Celebration Sell Outs! 4-Day Tickets Sold Out in Record Time!

 

Well that went faster than I ever imagined!

Jedi Master badges officially sold out in 32 minutes, though after the first 5-10 minutes this was more a case of them being in people's carts and being processed, with the odd one or two briefly coming back into stock, than them actually being available.

That was expected. But 4-Day tickets? That's another story!

4-Day Adult badges for Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023 officially sold out in 1 hour 15 minutes, blasting passed the previous record of 1 hour 57 minutes set by Celebration Anaheim's original sale back in 2019 (when the event was planned for 2020). I mean, wow! And the sell outs didn't stop there as Saturday Adult tickets sold out in 3 hours 23 minutes.

Talking with other fans ahead of the sale I was definitely a lot more conservative in my expectations. Sure, Jedi Master always sells out right away, and I expected 4-Day to go fast, but I never would have said 4-Day and Saturday passes would both sell out faster for London than Anaheim. I knew there was pent up demand for a Celebration Europe, but more than that I think Celebration is just rapidly approaching SDCC levels with tickets just going faster each year regardless of location.

I've seen it speculated that the fast sell out could be because less tickets were sold due to ExCeL being a smaller venue. Obviously I don't know the number of tickets sold but ExCeL's capacity is listed as 65,000 so, in terms of people, the capacity is there for a US sized event. Yes, the center is smaller than McCormick Place and the Anaheim Convention Center, and previous London Celebrations have been a smaller scale compared to the US events I have been to, but the capacity is there and there are definitely ways ReedPOP could get more out of the space than they did in 2016 so I don't think this is a big factor in the fast sell out (if it's a factor at all). That said, I do think ReedPOP should consider using the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham if they ever come back to the UK. Much more space for the show floor, additional halls for the Galaxy and Twin Sun Stages, a connected arena, and cheaper hotels would make it ideal if Celebration is outgrowing the ExCeL.

I hope you were all able to get the tickets you wanted, but if you missed out I would caution against paying scaler prices on eBay. Yes, I don't want to reward those who bought tickets just to flip them an hour later (looking at you Jedi Master badges already on eBay!), but please remember that any lottery entries will be linked to the email address that purchased the tickets and tickets aren't officially exchangeable so you may be relying on your seller to send you the badges and enter lotteries for you next year. Lyte was used as the official reseller for both Chicago and Anaheim so I'm certain there will be an official way to exchange tickets (likely Lyte) for London as well as we get nearer the event.

I look forward to celebrating with you all in London!