Stephanie Liu

Operation Onsite Pre-Registration for Comic-Con 2012

  • By Stephanie Liu
  • July 24, 2011
  • Events

 

It was 6:00am on Sunday the last day of Comic-Con 2011 and I was among hundreds of others standing in a long line outside the Douglass Pavilion at the Manchester Grand Hyatt eager to pre-register for Comic-Con 2012. I had heard about onsite pre-registration on Thursday afternoon, the first day of Comic-Con, and was horrified that onsite registration had opened at 8AM and ended at 11AM that morning – I was late by three hours! Was it game over for Comic-Con 2012? I shook my head. No, Sunday would be my last chance for pre-registration. While friends of mine thought that getting in line at 6:30am was outrageous, this early riser was determined to get passes for the next year. There was no way, I was going to miss this deadline. My only hope was that by the time I got to the register, there were still passes to buy.

Early risers hoping to get passes for next year's Comic-Con.

At around 6:30am folks were being shuffled into the pavilion and the line started to move. We were greeted at the entrance and informed that a Temporary Membership ID Card was required in order to purchase tickets and was given the option to purchase one or two tickets (2 tickets max per person). I gladly took two Temporary Membership ID Cards, one for me and one for a family member. In order to purchase any passes for next year, we were told that we had to have a valid badge for the day (Sunday in this case) or a 4-day badge. I expected folks to drop out of line but realized, if they were here as early as I was, they sure as hell had all of their facts in order. Valid badge – check. Temporary Membership ID cards in hand – check. Credit card – check. Now it was time for the waiting game.

Stephanie Garcia waiting in line for onsite pre-registration for Comic-Con 2012.
Thermometer indicating how many passes have been sold for that day.

Inside the pavilion, we were five rows towards the back when a Comic-Con official announced that 4-day Badges with Preview Night sold out by the third row. He encouraged everyone to only purchase badges for the days that they would actually be going. This would give everyone an opportunity to attend. I guess his words of advice helped because by 9am, 4-day Badges with and without Preview Night were still available and I was able to secure four individual badges for each day of Comic-Con and passes for a family member.

And with that said, Operation: Onsite Pre-Registration for Comic-Con 2012 was a success. See you all next year!