I fully agree with fellow Joss789. I remember that there was a time back until the last official Joe Meet (2008), that the lineup started at around 8am. And before that (2007) it was around 9am, I know because I was second in line with Pdaat and Grunt4mvp behind me that I actually met for the first time
.
With the Meets' crazy attendance in 2008 reaching the potential and size for a regular convention, the 2009 convention's set (first time ever set, past years' exclusives were offered as single figures) also helped raise the bar. In the 2009 convention, the lineup started before 3-4am, it was crazy!!! And freaking cold!!!! If I hadn't given my sleevless jacket to JoeNerd (who was credited as LatinMike by me on these boards
), I think he would've left the lineup and miss out on the set. I also met Neodragonnight for the first time (lucky guy was smart to bring a camping chair to sleep through the cold morning!). In 2010, my group arrived a little later, but there were still some serious amount of people lined up in front of us. In 2011, the Canadian Convention team offered for purchase for the first time ever an online general admission to saturday' event that included the convention set. There was an early bird event on friday, but there was a 10$ admission fee which was not part of the pre-order rate. Anyway the online ticket w/convention set definitely helped me take advantage during the whole saturday. I was obviously already in the hotel for friday's early bird event, but on saturday, I was freshly rested and didn't need to lineup through the whole morning.
Yep, so many good memories I retain from the lineup experience, and it'll never be quite the same each year. But as times go by and the canadian convention gains more popularity, pre-ordering a ticket and pre-registering will only help you enjoy the most of your convention day. Of course, there's always a few stresses here and there on our own end but that's all part of the convention magic.
Per instance, I always get the shakes when walking into the dealer hall. It's always exciting to walk into a place you have spent months and months imagining what the tables would look like.
Once pre-ordering a set becomes availalbe online, I strongly recommend that you secure yours as it will remove a bigger part of the stress, if you actually want to get the set that is. For now, it's only the ticket that is available for online purchasing, and from my own understanding It will give you access to both friday evening (early bird), and the whole day on saturday. If you are coming also to buy from the dealers, I therefore truly recommend the early bird experience.
