Ok, this is awesome - I GOT IN!! My registration for returning attendees was a success (YATTA!) and my brother and I are guaranteed for San Diego Comic Con 2017. This year, I was able to log in in record time and, as I was the first of our group, I ordered the badges for my brother and one friend. I just didn't think it was going to be that smooth, though: i woke up extra early to take my girlfriend to the airport at about 5:30 am. I had the opportunity to take a nap once I came back home, but I was wired with anxiety and promptly bought the kids McDonald's breakfasts and brought it home. I wasn't sure if napping would've been the best thing as I had a fear that i would not hear the alarm and miss the whole registration process altogether. I just couldn't risk it, so I stayed up until it came closer to the 8:00 am PST start time for the virtual waiting room. My brother was the first in our group to log in and get into the waiting room. I think it was about a little after 8:00 am. I was confident in my assessment from last week's post that timing really didn't mean anything, so I logged in at about 8:30 or so. I kept an eye on the screen and hoped that there were no technical issues. Even though I accidentally let my screen go blank once, once i moved my mouse (after a panicked few seconds accentuated by significant armpit sweat) I was back on the virtual waiting room and the blue circle was still spinning so I was about 90% sure I was still in. Then, promptly at 9:00am PST ... nothing changed. Instead, the Yellow Bar of Updating only had: So, I did what anyone would do, I started to sweat a little more. The darkening stains started to spread from the vertex where my upper arm and chest meet down the sleeves of my Transformers/Tron Loot Crate mash-up t shirt. My hair started to feel thicker as imagined humidity caused my head to heat up and droplets of sweat ran down the sides of my ears, tickling my neck as they journeyed down to join the other growing patch of moisture.
Yup, I was sweating. But my brother and his friends were not alarmed at all and offered pieces of calming advice: "I'm not worried." So, I waited patiently until the Yellow Bar of Updating informed us that the drawing would be happening soon. When was soon?, I thought. Perhaps this was only a conciliatory message for all those who wouldn't get in; giving us all false hope to keep us watching to read the next message that updated every 120 seconds. And then, the message updated, telling us all to be patient as they were starting to pull the first group of members to the purchase queue. It was here I determined I would be waiting for several minutes - secretly hoping that there would still be at least Friday and Saturday left. And then I was in the queue to purchase. Holy Frick! I rapidly texted the group, "I'm In! I'm In!" And then I filled in the necessary information, triple checking to make sure I didn't mis-type anything which would somehow cancel my purchase request. But I knew I had to be fast just in cast some dormant technical glitch was waiting in the edges of my laptop, ready to pounce and punish me for being unprepared. But, no issues. It went smoothly. Our badges were purchased in a matter of a minute or two. And then i rejoiced by crawling back into bed, and took a nap with my eyes open. "Comic Con" was all I could say. Be Excellent To Each Other! - Ravi
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March 11th, Saturday: The date that many of us have been waiting for. It's SDCC Returning Registration!
I’m excited and anxious because this weekend has the potential to make or break my Summertime plans. The past two years, I have been very fortunate to attend. With my brother and I both logging in to try, only one of us has been successful each year (though I was able to get him a badge as we can register up to 2 additional members at a time). So, it’s come to this: How to Prepare First: Get as much info as possible. Follow the official SDCC web page, Toucan Blog, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites as they often post information that is useful. Second: Don’t Panic. More than ten minutes in the virtual waiting room feels like an eternity, but I did get Thursday and Sunday passes that year, so don’t panic and don’t give up. Third: Learn about the experience from others. Like me. So, lucky you, here’s my take: 1) Logging in time between 8:00am and 8:59am makes no difference. Your log in places you in a ‘virtual waiting room’ with thousands of other attendees. Once 9:00am PST starts, the system will randomly pull a batch of IDs and place them in the queue to purchase your 1-4 badges. While very many complain that the randomness is far from it, my own experience in the past three years has been that it is indeed very random. I’ve seen reports of people that log in right at 7:00am not get passes while others that log in minutes before the process starts are pulled in almost immediately. I have been put into the queues either within minutes or after over twenty long minutes where only Sunday was available. Each time, I’ve logged in about 8:30-8:45am. 2) Know the Member ID names of your friends If you’re buying badges for others as well as yourself, you need their full names and correct Member ID names. Last year, I bought badges for two others and one was my brother’s friend. While I was in the process of buying, the ID name I was entering wasn’t working so I had to get the correct info from my brother, who, by the by, was having trouble getting in touch with her. Your time to purchase badges is limited. If you take too long, you will get kicked out and have to start the process all over again. Clearly, I was stressed when I didn’t get the correct ID name until I had about a minute left. It was nerve wracking and completely unnecessary if I’d been prepared. 3) Technical Problems happen: Unfortunately, from time to time, a huge pile of excrement can get projected to a high-speed turbine during your attempt to get a badge. Even worse, I haven’t heard of anyone getting timely support during the log in process. Sometimes, people have been kicked out of the waiting room for apparently no reason. Others had their screens frozen while trying to completely their badge purchase. If you refer back to my #2 experience and you’ll get a pretty picture of the chaos and stress this causes. They do have a help desk and contact information if your system goes on the fritz. However, there’s no guarantee of a timely resolution nor promise to put you back where you were. There are occasional reports of people getting their badges once a technical review had been completed, but there are hearsay and I haven’t been able to verify these claims as of this writing. Which brings me to… 4) Have friends log in as well. There’s just no beating having a friends/family member log in as your back-up. As I’ve mentioned before, my brother has been able to log in when I failed to do so, and he purchased my badge. The same was true vice-versa. So, to avoid the potential of technical issues, have at least one other person who has a membership ID to log in as well. This will double your chance of getting in as well. That about sums it up from me at this stage. I’ll post my success or failure this time next week (If I fail, I might a bit more time to recover). Good luck fellow returning members and Be Excellent To Each Other! - Ravi |
AuthorWith a couple of degrees under my belt, I have chosen to pursue writing after working in the private sector for many years. It is so refreshing to see how poorly I've retained rules of grammar and other tools of the trade. Good luck reading my blogs. Archives
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