First Details on New Virtual Queuing System Revealed

Even without The Star Wars Show (what happened?!) there's still some big Celebration news today as eager fans across America began to receive their badges and the first information on the new queueing system.

Whilst the full details of the new system haven't been revealed yet, it looks like Celebration's infamous overnight line ups (seen above in an image from WDW Info) are now a thing of the past.

The Resistance Broadcast's Lacey Gilleran shared pictures of her VIP badge today (featuring some great Qui-Gon Jinn artwork) which came bearing the message

Activate your badge now to maximize your SWCC Experience! StarWarsCelebration.com/Activate

The link takes you to a GrowTix page that essentially tells you that your Celebration badge is your first step into a larger world.

When you activate your badge (using the code under the QR barcode as seen in the picture below) you will automatically be chosen to battle for the Light or Dark side of the Force. Yeah, it kinda sucks that you can't choose but I get that they need roughly even numbers. You can then earn points for your side of the Force by interacting with Amazon Prize Stations at Celebration (the Use the Force experience is presented by Amazon), completing secret missions on the Celebration app, and finding hidden QR codes throughout Celebration.

So what does all this have to do with panels? Once you've activated your badge, the Celebration app (coming soon) will be you gateway to Celebration.

Using the app you will be able to make Lightspeed Virtual Panel Reservations for selected panels.

You will be able to use Lightspeed Lane Virtual Queuing for select show features (the most likely one here is the Celebration Store, replacing the paper Lightspeed Lane tickets used at past events, and the Vader Immortal demo announced yesterday is another candidate).

Both of the Lightspeed passes are available on a first-come, first-served basis and subject to availability.

Order Celebration merchandise via the app and be notified when it's ready for pick up! This is a pretty major step that I'm sure will make a LOT of fans happy if it includes all the show store merchandise!

Enter lotteries for selected exclusives (the most likely candidates here seem to be LEGO and Funko).

Manage all of your photo op and autograph reservations via the app. Most likely this will just tell you when your time slot is, but the use of the word manage does suggest some ability to move your time slot (availability permitting) if it clashes with other events.

And interact with show features and exhibitors, or visit one of the many prize towers located throughout the show for a chance to win prizes.


So there's a lot to like here, at least depending on how well it's executed. Getting a Lightspeed Lane time for the Celebration Store through the app certainly seems easier, and the ability to order and pick up merchandise through the app is a massive step forward and will hopefully lead to a big reduction in the queue times for the show store.

I know a lot of people will be happy with the new Panel Reservations system and not having to line up over night. Personally, I'm sad to see that go. Ok, doing it on back to back nights in Orlando was a crazy idea, but doing it in London I made some great friends who I'm excited to see again next month. I'll miss that social side of it. I also liked the control lining up gave me, it was my choice whether to line up or not depending on how much I wanted to see a particular panel versus fastest finger/server first for online reservations (or possibly the randomness of a lottery - more on that in a moment). But that's just personal preference and I'm open to seeing how well the new system works.

I do have some concerns however, about how this will work for international guests who will be collecting their tickets at Will Call when they arrive in Chicago. Lucasfilm's Event Coordinator Daniel Kennedy has assured fans on Twitter that international fans won't be disadvantaged by the new system and more details are expected to be released tomorrow, so it's just a case of wait and see at this point. If the app is supported by Amazon I have some hope that it won't crash under the pressure, which is a real risk after ReedPOP's site crashed just selling the first batch of Road to Celebration pin badges.

In addition to her awesome badge art, Lacey Gilleran also shared our first look at the queuing system for Chicago.

So, yeah, the overnight is out and the official line up time is 8am on Thursday (for a 1pm show floor) and 6am on all other days (for a 10am show floor), with panel line up times being on your panel reservation. What time the "unofficial" lines start is up for debate, but without the need to line up early for panels and Lightspeed Lane/app orders for the Celebration Store, ReedPOP have definitely done everything in their power to reduce the need for people to line up early.

The last bit is what really catches my eye though. "Entry into a panel lottery is required for morning entry into the Wintrust Arena."

This seemingly contradicts the previous statement that Panel Reservations will be "first-come, first served". And yeah, I don't like it. Traveling from around the world I'd rather put the time in and queue than have panel access dictated by random chance in a lottery. My big concern here is again for international fans (like myself). It's been posted to a Celebration fan group on Facebook that international fans will be able to register via their order confirmation number before they collect their badges. If that's the case (as it very likely is) then great, but other have posted that if ReedPOP run the SWCC lottery like they do for NYCC then you'll be able to enter for yourself and 3 guests.

This is where the system could become unfair/unbalanced. Let's say you ordered as a group of four. If you receive your badges in the mail you activate/register all 4, then when the lottery opens you could each enter for yourself and 3 guests. So essentially the group of 4 gets to enter the lottery 4 times. The if are collecting via Will Call you activate/register with your confirmation number, you only have one of those and likely only one entry into the lottery for your group of 4. So the Will Call group only has a 1/4 of the chances as the group with badges in hand.

Now this of course assumes that there is a lottery (it still may be a panel reservation) and that it runs like NYCC. They could easily make it so all members of a group must have an activation code so you can't have multiple entries per group. Or split the Will Call group so that they can enter the same number of times as those with badges in hand. At this point we just don't have the information.

Hopefully we'll know more by the weekend. So yeah, mixed feelings. There's a LOT of good in there and I can see where ReedPOP have tried to listen to fans and make adjustments after last year. If the show store stuff works then I can see that being a BIG time saver for everyone and really helping to reduce the lines for the show store. On the plus side I'm going to like sleeping in my bed on Thursday night and not having to miss show floor time to get in line. But at the same time I'm really going to miss the social experience of the overnight line up, it was truly one of my favourite experiences in London. And I'm nervous due to the unanswered questions. With the line up I knew it was on me whether or not I got into a panel, I liked that. Now it's, at best, fastest computer first or, at worst, a lottery. I guess I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope the Force is with me.

I'll update as soon as we learn more.