Making the Most of The One True Comic-Con
It says everything that when I told people I was attending this year’s Comic-Con, they responded with something along the lines of “Oh, San Diego has one too?!” My response was always, “Actually, San Diego is where it all began. All the others are knock-offs.”
That’s not to say that the other Comic-Cons aren’t excellent events in their own rights, but they aren’t like the one that’s descended on downtown San Diego for 50 years now. Comic-Con is huge, not just for comics and pop culture fans, but for the entire region’s economy. It draws 135,000 people from 80 countries who spend $88 million directly and $149 million altogether. It’s such a financial force that we’ve had voter drives to start referendums on a San Diego Convention Center expansion solely to keep the conference from moving north.
One look at downtown last week, and it is easy to see why a bigger venue might do. But we San Diegans are grateful to the founders and organization leaders for keeping Comic-Con local and refusing those tempting offers from Anaheim and elsewhere. So until the unthinkable happens, here are some recommendations from a local and fangirl, should you be lucky enough to score a badge … or not.
Getting In
There’s some work to do online before you can actually try to get a badge. On lottery day, my home office turns into command central. We set up all of the desktops, laptops and tablets so that we are in a random “room” on time. Then you wait and wait and wait to see if someone let’s your room in. If they do, you have 15 minutes to select dates and purchase your tickets using a credit card. So, be ready. (The first time someone in our family got in, we were so used to being shut out that it took us a full minute to realize a screen had changed ... and that no one had a credit card at the ready.)
It's been reported only 6% of Comic-Con hopefuls actually make it in, which is certainly saying something given how many people show up months later to attend. If you do get let in, you can purchase tickets for you and two others.
Getting There
The conference officially runs on a Thursday through Sunday. Needless to say, the San Diego International Airport is busy in the days leading up to the event. Roads are congested. My daughter in northern California usually flies in around then and reports airfares are more expensive. But hey, it’s summer and it’s San Diego. Worth every penny.
Be sure if you are staying at a hotel or short-term rental that you find out how much it’s going to cost to use a cab or Lyft to get from there to the convention center/Gaslamp District. San Diego has lousy public transit, and I’ve been told our freeways scare out-of-town drivers. Highly recommend letting a local drive you around.
The Two Sides of Comic-Con
There really are two sides of the conference: The side where paid-only people are allowed and the other side that welcomes anyone. This is part by design. The conference remains one of the best bargains (our tickets were $45 for each day per person). And, the organizers and vendors are big on inclusion.
The first day of the conference, I took my nephew, whose 11, downtown, first stopping at a pop-up exhibit at the new Comic Con Museum in Balboa Park. The museum doesn’t officially open for at least another year, but organizers had a host of interactive displays—everything from movie memorabilia and collectibles on the main floor to games and even skydiving on the front lawn. It was to commemorate the 80thanniversary of Batman, who will be the first inductee into the Comic Con Hall of Fame. And it was all FREE.
From there we went downtown and took in the side of Harbor Drive that anyone can attend. There were so many activations—and so many lines. That’s one of the downsides to Comic-Con: No matter where you go, you can expect a wait. Our favorite activation was promoting AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead, in which you could go inside and hang with the zombies. My nephew isn’t a zombie fan, so I had to admire from afar.
Anyway, they close off the main drag in the Gaslamp so people walk around more easily and here’s where you’re most apt to see cosplayers. It was on the warm side the day we were there, so we didn’t see too many in costume--and quite a few were versions of Spiderman. But those that we did see were kind and always stopped so we could take their pictures.
I went back on Sunday as an actual attendee. Sensory overload is putting it mildly. I let my husband and daughter, seasoned Comic-Con attendees, lead. The day before, my daughter had won an “exclusive” in which she got to meet the central cast of HBO's Westworld and walk out with autographs from each. We all put in for exclusives, but she’s the only one that won the draw.
The convention center is broken into two parts: panels that take place in ballrooms on various floors and the expo that consumes every inch of exhibit hall space on a lower-level floor. I attend big conferences, but I’ve never seen one like this. Most of the panels draw good-sized crowds and may require a bit of a wait, but the one everyone wants is Hall H. The is where the biggest stars and shows and movies hold their panels. Last year my family made it in (minus me, stuck in Oregon) to Hall H.
They don’t clear rooms between panels, so if you don’t get into Hall H at the onset, you likely are wasting time waiting for some of the 6,500 seats to open. A friend I met last week for lunch said she spent half a day trying for Hall H before giving up.
Speaking of which, we brought snacks to get us through the day on Sunday, but almost every restaurant downtown caters to Comic-Con crowds during the four-day weekend. Many get into the spirit and take on TV shows – like the Jon-Luc Picard Lounge we visited on 5thStreet and The Good Place Diner nearby.
So, whether you score a badge or not, there are plenty of reasons to support the original and still the best pop culture convention in the Western Hemisphere. I hope to see you next year.
