A Nerd’s Nirvana

It’s Ellie here! Normally, I’m managing our socials and working behind the scenes as the “editor extraordinaire” on the blog while mom shares all of our adventures with you. Today, however, I’m taking over the blog to share Our First San Diego Comic-Con Experience. This trip was years in the making and allowed me to check off one of my “bucket list” goals. It more than met all of my expectations and I learned so much that changed the way we’ve structured our trips back to the Con in the years that have followed. I’ll be walking you through everything that my dad and I experienced during the two days that we attended – Thursday and Sunday (or, at least as much as I can include without making this post too long)! If you’ve ever thought about attending SDCC, you’ll want to make sure you follow up this post with next week’s, which will be all about what we’ve learned and how it can help you!

Arriving at the Convention Center

We arrived in San Diego late on the evening of Wednesday, July 19th and spent some time, before bed, looking over the Thursday schedule for Comic-Con. Ultimately, we decided not to put together a crazy detailed plan. Instead, we just got an idea of our “can’t miss” panels and left the rest of our schedule open to see where the next day would take us.

Dad and I got up early the next morning, ate breakfast at the hotel, and left in search of the shuttle. We weren’t able to find the shuttle so we just decided to walk the mile or so to the San Diego Convention Center. It was about a 30 minute leisurely walk and, in hindsight, I’m really glad we couldn’t find the shuttle. Walking allowed us to truly see the change as we got closer to the Gaslamp Quarter. Soon, there were signs and banners everywhere that were advertising upcoming movies and TV shows, with my particular favorites showing Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther. We also got to see the steady flow of badge wearers and cosplayers increase from just a few to being way too many to count.

My excitement was pretty high to begin with, but nothing compares to that first uninterrupted view of the convention center! It is massive and it was surrounded by thousands of people waiting to file in once the doors opened at 9:30am. A giant collection of nerds all gathered in one place… what can be better than that?!

Click on photo to enlarge and see descriptions.

Attending Panels

After entering the convention center at 9:30 on Thursday morning, my dad and I headed straight upstairs to try and distance ourselves from some of the crowds. We walked right into Ballroom 20 to watch The 18th Annual Animation Show of Shows without knowing what to expect. We were treated to a collection of animated shorts, including “Piper,” “Boygen,” and “Inner Workings,” before we decided to leave and walk around more of the building.

After some time spent exploring and shopping in the Exhibit Hall, we went back upstairs. I wanted to make sure that we were back in Ballroom 20 in time for 2 of my “can’t miss” panels: Legion and Inhumans. We had to wait in a long line that wound its way outside, but, thanks to the beautiful and moderate San Diego weather, it was very enjoyable! The line moved surprisingly fast and we were able to get into Ballroom 20 shortly after the panel and Q&A for The Strain started.

I had never heard of this show and wasn’t super interested in it until I realized that David Bradley (Walder Frey from Game of Thrones and Argus Filch from the Harry Potter series) was up on the stage! This definitely made me perk up and pay more attention. At this panel, we also got to see Corey Stoll (Darren Cross/Yellowjacket from Marvel’s Ant-Man) and Kevin Durand (Fred J. Dukes/The Blob from X-Men Origins: Wolverine). We were even given a token for a freebie that we picked up later that evening at a neighboring hotel. It turned out to be a little blood drop squishy keychain that Sophie, our resident lover of all things creepy, was more than happy to accept when we gave it to her back at our hotel.

Finally, the panels that I was most interested in got started off with Legion. My dad and I were thrilled to view some exclusive footage of the second season, which looked absolutely amazing! We also got to see some of the stars from the show and listen to them reflect on filming the series and share some of their favorite moments. My mom and I are huge Downton Abbey fans. We’ve seen the entire series twice and watched both movies together. So, when Dan Stevens, who played Matthew Crawley on the series, walked out on stage, I knew I had to get a good picture of him to share with her. We also got to see Aubrey Plaza (April Ludgate from Parks and Recreation and Harper Spiller from The White Lotus) and Jean Smart (Deborah Vance from Hacks and Charlene Frazier Stillfield from Designing Women). After a super fun panel, we were all given a ticket for a free Legion t-shirt, which I still wear all the time!

My most anticipated panel of the day was Inhumans. As a major Marvel fan, I was really excited to see what was in store. Again, we enjoyed some exclusive footage which was all shot with IMAX cameras. If I’m being completely honest, I was underwhelmed and, dare I say, disappointed in the footage. I was expecting greatness and, frankly, it was just “meh,” and made me decide not to watch the series. It wasn’t all a loss though, as we still got to enjoy a Q&A session with the cast. We saw Anson Mount who had a brief cameo as his Inhumans character, Black Bolt, in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

My personal favorite, though, was seeing Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton from Game of Thrones)! I have watched the entire Game of Thrones series twice and I’ve read the entire A Song of Ice and Fire series, as it exists today, twice. Plus, I’ve read each of the supplemental/spin-off books at least once each and I’ve read more fan theories than I can count. To say I am a fan is an understatement! So, seeing Iwan Rheon, in person, was awesome! It was also nice to know, for sure, that he’s really not a crazy psychopath like the character he played. Ramsay Bolton still gives me the heebie jeebies!

Since Sunday is typically “Kids Day” at SDCC, Dad and I decided to surprise Rachel by taking her along with us. I knew ahead of time that this was the plan so I even bought a Spider-Man t-shirt, just for her to wear on this day. We took our time in the morning, eating breakfast at the hotel and arriving at the convention center around 10am, rather than right when it opened. We waited in line at the Sails Pavilion to pick up Rachel’s free child badge and then quickly made our way to the World Premiere of the Lego Scooby-Doo! Blowout Beach Bash movie. Afterwards, we got to see the voice actors who gave life to the characters: Grey Griffin (who voiced Daphne and is also known for playing Vicky from The Fairly Odd Parents and Princess Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender) and Matthew Lilliard (who played Shaggy in the live action films and has voiced him in animation since Casey Casem retired from the role in 2009). It was so neat to hear how they broke into the industry and listen to them slip into the voices of their iconic characters!

For our final SDCC panel, we decided to attend the Minecraft Books panel with Max Brooks. As a big Minecraft fan, Rachel was very excited for this one. Dad and I were also pretty intrigued since Max Brooks, author of the featured book, Minecraft: The Island, is also the son of the legendary Mel Brooks and the author of World War Z. You know, that book that got turned into a movie starring Brad Pitt! Max shared how his experience playing Minecraft with his son inspired Minecraft’s first official novel.

The panel was a lot of fun, but the Q&A session is what was truly memorable for us. Rachel (who was only 9 at the time) decided to get up and ask a question. At this point, I don’t even remember what the question was, but she shared a story that had the whole audience cracking up. Max was even able to turn her funny anecdote into a learning opportunity for everyone there! Afterwards, we waited a little bit before leaving the panel room and walked right into Max Brooks. Rachel was able to have a brief one-on-one conversation with him, thank him for his time, and shake his hand. It was such a special moment!

Exploring the Exhibit Hall

Consisting of Halls A through G, the Exhibit Hall totals over 460,000 square feet! With upwards of 900 exhibitors, there is no shortage of booths to peruse or merchandise to buy. Just in this area, alone, you can easily get 10,000 steps, or more, by weaving and winding your way through all the aisles.

We got our first experience in the Exhibit Hall on Thursday after enjoying a panel and picking up our books, bags, and lanyards in the Sails Pavilion. Walking into the Hall was definitely sensory overload at first. People were absolutely everywhere, booths were bursting with displays and merchandise, and the noise level was super high! It took a few minutes to acclimate to our new environment, but then we were off to do some exploring.

We started in the middle of the Exhibit Hall, rather than at one of the ends, and just meandered our way around, stopping at what caught our eye. One of my main “must-see” areas was the Marvel booth. It was impossible to miss once we got close enough to it. The big, bold red and white logo made it stand apart.

Each day, Marvel had a different set of costumes on display from some of their films. On Thursday they were showing off costumes from Thor: Ragnarok and on Sunday they had costumes from Black Panther. They were also advertising their new show, Inhumans, with the show’s poster and an enormous stuffed Lockjaw. On Sunday, we even got to see Michael Rooker (Yondu from the Guardians of the Galaxy films and Merle from The Walking Dead) hosting a dance-off at the Marvel booth. This was made even better by the fact that I was wearing my “I’m Mary Poppins, y’all” t-shirt on that day!

Aside from the Marvel booth, there was so much else to see in the Exhibit Hall. The Lego booth had life-size sculptures of the Flash, Thor, and Luke Skywalker on display. The Sideshow booth had hundreds, if not thousands, of intricately detailed collectibles on display. It was so neat to walk past all of them and just admire the artistry. We got to see the Batmobile, from the Justice League movie, on display at the DC booth, along with life-size recreations of the heroes in their costumes. We even ran into a Tyrannosaurus Rex dressed as Batman!

On Sunday, when Rachel got to tag along with us, we spent a solid 10 to 15 minutes at the Lucasfilm booth while she got a tutorial on how to play with a remote control BB-8 and then had a chance to do it on her own. We also got to see Spongebob’s life-size “pineapple under the sea” home at the Nickelodeon booth and a giant “Gladiator Hulk” Funko figurine at the Funko booth. We were lucky to make it out of the AMC booth alive when Rachel and I were posing for a picture and almost attacked by a walker from The Walking Dead!

The “Everything Else” Section

SDCC is often referred to as “Line Con” due to its many lengthy lines for panels, exclusive merchandise, signings, and more. Every morning there is the Hall H line (where people that waited the day before for wristbands are now waiting to get in) and then there is the “Everything Else Line.” This line is exactly what it sounds like… a line for everything that is not Hall H. Do you want to get into the Exhibit Hall first thing when it opens? Join the “Everything Else Line.” Do you want to try to get a ticket for an exclusive signing in the Sails Pavilion? Join the “Everything Else Line.” Do you want to get into the first panel of the day in Ballroom 20? Join the… well, you get the idea. There are lots of lines, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend all day in them!

We waited in the “Everything Else Line” to get into the convention center on Thursday morning. On Sunday, however, we just decided to show up shortly after the doors opened and we didn’t have to wait at all. I’m not sure if our experience was just dumb luck or if we actually planned appropriately, but I never felt like we waited in a line that was super long. Even if it seemed long at first glance, the lines we waited in moved pretty quickly.

Aside from waiting in lines, we also got to see some seriously awesome cosplays just by walking around the convention center! Some people plan, prepare, and create their costumes for months leading up to the Con and, boy, does it show. We stopped to ask for photos with some of our favorites and snapped a few pictures when we saw a photo session going on. Pictures simply don’t do them justice!

As for food, I don’t have a ton to mention. We ate the same thing both days: Auntie Anne’s pretzels, Mrs. Fields cookies, and Dr. Pepper for lunch and Domino’s pizza for dinner when we finally got back to our hotel. In the 3 years that we’ve attended SDCC since, we’ve gotten a bit better about trying to seek out more sustenance so we don’t get hangry. Ultimately, though, food is never our priority so we’re not seeking out great meals; just enough to keep us going (without breaking the bank) so we can enjoy the next panel or our next venture through the Exhibit Hall.

With only 2 days at SDCC and lots of panels that we wanted to attend, we didn’t have nearly enough time to fully explore everything. That’s the beauty of San Diego Comic-Con, though! There is so much to do that nearly anyone, whether you’re nerdy or not, can find something to enjoy. The days we didn’t have badges just gave us a perfect opportunity to explore more of San Diego.

SDCC was truly a bucket list item for me. Securing badges for the first time in April of 2017 was amazing and actually attending was a dream come true! Since then, Dad and I have been back 3 more times with the rest of the family tagging along to San Diego on 2 of those occasions. It is something that I look forward to every year!

Have you heard of San Diego Comic-Con? Have you ever attended? Have you added it to your bucket list now? Let us know your thoughts and check back in next week when I’ll be sharing 10 Tips for SDCC First-Timers!