Registration

5 February 2011

COMIC CON IS SOLD OUT. ALL FOUR DAY AND ONE DAY PASSES ARE GONE.


Happy Registration Day! The system, this time manned by TicketLeap, crashed within minutes of going live. My sympathies to those of you who suffered through this.

To say this bodes ill for hotel booking day is an understatement. And as Bleeding Cool said, the lines for pre-reg will no doubt be ungodly. Assuming 2012 sells out onsite (though I'm sure a few irritated attendees will decide not to return), we've now entered a cycle where the populace of future Cons is mostly locked into this year's attendees. Which could mean fewer people will cancel this year.

If you remain unregistered, you have a few options. One is, suck up to any retailers or industry professionals you know and ask bluntly if they'll have any unused passes. Another is, follow SDCC on Twitter because that is where you will hear the fastest about passes going up for sale. This does happen, but usually not until late spring/early summer, when people drop out and request refunds. DO NOT fall for the fake scalpers. They popped up last year and they will surface this year. Passes must be registered by name, and badges picked up with photo ID at the door.

As for when refunded passes go up for sale, here's my cynical view: CCI would have to be stupid to give advance notice, given the manic stampede that will no doubt ensue. So I'd imagine the passes will go up for sale quietly and quickly and be bought immediately. Again: Twitter.

A note on hotels. I tried the Marriott, Hilton Bayfront, Omni and Holiday Inn. All of them are already sold out, which means people are so panicked about not getting a room that they're willing to book now at full price instead of gambling on the rooms with Con discounts. This isn't much of a surprise, given the disaster that was last year's hotel system.

I can't help but think back to when I first started going to the Con and my friends were all, "What? Comic what? Why would you go to something like that?" Those were the days.



January 2011

Registration is still on hold for attendees, though "returning professionals" can register. Volunteer registration is full, no surprises there.


SDCC has been at capacity for years now, and registration has generally gone smoothly; nevertheless, people trying to register in recent months encountered screen freezes, server errors and other system snafus. This has been blamed on the company that runs the system, EPIC. It's rather incredible that in addition to the usual Travel Planners incompetence, CCI found a new company to antagonize us.

No word yet on the magical hotel booking date.