yoda_soda

I used to be a forum member years ago, but thought I would re-join after reading the posts concerning this years summer comic con. Last year was awful, queued for over 7 hours with no staff in sight. By the time we got in, there was no chance of getting autographs (I really wanted John Hurt's) and to be honest we were exhausted and just needed water. So this year, we booked our tickets in advance and aimed to get to the venue no later than 8.30am. The queues outside the tube station was chaotic, but there were staff present and giving out directions. We went with the flow and found the right queue. The queue was well managed and we got in by 9.30am. The venue was fantastic, I think moving there is the right way forward. There were teething problems with the layout, but Jason has talked about them and taken on board comments, and I think he has already got some good ideas to use next time (I agree with moving things round so they sit together better). It was very busy, but that was to be expected. My personal good points: Was able to move round a bit better than in previous events (it was still busy, but I expected this). Thought the different floors was a great idea. Choice of guests was great (well varied). Stalls were well laid out. There was staff on hand. Liked the maps that gave you an idea of where to head. My personal bad points: The movement of people up & down floors was worrying, stuck to the lifts in the afternoon. Lack of signs, most of the time I stumbled upon where I wanted to get to. The information between staff (who I think did a fab job) was not handled correctly. We were queuing for the Michael J Fox talk on the Saturday and there was a lot of confusion of where to go. The girl who was manning the doors took a lot of flack from people (me included if I am honest), but she quickly found a solution to the problem, and everyone got in (so thank you to her for sorting it!!) Lack of a sitting area on the lower floors proved a bit hit & miss, but there was plenty of space on the top floors (but no-one really knew that these floors were there). My other gripe, but I need to remember it was the end of the day and the lovely Bill Paxton was a top billed guest (in my opinion), was that the staff looking after that area treated us as cattle. Money was exchanged to be shouted at and told to move quickly along, I suspect he felt rushed too, as he has made an error when signing stuff for the person in front of me (the staff member passing the stuff to him treated it like a conveyor belt, so I can see why he struggled keeping up with the speed they wanted). I am still not a fan of the passes, but I can see the benefit of them and why they are here to stay. I just hope that it doesn't become a case of you need a pass more than just a general entry ticket to have a more enjoyable experience/guaranteed autos/photos. I think that certain stars should have passes allocated to help control the amount of people they meet (so not to stretch them to past the point of sheer exhaustion). On the whole though I felt like it was a much more enjoyable comic con than last year, and I felt like that the problems that came up last year had been addressed (I'm not saying it was perfect, but I appreciate that I could see the team are doing the best to improve the event and listened to people). Anyway that's my thoughts of comic con )