ReedPop Issues Statement about Today’s Star Wars: Celebration Issues

Reports were coming in all day from our friends and colleagues in Orlando that Star Wars Celebration was extremely well attended (read: packed FULL of Star Wars fans from all over the world).  However, as we know, sometimes event the best-planned conventions end up with some challenges during their first day of operation – namely, the flow of attendees and line management.

ReedPop, the company who puts on Celebration (as well as more than 30 other large-scale events around the world), issued this statement this evening on their website:

Entrance to the show on Thursday morning was not as fast or as smooth as we wanted it to be and for that we are very sorry.  We always try to strike a balance between safety and convenience and in that spirit we made some changes that we hope will make Friday and the rest of your Star Wars Celebration experience much better.

We are adding additional entrance points around the building that we believe will ease access to the building and make things smoother for you. We will continue to use the West Lobby E/F as our main entrance and we are also adding the C Lobby (right in the middle of the building) and the Westwood Lobby behind the building as additional entrance points for fans. That makes three different locations that will allow fans to enter the building instead of one. We are also adding additional will call/ticket pickup stations at each entrance location for those fans that need to pick up their tickets.

Doors to the main entrance at the West Lobby E/F will open at 5am and the two new additional entrances will open at 6am. Upon entering the building all fans will be directed to the Queue Hall for all Galaxy and Celebration stage panel wrist-banding and entrance to the show floor.

The Celebration Sleepover procedures for this evening will stay the same. Starting at 8pm the queue hall will open for fans planning on spending the night.
We thank you for your patience and we think these changes will help you get into the building faster for the rest of the weekend. May the Force be with you!

As someone who both attends and works on the production side of events, I’m always really happy when organizations address things like this in a timely manner. Obviously, ReedPop heard the concerns of the multiple voices in the Twitterverse and Facebook, and hopefully things will run smoother tomorrow.

Check Bleeding Cool often for the breaking news from Celebration this weekend!