SWC19 Constructive Criticism & Suggestions for Improvements for 2019

Is that how the medical badge worked in Orlando? If it is I think they don't need to change it. It seemed to me that medical sticker/companions were allowed to get in line just before opening the show floor and allowed in earlier than the people that were in line overnight which I think is unfair in general due to some vendor items being limited.

 

As far as I'm aware, yes that's how they did it for both London and Orlando for wristbands. For show floor there was then a separate chute for medical stickers. So VIPs went in first (1/2 hour before main opening), then at opening the medical chute went in first followed by the rest of the chutes.

I'm not sure how they worked the medical chute into the first panel line. In London everyone just went into the show floor line then had to make their way to the Celebration stage queue area and the main Rogue One panel was at the end of the day rather than at the start so there was no need for a separate panel line in the morning once wristbands were distributed.

To be fair I understand some of the complaints. Not everyone with a medical sticker has a companion who can queue over night for them and some may require their companion to get ready in the morning meaning the companion would have 4 hours to get back to wherever they were staying, help their friend get ready, then get both of them back to the convention center, through the morning line, through security and back to the queue hall. Allowing them to do their wristband pick up at close of show the day before would eliminate all that. Maybe to make it fair on everyone else they have a set allocation of wristbands available this way.

 

I think the current system is fine for medical badges. If you make it easier to get into panels, you'll have more people trying to cheat the system and apply for a medical badge when they don't really need one.

 

I hope no one tries that! but then if they do and are found out, let then walk around with a placard, tarred and feathered(or slimed) with humiliation written all over!

 

Fair point. I wasn't really thinking about potential abuse when I came up the idea, not sure whether that was naïve or optimistic but giving medical stickers this advantage would mean there would be those who wanted to abuse it and try and get medical stickers when they don't need them just to get wristbands without camping out. And yes, anyone caught abusing the system would need their sticker and wristbands removed.

Thinking about it more, even ignoring the potential for abuse, they'd have to have some sort of quota for medical badges available the night before. I have no idea of the numbers of stickers issued, but with 70,000-80,000 people in attendance and the wide range of conditions the medical badges rightly cover, it's not unreasonable to assume there would be thousands. Add to that a wristband for a companion and you could suddenly be looking at a big percentage of seats. You don't want to create a two tier medical system where you say some can collect the night before and others have to line up over night, depending on their medical conditions, and in trying make sure those with medical conditions aren't disadvantaged, you don't want to disadvantage everyone else. So a quota would seem the best solution.

Sure, it's a compromise, but the alternative is leaving the existing system in place and I remember a lot of people complaining that it wasn't fair to those with medical conditions in London. I don't recall hearing too much about how well it worked/didn't work in Orlando as there were so many complaints over the wristbands and over nights in general. It would be interesting to hear from people who did have to use medical stickers and how they found the experience.