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San Diego Comic-Con 2017 Returning Registration Recap: Gone in a Flash

For better or worse, several thousand Comic-Con attendees have their badges for 2017 — and several thousand more don’t yet.

Returning Registration for San Diego Comic-Con 2017 — the badge sale for eligible returning general attendees — took place this morning. The process included use of the EXPO Logic Waiting Room, which has been in place since Comic-Con 2014, and despite a few errors and issues, it was the second-fastest badge sell-out ever for the convention.

So just how did the sale go?

The Waiting Room

The EXPO Logic waiting room opened promptly at 8AM PT, giving attendees one hour in which to enter before the room would randomly sort attendees to buy their badge.

For the most part, this process went off without a hitch for most users. But any time you get a large number of attendees, there’s always going to be some issues — and today’s was mostly the waiting room randomly booting people out.

There were a handful of other issues during this time period, but for the most part, the process was running smoothly.

Luckily, most issues seemed to be confined to just a few individuals — which meant when the sale kicked off at 9AM, we were ready.

The Sale

Shortly after 9AM, those in the waiting room were randomly assigned a placement in line. Just 7 minutes into this process, the sorting was done, and attendees were reporting getting through to the purchase page. In 2015 and 2016, this process took about 10 minutes — so we were already ahead of schedule.

There seemed to be a common theme among attendees — this process was going fast.

Not everyone can be victorious, though. 24 minutes in — which is right on pace with 2015, when it took 23 minutes — Preview Night was gone. Saturday was next at 43 minutes, followed closely by Friday at 46 minutes. Thursday took a bit longer, clocking in at 55 minutes.

And finally, at 58 minutes in  — just a little above 2015’s 50 minutes, and much better than 2016’s 77 minutes — badge sales for Returning Registration were over.

Overview & Next Steps

For the most part, this is what a badge sale is supposed to look like. Mostly error-free, with a quick sale. There are thousands of you who are doing cartwheels in your living room right now — and thousands more crying into a bottle of wine right about now — but

But all hope is not lost, if you weren’t able to get exactly what you wanted today. Open Registration — the badge sale available to anyone with a Member ID — will take place in “early-to-mid April”. During this sale, all badge types will be available (so just because a badge sold out today, doesn’t mean it’s gone forever). So long as you didn’t purchase all four days plus Preview Night, you’ll be able to participate to pick up any days you weren’t able to get today.

Badges will be mailed to the U.S. addresses in your Member ID. Make sure you verify your address by May 18, 2017.

As for all other badge types? We’re supposed to hear more about Professional Registration in late March. Sounds like we’ll get news on Volunteers in “early April”. General hotel sales should be sometime after Open Registration, so we’re likely looking at mid-to-late April or later for that.

Were you able to get what you wanted today? Let us know in the comments.

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