well I'm sorry to put a downer on it but the hall simply cannot cope with that amount of people and still allow said people to get around and see or do anything, it was totally stupid to let that amount of people in. Sunday was much better and far more what it should be like for anyone visiting the show.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
well I'm sorry to put a downer on it but the hall simply cannot cope with that amount of people and still allow said people to get around and see or do anything, it was totally stupid to let that amount of people in. Sunday was much better and far more what it should be like for anyone visiting the show.

But when they let the afternoon crowd in at 1pm it became overcrowded again.

They need to re-locate to a bigger hall. It's not like the NEC does not have any !

The show has changed over the years. The event is very crowded now and having spoken to the organisers they are looking to widen the aisles next time and sort out queuing issues. This will hopefully help.

If the show had stayed in its old format it possibly would not have survived. It is now a proper comic con and has the good mix between collectors and cosplayers. Its a professional event, which you can see from the banners and design in general. It is very well advertised.

I've told customers to avoid queues to pre book tickets.

I would not knock this event at all, reading some of the posts it comes across as a poor event, which it certainly was not. In fact virtually every event i've attended has had crowd or queue issues this year. The ones that have not are making losses.

For those that don't like crowds come on Sunday its far more relaxed. Happy collecting!

quote:

Originally posted by derekstradingcards:

reading some of the posts it comes across as a poor event, which it certainly was not.

Hi Derek, welcome to the forum.

You are quite right it was a superb event but if you are the person in the middle of thousands of people unable to stop and look at anything or even see the stands either side of where you are you may have a different view. To then let another load of people in to that situation was just crazy. Let's hope the organisers listen and learn from the feedback and March will be better.

The problem is, it is in danger of becoming a victim of it's own success. £16 to get in at 9am (10am sunday), £10 at 11am and Free from 1pm based on this years show!

Saturday was busy at 9, solid by 12 and MAD by 2pm, Sunday was quiet 10-11am, busy 11-1pm and solid again after 1pm when the free admission started. There has to be a limit on numbers so that people can look at stalls comfortably, some times you just had to go with the flow of people as there was no way of getting to the stalls.

The event itself is great but the attendees who are paying decent sums of money to attend need to be able to enjoy it

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hammer,

This is my last post on this topic.

Some people got in for free at 3pm ish not 1pm. This was due to a misunderstanding with someone in the queue saying free entry and some people got in for a short while. Once this group was cleared charging resumed. Having spoken with the organisers nobody will get in for free in the future.

With reference to my earlier post they are looking at the overcrowding issues and are increasing the aisles width and addressing any other queuing issues for March

I was in said queue having arrived at 1pm. By 3pm I was at the back of the final line to the ticket booth with probably another few hundred people behind me. They suddenly took down the barriers in front of the ticket booth so all of a sudden people who had just started queuing at the back were able to walk straight up to the ticket booth and get in. Those of us who were in the final line complained to some of the staff.

Having waited for 2 hours why should we then have to start again at the back of the queue and let people on front of us who had only been there 10 minutes. Everyone was shoving to get to the ticket booths of which there were only 8, so yes, it was getting VERY chaotic. Everyone was complaining to staff as it was becoming a total shambles!!

Just after 3pm due to the constant complaints they let everyone in for free, rightly so as by 3.15pm we had less than 2 hours to enjoy the show. Normal pricing did not resume as there was no-one else entering the show at such a late time in the afternoon.

If anyone dealers were told that there were misunderstandings and that only a few people got in for free then it's just diplomatic BS on their part. From where myself and my son were standing it was a chaotic shambles all round and the organisers decided to let everyone in for free as they simply had no choice.

What will probably happen is that everyone will pay for early bird tickets at the next show and still queue for 2-3 hours to get in!! I personally think 8 ticket booths is not enough, they have more people serving in Tescos!!!

The point I have been trying to make is that it does not matter how many people want to get in or how many booths there are, the hall can only take x amount of people and still allow those people to move comfortably around the hall, looking at what is on offer and being able to enjoy the show they have paid to get into. Once that limit has been reached nobody else should be allowed in.
Health & Safety officers would have had a field day on Saturday afternoon.

they should split the two shows collectors/memrobillia and a separate cosplay/dressup
as most cosplay have no intention of buying products they just gather in groups blocking isles and tables as we clearly have seen the last few shows first hand.

They got in at 1pm on Sunday for free