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Comic Con and San Diego
Kyougu
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So even though it's two months away, I'm starting to make plans for my friend and I's trip to Comic Con. Yes, we already got our tickets.
Neither of us have been to either Comic Con or San Diego, so I'm looking for suggestions for things to do in the city. San Diego Zoo of course, but what else? We're both of drinking age so we definately want to hit up some cool bars/spots (though not clubs) while in the city. Any cool tourist and maybe non tourist spots we must see?
As for Comic Con, any tips for newbies? Right now our plan is 2 days of the Con and 2 days of sight seeing. I done the E3 thing so I know how quick you can tire out of a convention, so that seems reasonable. Can we squeeze anything we would want to see in two days (panels not counting as neither of us are keen on waiting in line for hours).
Neither of us have been to either Comic Con or San Diego, so I'm looking for suggestions for things to do in the city. San Diego Zoo of course, but what else? We're both of drinking age so we definately want to hit up some cool bars/spots (though not clubs) while in the city. Any cool tourist and maybe non tourist spots we must see?
As for Comic Con, any tips for newbies? Right now our plan is 2 days of the Con and 2 days of sight seeing. I done the E3 thing so I know how quick you can tire out of a convention, so that seems reasonable. Can we squeeze anything we would want to see in two days (panels not counting as neither of us are keen on waiting in line for hours).
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You could always spend time at the beach!
As for San Diego: the Gaslamp Quarter is right across the street from the convention center and is full of bars and restaurants. I hear there are also some fun bars in Pacific Beach, but I don't drink so I unfortunately don't know any of them by name.
The San Diego Zoo is in Balboa Park, which has a whole bunch of museums (everything from history to art to the science center). The park itself is really nice, too, if you're in the mood to just wander around.
The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to use public transportation when you can. Parking is difficult to find and expensive when you can find it. Downtown has a decent trolley system (and runs extra trains during the event), and the convention will run shuttles to and from the convention center at 15-20 minute intervals from various hotspots around downtown (mostly hotels).
If I had to plan my ideal comic con weekend (I don't know what days you're going but)
Thursday- Go to Seaworld, the Zoo, or the Wild Animal Park. It will be less crowded on Thursday than Saturday or Sunday. My ranking would go Seaworld>Zoo>>Wild Animal Park (Unless you want to pay all the excess cash to do the other stuff). Then in the evening maybe Belmont Park and a restaurant. I like the pork tacos at North Shore Cafe.
Friday- Go to Comic Con. The key here? Bust your ass for swag early because people will give away the cool stuff early and then realize they are running low and ration. Second key? Leave at 10:45-11:15 and find a spot to get lunch. My favorite spot is The Corner for their burgers and beer. My friends usually want to hit up Bar Basic for the chicken/artichoke/alfredo pizza. I'd also recommend you get as hammered as you can while 1.) not being a douche and 2.) not having to pee. Makes the afternoon a lot more enjoyable. There was a mexican place, I think La Fiesta, that had ridiculous drink specials. Like dirt cheap premium margaritas.
Saturday, I'm not even sure what I'd do at comic con if I wasn't trying to see panels. I think saturday night is the spike and mike film festival and the masquerade which are both like car wrecks. Entertaining in a morbid sort of way. Oh, also. Don't forget about all the additional rooms. There are rooms where people have constant video game/board game/card game tournaments and its less crowded. Maybe cut out early and go pub crawling through the excessively crowded gaslamp or maybe head to PB which would probably be better since it will be less crowded.
Sunday- Go to Balboa Park and get the pass that lets you visit like five museums for 35 bucks. Also check out the international cottages since they are open sundays 12-4. My favorite place is probably the Museum of Man or the Natural History museum, but they are all really great depending on your interests. The restaurants there are good, but expensive. I'd probably rather head downtown for Sushi or something, but the only sushi place I've been downtown is Sushi Deli which is just alright.
This was way longer than I wanted it to be. Sorry. Haha.
Edit:
For anyone out there that IS interested in panels
Hall H: 4 hourish wait. If you REALLY want to do hall H, show up as early as possible in the morning (my friends were in line at 7 last year and were far from the first ones there). This will probably require you to stay in hall H all day, or until the last panel you want to see is over. If you think you're going to show up late to hall h...ha. Allocate like at last 3 hours of line time, more realistically 4.
Ballroom 20 is similar to hall H depending on what is happening, but maybe reduce line times by an hour if you're feeling risky.
For any popular panel (Star wars related stuff, hyped video game stuff, movie showing), I'd plan for two hours. I spent two hours in line for SW:TOR panel last year and got in 10 minutes after it had started. This was also a waste because they didnt give anything out or announce anything new.
For less popular panels, an hour should be a safe bet for your maximum. my girlfriend is always quick to get into the panels on education she likes. I waited an hour last year waiting for a neal adams/stan lee thing on the holocaust. Many of the small panels, though, are easy to just walk into.
Also visit the indie tables.
We do have a hotel line up already (forget where it is as my friend is taking care of that part) and we're planning on doing the whole public transportation thing. For one, cheaper than renting a car (we hope) and secondly we figure it'll be a good way to check out the city and have less hassle.
Commisions is something I'm definately plan on getting. What did you guys use to keep the papers in while wandering around?
For after parties and live art shows, go to the indie comic booths - they'll have fliers and cards on the less mainstream events. If you're going to meet up with people you haven't seen in a while - go down to the beach. You can drink there, it's quieter and a nice reprieve from the Con crowds. In fact, going down to the beach or Balboa Park is a great break in general.
The SDCC blog posts off-site events in July and I run a Comic Con blog that will be posting events and parties as we get closer. URL is in my profile. Good luck.
starman covered most of what I was going to say beautifully. A few points I'd argue differently:
- In my opinion, the Wild Animal Park > the Zoo >> Sea World. The Wild Animal Park is a pain in the ass to get to if you don't have a car, but it's that much cooler than the zoo. If you do make it to the Wild Animal Park and you're in a car, stop at Queen Califia's Magic Circle. It's this ridiculously awesome sculpture garden by Niki de Saint Phalle pretty near the park. I haven't been to Sea World in a few years, but from what I hear it's becoming more and more focused on rides and theme park-type stuff rather than awesome sea creatures and education.
- If you want to wait in line, the Worst Cartoons Ever followed by Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation Festival is a fantastic combo on Saturday night. Worst Cartoons Ever is consistently one of the funniest panels at the con. Speaking of Saturday, don't even think of hitting the show floor. It's a zoo.
- Balboa Park is indeed the coolest thing. There's really nothing else like it.
- If you like walking around, there are plenty of other great areas of San Diego to explore. Hillcrest and North Park are pretty close to downtown, and are both really cool funky neighborhoods. 30th St in North Park and Washington St./University Ave. in Hillcrest have all sorts of great restaurants.
- It is going to be summer. Maybe hit up a beach?
There are plenty of nice bars and places to see in the Gaslamp quarter (downtown) but they are all generally very expensive. Pacific Beach, which isn't all that far, is a lot cheaper and is much more like the beach/party crowd, so the entirety of Garnet av in Pacific Beach (which is about a mile long) is endless bars/pubs and they're all generally pretty great. Walk around and look at which ones have the best deals going with big signs outside, stuff like 1 or 2$ beers and what not isn't too uncommon.
I highly, HIGHLY suggest you go to Hodad's in Ocean Beach. It's also relatively close to downtown and it has the greatest burgers/fries/malt shakes in San Diego and is generally thought of as one of the better places in the US. Really incredible food there.
Also, as far as beaches go, La Jolla and Torrey Pines are generally the best, IMO, but they are a bit north. Mission Beach, with Belmont park, is probably a better and more fun option.
You can also go see the Seals in La Jolla at the beach, generally there are just 50-100 or more seals hanging out on the sand, you can technically walk up close enough to touch them since it's not blocked off (which is dumb) but I request you leave them alone and stay on the wall because it's a big issue in the city and the dicks that mess with them enrage me.
Balboa Park is great. Lots of museums, the Starfleet theater or whatever it is called there has that enormous dome Imax theater if youre interested in that, and is generally just beautiful. The Zoo happens to be inside of the park so if you hit up the Zoo it makes that a bit easier.
That said, the trolley is available and can get you to most places near downtown (but not any of those places listed above). Im pretty sure it doesnt have a stop at Balboa Park (which you may want to hit up, it has a bunch of free/really cheap museums and is generally just a really nice park).
My public transportation experience in San Diego is extremely limited, simply because I drive everywhere, but heres a link to San Diego's transit stuff.
I do know that the trolley will take you to Old Town which has some nice stuff, although its mostly just restaurants all old timey'd out. Theres a supposedly haunted house, a couple of bars, and a lot of shops.
If youre looking to go to bars, there are plenty of them downtown (there are a couple of great Irish pubs on 5th (I think its 5th...)) but most college aged kids go to Pacific Beach. Beware, Pacific Beach is basically filled with roving groups of stereotypes.
If I was going to San Diego during ComicCon Id probably make sure I:
1) Go to ComicCon (Im pretty sure its sold out so its going to be packed, like 200,000+ people packed)
2) go to the beach (I dont even like the beach, and Id still make it a priority to go to the beach)
3) Go to the zoo (its fucking fantastic, world famous for a reason. I never realized how fantastic it was until I went to the LA Zoo.)
4) Go to Balboa Park (its nice, the link will give you a better idea if its something youre into, but its right next to the zoo so you could hit up both in the same day easily).
www.sdcommute.com - this is the site if you want to use public transit to get around san diego. It's basically a GPS for our MTS.
A 35 minute bus ride will get you to the Longboard Grill in Pacific Beach. The food there is surprisingly good for a bar and grill. I would recommend the ribs or the Heartstopper, their signature burger. It's aptly named.
A quick trolley ride up from the convention center will land you at Mission Valley and Fashion Valley malls. If you've never seen an outdoor mall, it might be a cool place to go hang out, assuming you have some non-con time. Of specific interest there is, in mission valley, In'n'out, which is SoCal's signature fast food restaurant. I am told many people come from far away to sample their simple fast food.
A half hour trip will also put you on Newport avenue, which, if you follow, will take you to a very beautiful beach and a pier to walk down.
On that street, you will see a LOT of antique stores, and Hodads, a really popular local burger joint. This is one of the places that a san diegan will likely tell you that "you have to go to."
If you are of the mind, you can also tread down the Ocean Beach cliffs, which are right next to the beach, and are absolutely beautiful.
Also there was an off convention comedy show with felicia day's improv group which was hilarious. If they are performing again I highly recommend. I also saw penn and teller. Their panel rocked.