DJariya

I'm going to Wonder Con 2024. Decided to go for the cheaper, less chaotic day and bought a $40 ticket + handling for Sunday.

Last year, I went on Saturday and it was a madhouse and parking was insane. I don't think I will hang very long. Maybe a couple of hours tops to see if there is any cool merch.

This is the sister con of SDCC, but it's not as crazy. And there is a much less emphasis on celebrity autographs.

TomOpus

My question is: Did they state there would be this barrier in the initial description of the photo op?

stingermck

pic I found on X. Dating game setup

Brian T

I’m curious the purchasers of this “opportunity” were actually allowed even a small measure of acknowledgement from the “stars” — like a simple “Hello” or a waving hand — or if the whole deal was “stay on your side of the boxes, no eye contact, no speaking, don’t breathe in their direction, and pick up your picture when you leave the convention”.

And then, for all the fans that got to go back for re-takes, was there any kind of remorse shown by Davis and Sarandon for having wasted their time and money to come back? I’m guessing no.

DJariya

Disney's big D23 event tickets are on sale for August 9th through 11th

https://ultimatefanevent.d23.com/


So if anyone here lives in/near California or has any plans to come in early August, here is something to consider. However, you must be either a regular or gold D23 member. If you bought the 3-year Disney+ subscription back in 2019, I assume you are a regular member.

I know Conventions like this are very expensive and this is one of the more pricier ones. I went in late 2022 at the last one and overall I had a good time.

Toddarino

I went to some con in Chicago last summer to “meet” Michael J Fox and a buddy of mine came along to get a photo with Susan Sarandon. He got to stand next to her, but she did not want to be there.

lwhy?

I would assume Sarandon would have enough money to not do conventions if she didn't want to be there. Makes me wonder if it's just greed that she's there or if she might really need the money. She's 77. She should be living the dream instead of attending conventions that she doesn't want to be at.

andicus

In not so many words... Fuck that shit. I'd be furious if I had prepaid and found out that this was the situation.

ntnon

"Greed" is certainly one word, but there's also much more charitable synonyms to describe what is essentially an opportunity to make a year's salary (even a celebrity salary) in a weekend. I don't know exactly what percentage goes to whom, but good grief.. crunch the numbers and realize how much money is changing hands here - who would reasonably turn that down?

TheBang

I don't even know what the numbers are to crunch, so I went searching and found this article that seems to say that A-listers could pull $250,000-$500,000 per weekend.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv...ntions-933062/

And that was in 2016, so I guess it's probably more now.

ntnon

My memory is getting hazier, but at a Star Trek convention nearly a decade ago, a photo with Shatner AND Bakula was somewhere between $200 and $400. Counting the people lined up for the conveyor-belt like experience, and then dividing by two (assuming several of the people were in groups of two), someone took in nearly half a million dollars. Presumably that was split between the Convention company, the photographers and the actors, but...

...that was in just a couple of hours. For just those two together. If they personally got half of half of that, (IF), that's over $100,000 for a couple of hours. And they were signing autographs for hundreds/thousands. And had individual photographs on two or three days. And other group pictures. And may have gotten a fee for their presence....

DJariya

Disney D23 2024 tickets went on sale starting yesterday. Yesterday was for D23 Gold members, today was for Visa card holders. Tomorrow will be just for regular D23 free members.

Anyway, it was almost as bad as getting SDCC tickets. You had to go into a virtual queue and be placed in line. I logged on my PC and IPAD. On the PC, I was 5800th in line and slowly moved. While on my IPAD, I got 960 something and jumped through in about 1 hour. I read some very unhappy people who are Gold D23 members who weren't able to get a ticket yesterday. That Gold membership is $90/year and they thought it would give them high priority and easier access. Well, it didn't.

Overall, it was a mess. Lots of errors and I read a lot of people were unhappy not being able to secure tickets today. I managed to get a ticket for Friday at the Anaheim convention center. I wanted to get a ticket to the ultimate show at the Honda Center, which is a few miles away. They decided to move the big presentations and announcements off site. Like Star Wars, Marvel and Disney new movies and shows being announced. I was interested in that, but demand was super high. That was a fiasco. Lots of errors trying to secure a spot on the Arena seating chart and tickets were next to impossible to lock in, so I exited that and just got the convention center. Once I got to the page to get my ticket, the site locked up and I was scared to do it, but I had to refresh and luckily it worked. I only had 15 minutes to secure my ticket. And I managed to get the order in.

D23 free members are going to be SOOL tomorrow. I think only Friday and Sunday single say convention center tickets are left. General public tickets are suppose to go on sale closer to the event in August, but I think it's going to be completely sold out after tomorrow. I mean this is pretty nuts.

DJariya

Just got back from WonderCon 2024. Here is my haul including some freebies from Lionsgate

DJariya

Outside WonderCon on Sunday

DJariya

https://www.comicconla.com/guests

https://store.epic.leapevent.tech/lo...comic-con/2024

Comic Con LA is October 4-6 and they just announced their early batch of guests

Ewan McGregor
Christina Ricci
Giancarlo Esposito
Tara Strong
Hayden Pannettiere
and a wrestler named Sting

I've gone for three straight years and will likely go again. But, I definitely don't have the budget for McGregor. $225 for an auto and $235 for a professional photo op.

Star Wars actors, especially a popular one like McGregor, don't do table phone selfies.

Hopefully they add some more affordable guests in the weeks and months ahead. I might consider Esposito.

VHS?

Another year, another shitty badge for SDCC

PhantomStranger

I wonder how much Paramount paid to advertise on the badge.

VHS?

Probably a lot and that makes it even suck harder
I miss getting my plastic badge with an SDCC enamel pin sent to me in a box.

Even though I got tired of the Walking Dead badges, at least it was a design. This plain as fuck shit is lame.

DJariya

https://www.comicconla.com/guests

Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Tom Wilson will be guests at Comic Con LA in October

Cartwright

As someone who sets up at a lot of them....inflation is wild, wilder than the rest of society. Hot dog $12. beer $15. It's gotta come back down to earth.

VHS?

I stopped buying food and beverages at SDCC long time ago. I'm lucky enough to get parking close by and just take a cooler.
Last year a cinnamon pretzel was $9. The cafe sells Jr High hamburgers for like $10 or $11 That's asinine.
Forget about eating or drinking in the Gaslamp. You"ll go broke day 1

PhantomStranger

The days of cheap food in the West are over. Inflation is only going to get worse in the coming years.

Josh-da-man

That's pretty much in-line for concessions, though. Those prices are about what I'd expect to pay for similar items a movie theater, sporting event, concert, or fair.

VHS?

I get that but I'm betting this years prices will be even higher. These are basic foods that cost nothing. But I see what you're saying.

In other SDCC news...
Entertainment Earth and Blizzard are skipping this year. I think this is a first for EE and that sucks. I always look forward to their exclusives and more importantly, the free signings. Mainly WWE wrestlers.

VHS?

This is fuckin crazy.....