Comic-Con 2013 Preregistration
Preregistration for Comic-Con 2013 started this morning at 8:00am PDT, and once again, I did not get my tickets without issue.
8:00 am – I am on my MacBook, I open the preregistration email and I click the link…safari opens and I get the spinning beachball…nothing. Apparently the EPIC registration system does not work with Safari and it takes a while for Safari and the page to figure this out. Recognizing this, and after I waste time getting two error pages, I load up Firefox and get right to the page.
8:04 am – I am in at number 10446. I proceed to wait, watching my position count down every 2 minutes. 750 closer, 850 closer, 900 closer – every 120 seconds my number drops and I am closer to SDCC 2013.
8:30 am – I see something weird pop up the page – the number of 4 day passes is low and you may not be able to purchase a 4 day pass. It was only 8:30 and I was sitting close to 5000th in line – how could this be happening? Even if they processed 1000 every 2 minutes from 8:00 to 8:04, they would only have gotten through 7000 people by the time of this announcement, and I may not get my 4 day pass. Actually, I didn't want a 4 day pass – I wanted a 4 day pass with preview night!!!
8:34 am – the message pops up – No more 4 day passes – please get out of line if you do not want to purchase single day tickets. I'm still number 3946 in line and I don't have my tickets yet! How many 4 day passes did they sell?!? Even if everyone in front of me bought the 3 passes they were allowed, that would only be maybe 30,000 4 day passes. So is that it? 30k 4 day passes and I lose out because I started Safari instead of Firefox? I thought there were well over 100k attendees a year, the past couple of years, and I can't get my 4 day pass with preview night after 30k tickets have been sold??? How could this be happening? It's just like last year only things were supposed to get better – Twilight fans were supposed to be blocked out, banned, or at least not have a movie to obsess over!
8:48 am – I reach the front of the line. Not wanting to completely lose out, I figure I'll see what I can get. 4 day pass with preview night – sold out. 4 day pass without preview night – sold out. Thursday only, Friday only, Saturday only, Sunday only all for sale. So I click all four individual days and click checkout. Wait, what? I got my “4 day pass” only it was 4 single day passes. I showed them!
So what was good about the new process? I didn't have to wait in line for over 5 hours to get the 4 single day passes, I did not have to miss out on convention events in order to get my tickets, and I could sit at home in my PJs and get my tickets.
What was bad? What's up with not working with Safari? With the increasing popularity of the iPad, iPhone, and Mac computers, I would expect a ticketing service to provide functionality for the Safari browser, which according to W3Counter is used 13.3% of the time.
What was confusing? Where did all the 4 day passes go? Are they holding a bunch in reserve for sales to the general public or what? Did anyone get tickets to preview night?
Just like this past con, I'll be trying to get a 4 day pass with preview night during the open, general public sales day – I'll remember to use Firefox from the outset and make sure to start a little early.
I hope everyone got the set of tickets they were looking for or are able to grab what they want when the ticket sales to the general public start. And I certainly hope they continue to refine and improve their crummy preregistration process.