Diamond Pass Question

[Raylenth]

If Diamond collection opens before 9am and you are in the queue on your own you may either have to and ask people to save your space or come back.

[Wrong Name]

I'm still hoping for the Thursday pick up for gold and diamond. It worked really well last year.

[Admiral Ackbar]

Can photo shoots be as early as 10am guys, ye?

Because I won't be landing at LFCC until around 9:30 (travelling from Liverpool)... do you think the Diamond Pass queue for my guest (Mads) may have died down a bit by then?

I doubt I'd even be able to get in any queues for VQ tickets given my arrival time, which is a valuable lesson learnt for next year

[Wrong Name]

7 minutes ago, Admiral Ackbar said:

Can photo shoots be as early as 10am guys, ye?

Because I won't be landing at LFCC until around 9:30 (travelling from Liverpool)... do you think the Diamond Pass queue for my guest (Mads) may have died down a bit by then?

I doubt I'd even be able to get in any queues for VQ tickets given my arrival time, which is a valuable lesson learnt for next year

Photoshoots can start early, but usually the first ones will be bigger guests who also have a shoot later in the afternoon. I imagine Mads will have this, though we won't know for sure until the schedule is released.

You will probably still be able to get VQ tickets at that time still, but I imagine they will be quite high numbers, meaning you have a lower chance of meeting the guest, but not impossible.

[Raylenth]

 

See here for last years plan but remember the times may be different for this year.

[Admiral Ackbar]

1 minute ago, Wrong Name said:

Photoshoots can start early, but usually the first ones will be bigger guests who also have a shoot later in the afternoon. I imagine Mads will have this, though we won't know for sure until the schedule is released.

You will probably still be able to get VQ tickets at that time still, but I imagine they will be quite high numbers, meaning you have a lower chance of meeting the guest, but not impossible.

Thanks pal, much appreciate the reply.

Going in blind here so thanks for heads up.

[Raylenth]

If they do anyone's photo shoot early I can imagine them doing one for Benedict on Saturday as soon as they can but we will have to wait and see.

[Admiral Ackbar]

1 minute ago, Raylenth said:

If they do anyone's photo shoot early I can imagine them doing one for Benedict on Saturday as soon as they can but we will have to wait and see.

Thanks Raylenth.

Just say for instance the Mads' shoot is 10am, do I have to get arrive there for 10am?  Or can I arrive anytime up to the closing of the shoot? So say if it's a half hour shoot, could I arrive at 10:25am?  I don't mind going in last ye' see, just as long I get there.

[StuartG2198]

6 minutes ago, Admiral Ackbar said:

Thanks Raylenth.

Just say for instance the Mads' shoot is 10am, do I have to get arrive there for 10am?  Or can I arrive anytime up to the closing of the shoot? So say if it's a half hour shoot, could I arrive at 10:25am?  I don't mind going in last ye' see, just as long I get there.

As long as your batch has been called admiral that wouldn't be a problem

[Raylenth]

4 minutes ago, Admiral Ackbar said:

Thanks Raylenth.

Just say for instance the Mads' shoot is 10am, do I have to get arrive there for 10am?  Or can I arrive anytime up to the closing of the shoot? So say if it's a half hour shoot, could I arrive at 10:25am?  I don't mind going in last ye' see, just as long I get there.

Basically yes.  Like with VQ's you can go through anytime after your ticket/batch has been called whilst the sessions are running.  If you have a Diamond or a low batch and it suits you better to go to the afternoon session or at the end of the morning session you can.  This is why we ask people to tell who overlaps are for and what batches they have as sometimes it might make things easier to actually go at the end of a session rather than standing in the queue for 1 for 20 mins when they could be off doing another session and just come back to the first.

[Admiral Ackbar]

Thanks guys, brilliant that.

Just the one Diamond Pass purchased this end (11mins after going on sale), so fortunately I think I've got time on my side.  Apart from the 'smaller' names I'll be seeing, there's only really one or two 'bigger' names I'd like, but if it's not meant to be, then that's fine. I'll try again another time.

Thanks again.

[spengler]

If theres no queue left and the session still has,say 10 minutes remaining I assume the guest waits incase of latecomers?

[Raylenth]

I would think so.  The only time I can see it being cut short is if there is a very small shoot with only a few tickets sold.  If they know they have sold 15 for example and 15 people have been through then they might.....

Edited July 12, 2017 by Raylenth

[Queen_Sindel]

The Crew is Aware of the number of tickets sold. If there's 10 People still missing the guest will wait. If one Person is missing and no one is coming for like 10 minutes they may leave.

[Kayara]

Hi, everyone, it's the first time I'll be coming to this convention, so excited!!
I've looked around the forum but I haven't find a precise answer to the following question (sorry if it's silly) : if my boyfriend gets a Diamond pass for a guest, can I go with him to the autograph, just to accompany him? No added autograph, just to meet the guest. Do I need a VQ ticket? 
I've seen that it's doable for parents of kids, but they wanted more autographs for themselves as well, so I wasn't sure if that changes anything...
Thanks a lot for your help

[Raylenth]

10 minutes ago, Kayara said:

Hi, everyone, it's the first time I'll be coming to this convention, so excited!!
I've looked around the forum but I haven't find a precise answer to the following question (sorry if it's silly) : if my boyfriend gets a Diamond pass for a guest, can I go with him to the autograph, just to accompany him? No added autograph, just to meet the guest. Do I need a VQ ticket? 
I've seen that it's doable for parents of kids, but they wanted more autographs for themselves as well, so I wasn't sure if that changes anything...
Thanks a lot for your help

You would have to have a VQ Kayara everyone does, and if you do want to go together neither will be able to go through until the lower ticket holder's number has been called.  So depending on who you wanted to go up to see and on which day that might not happen (If it's Benedict on the Saturday for example)

Edited July 12, 2017 by Raylenth

[Kayara]

Thanks, unfortunately we got our tickets and photo sessions a month ago, before some of the big guests were announced, and we are coming just Saturday and Sunday...so it's becoming hard to add everyone we wanted XC.
If I understood correctly there are few chances to get good vq numbers even if we start queuing at 7am Saturday morning because of the diamond and golden passes, and the vq tickets are valid just for the day. We cannot upgrade to the Gold pass (not convenient going just 2 days) and for BC we are on batch 24 on Saturday...do you think the best chance to get BC's autograph would be Sunday then? We'd like it on the picture with him...
We were thinking about the diamond pass for Natalie and my boyfriend wants it for Mads for sure...that's why we were hoping one of us could come along without buying another full diamond pass for both guests. 

Organisation is gonna be tough...I guess next time we should wait until the big announcements before starting to plan. Lesson learned, hopefully we'll make it.

 

[Raylenth]

BC on Sunday will definitely be the better opportunity for auto's for non Diamond pass holders.  He's got so much going on Saturday it's doubtful he will get to the VQ's at all or if he does, I doubt many will be able to get through.  If you want mid level guests (and I'd say even some of the Diamond pass guests) then you stand a good chance on a VQ if you are there until the end of the day so don't loose hope, it's not impossible.  Most Diamond guests do see a lot of VQ ticket holders as well.  There are some exceptions but it's either that they are older/known to be slow signers or just so very busy.

there's no right or wrong way to book as waiting does add to the risk of things selling out but again that doesn't often happen.

[Diabolik]

Guys, sorry if this has been covered but if I get Friday entry tickets am I able to collect my Saturday Diamond passes then rather than at entry on Saturday?

Just weighing up attending Friday too as 5 of my 8 guests are showing as attending Friday - takes the heat off Saturday (at least in one sense)...

[wjbleming]

6 minutes ago, Diabolik said:

Guys, sorry if this has been covered but if I get Friday entry tickets am I able to collect my Saturday Diamond passes then rather than at entry on Saturday?

Just weighing up attending Friday too as 5 of my 8 guests are showing as attending Friday - takes the heat off Saturday (at least in one sense)...

IIRC, as long as you have an entry ticket, you can.

[Queen_Sindel]

4 hours ago, wjbleming said:

IIRC, as long as you have an entry ticket, you can.

Yes, as repeatedly posted before. If you have an entry ticket, no problem. We don't know about Thursday pickup or possible early pick up of another nature, but Friday during opening times is no issue at all.

[dizzcostu007]

Can I ask why the diamond passes don't have autograph days to match photo days? My Wife wants to attend for Saturday and would buy a diamond pass for Mads and I'd get one for Pamela. it just seems strange why a ticket can guarantee photo shoot for a day, but not the autograph. You'll have a pass number for the photos as well as tickets. You could end up with situations where people have their photo on Saturday, but are barred from autos until Sunday.

[Queen_Sindel]

1 minute ago, dizzcostu007 said:

Can I ask why the diamond passes don't have autograph days to match photo days? My Wife wants to attend for Saturday and would buy a diamond pass for Mads and I'd get one for Pamela. it just seems strange why a ticket can guarantee photo shoot for a day, but not the autograph. You'll have a pass number for the photos as well as tickets. You could end up with situations where people have their photo on Saturday, but are barred from autos until Sunday.

That's already been explained a number of times.

For the photoshoot SM know Crew and guests can comfortably get a certain average done per hour, and that is how the number of tickets is calculated by.

Autographs however are a different beast. William Shatner will speed through 400 People in an hour. I think that was the number someone counted when he was at Collectormania first time. It was insanely high. Richard Dean Anderson in contrast is a very slow signer and will maybe see 400 People in a day.

I've had friends at US Shows who had passes that guaranteed them an autograph. One guest was late from filming. (Yes, that is extreme and rarely happens, but bear with me please.) He did not make it through half of his guaranteed tickets even. She was in the other half.

She was promised that she would be mailed an autograph. Not what she paid for, but better than paying for nothing, right? Thing is, she wanted her photosession photo (which also was in the package) signed. She made the mistake to trust them and left the photo. That was over a year ago. She never got the autograph and lost her photo.

Luckily we were able to locate the photographer and she got the JPEG. But SM don't want stories like this to happen.

[dizzcostu007]

I can understand what you are saying. I should of asked my question as well, which would help. Basically if we buy Saturday photo shoot Diamond pass there is a chance we wouldn't be able to get an auto on that day too? I'm sure that is what you are saying and apologies for sounding dense, but this will determine for my wife if we go as we can only attend Saturday at present. Thank you.

[Queen_Sindel]

3 minutes ago, dizzcostu007 said:

I can understand what you are saying. I should of asked my question as well, which would help. Basically if we buy Saturday photo shoot Diamond pass there is a chance we wouldn't be able to get an auto on that day too? I'm sure that is what you are saying and apologies for sounding dense, but this will determine for my wife if we go as we can only attend Saturday at present. Thank you.

Yes, there is a Chance that you will not get an autograph Saturday. The tickets are called by number order. I don't know the exact numbers. Mads you may be okay with seeing he has attended last year only. But Pamela is a first time LFACC signer and her tickets have been on sale for a while now. There will be quite a number of Diamond Passes with lower number than any pass bought now.

It all depends on the signing Speed of the guest. Some have been open Queue by mid-afternoon their first day. Others like Christopher Lloyd struggled to make it through all Diamond Passes being there throughout the Weekend.