thursday badge pickup

So, this is gonna make me sound like a total n00bix cube, but I've never been able to go pick up my badge on thursday, and I have a few questions. 

Firstly, how early should I plan on getting there and standing in line?  I think I remember reading that it officially starts at 4pm, but instinct tells me I should plan on being much earlier.  Thoughts?

Also, I heard that last year the pre-reg line was way longer.  Is this true or is it BS?  Or is it one of those things where it was long but moved really quick?

thanks

2008 - PreReg moved pretty quick. 2 hours maybe starting in line about 3:00 PM local time on Thursday.

2008 - Buy at the door moved about 10 minutes per person and would have saved us at least an hour and a half. However, you pay full price. But if you haven't PreReg by now you might as well go "at the door."

I've done TicketMaster 2 times and once had great speed (30 minutes) and that included we didn't know there was a TicketMater specific line. Another time it took about 4 hours because TicketMaster wasn't fully staffed on Thursday. I will never go that way again because it is full price plus fees and unpredictable as to service.

Another thing to throw in this year is that the Sheraton will be hosting registration for the first time. There will no doubt be problems just due to the learning curve.

It also pissed me off that we now have to walk 4 blocks, some peeps 3 blocks, some 2 blocks, some 1 block, some of course no blocks, just to register. The kicker is that it was not posted at www.dragoncon.org until the last day or two.

My theory is always if it ain't broke don't fix it.
 

So, this is gonna make me sound like a total n00bix cube, but I've never been able to go pick up my badge on thursday, and I have a few questions. 

Firstly, how early should I plan on getting there and standing in line?  I think I remember reading that it officially starts at 4pm, but instinct tells me I should plan on being much earlier.  Thoughts?

Also, I heard that last year the pre-reg line was way longer.  Is this true or is it BS?  Or is it one of those things where it was long but moved really quick?

thanks

I'm with Martele d'Acre on this.

Two years ago, I went thru Ticketmaster-I had my badge inside of 1/2 an hour.

I think we all neet to keep in mind that not only have they moved registration to the Sheraton, but 40,000-45,000 people are attending this year (if you go by previous years growth, you can estimate that the above numbers should be squared away).

Anyway you cut it, Thursday & Friday will be a clusterfrack.

Each year for the last 6 years or so has been very different from what I have seen, with the last two years being the most similar. 

Given that a lot of people are arriving after work on Thursday, my recommendation is this:

(1)  Arrive early afternoon
(2)  Check into hotel room
(3)  Get your stuff into your hotel room
(4)  Find the line for tickets, get in it, talk to people in line
(5)  Explore the con (getting set up/ early costumes/ get your drink on/ find food) 

I always get the pre-order badge.  Honestly, if I have reading material and my phone, I'm cool standing in line.  It gets easier once you get to the front because they have the pick up lines split by letter of last name.  If no one is in line for your name, the people ahead of you are very cool about letting you go on in (always ask first, though, to be polite).

The staff should have someone checking the lines and asking for people with the proper initials to get out of the main line and get in their name line.  Kind of how Disney does it when there's room for one or two in a ride.  Makes the line move faster.

What what I hear moving the registration to the Sheraton was because it's setup better to handle the large volume of people in line.  I guess only time will tell if that's true or if we're all just running around more than usual.

The past few years I've preregistered and picked up my badge late on Thursday afternoon.  The wait times for me have been 60-90 minutes.  Not a big deal since I usually get in line with some friends and often run into more friends as we weave our way through the line.  It's kind of like a 'meet and greet' except that you can't mingle outside of your spot in line. 


Kevin

What what I hear moving the registration to the Sheraton was because it's setup better to handle the large volume of people in line.  I guess only time will tell if that's true or if we're all just running around more than usual.

The past few years I've preregistered and picked up my badge late on Thursday afternoon.  The wait times for me have been 60-90 minutes.  Not a big deal since I usually get in line with some friends and often run into more friends as we weave our way through the line.  It's kind of like a 'meet and greet' except that you can't mingle outside of your spot in line. 


Kevin

that was what it was like for me...i arrived after the line was almost all the way around the building..but a group of my online friends were all the way near the front...they called me to come up to meet them in line..it is nice to have a group to hold the front of lines..we did that at all the bsg panels!!! will see how it is this year...i am almost tempted to just pay at the door cuz i have not gotten my ticket yet..i was late to decide to go...still have a few weeks before the price does go back up though...

I wouldn't "hold the line" too often.  That's not very fair to the people behind you that have been standing for hours waiting to get into panels or get autographs.   The only time I would hold the line or allow it to be held for me is if I had already been in line and needed to pop off to the potty or for a smoke.

I wouldn't "hold the line" too often.  That's not very fair to the people behind you that have been standing for hours waiting to get into panels or get autographs.   The only time I would hold the line or allow it to be held for me is if I had already been in line and needed to pop off to the potty or for a smoke.

I have to agree completely with those remarks. 

To qualify what I posted earlier: The pre-reg line does start moving at 4:00 and keeps moving. It's just a very long line. The time I had problems with Ticket Master was that the line really didn't move at all. They had one person working that person didn't really know what they were doing and would take breaks. Eventually a second person showed up, but it took some time to get their computer working.

So we're going buy at the door this year and see how that goes. Every year that we have been, it has been the fastest line.

Quote from: scarfyrre on June 03, 2009, 11:01:06 PM

I wouldn't "hold the line" too often.  That's not very fair to the people behind you that have been standing for hours waiting to get into panels or get autographs.   The only time I would hold the line or allow it to be held for me is if I had already been in line and needed to pop off to the potty or for a smoke.

I have to agree completely with those remarks. 

To qualify what I posted earlier: The pre-reg line does start moving at 4:00 and keeps moving. It's just a very long line. The time I had problems with Ticket Master was that the line really didn't move at all. They had one person working that person didn't really know what they were doing and would take breaks. Eventually a second person showed up, but it took some time to get their computer working.

So we're going buy at the door this year and see how that goes. Every year that we have been, it has been the fastest line.

i hear ya there...we were a group of about 30 fromthe skiffy boards...we did the line thing at all the panels too...we were not the only ones doing this...so i don't feel that bad..and i was inline by myself behind another fan group that did the same thing..it is all good...i am still debating the ticket issue..get now and wait in line or get at door and not...i could care less what the ticket looks like..lat year they were horrible..keep breaking...were huge too!!

The badges have always been that size.  The D*C people are making the pre-reg badges thicker this year to cut down on breakage.

Yea, I was a bit disappointed in the artwork last year, too.  I guess this year is the dragon?