As previously reported, Open Registration for San Diego Comic-Con 2016 will take place tomorrow, February 20, at 9:00am PT! Read on for some tips that will help get you through the sale.
- Confirm eligibility. Open Registration is only open to those who had a valid and confirmed Comic-Con Member ID created before 9:30am PST on February 11, 2016. However, if you purchased Preview Night during Preregistration, or if you are a registered Professional or guest of Professional, you are ineligible. If you are eligible, when you log into your Comic-Con Member ID account, you will see the green “OK CCI’16 Attendee Open Reg” check mark appear in the upper right corner, and within the “Registration Info” tab. If this does not apply to you, then you will have to wait until next year. If you haven’t already, make sure you sign up for a Comic-Con Member ID, as you’ll need this in order to participate in SDCC 2017 Open Registration!
- Use a computer — and turn off power save mode. The registration system is not formatted for iPads, tablets, or mobile devices, so use a computer. While in the waiting room, you might be sitting at your computer for a significant amount of time without doing anything, so be sure to turn off power save mode. You don’t want your computer to power down during this time!
- Test your browser settings. To ensure that your browser settings are compatible with the EPIC waiting room, click here.
- Work as a team and work out the details ahead of time. You can buy badges for up to three people, which includes yourself and two other people, but only if they are also eligible for Open Registration. You’ll have a better chance of getting a badge if you team up with other people. Make sure you have everyone’s last names and Member IDs. If it so happens that someone else buys your badge before you get into a registration session, you still will be able to purchase for three other eligible attendees if you are chosen for a registration session — but if this is the case, make sure to enter the Member ID you are buying for rather than your own, otherwise, you will get kicked out.
- Free up funds on your credit card. You can only use one credit card to make the purchase, so make sure you have enough money available to cover the cost of all the badges you’ll be buying. See badge pricing below:
- Locate your registration code and the link to the waiting room, and enter the waiting room sometime after 8:00am and before 9:00am PT. You will need your registration code in order to enter the waiting room. Your code and the link can be found in the email that Comic-Con International sent you earlier this week (check your spam folder if you can’t find it!), or you can also log into your CCI Member ID account and click on the “Registration Info” tab. Arriving early to the waiting room does not give you priority over those that arrive later, as it is all random. Just make sure you log in before 9:00am PT, or else you will be not be able to enter the waiting room. Note that your personal registration code will only authorize one device and one browser.
- Be ready to wait, but also ready to spring into action. You could be sitting at your computer for an hour or more, staring at the spinning blue circle, waiting for your turn at a registration session. Therefore, you might want to use the restroom before 9:00am, and have any food or beverages already at your computer so you don’t have to get up while the sale is going on. You could be selected for a registration session at any time, for which you will have 15 minutes to complete the transaction.
- DO NOT REFRESH. DO NOT USE THE “BACK” BUTTON. This could severely interrupt your registration session and cause you to lose out on your badges.
- Take screen shots! If you make it into a registration session, take screen shots of your progress in case something goes wrong. A couple of years ago, we were in the process of buying 4-day + Preview Night badges, when we encountered a white screen. We sent screen shots to CCI, proving that we had been in a registration session, and they took care of us.
- Badges will be mailed, but only to a United States address. CCI is using RFID technology for SDCC 2016 badges, so they will be mailing out badges instead of requiring you to pick them up on site. However, this only applies if the address that you enter during purchase is a United States address. All of the badges that you purchase during your registration session will be sent to the same shipping address entered during purchase. If you are an international attendee and enter an international address, you will have to pick up your badge on site. But if you are an international attendee and have a U.S. address that you can send it to, you may enter that U.S. address and have your badges mailed there. Note that if some of your badges were purchased during Preregistration, and additional badges are purchased during Open Registration, those badges will be sent to the shipping address entered during each respective purchase — which could be two different addresses!
- Don’t despair. Not everyone who participates in Open Registration will be able to purchase a badge. However, there are also plenty of outside events in downtown San Diego that do not require a badge, so it’s still possible to take part in some of the nerdy fun that goes on during that week!
- Review Comic-Con’s website, watch their video guide, and read their Toucan Blog for more information. Comic-Con’s website has more information about 2016 Open Registration, and they have put together a step-by-step video guide, which you can watch below. Also be sure to check out the Toucan Blog for Open Registration FAQs, for RFID and shipping information, and for tech advice
.
Holy cow! It really sounds like a pain in the butt to get into Comic-con. I’d still love to go some day. I’ll pass this onto anyone that’s going. It’s a nice piece.