San Diego Comic Con 2013

Since we've been together, 11 years, Eric and I keep saying we'll attend Comic Con. We finally made it happen this year. Because we went to WonderCon, we were included in notifications for "resale" tickets to Comic Con. Luckily members canceled and we took their spots on July 21st. 

I was so nervous about parking. Once I saw that the prepaid parking had been sold out for months, I thought we'd shell out $30-$50 dollars to park. I had also read how congested the area can be. My pal Martin, who has worked the event, says it gets insane with jammed traffic. Martin suggested arriving by bus from his neighborhood, Hillcrest. 

 Another friend had mentioned the trolley. I looked into the trolley option and found a few Park & Ride locations with FREE parking. Phew!! We were set! After a 6:30 AM start to San Diego, we parked about 5 trolley stops from the convention. 

The trolley operates like any subway in NYC, so we had experience. It is $5 for a day pass plus $2 for the Trolley card. The trolley slowly filled up as we got closer to the Con. As this happened our excitement grew because the riders joining us had their event badges around their necks and free backpacks on. Here you can see the caped backpack I was given. 

Approaching the center was really overwhelming. Eric and I kept repeating that we had no clue where to go. As it turned out, we were funneled into a quickly moving, but extremely long queue. This was to pick up our badges. The queue wrapped all the way to the rear of the convention building near the loading dock. We then were herded to the top level so that we could finally grab our badges (ticket).  Attendees must where his badge around the neck at all times. 

Although Eric is a bigger collector than me, we both are fans of Funko's Pop Vinyls. They would have exclusive vinyls for this even. The queue was full to capacity when we checked. It pretty much sucked that we couldn't even wait for the line to get shorter. The guy minding the queue was an ass. He was pretty much yelling into the open space to keep walking and not clog the walkway. That reminded me a lot of Disneyland during shows and parades. The only option Eric and I had was to keep checking back.  

We did come across some set up themed to the series we watch, The Walking Dead. To check out their exhibit we had to get in a queue about 40 yards away. They then would take groups of ten to join the actual queue that existed alongside the exhibit. So confusing. 

Once we made it back across to the main queue, holding a shoulder of a stranger to avoid the breaking up out group, we saw zombies! It was a photo op and that made us pretty excited. The show had an arch take place in a prison for an entire season. This was the perfect setting. And, there was also an opportunity to pose with zombie heads belonging to The Governor of Woodberry. 

While still feeling overwhelmed, we pushed our way back to the Funko shop and found the queue was still closed. We then shuffled our feet back to the area near The Walking Dead set. Eric noticed the ABC booth. It was more of a pirate ship from the show Once Upon a Time 

After waiting almost 30 minutes we met a few people dressed as the show's main characters. They had some cool costumes. We all were given a Comic Con exclusive pin and we watched a lengthy trailer. Eric snagged a photo with Prince Charming from Storybrooke. We can see Captain Hook peering out from the his ship. 

I keep talking about the hugeness of this convention. Just look at the filled walkways! It's insane!

There's more to talk about, but I don't wanna tire all of your eyes. Please join Eric and I next time for the next installment of our SD Comic Con experience. Do we ever get inside that Funko booth? Do I finally get to meet John Barrowman of the show Doctor Who?.....find out soon. 

Anyone else go? What was your experience? Leave a comment below :-)