Ixel

I wish it would return to London some day, it's far more difficult getting to Birmingham.

Yeah, nevermind though. I'm sure there will be another opportunity somewhere in Europe.

I see. Thanks for the info. In that event I think I'll cancel my hotel reservation and wait for another opportunity in the future (assuming there might be one).

Here's to hoping that Patrick Stewart (Picard) is one of the 10, not knowing that is basically what's holding me off from buying tickets to the show for the moment.

This is bad. I'm certainly glad I didn't buy tickets to the show and airline yet. Thank god my hotel reservation is cancellable with a refund . Fingers crossed on next week (is that the final week they can make announcements about new guests?).

Are you sure about that? Sorry for the weird question. The UK lets me enter the country with my German ID card ("Personalausweis") fine. It does seem a little odd that Germany would refuse UK citizens to enter with a similar ID card. EDIT: This bugged me and I made some calls. If you have a machine readable national ID card you do not require a passport to travel to Germany if the traveler is a British citizen or a citizen of another EU country. But I must admit I am not really familiar with ID card requirements in the UK. I see, interesting. Although it's a few years old, I'm pretty sure this answer is still valid and is why you're able to travel to the UK without needing a passport - http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100423125219AAdVS3O. I'll look further into this though, as if there's a chance Germany would accept another form of identification, e.g. a driving license, then that's useful to know. I'll reply if and when I have more info, as this has now got me curious.

Sadly it's not ideal for those without a passport or those who are finding it difficult to get a passport. Those in the Schengen area (full, not just 'co-operating' such as UK) are fine though, as they don't need a passport to travel from one country to another. So, those without a passport from the UK can't attend. Fortunately I have a passport, but I know a few people who don't and have given up trying to get one due to the extensive waiting time for a response to their application form, only to find they need to supply more information/documentation. Ultimately it's up to the organisers where they hold the event, or CBS if CBS has bound them to certain conditions such as moving the event location each time it's held. I imagine many people will go to this event especially as countries in the Schengen area (full) have relatively easy access to the event. I'm waiting to see the actual guest line-up, further pricing and how the event is organised this time (e.g. talks, as last time I didn't manage to get a single free talk ticket as they ran out).

The prices, from what I've seen as I rarely travel abroad anyway, aren't thrilling to get from London to Germany, including the cost to stay at a hotel and potential travel costs to and from the hotel (depending on distance). All in all a good amount of money already wasted before even spending any on the event itself. Also, is it my imagination or are the event's prices more expensive than DSTL? EDIT from QS: A gentle reminder: the forum rules do not allow us to talk about other events, hence certain filters are in place. And PMs are disabled. Replied Edit: How convenient .

Pity it's not in the UK, so I won't be going (along with quite a number of tweets to DST saying they won't be going either). Hopefully one will return to the UK.

Nice, I'm there about half way through the video.

I imagine to let it drift into many pages beyond 1. I can't see anything wrong with your thread personally so I'm uncertain why this has happened either.

He posed for a few photos?! Wow, I asked politely, even with a please, and the crew girl just interupted and rudely said 'no posed photo' without allowing him to say anything else beyond that. Mind you he seemed to be busy staring at his laptop so the 15~ second conversation ended after she interupted. How selective minded . But anyway, I'll avoid him at all opportunities next year if the show is back. I hope it is, but with improvements based on what people have been saying this year.

Some guests are fine with photos and some aren't. If the guests have asked not to do photos then it's the crews job to say no to requests. I appreciate that, but it wasn't just that. It was the way she said it to me, and how John De Lancie was. Next time I see a guest busy on a laptop I won't bother paying for having an autograph or photo with them, he was the only guest using a laptop at the show all the time he was at the autograph table. I felt like I was disturbing him, as he didn't even close the lid for a moment, he just reached over quickly signed and then went back to the laptop again.

Interesting review. I agree about John De Lancie, which I did mention why in my own review. He was focused on his Apple Mac, hardly spoke (queue was empty too) and on Sunday had an unfriendly and rude crew girl member assigned to him. Crew girl also interupted by rudely stating no posed photo. The other few guests I met were fine with a posed photo and talked to me for at least 2 minutes, laughing and joking :). I still need to upload the photo today, which I will be adding to my own review thread. If this event is running again next year then I might buy a silver or gold pass, if pricing is not increased by much, as I had a 3-day pass since I didn't know what it would be like. Thanks for taking the time to post your review, it gives everyone who didn't pay a lot a greater perspective as to the value of the higher priced passes.

I see, I guess you were lucky then. I'm probably going to sort out the photo upload for those curious to see what I'm on about tomorrow morning. Had a long day and a long journey so I'm a little tired.

Yeah, I'd be interested in knowing too if the person on this forum could be named. My group member did tell me about the friendliness and politeness of them both. Nice one to both of them.

For those interested in my experience of the show, I will share a fairly detailed review here. Well, after some GPS hoo-har today with it taking us around the little country roads instead of the main road, we arrived around 0930, got into the event about 5 minutes later. After finding out where the free talk tickets were being given out I went over to Stage B, no signs indicating that all free talk tickets were sold out so I wasted a good 10 minutes there until someone kindly told me in the queue (when I was chatting to them) that the queue I'm in is for entering Stage B, and that all free talk tickets are gone. So, the day didn't start off too well with myself and three others with me anticipating leaving around lunch time. So, I had a three day pass, I decided to get the things needing to be done, done. First stop was Manu (Icheb) for an in-person autograph. Simple process once I found the right autograph area, no queue worth talking about and I had a chat for a minute or so, no need to rush off, shook hands and I was completely happy with my experience there. Crew member was quiet and didn't interupt the conversation at all, was happy overall. Next stop, after having a brief sit at a table outside having a drink, I went off to find where to get the goody bag from, though unobvious I did find the booth as I was being very observant (looking around and moving slowly). Waiting time minimal and a fairly easy process. I got a badge, a leaflet of some sort, a poster of DSTL with the five captains on, and a pre-signed autograph with Neelix on. Next... Now that my 3-day pass had all the extra bits satisfied, I went back into the event to head to the photo area where Patrick Stewart was. I gave the ticket to another person in my group as I was at that time disappointed by the fact there were no free talk tickets left whatsoever. They were ticket number 300 and something, but were done after about 45 minutes apparently. They told me that although the queue was rather hectic, and the worry of them having to stand for a long time on crutches, when they got to have their photo taken with Patrick Stewart they found it an easy process, whilst Patrick Stewart was friendly to everyone who came in and had a brief chat whilst the photo was about to be taken. Photo quality on paper was of a reasonable size and good quality. Crew handled the process well and delicately. After photographing a rather small museum area, and some other bits around the hall, and those fans in a special costume who kindly agreed to have a photo taken of, I proceeded back to the autograph areas again. I was contemplating, along with my group members, about getting a few more autographs from other guests. We did so and here's what happened. - Robin Curtis One of our group bought a photo, fairly cheap and good quality and size (£3 each or £10 for 4), a good selection available too. Once having done that, they queued up in a very short line for Robin Curtis's autograph. From my observation and from their perspective she was very chatty, friendly, and even had a quick pose with the group member by having the crew member use the camera they had. Overall excellent experience! - Nana Vistor Another member of our group bought a photo and then queued up in another very short line for Nana's autograph. From what I saw and what they told me she again was very chatty, friendly and even posed for their camera with them both in the photo. Wonderful! - Icheb I saw him as part of my in-person autograph supplied with my 3-day ticket, as stated above, friendly person and spent a bit of time chatting. Nice meeting him in person. ... Unfortunately this is where the bad part comes in. - John De Lancie Focused on his Apple Mac with what seems a lack of respect for any fan that approached him. His queue line seemed rather empty most of the day (I went by that way many times and couldn't help but notice this). I also observed that, unlike many of the other guests, I didn't notice him communicate hardly at all with his crew member when nobody was in line waiting for their autograph. He seemed bored from my perspective, playing with his Apple Mac, which I didn't notice other guests bringing such a device or similar with them on their table. I will definitely not attend any of his talks, photo shoots or autographs in future and will discourage friends from doing so. If he can't take the time to show he's interested, to open a small conversation at the table, and just wants to use his Apple Mac then he shouldn't be at the show in my view. The crew member with him this afternoon was pretty much miserable too, unfriendly to say the least. Couldn't get a posed photo and she couldn't comment when I called her over and complained about the way John seemed bored and uninterested, on top of her attitude towards me when I was polite to the guests I met and the crew I spoke with. When I asked John if he would mind doing a quick photo like the others did she just interupted the conversation and was very off putting towards me. Unprofessional crew volunteers shouldn't be volunteering at all. I'll upload a photo later showing what I've mentioned. http://i.imgur.com/V37K0.jpg if you wish to see the photo. I didn't purchase anything from the bars, though the decor again looked minimal and the tables and chairs were... ok lets move on. So, to summarise. Good points: - Most of the guests were friendly, chatty, took the time to talk to you for a moment in any situation despite being busy or not. - The props that were displayed in the museum were nice to see close up. - The fans were fantastic, to just talk to in a queue about Star Trek, or their experience of the event, or anything else. - The fans, of those who were in special costume/make up, didn't mind me taking a photo of them when I asked, I had nobody decline and all those I met and asked were friendly. - Most of the crew were friendly and helpful, even if they were volunteers under rather busy conditions. - Pricing seemed reasonable for autos (for non-captains that is) and photo shoots. - Pricing of photographs of guests on the stand was good, and available and variety was also good. Bad points: - Information desk is in a rather out of the way location in the hall. - Met one guest (John De Lancie) who appeared to not really care about being there, along with their crew member being pretty much the same. - Lack of variety of merchandise (more hats for example would've been nice). - Hall decor was minimalistic. Perhaps theme could've been improved by making the floor look like a holodeck and the ceiling having some models of the various starships hanging above. - Hall air conditioning seemed non-existant. - Lack of signs pointing where bits are located. - Queues should've had an LED numbered board indicating the VQ number that it's up to, in some cases people couldn't hear the crew calling out the VQ numbers. - Not many props and such from Star Trek in the museum. - Bridge set was blocked off even if you just wanted to take a photo of the set with nobody on it. - Lack of information about free talk tickets, unless you searched through the forum for answers. - Lack of supplied printed timetable and floorplan. - Lack of disability information for disabled people. I had one disabled person go with me on crutches and queues for them aren't ideal unfortunately. Crew tried their best to accomodate them in the photo shoot for Patrick Stewart though, so credit to them for offering to go ahead of the queue given he had been standing for a rather long while. I was informed on the forum that I may have been entitled to a special disabled pass for this group member, although I was never told about this when I contacted TooTail as advised, so perhaps such a thing doesn't exist for this specific event. Would I go to the event again next year, assuming it's on? Yes, assuming things don't get worse and prices don't increase much if at all. I'd avoid John De Lancie if he was there, but apart from that, yeah. I think that's my review complete, apart from uploading the above mentioned photo shortly.

Crutches... didn't you ask about that a while ago? Sorry, too many questions and my mind is muddled. I probably remember the wrong person. If people can't stand due to handicaps (the crutches being a very obvious one) usually amendments can be made with ticket pickup. If you had mentioned that earlier maybe the rest of your group could even had got a special card for disabled attendees. That's too bad. If you still want to try have them sit down somewhere within sight of the crew member giving out the tickets and point them out to them. They should give you two sets of tickets then. If they are not willing to do this ask them to get their pit boss. My friends and I have done this ourselves when I was on crutches after breaking my foot once and under those circumstances they were able to get an extra ticket for me with the method I am describing. Yes I was advised to contact TooTail a while ago, which I did (mentioning I had a disabled person on crutches going with me who couldn't stand in queues for a very long time) but was told to contact ExCeL regarding scooter hire, which they didn't do, so I contacted the company they suggested to find the hire fee was rather high so didn't hire a scooter in the end. TooTail never mentioned a possibility of a special disabled pass when I was enquiring unfortunately. I will suggest this to them but given there's a marginal possibility that the people at the desk could refuse still they may not bother to sit down somewhere within visible view for an extended time. I will try and convince them though and if I am successful then I will try what you suggested when I get to the desk. Thanks for the tip.

I think they meant one ticket for each talk - effectively making it two if you ask for free the two free talks giving as an example. Ah ok, as it's unlikely the other people going with me will be able to stand for a long period in a queue, they're much much older than I am and one person is on crutches so it's impossible to stand for a long period of time in a queue. If they don't bother queueing then I doubt I will either.

Wow, hopefully tommorow things will be quieter, as I'm going tomorrow only. May not get there till about 0915 though so by the time I get in and then get to the free talks queue I could find myself waiting over an hour and end up finding out they ran out of talk tickets . If I am lucky enough to get there though with tickets still available, what do you generally do? Do you ask for the talks you wish to see, or do they just hand over something to you? I'd look at the timetable and plan out your day. If you've paid for other talks or photo ops then look at the B stage timetable and see which things you can and would like to see. Then when you get to the people handing out tickets you can just say eg, "two tickets for Michael Dorn and Brent Spiner please" or whatever. They'll give you the little blue tickets, they're nothing fancy. We were slightly concerned because we wanted three tickets for things and there were only two of us present because our third person was at another talk, but there didn't seem to be a problem with getting however many you wanted, within reason. Many thanks. But I'm confused. I thought I could only request tickets for myself, not for the group I'm going with? In other words, I thought they had to queue as well if they wanted some free talk tickets?

Wow, hopefully tommorow things will be quieter, as I'm going tomorrow only. May not get there till about 0915 though so by the time I get in and then get to the free talks queue I could find myself waiting over an hour and end up finding out they ran out of talk tickets . If I am lucky enough to get there though with tickets still available, what do you generally do? Do you ask for the talks you wish to see, or do they just hand over something to you?

Does anyone know for sure if the goody bags have actually gone out of stock? I can't find anything official to say that they have. If it does turn out that they are all gone, what happens to those ticket holders who haven't received theirs?

Yeah, but still, if it turns out that there's no goody bags left and my ticket includes it then I do expect to at least get what I paid for .

Wow, are you serious? My ticket includes a goodies bag and they've ran out of bags? So when I arrive tomorrow and expect a goodies bag I will not get one, if that's true. So far, I'm expecting the worst tomorrow, but I'll post my review once I've been there and had my experience.

I see, last question hopefully. When you say 'press', does this mean only to those such as newspapers, reviewers, and such, not general attendees? Thanks for all the info :). Correct 'press' is not general attendees. Thanks for clarifying, that's another disappointment . Oh well, hope things aren't as bad as they seem tomorrow, but I'm not as excited as I once was.