Gold Pass review - Showmasters

[Larsy]

I did 30 photoshoots and didn't have a single problem

[dedeli]

I attended the first time and had a gold pass...not too sure, if I will attend again. Friday was nice but Saturday was torture and I felt really sorry for the people in the queues before the halls.

 

Some experiences regarding the gold pass:

Only with luck and a lot of asking we found our queue and got our wristbands. But beside that everything started good and we had been let in and bought some additional phototickets.

 

No goldqueue at the photoshoot with Terry Farrel but that was no problem as there were not much people. Also no problems at the David Hewlett shoot besides the ridiculous queuing done by a crew member...there was so much space but we had to queue really close.

A gold queue priority line was only once at photoarea b, the crew there handled everything really well. At all other photoareas you had to emphasize that you have a gold pass. Worst experience was the doubleshoot of Kristian Nairn and Isaac....pure chaos, we really had to insist that we have gold passes and only then got priority queuing.

 

My experience with the photoshoots...you will be let in with priority but you have to demand it!

 

The talks were handled quite differently. The Battlestar talk was handled like I would have expected it: priority seating for the gold passes.

 

For both Game of thrones talks there were separate queues for the gold passes but we were not let inbefore the other ticketholders. Both queues were let in at the same time, so that people without gold pass had seats before us. For the second talk we secured nice seats but very rude people without gold pass insisted that these seats would be their seats. No crew member was there at that time and it was not a very nice situation for us to handle this. At the Lord of the rings and star wars talk on Sunday there was no priority seating at all! I really wonder why you pay so much money only to get the same seats as everyone else.

 

And the gold pass chill out room was just a joke. No seats on Friday just a few on Saturday and Sunday. A lot of garbage and only sometimes some water. No crew at all so that also non gold passes were in that room...why should I pay for this, if everyone else can also go inside.

[dr nick riviera]

 

The photo shoots didn't have a gold pass acess as advertised,

It should have been, and certainly was in one area on Saturday. Did you speak to the crew in the area concerned? And/or the pit boss (red crew shirt)?

It didn't happen for me, I showed the blue shirt my pass, and she directed me to the back of the queue. I started to explain, but mid sentence was told to 'wait there, I'll be back in a mo', and she never returned.

[Not_Pennys_Ship]

I did 30 photoshoots and didn't have a single problem

Probably an unusual way to communicate. Apologies to other users. @larsy If you have twitter, follow me on @idhamramadi. Would like to keep in touch. Really appreciate how you had helped me to pronounce Sibel's name.

[Larsy]

 

I did 30 photoshoots and didn't have a single problem

Probably an unusual way to communicate. Apologies to other users. @larsy If you have twitter, follow me on @idhamramadi. Would like to keep in touch. Really appreciate how you had helped me to pronounce Sibel's name.

You're added :-)

 

Good meeting you

[Knitty Fred]

I found that the only time there was an actual gold pass queue was if you had arrived at whichever photo booth 5 - 10 minutes prior to the shoot. The crew member then called for gold pass holders to come and queue and then when they had those without were then called forward and until we started going in for pictures any more gold pass holders arriving were put at the of those with gold passes. So in effect there was only one actual queue, just one part gold pass and one part normal.

 

I did find when I arrived at a photoshoot after the queue had started going in that on speaking to the crew member I secured a place near the front of those going in. I had not expected to be placed right at the front of that queue. For me it was about being able to shorten the queuing time as opposed to not queuing at all.

[jael001]

I didn't have a gold pass but I had 10 photoshoots over the weekend, at each one gold pass people were slotted in ahead of those without. I had low numbered tickets for all my shoots so I was near the front for all of them and saw this happen. Some shoots had what seemed like several hundred golds/silvers go in front of me first (or at least several dozen lol).

[Rockstar6662]

I had 10 shoots over the weekend with Gold pass and it all worked exactly as it should from my pov. If you're there before the start you queue up first and if you turn up after the start they slot you in somewhere near the front of the already moving queue. All worked fine.

[Murph]

Friday I had issues joining priority queuing with my comic gold pass, but Saturday I had no problems at all.

[adriangill]

 

 

The photo shoots didn't have a gold pass acess as advertised,

It should have been, and certainly was in one area on Saturday. Did you speak to the crew in the area concerned? And/or the pit boss (red crew shirt)?

It didn't happen for me, I showed the blue shirt my pass, and she directed me to the back of the queue. I started to explain, but mid sentence was told to 'wait there, I'll be back in a mo', and she never returned.

 

Sorry about that. If it happens again please speak to the pit boss in the area at the time, and it will be resolved there and then.

[Avengers7]

It was fine if you were at the photoshoots early because in fairness crew were calling all Gold Passes first. But any later and you were told to queue.

[Jumpyghostface]

What distinguishes a "pit boss" from any other crew member?

[Avengers7]

Pit Boss normally wears a red top.

[adriangill]

What distinguishes a "pit boss" from any other crew member?

Red shirt. Outnumbered by the blues.

[Rockstar6662]

It was fine if you were at the photoshoots early because in fairness crew were calling all Gold Passes first. But any later and you were told to queue.

I wasn't. Was late to one and was inserted near the front as I expected to be.

[Avengers7]

I think it depended on which photo area and when. I was late for the T J Thyne photo shoot and was slotted in near the front, however, I was put in at the back during another shoot.

[Knitty Fred]

 

It was fine if you were at the photoshoots early because in fairness crew were calling all Gold Passes first. But any later and you were told to queue.

I wasn't. Was late to one and was inserted near the front as I expected to be.

 

 

Same here and as I've said elsewhere I wasn't expected to be placed at the very front of the queue but just near it.

[Murph]

 

It was fine if you were at the photoshoots early because in fairness crew were calling all Gold Passes first. But any later and you were told to queue.

I wasn't. Was late to one and was inserted near the front as I expected to be.

As was I on Saturday. I just asked where they were queuing the back of the gold and was just slotted in at the front.

[Zahariel]

Although priority passes were given access to the shoots at the front of queues - there was no dedicated area for us. This seemed to cause disruptions as we were queued at the front with low tickets number right behind. passholders who showed up between then and the start of the shoot were slotted in but this caused endless problems with the queues.

 

Last year at both events there were actual priority queueing areas - helped a lot as once you knew where it was, each time you went back you just walked straight there and joined the queue, no need to bother hunting for the lone and pressurised crew member valiantly battling the oncoming hordes of expectant geeks

[Fozziefuzz]

Most of my issues have pretty much been covered by everybody else. Once upon a time the 'limited numbers' really meant about 150 passes or so. Then the price got hiked up slightly, but instead of feeling more special, the number of available passes shot through the roof. On Friday the Gold/Silver/Gold comic etc queue stretched back to the entry gates. I can't say this year's LFCC has put me off going Gold in the future as so much stress was somewhat alleviated by the help given with getting into queues and so forth. But the Gold Pass room was an awful joke - we stepped in, hoping to take a much needed break, only to see the state of it and leave to find a solid wall to sit against. And the sheer volume of people with passes just seemed to made it confusing for the crew about which pass gave what access.

 

My friend and I chatted with some other Gold Pass holders in a photo queue about the people who'd been complaining about pass holders getting first access, I think that's one of the main things that's been annoying me. I've seen in the complaining threads on here about how dare pass holders get access to Stan Lee's queue and then not have any time left for VTs. I paid nearly £200 for the privilege (before the Gold Pass changed) and yet I still struggled to get into an autograph session with him on Saturday just because of the numbers.

I guess my point is just that, yes it pretty much did it's job, but as others have pointed out, we felt a lot less special, and I'm really disappointed that Showmasters haven't realised how much of a debacle this was and yet still might have extra passes for future events.

[Fozziefuzz]

I agree, none of it was Stan Lee's fault, hope I'm still as sprightly if I ever make it to 92! And in the end I just felt like he should just be allowed to go have a rest and not push him so much, at the end of the day it would be great for everyone to meet him but surely his welfare comes first.

 

I know not everyone can make it on certain days, but I can't believe the people only attending on Sunday expected to definitely see a 91 year old man who'd been tirelessly signing and taking photos for the previous two days. At my age even I was barely able to function after Saturday. A friend of mine who could only attend Sunday knew this might happen and got me to get his autograph on Saturday for her. None of this was Stan Lee's fault or pass holders' fault etc. - people need to take factors into account like how big the celebrity is, age, realistic goals, etc., and schedule their weekend from there.

[Murph]

Well over double the amount of passes this year though, so I guess kinda hard to gage how big an area to create for them.

[Avengers7]

As well as this - I'm sure that Gold Pass holders were offered a prop shoot one year which didn't happen this year. We also had trays of sweets last year, Only saw one box this year as non pass members were eating them to get out of the crowds.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Avengers7

[DMG]

I felt like I got good value from my gold pass (certainly made getting my autos less stressful, and meant that I could relax about arrival time, not having to worry about VTs). My one complaint was the gold pass chillout room. No signage, two open doors with no crew checking entry, so anyone could wander in. And what a majestic palace it was when you did get in there. Here you can see all four or so chairs.

 

 

 

At least you could fill up on water from the cooler, which saved me the expense of having to buy it from the refreshment places.

[Avengers7]

By the Sunday there were only 3 chairs. Look at that open bin! Shocking.