So in the Spring of 2013 (assuming we don’t die this December), San Diego’s Comic Convention will be selling tickets! Every summer in July, San Diego hosts what has to be the nerdiest and most intensely packed 4 days ever, or maybe 5 if you include the Wednesday preview night. Over the years, Comic Con has only increased in size. Five years ago you could buy your tickets a few days before for less than fifty dollars, ten years ago you could walk up to the door and purchase a cheap ticket for a day of casual fun, but today? Comic con has turned into an international sensation that comes with tears and frustration.This begins primarily with ticket sales. Because we love our readers, I’m going to give a step by step guide on how to get tickets for San Diego Comic Con.
Now, I love SDCC. I look forward to it every year and the thought of not attending a year legitimately makes me sad. Now I’m no war wounded veteran of the Con, this coming year will only be my fourth year. However, I would still count this as quite a good amount of knowledge, so I will share it with you. First thing is first, register for a member ID. Even if you don’t think you’ll ever afford Comic Con, do it now just to save yourself heartache. After multiple failed attempts of ticket sales in 2011, CC has developed a completely new style of online registration. Your member ID will have all of your registration information and it will make your ticket buying life much easier. I know some people might think that they’ll just apply for a member ID when the time to buy tickets comes, nope, it’s not that easy. Comic con closes their registration about a week before they sell their tickets, and if you miss it, you miss it. You won’t be able to register until all the tickets are sold out.
So you have your member ID and you’ve decided to read up on Comic Con? Good choice. Make sure you know what you’re getting into. The first thing you have to know about Comic Con is that it is a commitment. There is no going into it half assed. It is an expensive trip and, in my opinion, totally worth it. If you need help deciding whether or not to go to Comic Con, you need to weigh your options. This is not a cheap venture and you need to be prepared for what is to come. I won’t sugar coat it, if you are into big name attractions like Doctor Who or The Walking Dead, you’re in for a lot of line waiting. Two years ago the line for the convention Hall H for Twilight started lining up Monday for a panel that would be on Thursday afternoon. I could easily say that 15% or more of my time spent at Comic Con is sitting or standing in line, being quite frustrated. Of course, this isn’t everyone’s life. If panels don’t interest you, and autographs don’t interest you, you are free from the lines (well kind of). The only really big line you’ll have to go through is to get your badge and get into the exhibit hall where all of the madness begins.
The exhibit hall is the biggest attraction at Comic Con. It has a size of 615,700 sq ft out of the 1,107,600 sq ft, with every inch of it covered with fans, nerds, big names, booths, swag, and security staff. If you are not a fan of crowds, DO NOT GO TO COMIC CON. I will say that to you right now. No matter where you go, there will be people squishing and talking and running. It’s unavoidable and it’s a part of the experience.
Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty, ticket prices and buying the tickets. Buying the actual tickets are going to be harder than deciding whether you even want to go. Hundreds of thousands of people fight to get one of the coveted 130,000 tickets. The prices will be your first hurdle, eventually I will make a post about the cost of Comic Con, but here is a mini preview.
Yeah. Those are the actual prices. Now that isn’t the full cost of attendance, there is also hotel fees, air fare, food, and souvenirs. Thankfully if you get a hotel that is close enough or on the shuttle schedule, transportation fees are taken care of. But I can tell you that last year I spent around $500 for my trip to San Diego and that was with the $80 I spent taking a bus to California from Arizona. Like I said, this is by no means an easy decision and it’s not worth going if you’re constantly regretting the choice. But, let’s say you think it’s worth it (and I honestly do), and you go into the dangerous world of purchasing tickets. Now, if you have friends who also like to go, ban together and on the morning tickets go on sale, BE READY. Tickets have been known to sell out within minutes. Servers can crash, browsers have frozen up (so far we have seen that Safari, oddly, has been the fastest), and internets have not been fast enough. With enough people in a group, someone is bound to break through. This is the most stressful part of Comic con, and after going through this experience three times being awarded Pre-registration was a weight off my back.
It’s no secret that this is a difficult and stressful process, through and through. But it’s a fun experience. I bonded with the people I went with, you suffer together, walk more than most of us do in a year, wake up earlier than you ever would for class, and have life changing moments. I confess that I am a big fangirl. I love meeting actors and actresses just to meet and talk to them, it’s a small pleasure that I allow myself to shamelessly indulge in every year at Comic Con, and it’s one of the reasons I continue to return there. But the biggest reason? The experience. I love meeting people, running around with my friends, making friends in line with people who share the same experiences as you. As a person who has too often gotten a skeptical look when I tell people that I love nerdy things, I love going to a place where there are thousands of people like me, who can relate to the things that I adore, and spending four voraciously intense days with them. So stay tuned for more fruitful information from us here at Nerdophiles, I’ll also be divulging some not-so-secret secrets on how to save yourself a bunch of money and get a pretty close experience in another article soon. You can be sure that next year, July 18-21, we will be giving you as much coverage as we can about Comic Con!
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