Firecracker

Eeeeee, it's today!

'cos he's not tall enough already

There was a guy slightly ahead of me in the queue for Michael Shanks - we kept passing each other as the queue moved forward. Navy tshirt with all the Stargate chevrons on it in the layout of the home symbol, and had curly brown hair. Definite cutie! If you see this, then I hope this comment made you feel good! (I went looking for the tshirt to link to here... haven't found it yet, but this made me laugh so much. I have to get one!)

I'd have asked for a horizontal with Mickey (oops... hehehe) but didn't think to ask. The tip to state a preference is a good one. Though usually vertical framing is fine and is from top thigh and up, my photo with Mickey was from low thigh up and for my figure, that just looks baaaaaad! If I scan and crop the photo myself, it'll be good.

Overall pretty great - liked it being quieter, which was why I picked Sunday as luckily all my guests were available on that day. Thanks to the red shirt who let me redo my Noel Clarke photo after having a blink moment. One of those times were one eye had started blinking but not the other, and I've had some crew refuse to redo because of that - leaving me with a photo where I look like I've been boshed over the head! Only slight complaint was the photgrapher in area A not really framing the photo well with Noel Clarke. There's less than a centimetre of backdrop between my head and the edge of the photo, and it goes right down to low thigh. Not very flattering But if I crop it to waist level, the photo itself is good, thanks to the redo - both eyes open! Thanks to the crew, had a bit of a chat with some, good times :).

For anyone with an iPhone (I think they have an Android version too), get Citymapper (http://citymapper.com/). It's free, and is the BEST. Also has a New York version if you ever need it. I was thinking to get buses there, but it's the Royal Parks Half Marathon tomorrow - so folks, it's gonna be busy around the Green Park/Hyde Park etc. area. Exactly where I'd be changing buses, so I might Tube it there and bus home.

Cool - up to two guests to meet now!

69!

75.

76!

82

Nice - hoping she is doing photos too? Some of us get more enjoyment out of the photos than autos.

While waiting for my photo with Peter, one security guy came out to speak to us - I think the one in Rockstar's photo. He was very nice, and made sure to explain in a friendly way why there'd be no hugging or handshakes (he mentioned the hand cramping). And I think that's the crux - when they are polite and friendly, explain it's for the guest's wellbeing or to make sure we get everyone through, etc., people are more than happy to comply. Having a scary guy pounce on you because your hand strayed an inch too close to your phone would understandably make people upset or spoil the mood. I'll give guests the benefit of the doubt - jetlag, hand cramps, bad prior experiences, colds, etc. - if asked not to do something, I won't. The guests might be paid to come here, but they're still people - no reason they can't be respected or have a good time too.

Thanks Jason - overall the plusses do always outweigh any negatives. I know guest availability is subject to their schedules - I'm crossing my fingers that anyone who comes Saturday would also come Friday and/or Sunday, so next time I can do Friday and Sunday and avoid the huge crowds. I'm thrilled you've gotten so big, but I found it hard to handle Saturday's size. Hopefully moving to Friday will still mean I can enjoy the events, just in a quieter environment!

Completely agree, I have been caught out several times in the past when people were on open queue when I arrived and when I went back later they had been on VTs for a couple of hours and I ended up with a high number. It defeats the point of queuing up outside for an hour and a half in order to get low VTs! As far as I'm concerned its far better if guests start off with VTs and then go open queue later if they are not busy. It's a lovely idea but we can't simply take on an extra 30 crew just in case. It costs about £150 per crew member over a weekend, hotel, food, t-shirts, expences etc, that's £4500. Also in all fairness we took on 260 crew for this event more than ever before and would have struggled to have found 30 more, we took on pretty much everyone that applied. We do our best and we have VTs on a lot more guests than previously. But having them on everyone that might be busy "just in case" really isn't an option. On Saturday we had next to no issues and had all of the busy guests covered. At the last couple of MK shows we didn't have an issue with the minor GoT guests and so had no reason to think it would be different at LFCC Sunday. OK we needed them in the end but as someone said we're not pyschic. If people have mentioned missing guests, maybe there were issues - half probably not reported on the forums. I understand you have financial and logistic considerations though :). End of the day I made sure I got the one auto I wanted, and missing another wasn't any fuss to me, it's SM that got less money. Not that £10 would break your bank!

What's the problem with having VT? If only 100 have been given out, then the board can say 1-100. If there's no-one there and you have ticket 99, you can go up. Yes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it - but if people are underestimated in terms of popularity (and with the best will in the world, SM aren't psychic), then maybe it is broken. Surely it's better to be prepared and not need it? If people knew every guest was VT, they'd get tickets when they arrive. Better that (even if it's low demand) than starting out open Q and then switching to VT during the day, where people might not have seen the switch and then miss out. With low demand people, you can walk up and it would be no different to open Q. As some people here have said, their first sweep saw open Qs so you think you can go back later no problem, then on a later sweep you find it's VT and you're now ticket 300. VTs for everyone would mean a greater chance of getting the person you wanted. I had this with Kristian Nairn - open Q for ages but with long lines, then switched to VT. I got ticket 81, and just before lunch they were 1-80. In the afternoon, I was too busy with photoshoots to see him, and then he left early. Saved myself £10, but some people might have really wanted autographs.

I don't recall anyone here asking SM to bash on the smokers. All I've seen is one person comment it's not very nice, and I agreed with them. Everyone can get a bit stressed at the thought of meeting actors who mean a lot to them. And we all have ways of coping with stress. Most of those ways (deep breathing, distracting yourself with an iPod, whatever) won't negatively impact the people around - that's the point we're making. As another consideration, if someone's made an effort to shower, dress well and then they get up to the guest they want to meet, reeking of smoke - that's not fun. Maybe an honour thing where smokers speak to the people around them in the queue (if they're on their own and have no-one to hold their place), go away to smoke and then come back? A bit like at the supermarket when you realise you've forgotten something in a nearby aisle and ask the person behind you if they mind you ducking out and returning to your same place in the queue. Smokers get their stress and nicotine fix, the non-smokers avoid inhaling their smoke. Win win, and hopefully not too much of a hassle for anyone. That would be ideal, for everyone to be happy with minimum fuss.

Seconded - when I have queued in the past, this has been an issue. Don't be literal, smokers - you may be outside and not indoors, but you're in a queue where some people may be captive audiences. Parents might not want their kids inhaling it, single attendees can't leave without loving their place. Yes it's outside, but please have a little consideration (and I'm sure some of you do, probably inhaling a few cigs outside the station to stock yourself up before queueing, but clearly some smokers aren't as considerate).

4 or 5 LFCC visits now, and it's generally been a lack of info on which queue to join that's been the problem, not how quickly I got in. Though I've usually bought all my tickets and don't get many (if any) autographs, so VTs aren't an issue. This time I arrived at 10:05 and 9:25 on Sat and Sun, and walked straight in with my prepaid ticket.

There was a guy I chatted to a lot in the queue for Clive Russell, I was trying to egg him on to get the Mr Vandemaar pose he was thinking of... Didn't get a name, but was great to talk to you :)

Definitely a move forward, and no more blinks-and-ruined-photos... you can redo straight away. Huge advance. But it feels like we've had this a while, maybe because I've done CMMK and EMS

I admit my eyes glazed over after a while, reading the early bird comments . I've done several LFCC/EMS/CMMK things now, and thought they were each one getting better and better. This was the first time, if I'm honest, that I felt differently. If Saturday had been my first experience of an event, I'm not sure I'd have tried again. It was absolutely mental at times, far too busy - forget walking or even slow walking - at times, my feet were moving inches. I'm not full on claustrophobic, and can usually handle crowds, but I was starting to feel really penned in and frazzled. And whereas the queues for photoshoots are normally super efficient, calling by number, shouting to everyone can hear, etc. - this was hit and miss. I got to Amanda Tapping's Saturday morning shoot as the last handful were going in. One more would not have delayed things, but OK, so be it. Came back in the afternoon, 5 minutes after her shoot started - not a problem, if you're calling by number, as I was something like 217. Instead, the crew guy didn't even ask what number I was, just said come back in 20 minutes. Now if he'd called say 401-500 and saw I was 217, why not say "stay nearby, in 5 mins I'll be calling the next batch and you can join". I went away, dutifully came back 20 mins later like a good little trouper, only to be told to come back in another 10 minutes. Feeling hot, tired and majorly frazzled, I walked to the front desk and begged a switch to Sunday because I was a whisker away from crying by this point... Even Sunday was a mess - morning shoot, deliberately asked if they were calling by number. No, comes the reply. So we start queueing. After the queue starts moving and we're halfway there, a red shirt comes along and says they are now doing it by number, so 201 or higher go away. Three times denied a photo by this point, and really not impressed by the apparent meltdown in a system that always worked so well before. In the past, EVERY shoot was by number, everyone knew it, voices were loud, crowds managed. It worked! I finally got a photo with Amanda at the fourth attempt. Bless her, she is a sweetheart and it was worth it. I know these get popular, and that's great because it means they'll continue and there's demand for guests. But is there no limit on door sales? If there had been a fire or need to evacuate, we couldn't be inching our way out of the building. I got Peter Dinklage and Joe Dempsie on Saturday, plus Peter's talk - and felt thoroughly frazzled. I think I ended up in the row behind where I should have been for Peter's talk, certainly two ladies with higher numbers (in the 60s) were ahead of me and I was 55. A latecomer leaving it til the last minute arrived, forcing everyone on my row to shift along to accommodate her, and so after organising myself and getting a seat with a good view, I ended up behind a tall person and unable to see much . Sunday redeemed it, as I got decent photos and it was thankfully quieter. Even after standard entry came in, it was manageable. Maybe it was the frustrations colouring my view, but whereas in the past I thought you were doping the crew with happy pills as they were always happy and willing to help, this time the ones I dealt with didn't seem that way. Hopefully they were happy, as I know they volunteer! If you could ensure communication is consistent, that would help too - the forums had been full of "if you want to switch to Friday or Sunday, we'll allow this to ease the demand on Saturday". Yet Saturday morning, this was not allowed by the crew my friend spoke to. I spotted TooTall and Jason walking around and asked them, so they must have spoken to the sales desk as my friend went back later and was allowed to switch (as was I, after the Amanda problem). Was a bit disappointed Jason Momoa had shades on in his photo - and I know I wasn't alone as I saw two other people duck out of his Sunday morning photo, hoping he'd have removed them by the afternoon. I think given I live in London, if scheduling allows (i.e. guests are doing Friday and/or Sunday), I will do only Friday and Sunday because that's the last time I want to do Saturday if there's any way to avoid it and still see people. Normally I've been impressed by the events, and praised them to people - I even persuaded a colleague to come this year, with his wife and two kids. There are odd niggles yes, it's natural - but overall you've always done a fantastic job - really and truly. This is the first year it felt chaotic and inconsistent. I hope that next time it can go back to clear, numbered photoshoots across the whole event, and back to the excellent service.

I don't think people mind others coming back because of closed eyes or lens flash on glasses - it's the people taking a ridiculously long time for elaborate poses or group photos with a different pose per shot that hold things up more, I think. Whichever one Armin Shimerman was in (A or was OK for most, but mine with Armin is overexposed. And I think the photographer got me a second before I smiled, so don't look great - oh well, that's one not so decent one out of 12.

It might not be lost - they say to wait 24 hours before collection. Try again tomorrow? [/fingers crossed]

The trains are made up of multiple "cars". Not all stations are the same - for instance, Cutty Sark and Elverson Road DLR stations are shorter, so the train is slightly too long. That means the first two doors of car 1 and the last two doors of car 5 (or whatever it is) won't open as they are not level with a platform. The message above is similar - for those who require step-free access (e.g. people in wheelchairs or on crutches), they are saying that the best car to use is car 5 (if you're getting the Piccadilly line from Earls Court or King's Cross for the listed stations. If you're able to take steps, then ignore the message.