading slowly north, but now I am thinking April might be a much better time to go, especially if it means we swap Comic Con for Celebration - a more family friendly event to attend, by all accounts.

Gotta go run some numbers now. It's a big decision. Including time off work, air fares, hotels, hire cars, spending money etc, I can't see us getting much change out of $20 000, which is scary money! Still, it's one of those once in a lifeltime holidays my parents always promised us as kids and never did. I'd love to be able to fulfill the promise to my children and build some amazing memories.

[MattG]

I'd wager that this Celebration is going to be the biggest yet, in terms of effort put in to it. The last few have been great, but to a certain extent have been restricted by a requirement for a more direct return-on-investment. C-VII, however, will preempt Episode VII by only handful of weeks, so I imagine much more can be accounted for in the advertising/promotion column of the ledger. Not to mention the fact that being in California should mean it is so much easier to get guests on board, bring stuff in from the Lucasfilm Archives etc.

...but now I am thinking April might be a much better time to go, especially if it means we swap Comic Con for Celebration - a more family friendly event to attend, by all accounts. ...

By a couple of orders of magnitude, at least. The general configuration is much more family friendly, but they also have a large number of tracks and activities designed specifically for school-aged kids.

I don't know if you've looked at a map, or know the area, but the Anaheim Convention Centre is immediately adjacent to Disneyland/California Adventureland, so a single hotel can serve both destinations (which is the strategy we're likely to pursue, to get a couple of days at Disneyland too). There is a Marriott and a Hilton across the road from the Anaheim centre, as I understand it.

The Disney D23 conference takes place this month, and there is some hope that news about Star Wars expansions at Disneyland parks might be announced.

[Anaria]

Juliet had just turned 11 when we went to C6, and she had a fantastic time. There is a huge amount of panels/activities for children, she was probably at the older end of the age range for those (crafts, Lego, drawing, costume parade etc) so she enjoyed both kids and adult activities (collecting panels, celebrities etc). She said she wished it had lasted a whole month

I really appreciate the advance warning for this convention too - we didn't make it to C5 as it was announced less than a year out, hard to budget and plan. And being across the street from Disneyland? I definitely want to ride Star Tours again (and again..). Then there's Downtown Disney for the evenings after the con.

I'm just so excited!

[Reverend Strone]

I'd wager that this Celebration is going to be the biggest yet, in terms of effort put in to it.

Yeah, that thought had occurred to me as well. In many ways it heralds the ushering in of what the powers at LF and Disney are hoping wil be a new era in SW fandom, so they're going to want to throw everything at it. And in terms of anticipation, I would think it should have a great vibe amongst the attendees as well. it feels like the party not to be missed. I am doubly keen now, learning that so many of my friends here and from other fan communities are planning on attending too.

I don't know if you've looked at a map, or know the area, but the Anaheim Convention Centre is immediately adjacent to Disneyland/California Adventureland, so a single hotel can serve both destinations (which is the strategy we're likely to pursue, to get a couple of days at Disneyland too). There is a Marriott and a Hilton across the road from the Anaheim centre, as I understand it.

Yep, you read my mind Matt. That's currently our plan as well, and my hope is that we can secure rooms at either of those two hotels. I have it on good authority that blocks have been reserved and will be made available to attendees very shortly - I would assume around the same time tickets go on sale.

Juliet had just turned 11 when we went to C6, and she had a fantastic time. There is a huge amount of panels/activities for children, she was probably at the older end of the age range for those (crafts, Lego, drawing, costume parade etc) so she enjoyed both kids and adult activities (collecting panels, celebrities etc). She said she wished it had lasted a whole month

Excellent. It sounds like this could be the holdiay of a lifetime for our two girls. They're both very into their crafts and activities, so assuming they're as passionate in two years about SW as they noth are now (and why wouldn't they be?), this could be a great experience for us as a family.

Woot! I'm pumped! Is it April 2015 yet?

[Harvey Mushman]

Yeah, I'm in.

[MattG]

...but we now, apparently, officially have to refer to it as Star Wars Celebration 2015 http://www.theforce.net/story/front/Luc ... 153519.asp