Comic-Con Registration Succesful at Last
So, the San Diego Comic-Con has finally managed to successfully sell tickets. Though, it was a bit of an uphill struggle to get into the system Saturday.
And by “bit of an uphill struggle” I mean maddeningly frustrating.
For those of you new to the whole SDCC-keeps-killing-ticket-systems drama here’s a quickie recap. In November of 2010 Comic-Con opened attendee registration for their 2011 event. The ticket sales system they use, EPIC, immediately crumbled under the weight of thousands of people all trying to buy Comic-Con tickets at once. They tried three times to get it to work before finally engaging a different service, Ticket Leap, to sell the tickets while still using EPIC to manage the memberships.
And how well did TicketLeap due under the strain of a registration that would make Ticketmaster itself go pallid with terror? Not too bad.
Screen that frustrated SDCC fans trying to buy tickets to the 2011 event
I could almost hear someone at Ticket Leap shouting, “throw the third switch!” “Not the THIRD switch!” “THROW IT!”
Annnnd we were back to the “We are currently over capacity” screen.
However, after frequent use of the cntrl + R shortcut to refresh the browser I was IN! And it only took until around noon.
And then I called my sister to let her know she could stop refreshing HER browser because I’d done the seemingly impossible and we were good to go. *happy dance*
And, of course, the ultimate outcome of any SDCC registration event is that Comic-Con is sold out. In February. On the very day that registration opened. Which shouldn’t really surprise us anymore, but is still a bit of a WOW.
If you didn’t get through the digital crowd to buy your 2011 Comic-Con tickets don’t despair. As summer nears there will be people who, for one reason or another, end up canceling their SDCC membership for a refund (YES, you can do that).
From Comic-Con’s Facebook page: “As refunds are processed, additional inventory may be released to the public at a later date.”
A bit dry, but it does mean there’s still hope.
And I am So not the least bit smug. Really. 
