Comic Con 2009 sold out already!!!

[Darth_Pinche]

I just heard that the 4 day memberships are already sold out! Holy crap! It is only March! The single days are still available. My gods.

 

[Dark Gilligan]

Yes that's true. The 4-day passes sold out towards the end of last week. Saturday (single-day) is currently at 36% capacity, Friday is around 14%

 

[Bad Bishop]

I just heard that the 4 day memberships are already sold out! Holy crap! It is only March! The single days are still available. My gods.

Thanks for the heads up, Darth_Pinche. I should have purchased a 4-day membership already. I also procrastinated last year and it cost me. When will I learn my lesson? I'm going to start ordering the single-days that I need.

 

[the_wildcard]

Pretty crazy considering they haven't even released the programming schedule yet

 

[Dream]

Looks like fans want to be there for free stuff!

 

[Darth_Pinche]

I think all of my favorite t-shirts are all comic-con freeebies( Iron Man, Watchmen, Star Trek, Slusho/Cloverfield, Team America, Matrix, Sky Captain, It Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and a bunch of others). They do give out lots of junk, but also really cool stuff if you are at the right place and time.

I guess the crowds can't be worse than last years since they sold out as well, but not as early. I was not planning to go this year, but I always had the glimmer of maybe making a last minute trip. Looks like I'll have to plan for 2010!

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

Some of you mother-frakkers were supposed to be coming with me.

You know who you are.

(I bought my tickets the day they went on sale. Now, I just need to polish my sombrero.)

 

[Dark Gilligan]

All the allocated hotel space sold out in less than two hours as well.

 

[Bad Bishop]

ESCAPISM TRIUMPHS OVER BAD ECONOMY
Comic-Con tickets, hotels going quickly

By Peter Rowe
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
March 20, 2009


DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO — Home values may tumble, the markets may crumble, job security is day-to-day. But Comic-Con, it seems, is here to stay.

Four-day passes to the event sold out last Friday – at $75 a pop. Single-day passes are moving briskly, too, especially for Saturday, July 25.
Comic-Con is still four months away, but the madness continued yesterday with the annual ordeal known as “Hotel Day.”

The convention negotiates with numerous hotels (35 this year) for blocks of discounted rooms. At a set time on the selected day, a New York travel agency starts taking reservations. It continues until all rooms are gone – usually, a matter of hours.

This year, with recession-scarred consumers trimming their expenses, was sure to be different. And so it proved.

It was even busier.

“We are a little ahead of schedule,” David Glanzer, a Comic-Con spokesman, said less than two hours after phone banks and an online reservation center opened at 9 a.m.

Last year, the four-day passes vanished two weeks before the Con's opening day; all tickets were gone a week later. The convention is an eye-popping market for collectors of comic books and manga. Hollywood annually arrives in star-studded force to promote sci-fi, fantasy, horror and other genre films and TV series.

Moreover, the dismal economy has not stopped similar events – San Francisco's WonderCon and the New York Comic Con – from setting attendance records earlier this year.

While the San Diego Comic-Con may be recession-resistant, it is straining to accommodate its loyal legions. Travel Planners, the New York agency in charge of hotel reservations, was overwhelmed with calls and online requests yesterday.

Tom Spurgeon, a writer and editor from Silver City, N.M., spent an hour and 18 minutes waiting on the phone. When he finally got through, every hotel he had considered was booked.

The entire article:

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stor...apism-triumphs-over-bad-economy/?zIndex=69920

 

[Mr. Chubbykins]

I have my tickets and my hotel booked. "Excited" doesn't even cover it

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

I have mah passes, and I live 45 minutes upstream from the Convention Center.

Daaaw yeah.

 

[Dayton Ward]

I gots my plane tix, and my hotel, and my pass.

 

[Autobot]

Comic Con is my favourite holiday of the year I love living 15 minutes away from it. Bring on the celebration of geekdom!

 

[miraclefan]

Ah..ComicCon is OVERhyped & OVERpriced!

 

[Dream]

Ah..ComicCon is OVERhyped & OVERpriced!

If it was cheap they wouldn't make much money now would they?

 

[Autobot]

Actually, Comic-Con is rather inexpensive for attendees. 4-day passes were only $75 and single day passes are in the $20-$35 range. This is very affordable -- I spent $45 for a one day pass to Star Wars Celebration IV a couple years ago, basic Botcon tickets are $15/day this year, and Dragon*Con is $75-$100 for 4 days depending on when you buy your membership. Also, Comic Con is run by a non-profit organization, so it's not about making money.

 

[Dark Gilligan]

^^ Still though, there LOTS of money to be made. San Diego's entire downtown area gears up for this every year. $$$$

 

[miraclefan]

Ah..ComicCon is OVERhyped & OVERpriced!

If it was cheap they wouldn't make much money now would they?

Actually, Comic-Con is rather inexpensive for attendees. 4-day passes were only $75 and single day passes are in the $20-$35 range. This is very affordable -- I spent $45 for a one day pass to Star Wars Celebration IV a couple years ago, basic Botcon tickets are $15/day this year, and Dragon*Con is $75-$100 for 4 days depending on when you buy your membership. Also, Comic Con is run by a non-profit organization, so it's not about making money.

I meant the vendors selling there ''modern'' comics which would normaly sell for $5 they now sell it for $50!(not even rare or in demand issue's) or toys that are still at retail, and they (vendors) turn aroud and sell them 4 or 5 times higher then they would be! I know comic shops do the same, but at comic-con they turned it in to an art!

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Ah..ComicCon is OVERhyped & OVERpriced!

If it was cheap they wouldn't make much money now would they?

Actually, Comic-Con is rather inexpensive for attendees. 4-day passes were only $75 and single day passes are in the $20-$35 range. This is very affordable -- I spent $45 for a one day pass to Star Wars Celebration IV a couple years ago, basic Botcon tickets are $15/day this year, and Dragon*Con is $75-$100 for 4 days depending on when you buy your membership. Also, Comic Con is run by a non-profit organization, so it's not about making money.

I meant the vendors selling there ''modern'' comics which would normaly sell for $5 they now sell it for $50!(not even rare or in demand issue's) or toys that are still at retail, and they (vendors) turn aroud and sell them 4 or 5 times higher then they would be! I know comic shops do the same, but at comic-con they turned it in to an art!

That's why the internet was invented. Ye don't have to buy stuff at ComicCon, yanno.

 

[Darth_Pinche]

While there are over inflated prices, there are also some bargains. There is also competition among the vendors so if your are smart shopper you can get some deals. But I never think of Comic-con as a place to do a lot of shopping. The spectacle is the draw. That and the opportunity to just bump into famous writers, actors and directors, etc enjoys the show with you. I had a nice conversation with John Landis one year while we were in line buying pretzels.