Are you going to San Diego Comic-Con 2023?
For almost all of you, you probably can’t definitely answer that question – yet.
But that’s all about to change, as Comic-Con International has revealed that Returning Registration for San Diego Comic-Con 2023 — the online badge sale in which general attendees who attended in 2022 as well as attendees of Comic-Con Special Edition in 2021, get a first shot at scoring a golden ticket, formerly known as Preregistration — will take place on Saturday, October 15 at 9AM PT.
In order to be eligible for Returning Registration, as previously mentioned, you must have attended San Diego Comic-Con 2022 or Comic-Con Special Edition in 2021 as a general attendee. Press, trade professionals, volunteers, and other special groups will have their registration at a later date.
To see if you are eligible to participate in Returning Registration, log in to your Member ID account and look for the “Eligibility: ✓ Comic-Con 2023 Returning Registration” located in the upper left corner under your name, Member ID, and email.
On the day of the sale, beginning at 8AM, you’ll be able to log into the Queue-It Waiting Room via your Member ID account. Beginning shortly after 9AM, the waiting room will randomly sort you into an order to purchase budges.
During the sale, attendees will be able to purchase up to three badges – including one for themselves (though you’ll need the last name and Member ID of anyone you’re purchasing for, and each person must also be eligible for Returning Registration on their own, so you won’t be able to purchase for any “new” attendees). Start buddying up now.
As always, this sale does not guarantee that those who are eligible to participate walk away with a badge. For years now, the demand by those wanting to attend the pop culture behemoth has far outweighed the actual number of badges available. CCI is always hesitant to relay actual numbers, but we roughly estimate that there are around 55,000 badges up for grabs in Returning Registration — which would put your odds of scoring one somewhere around 50% (though presumably a bit less this year, with the addition of Comic-Con Special Edition attendees).
Compare that to the roughly 6% chance of getting a badge in Open Registration (which doesn’t have a date yet) — the online badge sale that will launch at a later date and is open to anyone and everyone provided they have signed up for a Member ID — and you begin to understand why this sale can sometimes feel like a life-or-death situation. In the world of Comic-Con badge sales, any advantage helps.
Prices to attend this year are up slightly. That means a four day badge with Preview Night will run you $330 compared to last year’s $304. There will also be a $10.00 handling fee per attendee (up from $7.50 in 2019).
Here’s a look at 2023 prices:
As previously mentioned, there are big changes afoot here. This will be the first year CCI is using their own internal system for a San Diego Comic-Con badge sale (with the help of Queue-It), though they have used it for badge sales for other conventions. This marks a change, as previously they used Expo Logic. The system so far has already been slow and crashed a few times during badge registration events — so will it be able to handle the onslaught on the 15th? We sure hope so.
Open Registration – the badge sale open to everyone – will take place at a later date. Sign up for a Member ID and make sure you’re opted in to receive e-mails if you haven’t already.
Welcome, folks, to San Diego Comic-Con 2023.
