San Diego, CA, Thursday, July 23, 2026 – Sunday, July 26, 2026 — This was the first year since having kids that I arrived in San Diego Thursday morning instead of afternoon, and it made such a big difference on how many things I got done on Day 1 (if you’re not counting Preview Day, which I probably will never attend again, mostly because I don’t want to leave my kids for too long).
Landed in San Diego, and checked into our hotel at the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter. This was our first time staying at this hotel, and honestly, it was fantastic. The location was prime, and it made going back to the room to drop off swag or take a break so easy. I’m still a Hard Rock Hotel fan, but I think this hotel may be my first choice going forward now. The room wasn’t ready when we got there (around 11am), so we grabbed lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory, where we debated whether to eat the salads that came with our meal (diarrhea lettuce during Comic-Con would not be ideal). We were assured by our server that they didn’t source their lettuce from the contaminated farm. We ate it and survived.
Finished our lunch a little before 1 pm and headed straight to [adult swim] on the green. This year, I was lucky enough to get a press pass, so we were able to skip the line and walk in. [adult swim] always puts on a fun activation. I’ll write more about it in a different post.
We had a 2:30 pm press entry to the Paramount+ Lounge, so we cut our time at [adult swim] short, relieved to know we could re-enter another day with the press credentials. Paramount+ Lounge went all out, too, as they do every year. Loved the Star Trek 60th anniversary themed bar with DJ, flag + luggage swag, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender bar + interactive photo ops, South Park photo ops. There was a lot more at the back of the lounge, but we didn’t make it in time before they capped the lines.
Ended the night at an invite-only Evercore party (thanks to Geeky Hooker for the hook up) and met THE Leenda Dong! Very sweet person. Left the party and then ran into Jordan Howlett! What a lucky night!
Thursday recap:
Friday, we started early and waited in line for almost 4 hours for Hulu Animayhem. We saw the cuties Bark Vader and Luke Skywoofer while in line.
Was Hulu worth it? Maybe if we stayed a bit longer and weren’t yelled at by one of the guys there, but we wanted something to do that morning before our HBO Lanterns Training Headquarters experience at 11:30 am. Unfortunately, we didn’t get into Hulu until 11 am, so we stayed for 10 minutes before beelining it to Lanterns.
Lanterns was such a cool activation. The actors were fun, and the training group we landed in had one of us fall through a trap door. And we all got Green Lantern rings, which was the best part.
Took a stroll through the Gaslamp and stopped by the Super Troopers 3 pop-up. Super easy, super quick, worth the stop.
Walked the Con floor, got our lanyards, guidebook, and bag. Headed towards Clash of Clans Clash for the Stache, got lost several times. It was a cute offsite activation, but probably not worth the long walk and the $10 ticket.
After that, we made it to the Audible Level Up Lounge (thanks to them for the press pass). The experience was a little disorganized. I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as much if I had to wait hours to get in. The food looked good, though I had no appetite for it. I heard that when they opened the lounge to the public on Saturday, people were taking advantage of the food and grabbing more than their fair share, so they started charging for food in exchange for coins earned throughout the activation.
Ended Friday night at parq, where they were showing a screening of Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth 20th Anniversary. Guillermo even showed up and spoke a few words before and after a short preview of the 3D movie. Also, check out the awesome 3D glasses we got..
Friday recap:
Saturday we started our day on the Con floor. Saw the cutest thing there: an animatronic Grogu at the Hasbro booth!
Saw a lot of cool cosplay, and made our way back to [adult swim] to ride the Rick & Morty Rambler twice!
Left the area and got in line for Wildwood, then left the line when we heard Widow’s Bay was doing an offsite down the way.
Went back to Wildwood, got our picture and pin, went to the Bero tasting (it’s so good, and I hate beer!), got a pic with Spidey, ran into Matt Dinniman and Jeff Hays in the Gaslamp (Dugeon Crawler Carl), went back to the Con floor, ventured out to the Resident Evil x Discord experience (not a great experience), went back to the Gaslamp to see cosplay, ordered a pie from Prince’s Pizza, people watched from the Hilton mezzanine, can called it a night. We left Sunday morning before the Con floor opened. I always buy a 4-day badge, but have not used my Sunday pass since 2019 (when my kids spawned). Maybe one day. Thanks, SDCC. See you next year.
