I’m sure many of you have heard and maybe even attended comic conventions held by different groups in different cities, but honestly, you haven’t been to a REAL comic convention until you have attended the coveted comic con international located in lovely San Diego, California!
San Diego Comic-Con International is a 4 day event (Thursday-Sunday) that is held every year at the San Diego convention center. It was first found in 1970 and primarily showcased basically anything related to comic books. Nowadays, the event has expanded to include anything from video games, anime, horror films, and etc. The event has grown so popular that the convention center alone just cannot hold the number of people who want to attend. This in turn means that not everyone who wants to attend Comic Con can actually go due to limited amount of tickets being sold. To make things even more difficult, a lottery system has been put in place when it comes to buying tickets. You can’t simply just wait until tickets go on sale and go online and purchase them. It’s not like your regular concert or event. People from all over the world want to attend Comic Con so this was their way of making it fair for everyone wanting to attend Comic Con and obtaining tickets. Once again, this is not your regular event so you can’t just decide one day at the last minute that you want to go and try to purchase tickets. I know it sounds crazy, but you must plan way in advance for a chance to buy tickets.
I have always wanted to go to San Diego Comic Con (SDCC). It was something that needed to be checked off of my bucket list, but honestly, I never tried or even looked into how to obtain tickets because I was always busy. In November of 2014, I signed up for a Comic-Con Member ID which is required for you to even have a chance to purchase tickets. Signing up is free by the way. However, there is a time frame as to when you can apply for a Member ID. As mentioned before, you must not lag and wait until the last minute otherwise you will miss the chance to sign up for a Member ID. SDCC will send you updates, and important dates along the way via e-mail.
In February 2015, an e-mail was sent out giving instructions on how to sign into the EPIC registration landing page (basically a waiting room) and to be on the look out for another e-mail which will contain a link that will take you into the “waiting room” 24 hours prior to the start of ticket sales. What?!? Trust me, they make you work for a chance to buy tickets to SDCC! See! I told you that you can’t just decide at the last minute to want to go to Comic Con! There’s no such thing. It’s more for the die hard fans or people who really really want to go bad!
Near the end of February 2015 was when the EPIC waiting room opened up at exactly 0800 Pacific Time. In order to enter the waiting room for a chance to be selected to buy tickets, you had to have a registration code. And in order to receive a registration code, you needed a Member ID. So if you did not apply for a Member ID way back in November of 2014 then you’re basically shit out of luck.
While in the excruciating waiting room, remember, you are not guaranteed a badge aka tickets. You are in the waiting room which is basically a lottery system and all you can do is hope and pray that you get selected to purchase tickets to SDCC. In the waiting room, you will get constant updates and feeds as to what is going on and which days badges are sold out. Of course almost immediately, Saturday badges are sold out because that’s the ideal day to attend. It’s the day where all the good celebrities, best panels, and events occur. However, it is SDCC and you buy badges for whatever days you can get your hands on! Badges are usually sold out in close to an hour or even less. If you are one of the lucky ones who have been chosen to purchase badges, you are allowed to buy them for yourself and 2 other people. This is when it is basically first come, first serve. You must quickly decide on which days you want to buy badges for (that’s hoping you have a choice, since badges sell out fast for certain days). Then you only have 15 minutes to actually enter in your credit card info. and such. If you are buying tickets for 2 other people, here’s the catch, you must have their Member IDs as well as their last names. Going back to November, if your friend did not sign up for a Member ID, oopsie! That’s too bad.
I was not lucky enough to have been selected to purchase badges, but my Boo did and so that was how we were able to attend SDCC! When you are selected, it almost feels like you’ve hit the Jackpot because you are in a waiting room with people from all over the world trying to get selected to purchase badges.
Badges are decently priced. Thursday-Saturday is $50.00 for adults, $25.00 for juniors, seniors, and military folks. Sunday is $35.00 for adults, $17.00 for juniors, seniors, and military people. Unfortunately, all badges have the member’s name on it so there is no such thing as re-selling the badge if someone cannot attend. Hell, I saw people with crutches and motorized scooters at the event so don’t let a broken leg stop you.
Once you know for sure that you are attending SDCC, hurry up and book your hotel and airfare if you’re not from San Diego, Ca before everything sells out! Or you will have to pay for an arm and a leg for everything.
Now you can relax, browse the internet for some costume ideas, and wait until SDCC rolls around in the beginning of July! 🙂
P.S. I will write another blog entry on the actual event itself since I don’t want to make this one too long of a read!
No Comments