SWC19 SWCC Panels and Programming (and Queuing)

Best guess, there will be a queue hall in McCormick & they'll lead people across the sky bridge (hopefully in an orderly fashion) when the arena opens for seating. At least for the first morning panel. Maybe there will be a queue area somewhere in Wintrust for other panels during the day.

 

That's what I've been thinking. It would also be a way to get people back in the building without going through security again. The skywalk does cut through one of the hotels on the way to Wintrust, but I've always figured those in a connected hotel will still have to go through a main entrance.

 

Yeah, connected hotels are fantastic but you'd still have to go through security. Depending in the line you might not need to go outside/via main entrance, but if the queue is back past security or the line hasn't been let in yet then you will need to.

I guess the security thing depends on how well they can lock down the route through the hotel to the arena. Ideal world would be making it one single security area so you don't need to go back through security after each panel, but likely hood is that will be VERY hard for them to do. BUT that means they should have all entrances and security points running throughout the day to mitigate the effects of this... we'll see I guess.

 

I'm guessing you'll have to go outside to the main line (or one of the main entrances that they may have). A lot of cons I go to simply lock the door from connected hotels to the convention center and make you go through their designated entrance. We'll see though.

 

Yeah, it totally depends on the layout, where security is, and what the lines are like.

 

In Orlando they did wristbanding in the morning queues for panels throughout the day specifically so that people wouldn't have to line up all day for them. Everybody knew whether they would be going to it or not by the time the day started. So I would expect them to do the same thing at McCormick.

 

Fallen Order panel on Saturday.

 

I’m definitely going to try for this one, hopefully I’ll get in this time, unlike the last two big game panels.

 

Definitely more interested to see this than I was Battlefront, just depends what else is on Saturday.

 

Same. I'm not a big gamer, but I like more story driven games.

 

Very excited for the fallen order panel. Really hoping we get some major content updates for BF2 as well. The rumored Padme and Ahsoka announcements would be great!

 

Curious how long you waited in line for those

 

Ok, after seeing all the Galaxy's Edge reveals yesterday and this morning I need to be in that panel! Like to the extend of it now being my 2nd most anticipated after IX. Some of the stuff they've revealed is amazing!

 

Did they confirm there will be a panel?

 

No, I'm just assuming there will be one as Orlando had a park's panel and Galaxy's Edge launches this year so they will have so much they can talk about and show off.

 

I thought the timing of the news was a good indication there will be a panel for it at Celebration. It's definitely an opportunity for Disney to promote it in a city where they don't have a park. It could generate a lot of interest in Chicago, especially if it's true that a lot of families with kids are coming. I could just see all the kids begging to go after learning about it.

And remember they also have D23 this year to do any final reveals.

 

D23's August, current speculation is that Galaxy's Edge could open in June (to be fair this is based on pass holder blackout days so certainly not set in stone). I bet we'll get an official date at Celebration.

 

That's likely. Officially it just says open in 2019. I don't know if passholder dates are much of an indication. If it was to open in June I'd imagine it would be known officially by this point. That would be a quick turn of events if it gets announced in April and is then open within a short time after. We'll probably get a date but I don't think it will be in June. I could be wrong though.

 

Yeah, just speculation based on them blocking pass holders which usually indicates they expect it to be very busy. Could mean nothing at all.

Quick turn around isn't unusual. Disney tend to not announce opening dates until quite late. Pixar Pier was announced to open June 23rd on May 14th last year. They basically like to make sure they can hit the date. Can't blame them really, given what happened with Pandora and especially Rivers of Light it makes sense to be totally sure before committing to a date.

 

There was another blast of articles over the weekend about Galaxy's Edge with more details about food and merch. So they're definitely starting to roll out a lot of information for it. I did see the mention of low level passholder dates being blocked in anticipation for it, but when I looked at them on the Disneyland site, they don't differ too much from what they normally are during summer time. But then if you go to buy single day tickets, they're not even offering them past the end of May, which is unusual since that halts anyone wanting to plan a vacation to Disneyland this summer. Which basically means it's going to be like Celebration in that tickets for the park will go on sale while people will simultaneously be booking hotels. I'd say you can't even really book a hotel now since it isn't certain what dates you will get when you try buying park tickets. Just thinking about it like this, I don't know how feasible it's going to be for people to plan a trip there for this summer who don't live relatively close by. Let alone if people would even want to or if it would be worth it to plan a big trip like that given the crowds that are going to be there for the time being. I get the impression that they are predominantly expecting local traffic, which in itself is enough to sell out the park and hotels every day for the entire summer. With what has been revealed thus far, I can already feel the hype, and it's just going to lead to more crowds than ever. For lesser openings and events there already are massive lines extending outside of the park and into Downtown Disney. They're definitely going to have do something about people lining up overnight, and quite possibly days in advance, for literally each day this summer.

I really hope they don't announce tickets on sale while we're busy at Celebration.

 

I think it will definitely be mainly local traffic at first. With a short time to plan between date announcement and opening it helps them limit people coming from abroad. Not impossible but just less planning time and more expensive. Plus the pricing of Disneyland compared to Disney World means those travelling are (generally) better heading to World anyway as it's priced for people going for a week or more whilst Disneyland is priced more at people going for a day or two

I bet they'll announce dates at Celebration and there will be special Galaxy's Edge tickets (in addition to regular park entry) at least for opening.

 

Clone Wars - Sunday
Resistance - Monday
Rebels - they didn't give a day

 

@star_wars_is_good FPjr is only there Thurs and Fri so Rebels panel on Fri ?

 

Yeah Rebels Remembered on Friday would fit a similar pattern to last year (Dave Filoni's Unexpected Tales and Origins panel on same day as TLJ panel). Nice set of panels announced. Strange not to have animation on Saturday this time around but I guess that leaves the day pretty clear for The Mandalorian and live action TV.