Comic Con San Diego 2013

[Tarragon]

A couple of the lads & I are looking at going to Comic Con next year (2013)
Do any of you folks who have been to the con, have any recommendations on accommodation?
Looking at making a booking ASAP

Thanks for your assistance.

[thehiflyer]

Hey Phil,

I went in 2008 and it was one of the best experiences Ive ever had.

We went with friends from San Fran and drove down to San Diego - but the Hotels in the city are expensive and book out VERY quickly so we booked a cheap motel room for 4 of us just outside of the city near a place called Old Town(which is an awesome frontier heritage town with THE BEST Mexican food Ive ever had) and used the trams to get to the Convention Centre.

The motel was fine as we didnt really spend any time there outside of sleeping BUT if you wanna be amongst it (and if youre trooping) the closer you get the Convention Centre the better as there is alot of off site Con activity at all the Hotels, bars and restaurants.

Aside from scoring accommodation youll need to pre-register at the Comic Con site well in advance before you can even buy tickets so everything will probably happen very quickly once the tickets go up. I got the 4 day pass and it was well worth it for the preview night alone. It took us 45 minutes to get into the preview night but instead of dealing with crowds of 20 - 30 thousand people you end up with smaller crowds of 10 thousand.

In hindsight there was lots of things I shouldve done differently but you get that - I planned on hitting about 20 panels and only made it to 1 because I didnt take into account the huge crowds and sheer of awesomeness of the show floor. I also spent the good part of 3 hours lining up for toys at the Hasbro booth (well it was an hour in the pre ticket line to get my ticket before going to the booth later in the day and then waiting some more).

The best thing is just how cool everyone is, no dramas, just fans - albeit some smelly ones:)

Oh and dont post anything back, theyll rob you blind - if you fly out of San Fran or LA on Air NZ an extra bag will cost you $80.

Cheers
Hads

[Harvey Mushman]

Good times to come, bro... the best!

[Anaria]

American cons are just mind-blowing, you're in for an incredible time We've never made it to Comic-Con ourselves (we've booked in for our 4th Dragon*Con next year though), but tips we've picked up from friends that attend SDCC -

- the tickets sell out incredibly fast (last year, the website kept crashing, many people missed out on badges). They have a capped attendance number, so it's very competitive.
- the official hotels seem to run on a lottery system - you pick your top choices, then they email out with what hotel you were assigned (they book out the surrounding hotels, so if booking outside the system, you'll probably be further way from the con).
- the big name panels in Hall H will take several hours of lining up (4-6 hours is not unheard of). If there's a panel you don't want to miss, plan ahead.
- Preview night used to be the best way to see toy/collectible releases, but it's now just as busy/popular as the main 4 days.

When we book our Dragon*Con hotel, we need to be online before the stated time, refreshing constantly with multiple people accessing the site. These websites almost always overload, and it's a matter of determination and perserverance to get through - selling out in 4 minutes is common for D*C. SDCC is a bigger convention, so there's more people all fighting for tickets and hotels, it's very competitive - sign up for all the alerts to make sure you don't miss the day/time things go on sale.

Personally, D*C is our preference, from a costuming and socialising point of view We'd love to make it to SDCC, but we have so many friends at D*C, we just keep going back.

[Harvey Mushman]

Go to all nights, fellas? Larry's checking out the options for us to get early tickets.

[Harvey Mushman]

Personally, D*C is our preference, from a costuming and socialising point of view We'd love to make it to SDCC, but we have so many friends at D*C, we just keep going back.

I'm the complete opposite: I just want to see cool panels, movie exclusives and more of California... I can do without costumes and, like, people (grizzled ol' man status secured, yes).

[thehiflyer]

Yeah Hall H is the big daddy of panel rooms where all the major panels will be BUT they don't clear it out after each session so people lineup for it in advance and never leave.

They also implemented a new ticketing system this year requiring you to pre register to enter the ticket queue once it goes live BUT you can only login into one session at a time - no refreshing, no new tabs or windows or you'll lose your place in the queue. My mate thought his pc had frozen so refreshed his page and dropped 200 places in line

They do however offer up a second round of unallocated tickets but they'll probably be single day tickets.

[Harvey Mushman]

I'd be happy with going to a couple of days, but all four would be sweet... currently, we're trying to find accommodation.

[Reverend Strone]

I hope you make it guys. It's a lot of fun.

It's looking like I'll be going again in 2013, but I have to say, having a company do all the planing for you makes life so much easier. I sympathise with you guys going as attendees - they don't make it easy, or cheap. There's no way I'd be going if Weta wasn't sending me.

If all goes according to plan Mrs Falconer will be coming with me this time. The con itself may not be her natural habitat but San Diego is a cool city and I am keen to share the experience with her. it's so great to hook up with old friends, and then I plan to drag her camping with me in the Sierras afterwards, something I have done the last couple of years. It's gorgeous country. We found mountain lion prints last year, right where I had been wandering around alone in the dark! Coooool!

[Harvey Mushman]

As I said, it’ll be good to see some friendly faces there, D.

I think we’ll book accommodation, asap; and tickets to the con when they’re available… soon, I think?

The site is an absolute nightmare!