Via Starwars.com:

THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES STAGE HOST DISCUSSES HER OWN EXPERIENCES AT THE WORLD’S BIGGEST STAR WARS PARTY.

The year was 2010. Bleary-eyed but enthused, I got off a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Orlando and grabbed a taxi to my hotel room by the Orange County Convention Center. It was time for me to attend my first Star Wars Celebration (Celebration V), and my fandom would never be the same.

I’ve done other conventions, as have many of you. Several of them. San Diego Comic-Con, check. New York Comic Con, check. Wizard World in insert city name here, check. I found a slice of Star Wars at every stop through cosplayers, local garrisons of the 501st Legion, collectibles, and the occasional panel. None of them prepared me for the Star Wars experience I’d have at Celebration. (All the photos you see here, by the way, are from my own collection.)

You know The Force Awakens line, “Chewie, we’re home?” It’s how fans feel when they walk into any Celebration. We love Celebration because there’s nothing quite like being surrounded by tens of thousands of people in the same place for the same reason: a love of Star Wars. A sort of fandom electricity floods the air and infuses attendees with elation.

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