The SDCC hotel sale is here

11 APRIL 2019

 

8:22 p.m.

Overall, today's lottery mostly went smoothly. The most frequent complaint I've heard has been of the Captchas that rose up, often shortly before 9 a.m., forcing people to scramble to complete them before the sale went live. Was that a deliberate measure to reduce the number of attendees with multiple browser fires going?

It's worth noting - sorry - that too good a sale can be bad news collectively. As reports trickled in over the day and evening, more than half of people I've heard from said they got in very quickly, even immediately. Which means that getting in fast doesn't mean a great hotel when a colossal number of people were right there with you.

My advice is to disregard the whole SDCC calculus of exact entry times x number of rooms x dates requested. I know there are many furious comparisons going on right now as everyone looks for some type of solid results forecast. But you're trying to capture clouds. Try to focus on the Con itself, not where you'll be staying, until the emails go out. Remember, you may not hear for weeks. There's no point in driving yourself crazy.


9:29 a.m.

Today has really been a mixed bag. One friend completely missed the sale due to traffic; another enlisted his mother for help and she only picked one hotel on the form. But there's also been good news; two people who swore they weren't going back to Comic-Con changed their minds and are looking forward to it. Funny how much your perspective changes between Sunday night of the Con and the following spring.

I haven't heard about any form hijinx yet; did anyone have trouble?


9:12 a.m.

So how did you do? I got in super fast, but I know from past experience that isn't always a guarantee of anything. 2 other friends got in also very quickly, though all of us had the green man and didn't go straight to the form as people have in the past.



8:39 a.m.

By now I'm guessing almost everyone has logged in. Friends are having a few minor crises - a dead laptop, a boyfriend who doesn't understand why the forms can't have the same address. Typical stuff.

Hopefully today goes smoothly.... no one getting bounced out and no zombie forms resurrecting themselves for random attendees.

Hopefully.


8:12 a.m.

In less than an hour, your Comic-Con hotel fate will be decided - mostly. The hotel sale goes live at 9 a.m. PST and only those of us who get picked in a nanosecond will score a downtown room. Almost everyone else will get a non-downtown room or nothing at all. The waitlist and the kindness of nerd strangers will alleviate some of that misery - but today, right now, we're all looking for extremely fast admission to the hotel form.

I know you're nervous - my stomach is in knots. Remember that it's all about the time you enter the form and not how long it takes to complete it. Try to stay calm and make sure you pick the right hotels and enter the correct information.

Good luck. I'll post what I know.