Buy your Emerald City ticket on 23 September

9 SEPTEMBER 2015

Yesterday I was on a flight from Atlanta to Boston with several DragonCon attendees on it. How envious did their smug faces make me? So envious. I've been in a Comic Con mood ever since - so I'm pretty excited to report that Emerald City has announced the date of their ticket sale, along with the types of passes available.


Let's break this down.

The ticket sale date:  23 September - Noon PST

How fast you need to be: 3-day passes were available for almost 2 months last year. However, the Deluxe passes went fast - like 3 minutes fast. I am not trying to instill panic here, just saying that you should come to terms with your priorities and be ready.

The influence of the mighty ReedPOP: I have no idea. Other than "pass" seems to be "ticket" now. (I tend to use badge, pass and ticket interchangeably, which I'm sure irritates some of you, but they're all the same thing.)

Types of passes available:

First, remember that we're looking at an expanded 4 days of Emerald City magnificence. So yes, things are a bit different but not much.

• Single day ($20 for Thursday, $35 for Friday and Sunday, $45 for Saturday)
• 3-day ($85 for Friday-Sunday)
• 4-day ($95 for Thursday-Sunday)
• Child ($15 for ages 6-12; Friday-Sunday only)

Let's look at the VIP packages. 

• Special Access: $200. This seems a lot like last year's Deluxe package. First access to the Exhibit Hall, free t-shirt, exclusive variant comic, 15% discount at the merch store and 2 private autograph signings with comic guests.
• Celebrity Fast Pass Package: $295. Same as above (mostly) but also priority line access to photo ops and celebrity and voice talent autographs. No front row Main Hall seating, sorry.

Now onto your burning questions: are the VIP tickets worth it? Well, you tell me. Do you want to be the first in the Exhibit Hall? Do you enjoy jumping lines? Then you may want to shell out for various upgrades. I'm not a photo op person, but other attendees told me they felt that benefit alone made the price tag worthwhile. However - if you can't snag one in time, I wouldn't feel that your ECCC experience will be irreparably damaged. You'll still get into your panels, still buy the sketch or comic book of your dreams.

Of course, I know some of you Emerald City veterans will still be grumpy about tickets selling out so quickly. Last year taught me well how many ECCC natives resent the influx of SDCC attendees like me. (You can always tell the difference because San Diego attendees are just grateful to get a mostly guaranteed ticket without going through a mindscrambling lottery dominated by a spinning blue wheel. ) So - if that's you, grumble all you want but you should still be ready for action. Emerald City has reached an even higher profile in nerd world thanks to the ReedPOP takeover and its general awesomeness. I'm pretty sure this sale will reflect a higher demand.

23 September! Put an incredibly mandatory lunch hour life-saving appointment on your calendar and tell your boss, your spouse, your parents and your friends that you are not to be trifled with under ANY circumstances. Because if last year was any clue, the Special Access ticket will go the fastest. And while I think you'll have a little more breathing room with 4-day tickets, I think they'll still go faster than the 3-days did last year.

ETA: If you didn't see this already, here's the list of last year's hotels. This is NOT for 2016, but it's a safe bet many of the hotels will be the same.