Comic-Con 2016 Member ID registration closed

So you thought you might go to San Diego, CA next year for Comic-Con International. It’s July 21-24, 2016. The middle of summer in San Diego — it’s the best time to be there! Besides SDCC (San Diego Comic-Con), there are the beaches literally just a short bus ride away. And yeah, you do want to get all day passes for the transit system. Parking anywhere near the the beaches — let alone the Convention Center — is the big fantasy during the summer.

Four days of fantasy and science fiction stars and panels, people in costumes, cosplay and otherwise — all the frivolity anyone could imagine during a four-day weekend.

Now, returning Comic-Con attendees would probably know this already, but pre-registration for returning Con attendees is closed. If you went this year and were thinking about going next year, you will have to wait until open enrollment early next year (no date for open enrollment has been announced yet). Lucky for 2015 attendees: you still have a Comic-Con Member ID account, so you’re good to go — for a chance in the open enrollment. Let’s face it: if you had a chance at preregistration and missed it, you blew it because now you have to hope your name is picked to get the badge or badges.

Now, to get in on the open enrollment, which is basically a lottery, you need to sign up for a Comic-Con Member ID. So you click on This Link to get that Member ID and … you get this message:

“Member IDs created now are not eligible to participate
in Comic-Con 2016 Attendee Preregistration.
You will be able to participate in Open Online Registration at a later date. Please visit www.comic-con.org/cci/purchase-badges for additional information.”

Say it ain’t so Joe!

Correction: You can still get in to San Diego Comic-Con in 2016 with the Open Enrollment.

Comic-Con is the hottest ticket on the planet every year. You have to be registered at least nine months in advance of the event (ten would be better) just to get a chance at a ticket, which is called a badge because … it’s Comic-Con.

But things happen in the months between the open enrollment and the Con, and some people find they cannot go, after purchasing their badges. So the badges are given away or sold. But even that will be difficult.

Because of the counterfeiting issues in the past, the badges are now made with RFID technology — Radio Frequency Identification. What that will do specifically is stop people with counterfeit or stolen badges from getting into SDCC. If the badge checkers at the doors don’t ask for ID, you can still get in with Uncle Bob’s badge, even if you are Cousin Kathy.

From Toucan, the official blog of Comic-Con:

RFID badges are extremely hard to duplicate, which addresses the problems we’ve had with counterfeit badging! In addition, it allows us to tie a badge to a specific person closer than before.

RFID technology also allows us to offer another exciting feature… advance fulfillment! Now we can mail you your badge in advance so you can skip those pesky registration lines onsite. No more waiting in line to get your badge when you arrive, although you’ll still want to pick up your bag, Souvenir Book and Events Guide, and lanyard at your leisure.  And if the postman accidentally delivers your badge to another dimension, RFID technology allows us to turn off the missing badge and issue you a new one onsite.

Comic-Con is the hottest ticket on the planet and certainly in Southern California. So the question for the residents and government of San Diego is this: how badly do you want to keep Comic-Con in San Diego, at that now inadequate Convention Center? It’s a lovely location, right on San Diego Bay, but it needs to be expanded to accommodate the larger crowds the organizers of Comic-Con want to get in the doors. Over 130,000 people — full capacity — attended SDCC in 2015 and it’s no stretch to say they could get at least another 50,000 if there was more space.

Consequently, cities like Anaheim and Los Angeles are looking to woo SDCC away from San Diego with bigger venues and more hotel rooms. Comic-Con already hosts a related event, WonderCon, in Anaheim, home of the Magic Kingdom (Disneyland) and Los Angeles has L.A. Live, with Staples Center, among other possible venues.

The City of San Diego and SDCC just signed a deal to keep the convention in San Diego through 2018 with the promise that there will be expanded areas in existing hotels near the convention center and a possible expansion of the convention center itself.

Comic-Con was created in San Diego in 1970 as the Golden State Comic Book Convention and it appears both the city and the convention organizers want to keep it SDCC (San Diego Comic-Con) and not LACC or ACC.

If you don’t make it to Comic-Con next year, go to San Diego the second weekend of July (July 11-12) for the 62nd annual Over-the-Line tournament on Fiesta Island. Put on by the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club, it has a definitely adult theme, attracting 60,000-plus visitors annually — and it’s free. You don’t need to sign up for badges, just go to a parking area and either catch a shuttle to the site or pedal a bike.

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Correction: It was clarified for us that the message doesn’t mean you are shut out of getting a badge for next year’s Comic-Con, just that you won’t be able to participate in the pr-registration. We regret any issues we may have caused with the error.

All photos by Vicki Kellis unless otherwise noted.