I received the coveted email on July 18, 2024.
I saw the Subject line: CONGRATULATIONS! and instantly thought it was spam. I wasn’t home at the time when I glanced at the email, so I didn’t delete it immediately. Then a couple of hours later my SIL texts the group chat that she got the Deadpool & Wolverine email. Damn, that’s so awesome. So I go through my emails, and instead of deleting the suspected spam, I open it, and my heart starts racing. I GOT IT!! What were the chances that we both got a confirmation? And we both had requested a +1, so it was perfect for our group of four.
We all landed in San Diego that Thursday morning. The panel wasn’t until 6:15 pm, and with our “guaranteed” entry to the panel, we weren’t in a rush to stand in line. But with all things concerning Con panels, it’s better to be safe than sorry. We got in line around 2 pm. As 6 pm was sneaking up, the guy in charge of the queue had some sort of god complex and did a shit job trying to get us to form a line. We were at the very front of the line (or rather massive blob of a crowd), and he expected all of us to disperse and neatly line up. People who waited since 1 pm got pushed to the back. It took over an hour just to get the first 100 in the chute that way. It was a total clusterf**k. And since it took so long, not everyone who was in line got inside Hall H on time, and not everyone with an email confirmation was able to get in either (I heard that counterfeit emails were being displayed because the code reader stopped working altogether, so security just glanced at the emails as they were trying to hurry in the crowd). I felt so bad for those who had a valid confirmation but weren’t able to get in.
As we waited in the chutes, they passed out the infamous Wolverine popcorn buckets, complete with Best Friend pins and water bottles, as swag. We secured some great seats near the front and center inside Hall H. Seeing Ryan Reynolds in person was surreal. It brought me back to seeing him at the Green Lantern panel in 2010. It was already a solid panel, but when they announced we’d be screening the movie with him and Hugh Jackman in the audience, everyone went wild. This was one of the coolest SDCC experiences I’ve ever had. I couldn’t hear any of the movie because the audience was cheering and laughing the whole time, but it was the best thing ever. After the screening was over, they brought out all the actors in the movie. So cool!!
And after the panel ended, we were treated to a drone show that evening! I don’t think anything can top this at SDCC!
Here is the whole panel (less edited) on YouTube:
