For the past couple of years, I’ve been telling myself “This is the last time I’ll go to SDCC.” But every year that I’m able to get my hands on a coveted badge, I consider myself lucky. Who needs sleep and sanity? Not me, I need Comic-Con.
This was my 8th straight year going to the Con, and every year the crazy gets worse. I popped my Con cherry in 2010. That was also my first Hall H experience. Ryan Reynolds and the cast of Green Lantern was scheduled for a Saturday morning panel; I woke up at 6:30am, walked a mile from my hotel and made it in line by 7:30am. I waited 3 hours to get into the panel. THREE HOURS. I can only dream of waiting 3 hours for Hall H now. A few years ago I slept on the sidewalk to get into the Hall H Marvel panel which was scheduled for Saturday afternoon; I got in line around 7pm Friday. People now wait over 24 hours to get into Hall H, and it’s not even guaranteed with all the line cutting these days. No thanks.
I took it easy this year with the exception of the Westworld Experience. Most lines I waited in were less than 3 hours; Westworld took about 16 hours (Friday 6pm – Saturday 10am), but the wait was inside the Hilton Bayfront Hotel where there were couches, air conditioning, and bathrooms (without toilet paper at 3am, but you can’t win ’em all). And it’s not so bad when you wait with a group; taking shifts gets you a couple hours of rest and a chance to shower. I wish more people at Comic-Con would shower. 😅
The Con is from a Wednesday to Sunday. I usually leave Sunday afternoon, but my husband and I stayed ’til Monday this year. It was really nice being able to relax and take my time on the Con floor and participate in the outside Con experiences, instead of worrying about packing and catching a flight out of San Diego. Sunday night we watched Game of Thrones in the hotel room and slept a much needed 10 hours. Monday morning we had a lazy breakfast and got a couples massage before we packed it up and said goodbye to San Diego. It was a little sad seeing everything Con related being torn down and dismantled so quickly. Oh well, there’s always next year. Maybe.
Outside Con – Free public offsite experiences related to the Con but not officially sponsored by SDCC.