It’s that time again—everyone is feverishly clicking away, waiting to see if they’ll be able to snag tickets to Celebration. And like every single time in the past, it turned into a complete catastrophe behind the scenes. I really don’t understand how they don’t fix their system. Granted, getting tickets was always going to be a challenge—it’s back in LA, it’s the 50th anniversary, the fandom is growing, and participation keeps increasing. I was lucky enough to get some of the tickets I wanted, but for my ninth Celebration, I once again wasn’t able to get a Jedi Pass. So here’s my list of what I don’t understand this time around:
- I assume there’s a good reason for it, but I don’t understand why they moved the show to an exhibition centre that’s smaller than the Anaheim Convention Center, further from Disneyland, and definitely not as visitor-friendly in terms of accommodation. With a show expected to draw a much larger crowd, I would’ve thought they’d stick with the classic Anaheim location…
- I think it’s absolutely mad to allow people to purchase up to 20 tickets per order. The logic I’ve read is “if someone needs to take their whole family, several tickets for several days, you quickly reach 20 passes”—but while that logic stands on paper, technically it’s possible to limit Jedi Passes and four-day passes to at most four per order, not 20. Those sold out in record time and were immediately flipped on scalping sites. In this day and age, it’s not technically difficult to implement a tiered sales system.
- It’s absolutely counterproductive and stupid to make people wait in line for hours, give them 15 minutes to complete a purchase, but require them to fill in a survey before checking out—especially when the system doesn’t secure the shopping cart while the transaction is being processed. I can enter the site, put passes in my cart, but if I don’t act fast, by the time I go to check out they may have sold out. Instead of guaranteeing what’s in your cart for those 15 minutes, you’re left hoping it’s still there. We’ve had the technology to implement this kind of system for years.
- If you really want to force people to fill in a survey that hasn’t changed in 10 years—just to understand who comes to your show (despite running it for a decade)—don’t ask them to do it before checking out. Previously it was done after checkout or after the show. If you must have this information and want a smooth experience that also helps you forecast sales, ask people to pre-register on the platform: fill in all their information, including ID, survey responses, and desired ticket types. That way you can serve them instead of being a hindrance.
- You want to sell merch. People want to buy merch. Why bundle it with the ticket purchase? It increases stress on the buyer, increases the likelihood that tickets sell out before they can check out, and creates a major jam in the virtual queue. Focus on tickets first, then provide separate access to a merch platform that lets people shop comfortably. Your customers will be happier and you’ll make more money. Since you’ve already pre-registered visitors, you could even offer a preview of the merch and let people show interest so you can plan production accordingly.
There are much better ways to treat the fans and reduce the anxiety of people waiting in line for hours—especially those overseas who have to wake up at 3 a.m. just to join the queue. It’s never going to be perfect; there will always be people let down, and improvements can come over time. But at least show a little respect and a desire to make the process better for everyone. Instead of seeing slight improvements from Celebration to Celebration, what we see is things getting more frustrating event after event.