SDCC 2018: Amazon Fire TV Party

After Josh attended The Passage panel and after I finished up with my Venom exclusive signing at San Diego Comic-Con 2018 on Friday, July 20, we met back up with Carlos and went to the Amazon Fire TV “Fast Forward to the Future” party.

I would say “party” is kind of a loose term for what it was. From what I can tell, it was the same thing as the daytime activation for the Amazon Fire TV. The only difference was that it was open at night, and instead of serving mocktails, it served alcoholic beverages. Oh, and you had to be 21+ because of the alcohol. Since we hadn’t had time to stop by this offsite during the day, it was fine by us that it was open at night. In fact, we think more offsites should be open at night. Almost all the offsites close at or before the same time the convention center closes. It would be nice if the hours extended to the nighttime hours to give attendees something to do in the evenings and a chance to catch offsites that we didn’t have time to go to during the day.

To get into the Amazon Fire TV party, you had to have registered through a link. After answering a few questions, you were emailed a QR code, which the Amazon Fire TV staff scanned before entry. Then after a bouncer checked your ID to make sure you were 21+, you had to go to a registration station to link your QR code with an RFID wristband. Attendees were then given a map of what was inside, as well as one drink ticket. We were told that if we scanned our wristband at all the stations, we could get an extra drink ticket.

There were unique exhibits, photo ops, and Amazon product demos set up throughout the activation. The Game of Thrones Iron Throne station was one of the most popular photo ops, so they had your group sign up for a return time so that you could explore the rest of the offsite and come back at your designated time without having to wait very long. They had a staff member taking photos, and when you scanned your wristband, it associated the photo with your contact info, and sent it to you.

There were two bar areas where you could use your drink ticket, and a menu of specialized cocktails from which you could order, which were themed after various things they were promoting. I asked if they could make a non-alcoholic version, and they obliged. There was music playing, and in the further back bar area, some of the Amazon Fire TV staff was dancing in an effort to make it more of a party vibe and trying to encourage other people to dance as well.

You could pick up a set of headphones and watch a preview of Amazon Prime TV’s upcoming show Jack Ryan.

There was a cute photo op where you’re swinging on a porch swing chair, so Josh and I took a photo there. It actually took multiple photos and combined them into one to make it more of an action shot. It turned out really cute! But for some reason, even though I scanned my wristband to associate that photo with my info, it never got sent to me. I was disappointed, since Josh and I are bad at taking photos together, and this one was actually a pretty cool photo. Ah well.

Even though we scanned in at all the stations, there was no notification or anything about getting that extra drink ticket. Maybe you had to check in with a staff member? We weren’t too worried about it though, because Josh didn’t even want his drink ticket, so he gave it to Carlos. And I didn’t really care that much about getting another one.

On the way out, there was another station set up to answer some questions. After doing so, we were given the choice of an orange or a pink fanny pack. I guess Amazon is trying to bring fanny packs back!

After we left the Amazon Fire TV party, we decided to swing by the “island” behind the convention center to see what the status of Hall H wristbands were for Saturday. It was about 11:15pm at this point, and we were able to just walk up and get a “D” wristband! Then we headed back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep before attending the Warner Bros. panel in the morning. Click here to continue to our recap and photos of that!