craighmandy

Perfect sense! Thank you.

One last question Queen Sindel, so my take away from the pinned post and your answers to my questions are this: If pre - paid are being loaded into West Hall and being pre screened that would mean that there will be NO pay on the day peope within the same queue at least for the first part of the day? Am I understanding that correctly?

Thanks Queen Sindel for the explanation, but if pre paid are being put in a special hall surely that should have been mentioned in the original post above and not in another topic. It would be better for us if the information is not spread across multiple topics and all in one place so we don't have to ask redundant questions like I have done. :)

Further to my post above I realise it says that pay on the day will only be let in from 10am, but it doesn't stop pay on the day people queueing with pre paid in this scenario unless there are separate queues. Will there be lots of people at the front doors who are trying to pay on the day being turned way because they got to the front of the queue BEFORE 10am?

The one thing that's annoys me every year at Comic Con is the shambles that is the queues outside. There never seems to be anyone either a) working for the building or working for Showmasters who knows what queue is what. Last year was better as it was all pre paid, now we are told there will also be on the day tickets. This in itself is fine, but I have a few questions that I would like clarity on: 1) Are we going to have another shambolic queue like we did in 2014? I was outside in the blazing hot sun for 5 hours that day. Now don't get me wrong I can queue with the best of people as long as there is organisation and a clear purpose. 2014 was diabolical, people jumping in, queues merging, and not one Showmasters member of staff outside further down the queue getting stuff sorted. It very nearly broke me and I was close to never coming back to my favorite place on earth. 2) More importantly the below statement, seen above, reads: "Entry tickets on the door: 10am entry - CASH ONLY Entry tickets on the online store (throughout the weekend): 9am entry - enter via pre-paid queue" This can be read one of two ways: BOTH tickets holders (pre pay and pay on day) go in the pre-paid line (here lies madness and 2014 style chaos, if that is the case) OR Entry tickets on door - have no designated queue! Showmasters will there be a separate queue for these attendees. Otherwise you are going to have one long (2014 esque) queue with no way to manage who is prepaid and pay on the door. Please make it clear above where pay on the day attendees must queue, otherwise chaos will unsue. Thanks and see you at the show.

He was a great guy. The man is 82 years old and he is getting up and down for photos like a spring chicken. He certainly ain't no slacker! He was lovely to me and my wife. High recommend.

I was there Friday. The channels are quite wide and people aren't using the whole width. So the guys at the front are probably getting asked to be moved up like we were. Hence the movement with no doors open.

Can't see it on the topics so thought I would start one here. How was your Friday? Here's mine - LOVED the barrier system outside. So much better than last year. I go to these conventions expecting NOTHING. If I miss a guest oh well, if I meet a guest, awesome. It makes for a less stressful convention. I was talking to my wife yesterday and we realised (as in life) you make these events as stressful as you want. You want 6 photo shoots, 3 talks and a Cosplay masquerade? Except high levels of stress and don't complain when you are running around losing your mind! Go in and just experience the con? You get a whole less stress. So going in and just expecting nothing helps me. What ever works for you, make it work, but quit griping if YOU (not Showmasters) make the day stressful. LOVED the layout, the middle staircase worked a treat. We were one of the first to try out the SyFy cam booth yesterday and to be honest that was my favourite part. All you guys going on Saturday and Sunday ENJOY YOURSELVES. Remember we are all one big geek family, embrace your fellow geek, don't get stressed, bring loads of £5 notes and use hand sanitizer. Con-Flu is worse than Man-Flu!

Prehistoric Cat - yes we did get an answer, and the answer is no it won't be there.

Prehistoric Cat - yes we did get an answer, and the answer is no it won't be there.

Rude Boy - yes you must pay the validation again as the validation fee is PER ORDER. As you have done two orders weeks apart, you have to pay it twice.

Aearin - I wouldn't say crap and tacky but I do feel they have a pointlessness to them. I used to collect models and loads of film memorabilia (posters, film cells etc). It got to a point where I had so much stuff I finally thought to myself "why am I collecting these?" And I couldn't give a convincing answer to myself so I got rid of it all. So the Funkos look cool I just can have shelves and shelves of them doing nothing but collecting dust, so I haven't bothered starting a collection.

I've had different experiences with different pens over the years. WORST? - Sarah Wayne Callies - in a gold colour but was the pen was running out so it looks awful. BEST? Helen Langenkamp - bright blue, sounds weird but it works for the picture.

Bristol

Shame about the dates changing. Means I meet another guest on Friday instead.

Celine - you get the VT at a wooden post at the end of the guests queue (there will be a person there handing them out) once your number is written on the post sheet (it will say VT 1-100) on it for example, you can get in the queue. As you get close to the guest depending on how big they are they will have one of two options 1) there will be a table half way up the queue, this is where you pay and pick a 10"x8" picture for the guest to autograph (unless you have your own item to sign, either way you pay per autograph), then you get closer to the guest and get stuff signed and have your guest experience or 2) the payment and photos will be next to the guest with a helper on their table followed by the same process.

How are we looking for Friday Showmasters? I have my ticket already but just want to make sure I get there early enough so I'm not queuing for ages!:)

Met her at Cardiff a few years ago. She wasn't busy when I met her so me and my wife had a 10 minute conversation ranging from Aliens, what she is doing now (mostly theatre) and why me and my wife are film buffs. Highly recommended.

I'd love Showmasters to have the Grand as a holding area but alas I don't think so:(

I agree, that small road is going to be chaos if its not handled and managed properly. A couple of years ago when they had an event there, I bought early bird tickets and the queues were a sea of chaos, all snaked up and merging. It was horrible and seriously stressful. Not why I go to these events for. I go to have fun!

In the past when Showmasters has used the Olympia they haven't used the upstairs balcony. This has minimal if any seating but is somewhere where you can sit even if it is on a stone cold floor. One thing I have done in the past is gone to one of the smaller stages, ie the cosplay stage and just sat at the back while cosplay is going on. This is probably your best bet in my experience.

OK, so last year, the outside queue on Saturday was a mess. It was mostly my fault for not realizing how busy Stan Lee was going to be, and arriving around 1045, I didn't get in till 1630. I still enjoyed myself either way. Now with the move to Olympia, I have my concerns and would love someone from Showmasters to give us some idea of what we can expect in the way of queue management for the weekend. I'm not asking for detailed plans just some pointers on what is planned. Firstly the positives. The ticketing system for only prepaid is a dream come true, at least you know before hand figures. The actual Olympia building is a much better building than Earls Court in regards to size and also the upstairs balcony. The negative? The main area outside for queuing is tiny! We only have that one slip road coming out of the Olympia tube. I can foresee queues merging, the sheer amount of people moving about is going to be horrendous. I implore Showmasters to have a cast iron plan on how to move people about and how you are going to queue manage. Most reasonable people are happy queuing for extended periods but when its hot, you have kids (I don't) screaming, I can only imagine how tough it must be. Showmasters, please don't reply with "the outside of the building is not our responsibility" because it is, we are your customers, your fans, we don't want a bad experience before we get in the building. Last year all I saw was a handful of scared volunteers being abused and shouted at because nobody knew what was going on. Please Showmasters: - Have people walking the entire queue, shouting at the top of their lungs, from top to bottom informing people of estimated wait times, - Have people looking out for queue jumpers - Have plenty of signage up, too much is not a possibility. - Have barriers up to secure bends in queues so they dont merge Please dont take these as negatives, I love the cons Showmasters put on but as these things get bigger and better (just like any good sequel) you have to have the infrastructure in place because its no longer just hardcore geeks who go to these things but the general public and I would hate for it to turn into a disaster. Me personally I am only going on the Friday (I am lucky that I have booked off work). Will be queuing from say 11am and am not expecting to meet any of my guests. That way when I get in on time and meet my guests and everything runs smoothly I will come on the forum and praise Showmasters to high heaven. This post is not for me, its for the people who don't visit the forum, have no understanding of how busy Saturday is going to be. I wont be going on Saturday anymore as its just too overwhelming. The guest line up this year is out of this world, keep up the good work Showmasters! :)

@ianb just to set your expectations, from my experience, you are going to have a hard time at any point getting a photo of the guests (especially MJF and CL) holding your item or even signing the item. Mainly because a) the line is going to be moving at a fast speed. When CL was at LFCC a few years ago, peoples items were being passed up the line to get signed and coming back down again. The man was a machine, not even looking up, just signing signing signing. because they are probably going to have no photograph signs on the boards behind them. In the past when I have gone to a big guest (like Peter Dinklage from GoT) like this I have my official photographer with me, ie my wife! She has my Iphone and usually pretends to text and snaps a few quick snaps, some are blurry, some are not. I honestly hope you get what you want but photos are highly unlikely! Good luck and enjoy the event! :)

Is this still happening or not. I am working 10-6 on Friday but would love to meet up and have a drink and meet some new faces! :)

My wife and I were just talking about the possibility of HMC attending the con, but we thought not a chance because of PLL. When I saw the announcement on the FB page, I jumped and screamed, my wife (who was sitting next to me) jumped a mile and was like "What!?" "WHAT!!!" and when I told her, she hasn't stopped smiling. Thank you SM, you have just made our year. END.OF.