I received the coveted email on Thursday, July 18, 2024.
You know that moment when you see an email and immediately assume it’s spam? That was me here. The subject line read: CONGRATULATIONS! That’s it. I wasn’t home when I first saw it, so I didn’t delete it right away. A couple of hours later, my SIL texts our group chat: she got the Deadpool & Wolverine confirmation email. Whoa! I rushed to check my inbox. Instead of deleting the suspected spam, I opened it. And just like that, my heart started racing. I GOT IT, TOO! The chances that we both received a confirmation seemed almost impossible. On top of that, we had both requested a +1, which meant it was perfect for our group of four.
San Diego, Thursday, July 18, 2024, Hall H — We all landed late morning. The panel wasn’t until 6:15 pm, and since we had “guaranteed” entry, there was no rush to stand in line. Still, when it comes to convention panels, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. We got in line around 2 pm.
As 5 pm approached, the guy managing the queue started showing a serious god complex and did a terrible job trying to organize us. We were at the very front of the line, or more accurately a massive blob of a crowd, and he expected everyone to disperse and line up neatly. People who had been waiting since 1 pm got pushed to the back.
It took over an hour just to get the first 100 people moving. It was a total mess. Because of the delay, not everyone in line made it into Hall H on time, and even those with valid email confirmations ended up not making it in. I heard that the code reader had stopped working, so some people were showing counterfeit emails while security just glanced at confirmations as they tried to get the crowd moving.
I felt terrible for those with valid confirmations who could not get inside. It was frustrating, chaotic, and one of those classic convention experiences you never forget.
As we waited in the chutes, they handed out the infamous Wolverine popcorn buckets along with Best Friend pins and water bottles as swag. We managed to get some great seats near the front and center inside Hall H. Seeing Ryan Reynolds in person was surreal and took me back to the Green Lantern panel in 2010.
The panel was already exciting, but when they announced we would be screening the movie with him and Hugh Jackman in the audience, the crowd went wild. This was one of the coolest SDCC experiences I have ever had. I could not hear any of the movie because the audience was cheering and laughing the entire time, which I loved and made the experience even better.
After the screening, they brought out all the actors from the movie. It was so cool to see them on stage!
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 (longer, less editing) on YouTube:
