CE16 Will London be worth the travel price for US fans?

So I LOVED the Anaheim Celebration so I was super excited for the next one. When they announced it was in London I was even more excited because I have always wanted to go there. But then someone asked my favorite Star Wars author on Twitter if he would be going and he said he didn't think so because he couldnt afford the travel. Part of what made it such a fun trip for me was seeing the artists and authors that don't make a ton of money off of Star Wars but are just crazy fans like me. I loved getting the chance to meet them. But because they have normal jobs and families, they may not be willing to spend the money to go all the way to London so now I am worried that it will have far less featured guests than the Anaheim Celebration. So my question is, will the London experience be a $3000 experience? Cause that's what it needs to be to make it worth my husband and I making the trip out there. I would love to hear from people who have been to SWC in Europe before. Thanks!

 

It's my view that visiting another country you have wanted to and now can is priceless.

 

There are plenty of artists and professionals that Lucasfilm has hired in the past who live in England --- not to mention that they filmed the upcoming movie there. They are the most likely guests for the London Celebration. It could be a good chance to see the guests who can't afford the trip to a Celebration in the US.

I had a great time at CVII, but 2 in two years is too many for me. I would think hard about going even if it were in the US next year.

 

If you're coming from the US or Canada and you've never been here, I'd recommend a longer stay with Celebration as a part of it. There's plenty to do and see in London and further afield to justify the cost.

 

Well see that's the thing. I have been planning to take a week long trip to London for some time now and then I realized SWC was gonna be there and at first I thought it was perfect. But then I started to rethink it. If I go to SWC, that's less time I am spending actually seeing London and also less money I will have to do things in London. So I won't get the full London trip I have been dreaming about. I guess I am trying to decide if that will still be worth it.

I am not big on the behind the scenes stuff. I like the EU and video games and merch and maybe some fan groups and stuff. Never cared too much about the movie making side of Star Wars. It just reminds me that it's not real. lol There is no where that you can find info about previous Celebration panels. Does anyone remember what kind of panels they had for some of the Europe Celebrations?

 

No one says you have to go for all 3 days. When I went in 2007 Friday was the best day crowd wise. Saturday was very crowded and Sunday had the added 'attraction' of the air conditioning in the venue giving up the ghost. So it was crowded (not quite as bad as the Saturday) and hot.

Let's see if this will work for the schedules - I still have the pdfs from 2007.



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Looks like they loaded OK - let me know if you have any problems downloading them.

 

Wow! You are awesome! Thank you so much! That was very helpful! Looks like that one was way more low key than the CA one I just went to. You are right, I don't have to go every day. The 3 day pass is only $100 so I can just pop in whenever I want. Looks like going may still be on the table. Of course, I asked about comparing it to other Celebrations in Europe but those all happened before Disney owned everything and we all know how Disney likes to do things big. I guess its really still up in the air how big it will be. Thanks again for your help everyone that answered. I knew your guys were the right ones to ask!

 

Yeah - there were no new films on the table in 2007. I didn't go to the second CE - it was in Germany. Maybe someone who went will have more information on that. I do know the venue for 2016 is the same as it was for 2007 so that hasn't changed.

 

Thanks to Darth_BDO for posting this. This has been on my mind a bit as well. If I go (50/50 at this point), I was thinking I'd turn it into a week-long (ish) trip, as I've never had a chance to wander around London before.

Anyone that went to the 2007 convention remember the hotel/shuttle situation? I did a quick map view of the convention center area. It seemed like there were a few hotels within general walking distance. Anyone remember what it was like at the last one?

Thanks.

 

I went to Celebration Europe in Essen, and had a blast. While it took place in Germany, all the panels were in English, and it was a lot of fun. As some others mentioned, there are quite a bit of English and other European SW celebrities who don't always make the rounds to US conventions, so this might be a good chance to see them. As I've been to London once before, I don't feel as much of the need to also go super sightseeing in London for next year, but I'm sure I'll squeeze in some new places.

 

If you have questions about hotels, trains, etc, check out the All About London thread in this forum.

 

Personally, I don't think its worth it for a three day convention, especially if that's all you are going for. I feel like from the time it starts to when it ends will be such a blur that you'll end up sitting there at the end of Day 3 feeling like you hardly did anything at all and wondering how it all went by so fast. That's how anything is in life, it always sounds like a long time, but once you're there experiencing it, it goes by in a flash. I mean it's one thing for a three day convention to happen in the US, even if you have to take quick flight to get there, but to travel internationally for a three day convention just wouldn't be worth the money and effort in my opinion. But again, thats only if you would be traveling specifically for the convention.

The other side of that coin you already touched on. If you extend your trip, but spend three of those days at a Star Wars convention, it takes away from the time you've spent abroad touring another country. While popping in and out sounds doable, realistically, it never works out that way. You spend a few hours doing something and it becomes the whole day, just by way of getting there and back and all the other logistics.

It's a total catch 22 and I can see the dilemma.

But also consider this: Celebration London isn't going to be the end of all things either. Over the next six years there is going to be Star Wars fervor like never before, and the whole community is going to see a level of activity that hasn't been seen since nearly a decade ago when Episode 3 came out. Sure, there was a lull for a while, but that's over now. It is going to be non-stop Star Wars for the next six years and even beyond that. We should expect a Celebration every year, a much bigger presence at all the other Cons taking place throughout the year, Disney events, fan events, not to mention all the movie premieres, everybody is going to come out for this. Books, games, comics, music, so much Star Wars is going to happen in so many different mediums for the better part of a decade.

I'm not trying to deter you from London, just remember it is not the end all be all when it comes to Star Wars.

Anyways, I can hear a lot of how I think in what you wrote in you're current deliberations about going. So I just wanted to offer my take on it.

 

I have to agree with others, if you are going strictly for Celebration, it might not be worth it to you. That is a lot of money to spend for a three day convention. When Celebration went to Essen, I had never been to Europe before and decided I was going to take advantage of the situation and arrived three weeks early. I spent the time visiting Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Lichtenstein and absolutely loved every minute. When the day finally came for Celebration, it seemed that much sweeter to cap off such an amazing trip with a passion I had grown up loving. With London, I plan to do the same thing, I will be arriving two weeks early and seeing all the sites I can (already looking into places in France, Scotland and other nearby areas) before arriving at my hotel on July 14th. Of course not everyone has the time, interest or the money to do something like this, but for me personally, I feel that if you are going to travel the distance you should make the very best of it and not confine yourself to a convention center. Good luck deciding, hope to see you in London.

One other thing to note, I really didn't think Essen seemed much smaller than the U.S. counterparts at all. They didn't have the virtual stage, and the crowds were smaller (didn't make it feel empty by any means) but all the special guests that normally attend Celebrations were there to sign autographs and the majority of the artists and vendors were there as well, they also had all the side rooms decked out with the normal droids, helmets and photo opportunities. It really felt like an all out SWC as any of the U.S. Celebrations do.

 

If you're thinking of going to France, be sure to check out the Eurostar train. It goes from London's St Pancras station. Might be easier than flying if you are planning to go to Paris. It also goes to Brussels if that interests you.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I will definitely look it over as I plan my trip.

 

Wether it is worth it is really down to personal preference.

At Celebration Europe II in Essen I had pretty much seen everything (except the panels) within 2-3 hours. While at the US Celebrations I can still walk around on the last day and be all "Hey, I haven't seen that stall/exhibit/display before".
Excel Exhibition Center in London looks larger than Anaheim Convention Center when looking at Google Earth/Maps. But since they are unlikely to use it all, then that part doesn't really matter.

What is worth considering is that this will be the first convention after release of Episode VII, so there might be a lot of actors from the new movie, many of them are British after all. And there might also be Behind-The-Scenes panels and Prop-exhibitions relating to Episode VII and maybe also from the stand-alone movie that should come out in 2016. And these are the things, that could make it a Celebration not to be missed regardless of where you are coming from.
I know there was an Episode VII prop-exhibition in Anaheim, but this being in the same country as the movie was filmed, there is potential to be a lot more props and perhaps some bigger things.

 

On another attraction - Madame Tussauds in London is opening a major SW exhibit this month. I can't find out how long it's going to run but if it's still there at CE time and you're coming you might want to pencil in a visit. Buy tickets before-hand for this one - lines at Tussauds and London Dungeon (one of their other attractions) can be so long that they stop selling tickets for the day well ahead of closing time.

 

A couple of you have touched on this like but one of the things I have considered is that it will end up being alot bigger than any of the other SWCEs have been because of this resurgence of the fans brought on by the new movies. Plus, it has the Disney checkbook behind it now so that leaves potential for it to always been done big. There are so many things that make this a difficult decision and one of them for sure is money. I was really hoping the next one would be in 2 years. 2 years from now in London would be perfect for me personally because it would give me so much time to plan my trip and save the money. Like many of you have said, it's 100% not worth going if you just go for the convention. I would agree. But that means I only have a year to not only save for a convention but also save for a trip in Europe. I was planning to use my vacation days next year to go to London but London will always be there so it would wait till I was ready rather than having such a strict time line of having to have the money ready by July. I just don't know if I will ever get a chance to go back and I don't want to regret not saving for a couple more months and having a way better trip. I dunno. I'm sure I will make my decision soon. It really is a person choice but knowing what they had previous years helps me make that choice.

 

Also, consider this, the 40th anniversary is in two years.

There is already speculation that Celebration that year is going to be held in Orlando. And if Celebration Anaheim is any indication attendance wise as to how popular the 40th anniversary is going to be, especially being right in the midst of a half-decade long spate of Star Wars releases, its probably a wise bet that Celebration 2017 will be held in Orlando since it is a bigger convention center and can more easily handle that capacity of people.

Another thing, looking back at previous anniversary Celebrations in the U.S. being five day events, it's also very likely the same could happen for 2017, with it at least being held for four days.

So, considering that, unless you live in Orlando and don't require a trip to get there, I say save your money, save your days off, spare yourself the stress of balancing a trip abroad with SWC (a three day one at that), and just go big in 2017.

But thats just me, and I'm not particularly keen on traveling abroad or making a big trip anywhere else in my immediate future. Celebration 2017 is about the only thing that comes to mind. Unless some band I really like schedules a show somewhere that I absolutely must go to, still wouldn't set me back much. Trip abroad in 2016 would really hinder my ability to attend Celebration 2017, and it being the 40th anniversary, I really want to go to that.

So it all depends on you. If your desire to travel abroad outweighs going to SWC, by all means do it. If you can do both, even better. If you can do that and still have the means to attend Celebration 2017, I applaud you.

Anyways, just some recent thoughts I've had on the matter.

 

Another thing to consider is the state of the world. There is no guarantee that travel will in fact be easier in '17 than it is now.

 

Anyone know if they plan on performing any Star Wars music over the weekend at Celebration London? Will anyone from the music crew perform the Imperial March and classic Star Wars songs? Anyone know?

 

Don't know yet. Hopefully we'll get a timetable closer to the date. I expect to see some updates around April/May as things get firmed up.