Yesterday we posted a rumor that we heard Star Wars Celebration might take place in Anaheim in the Fall of 2019. This was based off of whispers from a source, but due to its lack of official confirmation we posted it as just that, a rumor.

We have since further investigated this situation, as many of our readers and others in the community expressed surprise that Celebration would happen in the Fall. While we respect the information we were told and where it came from, and having seen fellow Star Wars sites indicating several sources reporting something similar, we believe Anaheim in the Fall was absolutely on the table for 2019’s Celebration, but we aren’t completely confident that this will end up being the case. It is quite likely Star Wars Celebration will remain in the Spring next year, and it’s possible it may not take place in Anaheim. We posted it as a rumor for a reason yesterday, and now upon further investigation and discussions we want to share our logical thoughts and info on this with you.

We understand the absurdity of posting a rumor and then going against said story the next day, but instead of just resting on our laurels on what one person told us, we decided to further investigate this, so that’s what we are doing. We also fully understand we could have done this prior to posting yesterday’s rumor but here we are, so please bear with us.

Upon looking further into this situation, here is why we now believe next year’s Star Wars Celebration will occur in the Spring and possibly not even in Anaheim.

Lucasfilm may make an announcement around May 4th

While the last Star Wars Celebration announcement didn’t have a soon to be released Star Wars movie to compete with for announcement attention, we think that it is quite possible an announcement for Star Wars Celebration 2019 to come on May 4th again this year, which would be a Friday. This would mean VIP tickets for the event would soon follow early the following week before scalpers can get their hands on them. Here is the announcement for Celebration 2017 back on May 4th, 2016. Lucasfilm partners 50/50 with ReedPOP for Star Wars Celebration. New York Comic Con is ReedPOP’s convention and their big money maker which always happens in October. Having a big show that they partner with go up against their biggest event makes zero business sense for them. Disney’s D23 expo is happening in Anaheim at the end of August, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to promote Star Wars content there and then follow that up a month or two later with Star Wars Celebration in the same location. Potential theme park attendance concerns If Lucasfilm were to hold the event in the Fall in Anaheim, how can Disney manage 100,000-120,000 rabid Star Wars fans who all want to get into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge the same weekend? Consider these attendance facts: In 2015, LA Times reported that theme park experts estimated Disneyland’s daily attendance, saying: Disneyland officials won’t discuss daily attendance numbers, but theme park experts estimate that the 85-acre park draws an average of about 44,000 people a day. Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida, which will house the Disney World version of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, hosted on average 30,000 visitors per day in 2016 (the last year the data is available as of now according to DisneyNews.us), and that is the entire park of Hollywood Studios. Imagine multiplying these numbers by three or four and narrowing that into one section of the parks? Granted this is a hypothetical as not every Star Wars fan will descend upon the park at the same time while at Celebration, but if they are concerned about the prospect of this, they have the right to be. Yet another reason to not push the convention to the Fall instead of the typical Spring time frame. With that in mind:

Lucasfilm has had Celebration before C2E2 (The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo) in previous years – back to back

Since Celebration can’t come before C2E2 in 2019 – since it’s so early – you would guess that it would be the following week. Being that Galaxy’s Edge will likely not be ready yet in the Spring – why not a new location entirely like Chicago? Star Wars Celebration chatter has been building the last few months and Chicago is on the wish-list of many. We can’t confidently say SWC will land in the Windy City but we think it should just be considered a potential destination for multiple reasons.

Obviously until an official announcement is made we can’t say for certain where they have chosen, but we can at least present the possibilities. For what it’s worth Lucasfilm might even show the international community some love again and go outside of the United States. After all, the initial belief was that the United States and Europe would take turns for these events. However, the speculation gets trickier since there was no Celebration last year and we have Galaxy’s Edge coming this year.

To summarize, we believe Anaheim in the Fall was absolutely an option on the table for 2019’s Star Wars Celebration, and we felt it was important to share yesterday’s rumor with you. While nobody has redacted that statement made to us, after further logical investigation and discussions we feel that it is indeed quite possible that around May 4th we may very well find out that Star Wars Celebration 2019 is not only happening in the Spring again, but may be held somewhere new and not necessarily in Anaheim. We will keep you posted as always when more information presents itself, and of course when the official announcement is made.