A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON
Just How Much Can You Do in San Diego?
A guest post: written by Trina from Red Neck Rhapsody.
Just How Much Can You Do in San Diego? We had 4 days, so we crammed a lot in. It was our first time in San Diego, CA. We went for one major reason… a 1-day ticket to “The Con.” San Diego Comic-Con, that is. The largest Comic-Con convention in the world.
What is the San Diego Comic-Con? Well, it is one of the largest pop culture events in the United States. Literally people fly from all over just to attend this event.
This article is going to give you some information on the San Diego Comic-Con itself as well as other fun things to do in San Diego.
SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON TICKETS AND PASSES
Tickets sell out fast for this event! Really, the passes sell out within hours. You can purchase your “badge” here; however, fair warning they may already be sold out by the time you click on that link.
Here is a great beginner’s guide on how to get a badge for the San Diego Comic-Con.
So, why would we only have gotten a 1-Day Pass?
Well, there are a lot of reasons we would only have a 1-day pass. The main one back is back in 2010 when we visited San Diego, we did not know if we would want to spend our entire 4 days in San Diego all at Comic-Con, seeing how we had never been to that part of California before.
We thought 1 day at Comic-Con would be plenty, so we could explore other parts of San Diego as well. It wasn’t. I WILL NOT go into the details of how much we wished that we had bought the 4-day badges. 2010 was the VERY last year you could just log in and register-now purchasing tickets to this event is almost intimidating.
SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON WEATHER
Now you may ask what is the weather like in San Diego during this season? Is it warm enough to get into the water? Well, it wasn’t for us.
How can you go to the Pacific Coast and not get in the ocean you ask? You can in San Diego!
Let me just tell you something, being an Arkansas girl you are supposed to be able to wear shorts and sleeveless in summer.
You would think, as close as San Diego is to Mexico, it should NOT require long sleeves and jeans, right? WRONG… It was like the coldest June they had had in years.
We went hunting for long sleeves. We layered up. The store just down the block from our hotel was sold out of every long sleeve shirt, jacket or sweater. Well, they were after I bought the last one. The high was in the low 60’s with a steady ocean breeze.
So, this is how you get to the Pacific and don’t get in when in San Diego. Besides, we never really did get down on the beach. It was rather rocky in most places. I will promise that my swimsuit never saw daylight while we were there.
WHERE TO STAY FOR COMICO-CON
There are a ton of options on where to stay in San Diego when visiting for or during Comic-Con. This is a great article that breaks down some different hotels to stay at based on their location and their proximity to the convention center.
Or if you are open to it-staying at an Airbnb is another great option! You can use this code to receive a discount on your Airbnb booking.
SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON IN JUNE
Now, let’s talk about what you can do in San Diego (only in San Diego) in June:
The San Diego Comic-Con is more amazing than I can even begin to tell with mere words. We had no clue just how huge it was going to be.
Luckily, I have a good friend who lived in San Diego and she was an avid Comic-Con attendee for several years. Lesile gave us several tips on the how’s & what’s of Comic-Con.
This did help better prepare us for the process, but nothing can prepare you for 140,000 people in one place at one time. The costumes, the crazies, the normal, TV shows, sci-fi lore, comic books, toys, stars, and did I mention the people.
There were vendors with items for sale. Major television networks and movie studio’s with their lineup of new season “hope to be” hit’s, last season’s hottest shows, and brief glimpses of things to come.
Movies and projects in the making were paraded in parts to see if there would be interest from fans. Interviews were given by panels for the shows. The panels consisted of a mix of crew and cast. There was usually a director or producer on the roster, also.
COMIC-CON DETAILSWhat Comic-Con panels that we were able to sit in on?
We were able to just walk right in and get really great seats for the panel for Fringe and Vampire Diaries. There was hardly any waiting to get in. Like we lined up 30 minutes prior (NOT the case in 2016 panels, but that’s for another post).
We had never watched either of these shows, but after the panel, we came home and binge-watched Fringe on Netflix.
Netflix has since retired it, much to my dismay, because the first 3 seasons were great. Season 4 was good, but any after that was reaching. I would totally watch the first few seasons again though!
Vampire Diaries is a little hard to digest if you have some convictions that would lend to the consumption of human blood, teenagers being way to grown-up, murder, witchcraft, oh and let’s not forget the werewolves.
Yep, a good dose of all those supernatural legends that we all grew up hearing scary stories about.
They all collide in Mystic Falls. If these types of things are something that interests you, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and Legacies are something that you will probably like. All three of these series are intertwined and flow nicely back and forth in history and time.
The movie craze at the time was Twilight. We would have gone the only year during the era of Twilight movies coming out that they did not have anything (panel, showing, interviews, etc). Well, I take it back they did have a big display case with a couple of the costumes from one of the movies.
Hurry and wait was the theme for the day. Lines for panels, the bathroom, water, to catch a cab or train. Money and lines for autographs, food, and buying memorabilia.
WHAT TO DO BESIDES COMIC-CON
Although we don't think one day at Comic-Con was enough we still made the most of our time. We wanted to see just how much we could do in San Diego Other than Comic-Con…
One of the things that we knew we wanted to do in San Diego was a boat tour of the bay area. I found a great deal on Groupon for half price tickets.
We got a great view of the city from the water. The different bases, Naval and others are sprinkled in to fill the bay area, too.
Noah enjoyed seeing all of the boats, battleships, and artillery bunkers almost as much as he did Comic-Con. The sea lions were there showing off; swimming, playing, sunning and sleeping on a dock.
OTHER FUN THINGS TO DO IN SAN DIEGO
What museums can you go to while in San Diego?
The Balboa Park area contains 17 museums, beautiful grounds, and botanical gardens. We spent an entire day exploring them. I know we made it through at least 10 of them.
They have so much history and information. Noah’s favorite was the San Diego Air & Space Museum. You will need more than one day, for sure. We didn’t even make it to the San Diego Zoo.
The Spreckels Organ was a sight to behold, with over 5,000 pipes I can only imagine how amazing it would sound. I would have given anything if we’d been there on one of the days that it’s played.
If we ever get back there and it’s on one of those days, I can promise I will be in attendance.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON THINGS TO DO IN SAN DIEGO
Let’s wrap up what we had to do in San Diego!
We had a great 4-day trip. Did we need 7 days? That would have been great, but we made the best of what we had. We played hard at ComicCon.
Learned new things at the museums. Caught up with friends for days gone by. Ate lots of great food. It was our first date with a Trader Joes & fell in love with 2 Buck Chuck.
The boats in the bay were fantastic. If you ever get the chance to get to San Diego, California it is definitely worth the trip.
A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON
