Oh The Horrors Of Obtaining SDCC Badges!

For the past few years, it's been pretty tough to get tickets for SDCC. Today's chance at getting a Badge was easy for some and down right horrible for many others. Like many, when it hit 9am, we got nothing but a white waiting screen which lasted for an hour and 40 minutes before we called it quits since SDCC posted on twitter that all badges were sold out by then. Some people who tried to get in a couple of minutes past 9am were shown another screen that said the waiting rooms were full and that badges are pretty much sold out.

Like so many others we followed their rules and didn't refresh or we'd lose our place in line but they never mentioned anything about the white blank screen on what we should do. Keep waiting or keep refreshing.  We were stuck in limbo after hitting the registration page to reach the waiting room.

Some people commented on Facebook that they were in the waiting room only to never have their number move up in line. Some people got skipped while people further back in line from them got badges and they didn't. Some got thrown out and could never get back in.

With SDCC as big as it is, they should either put in a better server that can handle the traffic or try different types of badges that separates TV/Movie panels & Comic panels/exhibit floor.

It probably wouldn't have been so bad had someone from CCI Customer Service post something on twitter or facebook that if you see a white (waiting/loading) screen to give up because you're never going to get to the waiting room and badges will be gone by the time you even get in etc... It would've save many from patiently waiting just to hear on twitter that everything is sold out and that we basically just wasted an hour + of our lives hoping we get through.

We all know the CCI staff does the best that they can and try to improve the registration process each year but there still needs to be a better way to make things run smoother to get badges.