March 11th, Saturday: The date that many of us have been waiting for. It's SDCC Returning Registration!
I’m excited and anxious because this weekend has the potential to make or break my Summertime plans. The past two years, I have been very fortunate to attend. With my brother and I both logging in to try, only one of us has been successful each year (though I was able to get him a badge as we can register up to 2 additional members at a time). So, it’s come to this: How to Prepare First: Get as much info as possible. Follow the official SDCC web page, Toucan Blog, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites as they often post information that is useful. Second: Don’t Panic. More than ten minutes in the virtual waiting room feels like an eternity, but I did get Thursday and Sunday passes that year, so don’t panic and don’t give up. Third: Learn about the experience from others. Like me. So, lucky you, here’s my take: 1) Logging in time between 8:00am and 8:59am makes no difference. Your log in places you in a ‘virtual waiting room’ with thousands of other attendees. Once 9:00am PST starts, the system will randomly pull a batch of IDs and place them in the queue to purchase your 1-4 badges. While very many complain that the randomness is far from it, my own experience in the past three years has been that it is indeed very random. I’ve seen reports of people that log in right at 7:00am not get passes while others that log in minutes before the process starts are pulled in almost immediately. I have been put into the queues either within minutes or after over twenty long minutes where only Sunday was available. Each time, I’ve logged in about 8:30-8:45am. 2) Know the Member ID names of your friends If you’re buying badges for others as well as yourself, you need their full names and correct Member ID names. Last year, I bought badges for two others and one was my brother’s friend. While I was in the process of buying, the ID name I was entering wasn’t working so I had to get the correct info from my brother, who, by the by, was having trouble getting in touch with her. Your time to purchase badges is limited. If you take too long, you will get kicked out and have to start the process all over again. Clearly, I was stressed when I didn’t get the correct ID name until I had about a minute left. It was nerve wracking and completely unnecessary if I’d been prepared. 3) Technical Problems happen: Unfortunately, from time to time, a huge pile of excrement can get projected to a high-speed turbine during your attempt to get a badge. Even worse, I haven’t heard of anyone getting timely support during the log in process. Sometimes, people have been kicked out of the waiting room for apparently no reason. Others had their screens frozen while trying to completely their badge purchase. If you refer back to my #2 experience and you’ll get a pretty picture of the chaos and stress this causes. They do have a help desk and contact information if your system goes on the fritz. However, there’s no guarantee of a timely resolution nor promise to put you back where you were. There are occasional reports of people getting their badges once a technical review had been completed, but there are hearsay and I haven’t been able to verify these claims as of this writing. Which brings me to… 4) Have friends log in as well. There’s just no beating having a friends/family member log in as your back-up. As I’ve mentioned before, my brother has been able to log in when I failed to do so, and he purchased my badge. The same was true vice-versa. So, to avoid the potential of technical issues, have at least one other person who has a membership ID to log in as well. This will double your chance of getting in as well. That about sums it up from me at this stage. I’ll post my success or failure this time next week (If I fail, I might a bit more time to recover). Good luck fellow returning members and Be Excellent To Each Other! - Ravi
3 Comments
3/6/2017 08:15:41 pm
I would fly from New York with a new costume. It is a secret by now!
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4/5/2017 05:02:14 pm
I also had the same experience when I registered for SDCC last year. My sister and I were very excited when we bought our badges. We also had a hard time registering, but fortunately we were able to successfully finish the process. It was one of the best days of my life to see my favorite persons and have their autograph and pictures with them Some of the attendees even wore costumes and it was really hilarious. I wanted to go to SDCC this year, but I'll be somewhere on the said date.
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4/23/2017 10:04:39 pm
I really want to visit San Diego Comic Con someday. This event is legendary. You know that for sure.
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AuthorWith a couple of degrees under my belt, I have chosen to pursue writing after working in the private sector for many years. It is so refreshing to see how poorly I've retained rules of grammar and other tools of the trade. Good luck reading my blogs. Archives
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