29th October 2022, Excel Centre London
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Travel
The Excel Centre is accessible via either the DLR or the Elizabeth Line. On the day we visited the Elizabeth Line was closed. We decided to use the London Cable Car from North Greenwich to Prince Regent and then walked to the exhibit.
On the return we used the DLR to Canning Town and changed onto the Jubilee Line into Central London. The DLR wasn't too bad, but the Jubilee Line was heaving and became very uncomfortable with the amount of people squashed into the carriage.
Cost
We paid £29.99 for Priority Entry which enabled entry at 9am on the Saturday!
Normal admission is £25 which enabled entry at 11am. We both felt this worth the cost as we were able to cover most of the activities, we wanted to do in the 2-hour window before it got too busy.
This price also covered the cost of postage of the tickets. This meant was able to arrive with the tickets rather than queuing to collect them.
It's a shame the cost of signatures and autographs are so expensive as this did put us off seeing several people including a few of the old Doctor Who's but they are provided by a exterenal company!
Entrance and Crowd Level
We arrived just after 9am and literally walked into the excel centre with just a quick scan of the ticket and a quick bag search. This was a much better setup for early admission compared to previous years, where we had to walk into one of the halls and follow the zig-zag queue for the security. When we left, we did notice that general admission was being sent into a hall so that is 100% another perk of early admission!
Once inside i was actually surprised how little crowds there was. The usual places like the food hall already had crowds but apart from that was ok.
Once hit 11am general entry, that's when the crowds hit. Trying to view anything on the stands became a nightmare and walking around became more of a shuffle. The centre area of the Excel Centre was absolutely packed, and the fun of comic con started to disappear.
Activities
We managed to take part in several activities, but our favourite was playing on the original Xbox. You are allowed to pick out of various old consoles such as the GameCube, PS1/2 & 3, PC, Xbox Original and 360. You then picked the game you wanted to play. We started on Halo 2, and then played a few laps on Forza!
There is also plenty of photo opportunities such as authentic Doctor Who costumes from the 60th anniversary episodes, Star Wars Costumes and up-coming merchandise from Hasbro!
Also included in the price was entry to panels. There was 2 stages, which had various talks from creators, cast members and companies announcing new products!
There was also smaller stages around the show floor with comic book creators and authors talking about their creations!
Shopping
Take plenty of money to these events! As soon as you walk in there is plenty to buy! From Event exclusives, Funko Pops, Official Show Merchandise, Artist Prints and plenty more! Another tip bring some bag for lifes to carry purchases so dont have too many individual bags around.
Food
The Excel Centre has plenty of food places in the centre of the building but also a entire hall dedicated to food. The prices did seem more expensive than normal and the queues once it hit lunch time became massive!
Final Thought!
If you are a mega fan of comics, film, tv and everything else then you will love it! The atmosphere was amazing and seeing the fabulous cosplays (next year will 100% take part)! I would recommend the early entry ticket to get the best out of you visit before it gets to busy!
MCM Comic Con takes place in May & October in London's Excel Centre, and November in the NEC Birmingham!
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