Best Time to Pick Up Pre-Registration Badge

[redneckotaku.livejournal.com]

I have heard the lines are horrendous during Thursday and Friday for Pre-Registration pick up. Is there a good time to go pick up your registration during those days (where the line is under 45 minutes or so)? Should I try at 10 PM on Thursday night or just wait until later Friday and spend most of Thursday and Friday seeing Atlanta itself? Thanks for the thoughts on this.

Comments

[muntahz.livejournal.com]

I don't think there is a set time most of us could say would be fast.
It is different each year.

[petrona.livejournal.com]

Each year is different. Last year I got my badge in under 10 minutes. My boyfriend who bought through Ticket Master (not happening this year) took 45.

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

Line will be closed by 10 pm on Thursday if previous years are any indication.

[latervader9.livejournal.com]

Then why is the FB saying they are open until 11??

[boldpurpletext.livejournal.com]

Unless it's a misprint, they probably are open until 11. But that means they want to FINISH the line by then, so they always close the line off at least an hour earlier, sometimes sooner. Otherwise it would be an endless queue. They'd either end up open all night, or will have to say "too bad, come back tomorrow" right to the face of whoever had the bad luck to get to the front at closing time.

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say they will stay open to take care of anybody still in line up until 11 pm.

But I can tell you from personal experience that last year they were not letting anybody get in line after 10 pm.

[maxineofarc.livejournal.com]

The first year I came, I walked right up to the desk, got my badge, and was out in 5 minutes. The year after that, I was stuck in line for an hour and a half. The year after that, I was in line for an hour and then got turned away and had to come back and stand in line for two hours the next day.... there's never a sure thing. If things continue along these lines for me, however, I'd say I'll be able to pick mine up somewhere around Thanksgiving.

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

There's no best way, as the line almost always ultimately ends up based on how many people are ahead of you with similar letters beginning your last name (i.e. the M's could wait for an hour, while the C line will be empty and they'll call up all C's to the front to cut the main part of the line to keep things moving.) It's really a crapshoot. Just expect it to be 1-2 hours, and make friends with the people around you!

[kaerracia.livejournal.com]

I always get mine Thursday afternoon. But you have to be there way before the time they say they will open the line and you have to prepare yourself ahead of time in case of a wait. If they say they will open the line at 4pm, get to the area by 2-230pm because they will more than likely have a 'pre-line' started and they will also more than likely open it up earlier than 4pm. I did that and I was in line ( including pre-line and then inside once they opened it up ) about 45 min - 1hr all total. But getting it on Thursday when there are no panels or events scheduled that I might miss always makes the waiting a little easier for me.

[jackwabbit.livejournal.com]

I think it took me about three hours last year, which I quite frankly didn't blink an eye at. I expected that. Last year was my first D*C and I had been prepped for lines, though I never really found them. I kept waiting for the infamous lines. Never found any that exceeded what I thought was to be expected. I guess my scale is skewed, though. I waited on a sidewalk for three days for a movie once, and I've waited sixteen hours for seats to a movie, so...three hours? Pah. That's nothing. Especially not when you get to talk to all the cool peeps in line with you for the whole time.

Oh, but to answer your question, I'd try for early on Thursday, I guess. I think that's what I'm going to do this year. I tried mid-evening Thursday last year. I'm not sure, though. I'll figure it out when I get there. I have an "M" name, so it doesn't really matter when I go. I'll be in line forever. Oh, but hey, Dragon*Con? Could you make sure it's clear this year whether the "Mc's" are in the "M's" or their own section? That would help. KTHXBAI!

[latervader9.livejournal.com]

I think this should lead to a bigger issue/question:

WHY is it so ridiculous every year?

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

Because they don't send out badges in advance to pre-reg to keep the number of counterfeit badges down.

So everybody has to get theirs on-site.

And they don't use foil-the-counterfeit methods because that would drive the already expensive price of tickets up.

[acciochocolate.livejournal.com]

As for the counterfeiting issues, San Diego Comic Con mails out badges, all 125,000 of them. And they aren't the only con or conference or trade show that does this.

What are the foil-the-counterfeiting methods, anyhow, and how much do they cost per ticket? And why can't D*C just absorb the costs, and not pass this on to their members?

Also, there's a separate but connected issue. I see around the con on, let's say, Sunday, for example, some people roaming around with Friday only badges. No Security person seems to be stopping these people, yanking their badges, and sending them out of the con and over to Registration to buy another badge, at least not that I have seen. I would report them to Security, but by the time I found a Security person, the person with the wrong-dated badge would be long gone from where I saw them. People checking badges at the Art Show, the various dealer's rooms, the Walk of Fame, major panels in the ballrooms, etc., should be checking these badges for days, and yanking the badge if it's out-of-date. Is this being done?

At any rate, this sort of wrong-day badge issue is ripping off the con, and costing them a lot of money. The only way to prevent these thieves, because that's what they are, from stealing money from the con is for the con to stop selling one-day only passes. When people register on Friday, for example, they should be able to only buy four-day badges. On Saturday, three-day, and so on and so forth. Yes, I realize that this would be not be popular with those who can only attend one day and would never rip off the con by attending on Saturday with a Friday-Only badge, but it would put a stop to this drain on the con's finances.

Attending with a wrong-dated badge isn't counterfeiting, but all the same it is stealing from the con.

[latervader9.livejournal.com]

It's a shame they can't coordinate with the hotels for those who are staying. Check in-get a badge. Done. The rest of the non-hotel people can do the regular lines. At least it would be shorter for eveyrone.

[acciochocolate.livejournal.com]

Simply because they don't send out a barcoded pass to each member. That pass would allow the attendee to swipe the bar code through a machine, probably at a kiosk, which would then print out a badge. Easy-peasy. This is the way it's done at many major conventions, conferences, and trade shows. Supercomm, a telephony trade show, was doing this in the mid-to-late 90s, at the World Congress Center, back when I worked for an ISP. We never had to wait in any kind of line for very long to get registered. So the technology exists. Why D*C doesn't use it, I don't know. Perhaps it's too expensive for them? But considering ticket prices and the number of people who attend D*C, that's doubtful.

I have read, on this very comm, that the person in charge of D*C registration doesn't want to change over to this system. I don't know if that's true or if it was just speculation on someone's part. At any rate, using a bar code system would make a lot of sense, as Registration would need less volunteers, and the line(s) would move quicker.

[jackwabbit.livejournal.com]

Well, like I said, I didn't consider it crazy at all. I mean, when there's thousands of people all wanting the same thing at the same time, there's bound to be a wait. And staffing is always a nightmare. Yes, D*C could have more people doing registration, but from a management standpoint, I understand that you can't predict a lot of things and sure as you staff like crazy no one comes and vice versa. So...it is what it is. Even if D*C staffed a million people, there would still be congestion, as where would they put that any desks? Anyway. Like I said, I waited to experience massive lines and to my mind I never did. A few hours is nothing to me at an event like this. It's just common sense that that would happen.

[datavortex.livejournal.com]

Because they won't implement computerized badging.

See the thread here for the way things ought to work:
http://community.livejournal.com/dragoncon/2217155.html?thread=23371715#t23371715

[blinkidybah.livejournal.com]

They don't even have to send things out in advance... there are plenty of anime cons that have numbers rivaling D*Con that will not send out in advance that STILL do things much much faster. Because they either: subcontract to people whose entire companies are devoted to reg and badges or use computers and printers.

The fact that they're pulling alphabetized stickers out of binders in this day and age BAFFLES me.

[meaninglesscog.livejournal.com]

Get there Thursday as early as possible.

I don't mind waiting for a while if I'm not missing any other Con activities.

I actually consider standing in line to get your badge a part of the DC experience.

Now if they could only figure out how to match up the short lines with the actual booths. (I still think this is where 75% of the slowness comes from)

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Thursday afternoon is awful. I spent 3 hours in line. My e-book reader was a life-saver as I don't do enclosed spaces with lots and lots of people well.

[latervader9.livejournal.com]

Here here. I spent 3 hours last year. I could deal with the standing. But my god OPEN A FRIGGEN DOOR OR TWO FOR AIRFLOW. I nearly fainted due to lack of circulation. It wasn't about it being hot, it was seriously about a lack of air.

[latervader9.livejournal.com]

oh and claustrophibia didnt' help. How many people are in line for 3 hours on top of all doors being closed? It wasn't good.

[gothpanda.livejournal.com]

Last year my friends stood in line for four hours for their badges on Thursday. I arrived on Friday and waited 20 minutes. There's just no way to know. :/

[memysza.livejournal.com]

It also depends on the location a bit. The Sheraton ballroom was long and narrow and hard to see/hear any short line call ups.

As for policeing, that falls on the track people/volunteers but I can vouch that they were checking last year. Also remember that you don't need a badge to roam in the melee, you only need one the moment you cross a doorway into a panel or event.