Disclaimer:
All information is based upon the previous years’ experiences. Comic-Con may completely change their process whenever they like. I base my information based on policies and practices provided up to the previous year and current online OFFICIAL documentation provided by Comic-Con International. If I say that you should line up for Hall H under the white tents and they end up being blue this year, it’s out of my control, so don’t blame me. I can’t tell the future. The information is still valid. But if you do get confused, don’t be afraid to ask someone already in line about where to go. Most people at Comic-Con are a friendly lot and will help you in a pinch. There is no shame in being a newbie.
You don’t have to camp out overnight to get into the big panel rooms. There, I said it. It’s NEVER necessary. But can it be fun? Sure. Especially when you’re with a gang of friends and strangers who are passionate about the same thing, whether it’s Spider-Man or Edward Cullen. It’s an experience, if you can handle it, that is unique. The grounds are well-lit, secure, and the people are friendly and just as thrilled as you to be there.
But it’s NOT necessary (at least at this point in Comic-Con’s evolution) to sleep outside the convention center all night just to get into the panels. When it comes to Hall H and its 6500 seats or Ballroom 20 and its 4000 seats, only the people who absolutely NEED to be as close as possible should bother to get in line for any other reason than to just hang out with fellow geeks.
So what’s a good time if you’re not up for sleeping on the sidewalk? It is the toughest question anyone can answer about Comic-Con other than “how do I get a ticket?”. There is no set time that’s the surefire best time to get in line for a number of reasons:
- PEOPLE ARE GETTING MORE INTENSE (DESPERATE) – Some people may translate the ticket desperation as an increase in people fighting for the Hall H seating, even though due to the attendance caps, the same amount of people are going to the convention every year now that it sells out. But people will still assume that unless they get there as early as possible, they won’t make it into the panel. There’s already people checking to see if Twilight fans have tried to line up yet (I’m glad to report that so far, 10 days in advance, they haven’t).
- IT ALL DEPENDS ON THE SCHEDULE – Twilight is going to draw every screaming girl and their mom who snagged a ticket on Thursday. They will pack out Hall H after sitting in line a good day in advance. But once that panel is over, we will probably see the largest mass-exodus from that room outside of the last panel of the day closing out. And everyone in line who didn’t make it into the room when Twilight started will be able to slip in as soon as probably 75% of that room empties. Doctor Who, Glee, Big Bang Theory, and Chuck all garner big audiences at Comic-Con. Whether you want to see them or the panel 3 hours after them, you have to take the whole day into account. And you have to be willing to get there early, even if it means having to sit through panels you have absolutely no interest in. That bugs some people who can’t make it into the panels due to the squatters. It can’t be helped.
- WHO WANTS IT MORE? – It’s a competition, no matter what anyone says. Those final seats in those rooms get claimed by the one who wants it most. Does the person who wants to see the 11am panel want it more than the person who wants to see the 3:15pm panel? It all comes down to what time you want to sacrifice in order to be present for one or more events.
- WEIGHING YOUR OPTIONS – I personally would rather get up at dawn, get in line and sit in Hall H all day for the sole purpose of seeing one 4pm panel and sit through everything before it rather than arrive too late and have to sit outside, hoping that I might make it in later. Of course, standing out in line with a group of friends gives you the opportunity to take turns on checking out the Exhibition Hall throughout the day, but don’t be gone when that line moves up, because if your friends get in while you’re ogling cosplay babes in the lobby, you’re out of luck. And when it comes to trying to get into two different panel rooms in one day, I can’t say that I’ve ever been able to do it, unless they were hours apart and one was really not that popular. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten into both Ballroom 20 and Hall H in the same day. But you could give it a shot. Let me know how that goes.
If you want me to give you a dead on perfect time to line up… I’d say 6am. Not too early. Not too late. You’ll probably get into either of the big panel rooms, depending on the size of the room and the fervor of the fanbase. But that can’t be guaranteed. And now that I’ve said that, if maybe 2000 people reading this take that advice, that makes 6am not nearly early enough to line up considering all of the people now believing that 6am is the “Magic Time” to get in line. If I say 5am, it could move again (and this would only matter if we all believed that thousands of people hung on my every word, which is not the case).
So, okay, if you want a real world scenario for 2011, I’ll give you one. I want to see the Fox and Sony panels on Friday, the Amazing Spider-Man in particular. I plan to be in Hall H all day. So I’m going to be getting in line at about 6-6:30am. And unless I can’t get into the main line up area, I will get into Hall H when the doors open first thing in the morning (that’s sort of the cut off area in my past experience… if you end up getting in line across the street behind the convention center and next to the Bayfront Hilton, then you don’t have a good chance of making it into Hall H at the beginning of the day).
Comments: 10
Make sure you’re in the right line for the correct room. I lined up in the white tent thinking it was for Ballroom 20 but it was for Hall H.
I did get into Hall H and Ballroom 20 on Thursday last year. I was in line at 6:30 AM for Hall H and stayed through three panels Dreamworks, Disney and I think it was Sony (Salt and Battle LA). I then headed for Ballroom 20 because I wanted to see the Showtime panel at 4ish. I was in line through the next panel. I got in during the next one, which was one before Showtime.
That’s awesome. I’m just too worried that I’ll spend all my time in line if I keep room hopping and never actually get in to see anything, so I just stick with what I’ve got. Less stress. But kudos to you for working it out!
My question is, how many newbies will actually be at the Con if only 1500 tickets were left at the time of resale? 1500 out of 125,000 isn’t a whole lot of new faces. So in that case, many people who read this blog will have already gone. Don;t you have to be at the Con with ID to purchase tickets for next year?
Well, the people who bought the resales aren’t exactly newbies. There’s a lot of people who have gone for years that didn’t get tickets in the initial rush. When I say “newbies”, I mean people who have never been to Comic-Con before. You’d be surprised at how this year is the 1st year for many. I get emails and posts on Facebook all the time.
As for purchasing tickets for next year, Comic-Con has still not clarified the rules and process for how that will go. Everything right now is just speculation. Once they officially make it clear, then I will be posting about it here. It is the #1 biggest question I get next to “when should I get in line for X?”
the first panel i’m hoping to get into is @1:45 in ballroom 20. if i show up around 8 or 9am to get in line, do you think i’ll get in?? i know you can’t say FOR SURE or not. also, you can’t really line up for ballroom 20 until the doors to the convention center are open right? (they don’t have an outside lineup like hall H??). Ballroom 20 is where i pretty much plan on spending the first 3 days, and i am newbie so just trying to get a head start on things. 😀
The line for Ballroom 20 snakes out onto the back patio that runs along the length of the building. However, I don’t know how early they allow people to line up there. At some point, when the building opens, they allow those outside to line up inside (at least the first couple dozen that fit), allowing the existing line to move up a bit and continue all along the back of the building. I would try to check the night before to see if people are lined up outside along the back. Use the maps they’ve put on the official Comic-Con site to show where those lines will be.
And to be honest, I think 8 or 9am might be a little too late to get in line, especially if you are interested in the first panel. It’s a 4000 seat room, but it’s got some popular events. I would say no later than 8am, because I’m sure there will be people in line (legally or not) by 5am for ballroom 20. I just haven’t lined up for B20 in awhile, so I can’t be 100% sure. I hope that helps. Have a great time!
that was supposed to say 1:45pm! yeah, there is no way i’d expect to get into the very first panel that late. hopefully 8 or 9 will be alright to make it into the one at 1:45pm.
How difficult is it trying to get into other smaller halls for smaller and less popular events? My friend and I are hoping to make the supernatural panel in Hall H as well as the Merlin panel in 6BCF, which starts only 45 minutes after the Supernatural panel ends and is on the other end of the convention center. Do we still have a shot at getting into the Merlin panel with so little time before it starts?
Again, it all depends on the demand and the size of the small room. You could make it, but I certainly wouldn’t guarantee it 100% without seeing what the line outside the room and what the scheduled panels for that room happen to be. I say, if you have nothing else you want to see in Hall H after Supernatural, take a shot at Merlin. Your only other options are hanging around in Hall H or going back down to the Exhibition hall.