• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

SDCC 2012, July 12-15, San Diego, CA

Started by HOTFLIPS,

509 posts in this topic

James Howlett

James Howlett

Posted
Posted

Can anyone tell me around when to expect SDCC tickets to be available for purchase online?

 

 

I'd suggest to just keep checking the site. They announced ahead of time when they would sell it but last year, the first two times they tried to sell them the servers crashed. The third time, servers were hammered right when they started selling but they ended up selling out anyways.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Trev

Trev

Posted
Posted

woohoo! finally got my ticket in my email last week. After the convoluted 6 phase registration process this year, I was constantly in fear that something would get messed up or neglected, but everything went smooth and I'm in.

 

Year #4. After what's happened with tickets the last 2 years, I'm starting to get afraid that if I miss a show I may never be able to go back. Which would be sad because this show is the absolute highlight of my year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nearmint

nearmint

Posted
Posted

I thought the process in 2010 worked very well. Right after you picked up your badge, you had the option of walking to a different bank of computers to order your badge for 2011. When I did it on preview night, there was no line at all.

 

This year was a total nightmare with people camping overnight in a line at a hotel down the street from the convention center. I don't know what they gained from this new process, as the process in 2010 did not create a bottleneck. They attempted to fix something that wasn't broken.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Trev

Trev

Posted
Posted
I thought the process in 2010 worked very well. Right after you picked up your badge, you had the option of walking to a different bank of computers to order your badge for 2011. When I did it on preview night, there was no line at all.

 

This year was a total nightmare with people camping overnight in a line at a hotel down the street from the convention center. I don't know what they gained from this new process, as the process in 2010 did not create a bottleneck. They attempted to fix something that wasn't broken.

 

2010 was a breeze. I didn't do that in 2009 and regretted it -- luckily a friend got me in on a guest in 2010 and I did the kiosk thing for 2011.

 

BUT when they sold out of Preview Night for 2011 at the show AND then sold out of the remaining 4 day passes so quickly after they went online AND had so many problems, I think they correctly predicted that that simple kiosk system they used before would be overwhelmed, and they would definitely sell out all the 4 day passes (preview and non-preview) for 2012 at the show.

 

Hence the decision to limit and move to the Hyatt for sales. I know they still did not anticipate the demand for those tix and the amount of time people were willing to wait to buy them. Luckily, I was staying at the Hyatt in 2011, so it wasn't as hard for me to get tix bec i could easly get from my room to the line.

 

Still, it may end up being worse for 2013 tix this year. I don't think the expansion is done until 2015.

 

My only hope is that all the hoops people had to jump through to establish member id's this year will make it easier for folks at the con to buy for 2013. Maybe they'll just do an online only event during the con for sales and let people just use their id's and their own computer or phone if they want rather than stand in line.

 

And they should think about raising prices again, honestly. The hike last year was crazy high, but did not put off *anybody* I spoke to during the con. I was asking lots of folks outside my circle about the price increase and nobody cared.

 

IMO, they need to go to $250 for a 4-day in 2013. Sucks, but they need to temper demand a bit more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
thecollectron

thecollectron

Posted
Posted
I thought the process in 2010 worked very well. Right after you picked up your badge, you had the option of walking to a different bank of computers to order your badge for 2011. When I did it on preview night, there was no line at all.

 

This year was a total nightmare with people camping overnight in a line at a hotel down the street from the convention center. I don't know what they gained from this new process, as the process in 2010 did not create a bottleneck. They attempted to fix something that wasn't broken.

 

2010 was a breeze. I didn't do that in 2009 and regretted it -- luckily a friend got me in on a guest in 2010 and I did the kiosk thing for 2011.

 

BUT when they sold out of Preview Night for 2011 at the show AND then sold out of the remaining 4 day passes so quickly after they went online AND had so many problems, I think they correctly predicted that that simple kiosk system they used before would be overwhelmed, and they would definitely sell out all the 4 day passes (preview and non-preview) for 2012 at the show.

 

Hence the decision to limit and move to the Hyatt for sales. I know they still did not anticipate the demand for those tix and the amount of time people were willing to wait to buy them. Luckily, I was staying at the Hyatt in 2011, so it wasn't as hard for me to get tix bec i could easly get from my room to the line.

 

Still, it may end up being worse for 2013 tix this year. I don't think the expansion is done until 2015.

 

My only hope is that all the hoops people had to jump through to establish member id's this year will make it easier for folks at the con to buy for 2013. Maybe they'll just do an online only event during the con for sales and let people just use their id's and their own computer or phone if they want rather than stand in line.

 

And they should think about raising prices again, honestly. The hike last year was crazy high, but did not put off *anybody* I spoke to during the con. I was asking lots of folks outside my circle about the price increase and nobody cared.

 

IMO, they need to go to $250 for a 4-day in 2013. Sucks, but they need to temper demand a bit more.

 

 

Indeed, it used to be painless to pre-register for SDCC a year in advance, and I was disgusted with the way ticketing for 2012 was handled last summer.

By creating the hoops to jump through, when the previous process was already working, SDCC gave its customers a middle finger.

They gave us another middle finger by announcing at that same time that the prices were going up. The only explanation I remember hearing was that they thought the price increase was reasonable. Not "operating costs have increased" or "we want to raise money to help with the proposed expansion" or anything like that.

 

I disagree with you though, raising the rate to $250 would truly suck, but not necessarily temper demand. I would gripe but keep paying it and I think a lot of other people would too. I guess if customers boycotted SDCC then the elite inner circle of SDCC would stop treating us like , but that's not going to happen.

I like going to SDCC more than I would like not going to SDCC, so I continue to put up with all the hassles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Trev

Trev

Posted
Posted
I thought the process in 2010 worked very well. Right after you picked up your badge, you had the option of walking to a different bank of computers to order your badge for 2011. When I did it on preview night, there was no line at all.

 

This year was a total nightmare with people camping overnight in a line at a hotel down the street from the convention center. I don't know what they gained from this new process, as the process in 2010 did not create a bottleneck. They attempted to fix something that wasn't broken.

 

2010 was a breeze. I didn't do that in 2009 and regretted it -- luckily a friend got me in on a guest in 2010 and I did the kiosk thing for 2011.

 

BUT when they sold out of Preview Night for 2011 at the show AND then sold out of the remaining 4 day passes so quickly after they went online AND had so many problems, I think they correctly predicted that that simple kiosk system they used before would be overwhelmed, and they would definitely sell out all the 4 day passes (preview and non-preview) for 2012 at the show.

 

Hence the decision to limit and move to the Hyatt for sales. I know they still did not anticipate the demand for those tix and the amount of time people were willing to wait to buy them. Luckily, I was staying at the Hyatt in 2011, so it wasn't as hard for me to get tix bec i could easly get from my room to the line.

 

Still, it may end up being worse for 2013 tix this year. I don't think the expansion is done until 2015.

 

My only hope is that all the hoops people had to jump through to establish member id's this year will make it easier for folks at the con to buy for 2013. Maybe they'll just do an online only event during the con for sales and let people just use their id's and their own computer or phone if they want rather than stand in line.

 

And they should think about raising prices again, honestly. The hike last year was crazy high, but did not put off *anybody* I spoke to during the con. I was asking lots of folks outside my circle about the price increase and nobody cared.

 

IMO, they need to go to $250 for a 4-day in 2013. Sucks, but they need to temper demand a bit more.

 

 

Indeed, it used to be painless to pre-register for SDCC a year in advance, and I was disgusted with the way ticketing for 2012 was handled last summer.

By creating the hoops to jump through, when the previous process was already working, SDCC gave its customers a middle finger.

They gave us another middle finger by announcing at that same time that the prices were going up. The only explanation I remember hearing was that they thought the price increase was reasonable. Not "operating costs have increased" or "we want to raise money to help with the proposed expansion" or anything like that.

 

I disagree with you though, raising the rate to $250 would truly suck, but not necessarily temper demand. I would gripe but keep paying it and I think a lot of other people would too. I guess if customers boycotted SDCC then the elite inner circle of SDCC would stop treating us like , but that's not going to happen.

I like going to SDCC more than I would like not going to SDCC, so I continue to put up with all the hassles.

 

That's it, isn't it? You would pay it bec. you don't want to miss it. They need to find a price point that stems demand because they can't fill the demand they have. They have tried raising prices -- just 4 years ago I think I paid $75 for 4-day + preview and this year it is $175.

 

I would pay 2x the current fees if they could just guarantee me a ticket with no hassle. That's how much I hate the lines and love the con.

 

I don't know a great way to solve the problem and still keep comics at the center because eventually the price just pushes most of the comics folks out. Maybe if they just ripped Hall H into its own Con a week or two before or after the rest of the con. I don't know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
thecollectron

thecollectron

Posted
Posted

Agreed, I just want a guaranteed ticket with no hassle.

It's not as if these are tickets for the Super Bowl or a Led Zeppelin reunion concert.

Does it really have to be that hard?

Ticket demand now exceeds supply,and everyone I know who tried to register online for 2011 said it was a frustrating disaster, so no one has any faith in that system, and SDCC just creates more anxiety and desperation instead of easing it. Therefore people are willing to camp out all night to pre-register rather than face the uncertainty of SDCC's online registration system later on, even though SDCC said they were holding back a quantity of tickets for the online sale.

I do think SDCC was trying to make the system fairer for everyone by capping the number of on-site pre-registrations, but it looks like their idea of "fair" really meant "let's make this process suck equally for everyone!"

The Comic-Con overlords don't have to experience any of this and are completely out of touch.

Hmmm......maybe we should start Occupy Comic-Con? :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Go to topic listing