Littlemisstrouble6179 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Apart from the gold queue I had a great time. Though I didn't have too much on today and spent most of the time working out where stuff will be for tomorrow and Sunday. Only met Erik Bauersfeld and Christopher Benjamin today both of whom were lovely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrong Name Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I had a pretty good day today. I got a majority of my autographs with the exception of Kelly Hu as she finished signing at 4.30. My only issue was trying to figure how to get to the next floor from level 1! But luckily everyone I needed today was on this level. Kelly was still signing and had no queue at 7:50 when I met her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisrus Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I met kelly around 7. I think she'd gone for something to eat at 4:30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vegas Queen Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 The queue for gold passes to get in was a joke this morning. Nothing happened that should or was discussed. No advance wristbands before opening. Yalc and gold in same queue, then yalc pulled to the front to go in first. The standard queue was streaming in before the gold pass holders. Staff outside had no clue, what a gold pass holder was or that they should have gone in first. Queued from 11.30 didn't get in until 1.15 nearly missed our first shoot at 1.30. No one knew where the gold pass goodie bag pick up was. So much for priority entry before 1pm! Once inside yalc entrance the olympia staff were directing us downstairs for the first floor which had nothing to do with the convention and didn't know which floor the customer service desk was. The maps need a you are here to help with finding your way around as there is not really 3 floors they are split floors. Now to the positives! Even though we were very late in we managed 15 photoshoots today, only down to the fact we had a gold pass and the tremendous help from the staff on the photo booths, all of whom went out of their way to help with our many time clashes. I hope getting in is much better tomorrow morning as again I have two clashes first thing at 9.30 with Bill and David. Dire leading to getting in but well done once in. An easy thing to sort, get the gold passes in their own queue ready to walk in as doors open. See you all tomorrow. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrong Name Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I had a great day. I'm sorry about the golds that had issues, and I too was confused about YALC passes and golds going in together, but I was one of the lucky ones who got the pass in the queue. I managed to get VT's (and therefore autos) for Robert England and Christopher Lloyd (once Christopher's eventually arrived!). Due to Photo C and MJF signings starting late I nearly had a problem, but in the end it worked out. I managed my 3 photos I had planned for the day and got 17 autos which is way more than I thought I'd manage. The place was definitely cooler than Earl's Court last year (but still warm due to the thousands of people!), Highlights for me were meeting MJF (even got a 'Hi' and 'Thanks' from him which I didn't expect), Lea Thompson who was just lovely, Harry Waters Jr was amazing (he was singing for people, I loved the outfit was was truly happy to be there). Every guest was great to meet and seemed very happy, I hope the rest of the weekend has a similar atmosphere. It was also great to meet a load of people who recognised me from here! If you do see me about don't be shy, it's nice to properly put faces to names and I'll see many of you at the forum meet up tomorrow night! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RomeroSavini Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Yup gotta agree WE NEED YOU ARE HERE on the maps. Confusing, even the staff couldnt help and said look for someone in red. There was so much to see I cannot imagine I will get it all done in 3 days even. Loved the SyFy 360 camera set up. Amazing footage produced and a lot of fun was had by everyone, including Tom Savini and Lea Thompson :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewrolar Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 My only 2 problems were... 1) people with no tickets being allowed to queue with ticket holders. (Why should on the day payees get in before those who bought months ago?) 2) As raised earlier, I hope we can get past 150 on Christopher Lloyds autos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subwaykfc Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Mostly good day. A bit unorganised though and it took some effort to find things. The signage is bad. Turns out that "level 3" is on the same floor as level 1. I hope Christopher Lloyd gets through more autographs tomorrow - the VQ line never went beyond #100! Sorry but Level 3 is not on the same floor as Level 1. It is 2 floors above but it was not open today, it will be open on Saturday & Sunday. Level 2 was Games and Books and was very quiet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firecracker Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 There was unfortunately no organisation this morning for gold passes. Wrist bands were not handed out in the queue,I only managed to meet 4 out of 8 guests, diamond passes didn't have much of a impact on access to the lines, know one knew where you were meant to stand, VQT were not ready for when it opened. Crew didn't really know where shoots and booths were, floor plan was not really like the layout and there was no third floor. However all the guests were pleasant I met Daniel Portman, Carrie Henn, Robert Englund and Neve Campbell. Couldn't get Richard Dean Anderson as from my understanding he stopped singing at 4pm. Hoping tomorrow will be better organised and guests stay all day.VERY busy for a Friday Hoping this will be better tomorrow - this is what I was afraid of. He was signing, just slowly as he was talking to everyone! Friday opened at 1pm, he had two photoshoots, but I went at 3:30pm and he was up to 70 in VQ. He was still at 70 at 4:30pm an hour later. Security had asked it to be closed. Much later after his second photo, they'd gone up to 85, and that's as far as it went. Shame, as I'd have loved an autograph, but I got a lovely photo so that will have to suffice. He was a sweetheart in the photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subwaykfc Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 (edited) Can anyone tell me why Photo Tickets sold today (Old Style so I was told by a crew member) were given priority over E-Ticket Holders who bought their tickets several months ago? (told to me by the same crew member). Also did anyone actually buy a normal size can of Pepsi for £2.30? Edited July 18, 2015 by subwaykfc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firecracker Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Mostly good day. A bit unorganised though and it took some effort to find things. The signage is bad. Turns out that "level 3" is on the same floor as level 1. I hope Christopher Lloyd gets through more autographs tomorrow - the VQ line never went beyond #100! Photo A was also the other side of the level to what was shown on the map from what we could work out. Some "you are here" dots wouldn't go amiss on the maps as well. If this is true, it might explain why I kept getting disoriented and ending up on the wrong side. I've got my flaws, but geographical bearings and finding my way aren't two of them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firecracker Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Can anyone tell me why Photo Tickets sold today (Old Style so I was told by a crew member) were given priority over E-Ticket Holders who bought their tickets several months ago? (told to me by the same crew member). Also did anyone actually buy a normal size can of Pepsi (500ml) for £2.30? They shouldn't have been, and I saw each photo area had a board saying Diamond > Gold > old paper > non batch e-ticket > batch e-ticket. At first glance, I couldn't see how old paper were distinguished from on the day (OTD) tickets. But I think the number on the tear off stub is highlighted orange. That way crew would be able to tell - IF they knew this (and if I'm right). Crew - please go back to the old way of calling a group, then the next group, then the next - and if someone from group 1 arrives late, they go at the END. Too much effort was wasted today trying to slot late people from earlier call outs into their correct places. I arrived midway through a shoot with an old paper ticket. Before, I'd have joined the end of the queue. Today, I was brought forward and slotted in at the back of the old paper ticket group. It felt like queue jumping, even though it was authorised and I checked with the crew who confirmed they were doing it that way because they'd been told to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goonieboy Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I had a great day and managed to get my BBTF poster signed by all the cast including MJ Fox. It looks amazing!! Where was MJF?? He was away from everyone else wasn't he? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firecracker Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I had a great day and managed to get my BBTF poster signed by all the cast including MJ Fox. It looks amazing!! Where was MJF?? He was away from everyone else wasn't he? In the Club Room, just down from Photo A (between Photo A and the top of the new scaffold staircase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullseye Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Some of the comments don't fill me with confidence. I've an early start tomorrow (03.00) and arriving from Dublin. I hope the organisation is better tomorrow as I will be pissed if I miss any of my photoshoots. Already had two cancellations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discodiva Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Yeah..I'm not as confident about getting an auto from RDA now after reading how slow things went today for many.....hoping by Sunday things are running more smoothly and efficiently... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D4vem88 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Not a bad day! Got 6 out of 7 autos that I set out for today, except for Christopher Lloyd. Despite being very busy, it didn't feel cramped due to quite a bit of walking space. Some bad points: Christopher Lloyd's VQ tickets weren't available after opening, so had to sacrifice in order to find and get other VQs. No signs to say where guests were. The very unhelpful crew member at Christopher Lloyd's signing area, I asked if they were still only up to 100 as it had been for hours, she said that no one had changed it and they were just letting anyone in. So I asked if I could join the queue (being number 172), she shrugged and said 'yeah?' We were then told 10 minutes later that we had to leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Pinkman Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 What was the gold room like? Better than last year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klikklak2 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 What was the gold room like? Better than last year? Much better! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Pinkman Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 What was the gold room like? Better than last year? Much better! That's good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cbiddle Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Had a great day to be fair, got there about 12:30 and although it did seem a few miles of queuing to get in the queue starting moving I finally got in about 1:15. I did notice a few queue jumpers (I'm 6 foot 4 and have really good vision) at the pizza express corner so more could of been done about that. Once inside I couldn't believe how big it was (I've only ever been to Birmingham NEC memorabilia show) and easy to navigate. That staircase in middle was a great idea to get to the next floor up but towards the end the organisers decided to make it one way only (you can go up them but not down) Now for the only shambles part of the day for me - at about 1:30 I go upstairs to get a VQ ticket to see Robert englund, my number is 130. The lamented card on a stick said only signing VQ 1-50, I go up every hour and it's still says 1-50 even at half 6 it says 1-50. I asked the blue shirt crew lady what's the chance of my number being called to get his autograph, she didn't know. I did meet zach galligan and he was very chatty and overall great bloke!! Pro and cons for the day Pro's Massive layout and great variety of collectables Some bargains to be had Great choice of guests If you go to the gaming zone you can get a free can of rockstar energy drink!! Some cosplayers who definitely spent a lot of time on their costumes Cons I know diamond/gold/silver/copper (or whatever it's called) passes has precedence over people who didn't have passes, It should have been made more clear when non-pass people could get an autograph. People taking photos or having mini meetings at cross roads in the aisles, causing a build up of human traffic The heat in the Robert englund and others signing area. Body odour!! Some people definitely didn't have the Lynx effect Overall it was a good day in my opinion, but a quick word of warning - take your own bottled water unless you want to spend £2.30 for a 500ml bottle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemooo Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 (edited) not very well organized, joined the gold pass line around 12:30 and entered the event 1:30pm. got both VQ tix for Englund & Lloyd (#135 & #230!) & didnt have the chance to meet them both. Makes me wonder what will happen tomorrow . & the gold pass has no advantage in autos (to me at least), the busy lines need VQ & most of the others are empty or no need for VQ. I just hope we get the early access tomorrow. Edited July 17, 2015 by Hemooo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenomorph Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I haven't had time to read everything here so sorry for duplication. 1. Gold pass initial queue was a mess. Someone should've worked the queue and attached wrist bands in advance so that we could get in quicker. 2. Photo shoot B was a mess. Big delays so I missed 2 guests due to overlaps. 3. The guy running photo B is awesome. He's loud and gives very clear instructions. Very well organised. He should be wearing a red shirt. 4. The aisles are too narrow between guest signing tables. Too many choke points Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
girlingray Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Not the best first day for me, it took 55 minutes to get in from my place in the queue when the doors opened - 55 minutes mostly in the sun, surrounded by people smoking and queue jumpers - a frustrating start. Very hot and crowded inside. Way too much time wasted going between the various guest signing areas and the photo op areas. I felt these were too spread out and having them on multiple floors was a pain, particular when inching along behind a slow moving line of people that suddenly stops because someone decides to look at something on a stall. I only had 3 photo ops today due to 5 cancelled guests. But I'm way into double digits for tomorrow and I have several clashes - and after today I suspect it's going to be very stressful and rushed getting from one end of the hall to the other and up and down the various floors to make all the shoots. Why can't these areas be grouped together? I'm not advocating a complete separation between the guests, photo areas and the vendors, but having all the guests grouped together would make it easier for checking back to see what VQ ticket numbers are at for guests I'm waiting to meet whilst getting other autographs. And having the photo areas all in the same area of the hall would make dealing with clashes easier, particularly in that situation where the photo op queue you're in starts late and you're super tight for time to get to the next one. This said, I did get the autographs I planned to today (with one exception, RDA - who never got anywhere near my VQ number) and all the guests I met were really great - very nice, friendly and chatty. And all the crew members I encountered (a few situations of me being completely clueless where something or someone was, as those maps - not very helpful. To scale and with 'you are here' marks on would improve them) were really nice and helpful. So I had a successful day, but it wasn't as enjoyable as usual. I'm still looking forward to tomorrow (negotiating my way around the building to the various photo op areas aside!) and hope for a fun day for us all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry2sheds Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I got the venue late on Friday and joined the enormous que going right around the building, if going Sat/Sun arrive early, very early. The extra staircase only worked for a few hours before you were only allowed to walk up the narrow steps due to H&S reasons, money well spent there. The entire venue only had one food outlet with seating. I saw just 1 person selling the programes, the much waited for floorplan looked nothing like the actual layout in the venue. But there were some fantastic guests, lots of cool merch on sale. And if your planning to see Christopher Lloyd be aware he likes to take his time, by 5pm the VQ number had only reached number 100, so if hes on your list get there 1st and wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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