Before you read on, please know that I had an utterly TERRIBLE experience here. Also, this was my first convention that I have ever gone to, and I am young. I had no previous knowledge of how conventions were run. The only information I had was what the workers gave me beforehand in their letters and emails. I am a n00b. I know that. But this should have been n00b-friendly.
So, we started off waiting in line to get in at 9:30 in the morning. Didn’t actually get in the building until 10:25. At that point, I immediately navigated the information desk and asked for directions to the Doctor Who panel. Upon arriving there at around 10:40, I saw that it was FULL. How the fuck these people got there so early that they managed to get a seat, I have no idea.
Then, I decided to get John Barrowman’s autograph while my brother got Felicia Day’s. I got on the line at 11:00 in the morning, and it was fairly short. I got into a really great conversation with the three girls in front of me (all rocking wicked cosplays btw), so the wait wasn’t too bad, but once it was noon and John still wasn’t there yet, I started to get worried. My brother texted me that he had just finished getting Felicia’s autograph and that he was going to head over to a gaming panel. I wished him well.
I waited some more.
John was finishing up the photo ops. Now, he is a really lovely person, but I was incredibly frustrated at the fact that he didn’t start actually autographing until around 12:55, nearly an HOUR after he was SUPPOSED to start. I figured that at that point there was no way I would make it to the Teen Wolf panel, but I asked an employee just to confirm, and he agreed that I should just stay in the line.
I got John’s autograph at around 1:30 pm, after waiting in line for two and a half hours. The interaction only lasted about 45 seconds, as he just signed my Doctor Who comic book and smiled at me while I said thank you (I’m not good with talking to people, so this was perfectly all right with me).
I checked the schedule I had written out for myself and found that the panel I had WANTED to then go to was pushed to tomorrow, so I had a few hours to kill. I asked around, and found that people repeatedly told me that it’s best to start lining up for panels about an hour and a half to two hours before they start. I thought this was a little extreme, but I shrugged and nodded along.
I met up with my brother, and we spent some time walking around the show floor and looking at things to purchase. There was very little that I was interested in, but I finally settled on buying a really beautiful Loki poster, which is currently pasted to my wall now.
After that, we found a small little food stand that had a relatively short line and bought some food, as we had no time to pack any that morning. The food was incredibly expensive and not the most amazing quality; each sandwich was $10 and they had little-to-no condiments on them or available to be put on them.
By that point it was 3:00 pm, and my brother went to get Kristen Bauer’s autograph while I headed to Main Stage 1-D to line up for the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
This is the point where you all shake your heads and sigh at me, as I am stupid and did not know the ways of the convention world.
However, it should not be that if I don’t know the ways of the convention world I cannot have a good time.
I got on the line, and about 30 minutes later my brother joined me. We were close to the front, but it wasn’t until 4:30 that I thought to ask someone what was going on, as we had barely moved. She informed me that most people had gone into the panel at around noon that day, and had stayed to see every single event that was held. Apparently, they were allowed to stay in their seats after the panel was over and wait for the next one. Only 20% of the audience left after each panel, and if they did, the workers would take in 20% of the line.
This was shocking to me. My brother and I only had a 20% chance of being let into the panel.
We stayed on that line until 5:00. At that point, he was uncomfortable and wanted to go home, but I urged him to stay for ten more minutes, in case they magically let us in.
They didn’t. We were still pretty far back in the first leg of the line.
We gave up and left the Queue Hall, our spirits low and our heads pounding, our feet aching after having stood in lines all day.
I realized that I would not be able to see John Barrowman’s Q & A, as it started in an hour and it would be full at this point. I tried to reason with my brother that the last panel I wanted to see started at 8:00, so we could, technically, get in line now and be seated for it, but he angrily pointed out that it was only a two hour event, and why would I want to go to something that was only 2/3 the length of it’s wait?
We finally decided, with heavy hearts, to leave the convention and go home, as there was nothing else left for us to do.
Again: I understand that there are certain cheats you can do to get into EVERY panel you want to go to, that there are secret ways to have people hold your spots, etc., but the thing is, I didn’t KNOW them, and I have no desire to learn them. NYCC is NOT friendly towards newcomers to the large-convention style. I have never been given convention hints in my life; I knew nothing about them. The only information I was given beforehand was to arrive at panels slightly early and to wear comfortable shoes. These suggestions were not sufficient.
I do not have the time of day to learn all the expert advice of conventions. I should have been able to go there without a clue in the world of what to do and have a blast. Instead, I was subjected to waiting in lines all day and only getting ONE man’s autograph.
From now on, I am ONLY going to single-show conventions that do not have over 100,000 people there. Thankfully, my parents agreed to go to the Supernatural convention in D.C. this May, so I’m happy about that. It will actually be enjoyable, unlike New York Comic Con.
The only good things to come out of this experience are my new friends, my Loki poster, the John Barrowman autograph, and my photos of some of the great cosplayers, which I’ll upload shortly.
The Professional Fanwarrior 