Wristbands for entry to Hall H are distributed the day prior to each day’s Hall H programs. Once the wristbands are distributed, attendees can stay in line individually or with their banded group. As long as one member of their group is in line, the others are free to leave the area for food, drink, or any other reason. The caveat is every banded individual MUST be in line by 7:30am the following morning. 

Once Hall H opens, those wristbanded individuals are admitted. On Saturday, those who were in line by 7:30am were admitted. Only after that time were non-wristbanded individuals allowed to fill the empty seats. Comic-Con prints fewer wristbands than there are seats in the room and does not distribute additional bands for the rest of that day’s Hall H panels. The unique wristbands are visually checked for authenticity and there are no reports of counterfeit bands.

Each year it is common for an ebb and flow to Hall H and all of our Program rooms— meaning some people come for a particular panel and then leave, allowing those who are in line to then be admitted. This year we saw less turnover than we have in the past, resulting in a reduced amount of additional individuals being admitted into the hall. This includes the wristbanded individuals who returned after the 7:30am deadline.

Comic-Con outgrew the San Diego Convention Center sometime around 2010. Since that time, we have expanded exhibit space to areas outside the convention center. We also managed to create additional meeting space thanks to generous support from area hotels and even the downtown San Diego Public Library. 

Hall H, an exhibit hall we reconfigured to a theater that could accommodate far more individuals than the largest meeting room at the current center, has now also been affected by our lack of space. Moving forward we will continue to investigate how best to manage attendance, flow, and the number of programs in an effort to accommodate as many people as possible.

—Comic-Con International