Introductions/Welcome Thread

[Zero]

Yeap, my best friend and I have to fly for over 20 hours to get to the US, but we're stopping by NY for a couple of days before heading to SDCC. I think it would be awesome to meet up with new friends at the con - maybe we could have a get-together after the con for drinks!

@[email protected]!  20+ hours. Yikes. How many stopovers do you normally have for your flight?

Hmmmm... perhaps someone can take the initiative to start a meet-up thread in this Off-Topic Chat section. ;p

[dogberry]

There's a direct flight to New York from Singapore but only for business class and above, so it's pretty expensive and I opt for regular cabin instead. Usually when I fly to/fro the east (JFK mostly) I stopover at Frankfurt, whereas if it's the west cost (LAX) I stopover at Tokyo.

I booked my flight from NY-> San Diego for 11th July via Delta and it cost me a whooping $350! (This was the cheapest deal I could find as of last month!) The last time I flew from Minneapolis to Vegas on X'mas eve it only cost me $250, what with holiday peak charges and all. Guess that's Con season for you, the price hikes for hotel/airfares are INSANE.


Yes, there should be a meet-up thread! Unfortunately I'm utterly unfamiliar with SD and SDCC so I wouldn't have a clue where and when to suggest it. Anyone else has ideas?

[Andrew Costa Mesa]

Hi Alyssa and Chris, I really appreciate you both putting together this site!   

My name is Andrew and as you can guess by my screenname, I live in Costa Mesa in Orange County, about a 90-minute drive north of the CCI site.

Last year was my first and back then only experience with Comic-Con.  One the day of the second registration process, I almost forgot about it and made my first attempt to enter the TicketLeap site 10 minutes after it opened up at 9am on 2/5/11.  After countless refreshing of the browser, I was able to get a Saturday pass.  I showed up really early that Saturday at 7am and already the line was humongous even though badge distribution wasn't to start until 8:30am.  The line moved very fast and was able to pick up my badge well before 8:30am.  I guess because of the line they decided to give the badges out early.  Pre-registration for this year's Comic-Con was scheduled to take place between 8am-11am, however when I showed up at the hotel where they were selling the badges shortly after 8am, they were already sold out for that day.  Apparently, fans had camped outside the hotel the afternoon before.  I decided that if they're going to do the pre-registration again this year, I think I should skip it because precious time is being wasted when I could be enjoying the Con instead.  All I did at last year's Con was spend a few hours inside the convention where they had the booths, games, comic books and so forth.  I didn't go to any of the high-profile panels in Hall H (where the infamous pen-stabbing incident occurred at the 2010 Con) because lines were already way too long and I didn't want to spend my only day at the Con doing nothing but wait in line with one panel with no guarantee Hall H would not be filled to capacity.  My day was over at 1pm.  I didn't go to any places outside the convention center because I was staying in a friend's house way up into the northern part of San Diego close to the edge of the city limits and left my car up there.  The trolly was my only means of transportation but the ride to both the trolly station and the drive back to the house were very long.

This year, I'm happy to say that I was able to secure a four-day badge w/preview from the second-chance resale.  I was among the many victims of the broken E-mail link on March 3.  I couldn't get on with my iMac but got on with my iPhone #10,000 in line.  The browser refreshed to #6,669 by 8:20am and suddenly it stopped refreshing.  I was not able to get a badge that day.  I did get in on the second-chance at #383.  Within a few minutes, I got in and purchased my four-day w/preview badge in just a few minutes.  This time around I will be staying at a hotel in downtown just a half-hour walk from the convention center (there will be shuttle service) and my car will be parked there so hopefully I will be able to do more things outside of the site.

So do you recommend that I should avoid the high-profile panels as they may take up most of the day waiting in line?

[Zero]

My name is Andrew and as you can guess by my screenname, I live in Costa Mesa in Orange County, about a 90-minute drive north of the CCI site.

Welcome to the new "Friends of Comic-Con International" forums, Andrew!  Glad that you can join us.

As for any tips or advice for con-going, check out this thread: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
*goes back to making new button designs for the forums*  (Ha ha.)

There's a direct flight to New York from Singapore but only for business class and above, so it's pretty expensive and I opt for regular cabin instead. Usually when I fly to/fro the east (JFK mostly) I stopover at Frankfurt, whereas if it's the west cost (LAX) I stopover at Tokyo.

I booked my flight from NY-> San Diego for 11th July via Delta and it cost me a whooping $350! (This was the cheapest deal I could find as of last month!) The last time I flew from Minneapolis to Vegas on X'mas eve it only cost me $250, what with holiday peak charges and all. Guess that's Con season for you, the price hikes for hotel/airfares are INSANE.


Yes, there should be a meet-up thread! Unfortunately I'm utterly unfamiliar with SD and SDCC so I wouldn't have a clue where and when to suggest it. Anyone else has ideas?

@[email protected];

I believe the higher airfares are mainly because of June, July, and August being the summer months (which are usually ideal for traveling and vacations), ha ha.

Well... I started an idea/brainstorming thread for a meet-up--perhaps someone else help organize the actual meet-up: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

[hoserzgirl]

Hello to all Con Vets & Newbies!
My little tribe and I have been to CC for the past 4 years. It really is so much fun to hang out with cool people for 4 days and get away from the daily grind. We also live in the Inland Empire here in So. Cal. We enjoy getting out to Frank & Sons and going to local events. I would say to anyone who doesn't already know that one of the big reasons it is so fun to go the Comic-Con is the people. So talk it up while you are in line and get ready to meet some pretty amazing people. The Big Kahuna has over 2 thousand friends on facebook and it's awesome when we get to meet them IRL. CCI is really like the biggest summer camp ever for all ages.
And definitely a shout out to the Creators of this forum. I hope all will find some useful information, and maybe even make some new friends!

[Chris]

So do you recommend that I should avoid the high-profile panels as they may take up most of the day waiting in line?

It is tough to answer the high profile panel question for someone else since everyone’s Comic Con objectives are different.  Some people do nothing but wait in lines & spend the whole day in big panels while others avoid the panels entirely & just walk the exhibit hall.

You best bet is to:
(1.)   Wait for the schedule when it comes out two weeks before the show
(2.)   Make a list of all the panels you want to see
(3.)   Rank them:  Dying to see, Wouldn’t mind seeing, etc.
(4.)   Calculate wait times (usually 3 hours ahead of time is enough although popular shows like Big Bang Theory can be as long as 8 from what I have heard)
(5.)   Figure out which ones might be in the same room right after each other.
(6.)   Decide if the panel/wait time is worth it to you  --or-- you can decide if walking the exhibit floor would be something you would enjoy more. 

Sorry for the wishy washy answer, but each person’s con experience is different depending on what they like to do and want to see.  Hope this helps!

[Andrew Costa Mesa]

It is tough to answer the high profile panel question for someone else since everyone’s Comic Con objectives are different.  Some people do nothing but wait in lines & spend the whole day in big panels while others avoid the panels entirely & just walk the exhibit hall.

You best bet is to:
(1.)   Wait for the schedule when it comes out two weeks before the show
(2.)   Make a list of all the panels you want to see
(3.)   Rank them:  Dying to see, Wouldn’t mind seeing, etc.
(4.)   Calculate wait times (usually 3 hours ahead of time is enough although popular shows like Big Bang Theory can be as long as 8 from what I have heard)
(5.)   Figure out which ones might be in the same room right after each other.
(6.)   Decide if the panel/wait time is worth it to you  --or-- you can decide if walking the exhibit floor would be something you would enjoy more. 

Sorry for the wishy washy answer, but each person’s con experience is different depending on what they like to do and want to see.  Hope this helps!

This helps a lot, thanks!  I think I'll avoid the panels that have waiting times beyond three hours.  I'll probably avoid pre-registration as well if they choose to do it again this year.

[Andrew Costa Mesa]

Welcome to the new "Friends of Comic-Con International" forums, Andrew!  Glad that you can join us.

As for any tips or advice for con-going, check out this thread: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
*goes back to making new button designs for the forums*  (Ha ha.)

Thanks for the thread Zero.  I wish I had come across it before last year's Con!

[Zero]

Hello to all Con Vets & Newbies!

My little tribe and I have been to CC for the past 4 years. It really is so much fun to hang out with cool people for 4 days and get away from the daily grind. We also live in the Inland Empire here in So. Cal. We enjoy getting out to Frank & Sons and going to local events. I would say to anyone who doesn't already know that one of the big reasons it is so fun to go the Comic-Con is the people. So talk it up while you are in line and get ready to meet some pretty amazing people. The Big Kahuna has over 2 thousand friends on facebook and it's awesome when we get to meet them IRL. CCI is really like the biggest summer camp ever for all ages.

And definitely a shout out to the Creators of this forum. I hope all will find some useful information, and maybe even make some new friends!

Greetings, hoserzgirl!  Oh, Frank and Sons.  I love that place--I haven't been there for a while (mainly due to my being in San Diego for most of the year, ha ha).  I've gotten some pretty good deals from some of the vendors there.

I agree--conventions are great places to meet new people with similar interests. ^_^d

Definite props to Alyssa for creating the (broken link) and then setting up the foundation for this one.  I'm really glad that I've had the opportunity to work with her on various aspects of this new forum.  She's very awesome. <3 

Thanks for the thread Zero.  I wish I had come across it before last year's Con!

You're welcome! ^_^  I figured it'd be a good place to start off with posting on the forums, whether you're an SDCCI veteran or not.  Actually, the original "FCCI" forum was created sometime in November 2011, and this new, upgraded version of it was created in the last month or so. The admins are in the process of making it even more awesome, so look forward to it.  (In other words, it didn't exist yet, but I do wish we had a resource like this earlier, ha ha!) 

[GoatCheese510]

What's up nerds?! My name is Ismael and I've been going to the SDCC since '99. These last few years my wife (Jeanette) and I have been going and she just loves the cosplay scene. I enjoy picking up some back issues of Marvel Comics, mainly The Punisher. I'll be there this year, all 4 days and staying in downtown. See you soon!

[vegasndn]

 Hello all my name is Paul and last yr was the 1st time for the me and the family. We went on sat only, this yr it's all four days. I got tickets thru the 2nd chance resales because when we finally got into the waiting room we were about 35,000 so we had no shot, during 2nd chance it was about 835.     
  We stayed in Anaheim last time and we'll be much closer this time. Haha! My daughter dressed up as Sakura Haruno and she was happy cuz ppl were recognizing her costume. We got parking under the convention center and that was nice because when our bags got full we went downstairs and unloaded and grabbed snacks. Anyways see you all in July.

[Transmute Jun]

I'm glad to see families coming! I'm bringing my entire family for the full 4 days as well. It's important to raise children right, to appreciate the geeky things in life...

[MegaDoug]

I'm glad to see families coming! I'm bringing my entire family for the full 4 days as well. It's important to raise children right, to appreciate the geeky things in life...

Heh, I used to take my kids when they were little, then they got bigger and didn't want to go any more, now they are older and try to get tix for the past few years. They finally came around.... 

[Transmute Jun]

Ah, they're kids! Don't give them a choice...    Of course, mine are still young enough that I can tell them that 'we're going and that's it', but they are excited about it.

[alyssa]

How old are they?