Friday, July 26, 2013

Comic-Con International 2013 (with kids!)

My husband waited for years to attend the Comic-Con event (and his influential reasoning just got a space in my head as well). Badges are always sold out whenever we try to check the site but luckily this year has been good to us. A resale of badges happened and that's how we got in. Children under the age of 13 are free so I thought maybe pop culture enthusiasts like us who do not have a choice to leave their toddlers at home wouldn't be such a bad idea to bring them along. Since traveling with kids in all sorts of form has made us somewhat professional in planning ahead and what to expect, we brought the slimmest double stroller we have (Kinderwagon's Hop) and an umbrella stroller since we have three young kids who think they're old enough to read comic books.

The night before our adventure, the husband is already checking out status of parking lots. We needed to be there early to fall in line with the rest of the attendees and pick up the badges.  We were told that that's how it works. We left early like two hours before the said time we needed to be there. I used the parking app I have in my smartphone (Best Parking). I highly recommend it - it really works! When we reached the surrounding area and finally spotted a parking space the fee was a whopping flat rate of $30! And the best is yet to come. We can already see the line just few blocks away to the convention center. It was ridiculously long! They were not kidding when they said "come early." 


I was extremely impressed though when the line started to move. The organizers were fast and helpful we reached the hall in about 15 minutes. Of course they've been doing this for years so they know what to expect but I wasn't expecting to encounter people who literally breaks the line. There was this guy who casually talked while merging into our line. I didn't pay much attention to what he said I thought he was with the person in front of me but it turned out he came out of nowhere and suddenly became part of our line. I told my husband about it and told me to let it go. The last thing we wanted to happen is to become part of the problem made by someone else. And he was right. We have small kids! When we reached the security, the man who broke the line was not permitted to enter. Apparently, one of the staffs saw his pocket knife shining from his pocket. Told myself "Ha! Karma has its own way of walking to its target."

There were plenty of security staffs in every corner of the hall to guide all the attendees especially those with strollers and in wheelchairs. 

 
The line to get the badges was extremely fast.  There were also gazillions of operators (I am not sure what to call them) who release the badges to keep the line moving. The badges they gave me for the kids have my name and contact number in it. Our badges (my husband's and mine) will be used to purchase badges for next year's comic-con event. We are now part of the annual event wherein we get the chance to purchase the badges ahead of time. There goes the reason why it's always sold out!


The schedule was posted in the website prior to the event: who's coming and what time is the signing. They do not allow their artists/actors to have their pictures taken with you unless you buy a merchandise from their booth then you have the opportunity to have it signed as well. The San Diego Convention Center is really huge but not as big as the Comic-Con event. The organizers were right. They needed a bigger venue because the exhibit halls to some of the biggest shows on TV were already outside the convention center.  


There were a handful of activities and freebies for smaller kids like ours but it's really hard to go around with toddlers in strollers. People walk from left to right and the movement is unpredictable. Most of the people will halt in the hallway to admire the booths, get some freebies, confused where to go first, so imagine those who simply walk along the hallway. 



Restrooms were not a problem. There were plenty of them in every corner. Food was just fine. Food stalls available sell hotdogs, salads, sandwiches, fries, and other junk foods you can think of. There were some tables to sit on too but it's more on eat, drink, and then go. It's fast-paced really.


It was fun! We enjoyed it somehow. Not bad for the first-time attendees. We look forward to next year's Comic-Con but this time we plan to go there without kids and enjoy the rest of the day for ourselves. We stayed there for barely 4 hours (Boo!) Well let's see, the girls got tired, I changed diaper twice, and the girls wanted to go home. I knew it wasn't the kind of playful activity the girls were expecting so I didn't really feel bad. We are open to stay in a nearby hotel for convenience or since we're coming from the north, we can take the train instead bound to San Diego to save us time, gas, and goodness gracious parking rates! :)