ruth76

Despite the criticisms in my previous post, I must say that overall I really did enjoy the event and was sad when it finished. The photoshoots all ran well for me, despite people crowding round unnecessarily, although it probably helped that all but one of my tickets were batch 1. I thought the queueing for the Enterprise stage worked well and the staff managing the queues were friendly and efficient. The crew member with pink hair who was at Terry Farrell's autograph table on Sunday was delightful! I loved the Rat Pack on Saturday, but was forced to leave an hour into their set because my feet couldn't cope with standing anymore - more chairs were definitely needed! And I think that's about it!

A man basically asked her whether she'd enjoyed kissing her wife on DS9. I suspect the issue was more with the leering way in which he asked it, than with the question itself!

The guest line-up wasn't as spectacular as I was expecting for the 50th anniversary, but those guests we did have were excellent. The crew were generally very polite and friendly when spoken to, which is a credit to all of them, since I'm sure they dealt with a lot of complaints and people not doing as instructed. I wasn't impressed with the organisation this time. Because there were no separate entry queues for Command, Lieutenant and weekend passes, morning entry resembled a rugby scrum with too many people trying to enter at the same time. I know priority entry was never on offer, but I think from a health and safety perspective it would have been a good idea! My main gripe is that the Commander pass was supposed to give you priority access to the autograph queues - certainly on the Saturday, the blue shirts in charge of the queues were interpreting this as meaning we could join the back of the queue without a virtual ticket, rather than that we should be slotted in near the front of the queue (which is what the package description promises). I would have been happy to do this had the queues been of a reasonable length, but given that some of them stretched practically across the venue, it seemed like I was paying for access that I wasn't getting. On the Sunday I only managed to get my autographs because I complained to the person "managing" one very long queue, who referred me to a red shirt who then saw that I got slotted in at a reasonable distance from the front. Finally, I think all ticket holders who had 'Tier 6' for Shatners World deserve a refund, given that the sound quality was so poor we could barely hear him and there was no projection of him on the big screen, so we couldn't see him either!

I saw Mads on Friday and he was absolutely lovely. I'm sometimes a bit unsure about asking people for a "hug" photo but he did it happily. He was also really friendly and approachable when getting autos. I know his willingness to do selfies on the Friday probably slowed the queue down a lot, but it was great to see someone so enthusiastic about meeting their fans.

You can get them at the same time. Thank you! I really appreciate the effort that you and the mods put in at times like these - its above and beyond!

I have a Mads diamond ticket for the Friday and also a separate photoshoot ticket which is Batch 2. Can I get both photos at the same time or do I have to queue again?

It's certainly quiet today - I imagine this time tomorrow it may be a tad busier! Lol

Apologies - since it was on the website, I thought it was public knowledge!

Me too! Also I need to go fabric shopping in Birmingham!

Semi-excited! I will be more excited the week before!

So glad we're having another pub quiz! It was indeed epic and an excellent way to spend a sunday evening!

the quiz was great fun sorry about the wrong answer to the martin landau question and thanks for letting me be an honorary floozy for the night I don't think that point would have made much difference to us! lol You embraced your flooziness with great enthusiasm!

Great weekend - the crew were all lovely, friendly and helpful! Really enjoyed the quiz on Sunday night - it was a much better way to end the weekend than the usual dead party! Sundays talks were slightly ruined for me by a couple of attendees laughing incessantly at their own whispered jokes and conversations, which sometimes made it difficult to hear what the guests were saying - a bit more consideration for the people they were sitting near and for the guests themselves would have been nice!

It would definitely be better if Gold ticket holders entered through the other door - less crowded and also less of a walk for people with disabilities! I was gold 12 (or thereabouts) last time, and I ended up on the fourth row on the saturday, which did not amuse me! It was also why I didn't bother queuing early for better tickets on the sunday - there seemed little point when it doesn't get you a better seat!

What would make it worth it for me would be, if they run a similar event again, they just gave us autograph vouchers and I could choose who I wanted!

Just a few points in response RobLeather! I'm glad you thought it was value for money, but I'm equally entitled to think it wasn't! The clashes weren't actually my choice strangely enough - they occurred because I had to book things before the schedule came out! Also, if you genuinely think the Klingon party was worth £25, then I'm happy for you, but we clearly have very different concepts of value for money! At least you're not defending the goodie bags! Lol

I largely really enjoyed the weekend. The guests I met were all lovely, and the talks I managed to get too (Kate, Patrick and the 5 captains) were excellent. I don't particularly think the gold pass was worth the money in retrospect. Other than getting you into the event and the talks earlier than silver and standard ticket holders, what did we actually get for our £300? The goody bag was disappointing, the largely non-random autos we got weren't as good as the ones on the silver tickets, and the Klingon party was a waste of time. Yes, we got into the main stage talks, but since I only managed to attend 3 due to clashes, it would have been cheaper just to go silver! The TNG party on the Saturday night had absolutely nothing to do with TNG. The sound quality was so bad, all I could hear was distortion and the drinks were outrageously priced - worst £25 I've ever spent. The photoshoot areas were a bit of a rugby scrum - perhaps there should have been crew patrolling the areas outside to keep better order? And when there were two shoots for a captain in a day, it would have been handy to have some clarification given to ticket holders as to which numbers would be likely to be in which shoot - on several occasions I had to tell someone that since they had a ticket over 700 they would be unlikely to be in the first photoshoot session. Having better clarification on this, might have eased the crowding a bit! Also, it would have been useful to have signs up at the photoshoot areas as to which numbers had been called, as well as crew with louder voices on occasion! On the bright side, when I did ask any crew members for assistance, they were extremely helpful and friendly!

Thanks for looking into it Queen_Sindel! Yeah, I realised the guests would pretty much be signing when they weren't doing talks or photos, just wondering if we would have to go at specific times for "priority" queuing.

According to the event info, Gold (and platinum) ticket holders are supposed to get priority scheduled queuing for the captains autographs (no virtual ticket required). Does anyone know how this will actually work? I can't see any reference to it on the schedule that has been released!

I wasn't suggesting doing it on here, just that people should be allowed to make swaps privately, with friends etc

Need some helpful crew to get your through it, guess nothing you can do about the seating issue. Unless you're with friends and they save you a seat? I think saving seats is pretty frowned on at conventions and I have no-one to do it anyway! A much easier solution would be if I could swap the talk ticket with someone else who needed a swap!

Well, for example, on Saturday the John de Lancie photoshoot starts only ten minutes before Patrick Stewarts talk. Even if you get through first (and I imagine there's going to be quite a few people with the same clash) you're going to struggle to get to the talk, and you're definitely not going to get a decent seat!

Far too complicated and with too many potential pitfalls. What if 5000 people wanted the same guest? No one else would get a look in. What if people picked their guests, then more were announced? How would you manage people changing their minds? (Too name just a few). It was stated up front that they would be randomly assigned, so you get what you paid for. Actually, when I bought my ticket it wasn't stated that the autographs would be randomnly assigned - they added that info afterwards! Not that it bothers me any more, since I'm fairly resigned to getting autos that I don't want now!

Personally, if I was just going to go for one day, it wouldn't be the Friday! I don't think it's starting until 2pm that day, so there's unlikely to be much in the way of free talks. Sat or sun would be better value!

FRAKES!!!!!!!!!