I am terrible about blogging. I am not too busy. I am too over critical of anything I write. It all sounds great in my head, but when I actually write it out it becomes a wordy mess. I am very prone to wordiness, but because I know I have this fault I will edit my wordiness and then become frustrated and then I either delete whatever I was saying (the whole edit!) or it sits in Blogger un-published forever. Like this post, so I am going to finish this and post it as three different posts!
So i have wanted to go to Comic Con since I was a child. My uncle was a huge trekkie and i heard about Comic Con and Star Trek conventions and cool nerdy stuff he went to and it became a dream of mine, way before it was cool. I got a one day ticket last year, which i do recommend going just one day (and Sunday is a great first day) to get an idea of how it works, just an idea though because the rules change.
San Diego Comic Con...some people love it, some people hate it, you can try to make the argument "its what you make of it," but no matter what sort of laissez faire attitude you try to attend with you will likely run the gamma ray of emotions. Especially with a 4 day badge....
San Diego Comic Con...some people love it, some people hate it, you can try to make the argument "its what you make of it," but no matter what sort of laissez faire attitude you try to attend with you will likely run the gamma ray of emotions. Especially with a 4 day badge....
Day 0 - Preview Night
I did not get preview night tickets. Not for lack of trying, but they sell out fast. Nonetheless I went and picked up my badges Wednesday night. I HIGHLY ADVISE THIS....we walked in and walked out, we drove to San Diego for a 10 minute event. It was painless and it really does give you a false sense of ease. "That wasn't so bad, I've totally got this!" You think...oh me from Wednesday, you were so naive.
I did not get preview night tickets. Not for lack of trying, but they sell out fast. Nonetheless I went and picked up my badges Wednesday night. I HIGHLY ADVISE THIS....we walked in and walked out, we drove to San Diego for a 10 minute event. It was painless and it really does give you a false sense of ease. "That wasn't so bad, I've totally got this!" You think...oh me from Wednesday, you were so naive.
Day 1 - Thursday - The bad
So we decided early on, we have young-ish kids who are easily bored and we like being well rested and typically don't enjoy sleeping on sidewalks, so Hall H was out for us. Panels are fun and I like them, but they also tire my mind because my ADHD brain needs constant stimulation, so waiting overnight or days for panels in a room you can't leave the whole day or lose your spot seemed like a terrible idea. So we woke up at 4 am loaded into the car and drove to SD, about a 1.5 hour drive. Get to our parking spot. My Thursday morning thinking was - this is good parking, its not to far, I don't mind this short walk! So we asked for the general line and we were directed all the way around the back of the convention center....pfft. Several different guards told us several different things, we followed the masses. We pass the enormously long Hall H line, the enormously long Starbucks line, the fairly long line for Friday Hall H, and finally we get to the end and there we stand. I am not too concerned because this is - in theory- the line for everything that is not Hall H, autographs, other panel rooms, exclusives, everything else, so of course it is going to be long.
So we decided early on, we have young-ish kids who are easily bored and we like being well rested and typically don't enjoy sleeping on sidewalks, so Hall H was out for us. Panels are fun and I like them, but they also tire my mind because my ADHD brain needs constant stimulation, so waiting overnight or days for panels in a room you can't leave the whole day or lose your spot seemed like a terrible idea. So we woke up at 4 am loaded into the car and drove to SD, about a 1.5 hour drive. Get to our parking spot. My Thursday morning thinking was - this is good parking, its not to far, I don't mind this short walk! So we asked for the general line and we were directed all the way around the back of the convention center....pfft. Several different guards told us several different things, we followed the masses. We pass the enormously long Hall H line, the enormously long Starbucks line, the fairly long line for Friday Hall H, and finally we get to the end and there we stand. I am not too concerned because this is - in theory- the line for everything that is not Hall H, autographs, other panel rooms, exclusives, everything else, so of course it is going to be long.
We wait until 7 am when the doors open and people shuffle up the escalators and then there is no more line, they let people race to the line they want to go to...exhibit hall line, ballroom 20, autographs, and exclusives are the biggies. I'm wanting the Hasbro line and we speed walk in that direction....we are ushered to the Sails Pavilion... Hasbro is outside...okay...now its downstairs....hmm...keep walking and walking ....wait this looks familiar....we are near the boats....a bit further down from where were a moment ago in the general line. This is when my wheels start turning....so why couldn't I have just come to this line from the start?!? Turns out that's what A LOT of people did so the Hasbro line was very long. After waiting another 2 hours in that line Hasbro was out of tickets and I had just wasted my morning in 2 pointless lines. I am a trooper though so I am keeping my positive mood! I had been telling myself I was going to have a calm no expectations sort of attitude for a month. Next on my list, get tickets to watch the World of Shannara panel at the Grand Horton Theatre. Its in the Comic Con complex, not the convention center and you have to get a ticket to attend panels there. So I ask what seems like 10 people where the Horton Grand Line is....no one knows anything! Some people try and guess though, which means we get sent walking in circles for 30 minutes. I finally figure out the Horton Grand line is the same line as the Limited Autograph line. Really?!? No sign or label?!? I thought about adding it with a Sharpie, but I didn't. This line isn't that bad, after a few minutes into it we realize the limited autographs people are waiting for are the cast of Doctor Who. That would be awesome! I mean I am already in the line? We wait an hour or so and finally the line starts moving....moving along and then Autograph line is capped right in front of us. Of course it is! Oh well, I am not really in this line for that, although had I not spent 30 minutes looking for the line I'd probably have gotten the autographs, but whatever! Postivitiy!! I go to the lotto World of Shannara ticket, my husband, my son, and myself get no tickets, but my daughter wins two. Yay! We get back in line. Same thing again, only my daughter wins, but that's good we have 4 now. We head to the exhibit hall and walk around a bit. There are a lot of freebies, but many are given out at either the start of the day or random times. At this point we had walked over 5 miles and my feet were not happy! I am a very inactive person normally, which I am not saying is a good thing, but 5 miles in a day is insane in my world. The rest of the day wasn't too terrible, the World of Shannara was awesome. Afterwards we raced to the Sails Pavilion and got in line in time to get Terry Brooks autograph! I was done after this, my feet weren't working anymore and getting back to the car was a challenge! The kids didn't drive me too insane, although the 12 year old did annoy me on several occasions which almost caused me to lose my happy happy thoughts. Overall day 1 was just a cluster f**k of unorganized nonsense, both by me not knowing what to expect and by the organizers of the convention.....Next Day 2 - The GOOD
No comments:
Post a Comment