Pages Tagged “San Diego”
Reviews
- Doubletree Hotel San Diego Downtown The location is good for Comic-Con, though it’s a 40-minute trip to the convention center. It’s hard to review much else, because we were there during major remodeling.
- Holiday Inn on the Bay (San Diego)
- Hotel St. James (San Diego)
- Omni Hotel San Diego Rooms and service are very nice, and it’s right across the street from the convention center.
Blog Posts
- Comic-Con Economy: What a Difference a Decade Makes
SDCC Blog reports that Comic-Con International is expected to be the San Diego Convention Center’s top economic generator of 2018, “with 130,000 attendees and an estimated $147.1 million in regional impact.” That’s a far cry from 2008, when the con was derided as “decidedly low-rent” and generated “only” $41.5 million, half the impact of the […]
- ‘Round Here They Call it Strider’s
I was amused to find that Serenity, a restaurant first spotted in 2012 during the Firefly 10th Anniversary, is now known as Strider’s. Different verse, but still matches a well known SF/F name. Five years ago:
- Comic-Con 2014 – Now That’s Better! (Writeup, Photos and Cosplay)
We managed to do a lot more of what we planned at SDCC this year, from signings to swag to media events…and even got in on the cosplay scene.
- Death Star Window
Partway down the central escalator at the San Diego Convention center, you can look down the long cylindrical skylight that makes up the roof of the lobby, rings forming the appearance of concentric circles. Years ago, a friend of mine referred to it as the Death Star Cannon shot, and it’s a popular one to […]
- I Survived Comic-Con 2013!
Intense stress, doing the impossible, meeting artists, keeping a toddler entertained, chaos good and bad, and a genuine medical emergency.
- Comic-Con 2012: Back With a Vengeance
Back to San Diego! Comic-Con 2012 was a lot more fun and a lot less overwhelming than usual this year as we took in three days of the four-day convention.
- Just One Day at San Diego Comic-Con 2011
With only a day at Comic-Con, it’s really about the trade-offs. Fewer panels, more floor time: Thundercats, apocalypse, Flash mobs, costumes & collectibles.
- Comic-Con: Down the Barrel
Comic-Con International sold out this weekend. The convention isn’t until July, which makes the January sell-out surprising enough…but tickets didn’t even go on sale until this past Saturday, and were all gone by the end of the day! In past years, tickets haven’t been a problem. This year, they’ve become as hard to get as […]
- Comic-Con 2010 Sunday: Storming the Castle
A final day to explore the exhibit hall, stand in line for events, meet artists and pick up a sketch. Plus a parking snafu.
- Comic-Con 2010: Saturday. Into the Con and Out Again
Saturday was the big day for big presentations: Harry Potter, Green Lantern, Sucker Punch, Leverage, No Ordinary Family. Throngs of people, and islands of stillness.
- Comic-Con Coffee Quest
Lion Coffee near Ralphs really knows how to take advantage of the Comic-Con crowds. Last year they weren’t even open and still managed to sell me coffee!
- Comic-Con 2010: The Gaslamp Crush
Comic-Con turns 5th and L into a geeky parody of the Las Vegas Strip, only the cards have pictures of spaceships instead of strippers.
- Friday at Comic-Con 2010: Art and Downtown San Diego
Comic-Con takes some getting used to, but it does happen. Friday I did a lot of walking at the convention itself and through the spillover into Downtown.
- Comic-Con: Missing Badge Scare
What when through my head when I lost my badge at Comic-Con with two days to go: Would I be able to get back in? And if not, what would I do in San Diego?
- Comic-Con 2010: Thursday – Crowds and Costumes
A busy day of crowds, lines, costumes, DC Comics, Scott Pilgrim, bad science, twisted genres, Naomi Novik, Geoff Johns and more.
- Four Days at Comic-Con 2010 (Index)
Comic-Con International (San Diego) was fun and exhausting as usual. Here’s an index to all of our panel writeups, quotes, stories and photos.
- Comic-Con Hotel Deadline & Second Chances
Today’s the last day to cancel a hotel reservation with no penalty, so rooms should free up soon. If you’re waitlisted, you may have a second chance at a hotel.
- How to Get a Hotel for Comic-Con
Planning to go to San Diego, but couldn’t get a hotel room through the convention? Here are some things you can try to find a place to stay during the con.
- Comic-Con Hotel Experience: 2010
After 8 hours I finally got my hotel confirmation. It wasn’t one of the 12 I’d requested, but it’s downtown. Here’s what happened, from what I could see.
- Comic-Con Hotels 2010: Reviewing the Reservation Form
Travel Planners finally streamlined the process to minimize the impact of the massive traffic spike that always accompanies Comic-Con reservations.
- Pre-Game Thoughts on the New Comic-Con Hotel Procedure
SDCC used to let you pick your hotel from the rooms still available, then crash. Now you’ll submit a list of choices and wait to hear back from them.
- Comic-Con 2010 Hotel Block Opens March 18
SDCC and Travel Planners are making some interesting changes to the hotel registration system to fix some of last year’s problems. But will they work?
- Comic-Con Sellout
Crazy: 9 months ahead, full-event Comic-Con 2010 tickets are already sold out. 1-day tickets haven’t gone on sale yet.
- Comic-Con 2009 Complete Index
Hereââ¬â¢s a quick index to all of our posts about the July 22-26 Comic-Con International in San Diego: here, at Speed Force, and on Flickr.
- Comic-Con Triathlon: Running Through Downtown San Diego at Night
A story of the night I ran, jogged, and caught a breaking-down pedicab to make it to on time to see the Worst Cartoons Ever.
- Strange Signs of San Diego (Gaslamp Edition)
An uncomfortable-looking chair, graffiti on plywood, plastered signs, and a stairway under surveillance.
- San Diego and Butterfly Boucher
We took a weekend trip to San Diego, hit Old Town and the Gaslamp District, and saw Butterly Boucher in concert at the House of Blues.
- San Diego: Enlarge Your Convention Center
San Diego is getting worried about the size of their convention center
- Comic-Con Hotel Booked – Sort Of (2009)
It took 1 1/2 hours, but I managed to reserve a hotel for this year’s Comic-Con by phone. I never did get through online.
- Comic-Con Hotel Block Opens March 19, 2009
Well, that’s cutting it close with just a few weeks’ warning. It used to be you’d know months ahead. Of course, the con block used to not sell out either.
- San Diego Weekend
We went to San Diego this weekend for a company event. The drive down on Saturday was quite nice — much faster than any of the times we’ve driven down for Comic-Con, for instance. It took us only an hour and 20 minutes to get to Old Town San Diego, and that was with taking […]
- Mastercard Chase: SDCC Security Snafu
A very long story about the adventures of a credit card at Comic-Con. May be funny someday.
- Reservations
Possibly jumping the gun, but last night I reserved a backup hotel for next year’s Comic-Con. Although considering that most of the big-name hotels right by the convention center are already booked (though I’m sure they’ve set aside blocks for the convention already) or want incredible amounts of money per night, perhaps it’s not that […]
- Thoughts for Next Year’s Comic-Con
Next time I go to Comc-Con, I want to take an extra day off to recover, or maybe take the whole week and make it a vacation where we actually see San Diego.
- Being a Nexus – Comic-Con Bursting at the Seams
Comic-Con is spilling out into the city of San Diego with a massive media blitz, but what about us is so appealing to the Hollywood marketing crowd?
- Quake and Con
Here’s a scary thought: Imagine Comic Con, with the San Diego Convention Center jammed with people from out of town, jolted by an earthquake.
- Comic-Con 2008 Photos are Up!
Here they are: Comic-Con 2008 Photos. I’ve only got the first page or so labeled for now, but the photos should finish uploading by the time I post this. I’ll fill in the captions and titles over the next few days. More SDCC 2008 posts.
- Back from Comic-Con (2008)
Voice acting, sketches, waffles, a historic museum, creepy-edition Gaslamp, the Buffy musical, DC Nation, a security mishap, and more on the last day of Comic-Con.
- Comic-Con 2008 Autograph/Sketch Tally
This year I collected a lot of sketches and autographs at SDCC, from regulars like Sergio Aragonés and the Foglios to rare guests like Tori Amos.
- Tori Amos Panel and Signing – Saturday at Comic-Con
Tori Amos appeared at SDCC to promote Comic Book Tattoo, a collection of comics based on her songs. I was lucky enough to make it to her signing.
- Saturday Morning in Line at the Con (SDCC 2008)
Crowds, coffee and crazy lines: Waiting for Heroes in Hall H and navigating the floor from Artists Alley on up.
- Thursday Afternoon at Comic-Con
Crowd traffic improvements, Batwoman, Sergio & Mark, Girl Genius, the Flash Companion, and liveblogging DC Nation.
- OMG WTF FWY BBQ!
A truck carrying 60,000 pounds of meat flipped over and burst into flames, shutting down the main highway to San Diego on the first day of Comic-Con.
- Thursday Morning: Twos & Tori (SDCC 2008)
First full day at Comic-Con: breakfast at Cafe 222, tickets for the Tori Amos signing, artist/writer collisions, Dark Night cosplayers.
- Wednesday Night in San Diego
Forget Preview Night – it’s just as crowded and crazy as the rest of the con, complete with lines, swag, and sombrero-wearing donuts walking the streets.
- Comic Con = Cheapskates?
Why doesn’t San Diego like all the business that Comic-Con brings them? Apparently we don’t spend as much as other conventioneers.
- Comic-Con: Hotel Anxiety
Spent a good chunk of last night looking at travel websites. Accomplished 2 things: Arranged for a hotel to stay in San Francisco next month. Arranged for a back-up hotel for San Diego Comic Con, just in case we can’t get a room through the convention desk. Hotel rooms during Comic-Con have become a scarce […]
- Strange Sights of San Diego
Our first night in San Diego, we picked up our badges for Comic-Con, then went out to see Avenue Q. We took the trolley back, and as we walked up the hill from the Little Italy trolley stop, we saw a pair of giant cartoon eyes looking out over the city from a balcony near […]
- Strange Sights of Comic-Con
Stormtrooper Elvis meets Sauron, free hugs, the human bulletin board, a crowd of women all wearing the same red dress, and more.
- Found âem!
Yes, we found both Waldo and Carmen Sandiego – twice! We didn’t even need a GPS! (And who would have guessed that she’d be in San Diego?)
- Comic-Con: Filling in the Gaps
Some random thoughts and anecdotes about Comic-Con that didn’t make it into other posts: It’s amazing that out of (reportedly) 140,000 people, you’re virtually guaranteed to run into people you know. For instance, I knew in person 8 people besides the two of us who were definitely going to the convention. Without planning, I ran […]
- Artist Encounters
Wednesday morning before we left for San Diego, I made a last-minute addition to my small stack of stuff to get signed: Sergio Aragonés’ issue of Solo. During my first half-hour at Comic-Con on Thursday, I found myself at the Groo booth, face to face with the artist. When I asked him to sign it, […]
- Comic-Con Photos are up for 2007!
After a post-Comic-Con evening of sorting and labeling, here they are: 293 pictures of costumes, convention sights, San Diego and more!
- Pirates vs. Sylar
I’m still attending Comic-Con in civvies, but Katie wore two costumes this year: another update of her pirate outfit on Friday, and a Sylar victim with a telekinetic slice across her forehead. Saturday, of course, for the big Heroes panel. She did the makeup from scratch, using latex and fake blood, and got a lot […]
- Flash Sightings at Comic-Con
I saw quite a few Flash T-shirts in San Diego this year, but only two people dressed as the Flash. Interestingly, both were women.
- Comic Cons Should Be Good
My daily San Diego Comic-Con 2007 reports are up at Comics Should Be Good, and photos are up here on Hyperborea.
- Wednesday in San Diego
We made it to San Diego after a longer than expected midday drive. (Traffic between Carlsbad and the San Diego city limits was a nightmare.) After checking into the hotel, we stopped for a snack and then headed out to the convention center to pick up our badges for Comic-Con. It went a lot more […]
- Comic-Con Hotel Booked! (2007)
Jammed phone lines, a busy fax, and an overloaded website turned a 5-minute booking process into an agonizing hour of waiting, timeouts, errors and restarts
- Comic-Con Photos are Up! (2006)
I’ve just posted our photos from Comic-Con. Cosplayers, San Diego sightseeing, comic creators, random convention stuff, etc. Check out all our Comic-Con 2006 posts!
- Only in San Diego? Volume 3, Part 1
Here’s the latest round of strange sights from San Diego. We stayed at the Radisson Harbor View. The end of the hallway had a view of the harbor, but our room had a view of the construction across the street. When we first stepped onto the balcony, we saw a crane lifting an outhouse up […]
- Tall Ships of San Diego
I mentioned that on Saturday, we left Comic-Con for a few hours to check out the ships at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. We saw five: The Star of India, billed as “the world’s oldest active ship” The HMS Surprise, a replica of an 18th century British ship. The Berkeley, an 1898 steam ferry […]
- Comic-Con Costume Coverage
Have you noticed that media acts like EVERYONE at Comic-Con is in costume? TV shows actually recruit extra cosplayers to stand in the background.
- Con Sundae
Sunday at SDCC was, oddly, more crowded than Saturday. Maybe it was the desperation of the last day combined with the fact that it was still on the weekend. We got in later, closer to 11:30, since we spent the morning packing. I did a final round of back-issue hunting, and ended up not buying […]
- Saturday at Comic Con
Neither of us spent more than an hour or so on the floor on Saturday, in part out of self-defense. Comic-Con is usually the most crowded on Saturdays, though we didn’t see much difference from Friday this year. After the Flash panel, I went back to my back issue hunt. Found quite a few in […]
- 50 Years of the Flash at Comic-Con 2006
Carmine Infantino, Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, Danny Bilson, Paul DeMeo & Brian Bolland talk about their parts in the history of Barry Allen, Fastest Man Alive.
- Fry Day at Comic-Con
I spent more time walking around outside today, so I did get to fry a bit. (Not too much, fortunately.) Oddly enough, one of the first hall costumes I saw on Friday was Thor. Caught the Stardust preview. It looks very promising. Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess were there, of course, plus screenwriter Jane Goldman […]
- A Few Reservations (Comic-Con 2006)
Comic-Con hotel rooms sold out within hours this year. The crunch is so bad the agency has sent out a plea for people to cancel extra rooms they don’t need.
- On Comic Con and Baseball
San Diego’s public transportation system couldn’t handle the combined pressure of Comic-Con and a weekend of baseball games. Talk about packed.
- June Gloom! Extended Tour!
Yes, coastal Southern California normally has morning cloud cover into early summer. We had morning fog in San Diego and gloomy skies north of La Jolla.
- Missed Haunting
It turns out the Whaley House near our Comic-Con hotel in Old Town San Diego claims to be the most haunted house in America.
- Only in San Diego? Volume 2 Part 2
Amusing sights from Comic-Con and around town: faith insurance, Xena’s coffee, the Pikachu bug, and more, including…the pastrami love burger?
- Cosplay Photos are up (SDCC 2005)
Iââ¬â¢ve posted our photos of hall costumes that we saw at this yearââ¬â¢s Comic Con, including Katieââ¬â¢s own pirate costume.
- Only in San Diego? Volume 2 Part 1
The Vegetable Garage, cactus feet, Sam Adams smoothies, Haunted Hotel, a cubic Stonehenge, and other strange sights found around San Diego.
- Suggestions for Comic Con
Update July 2009: I’ve got a newer, longer list of Comic-Con Tips over at Speed Force. Based on experience from the last few San Diego Comic-Cons, here are a few recommendations: Pre-register, as early as possible! Not only will it save you money, but the line to pick up badges is always much shorter than […]
- Comic-Con Photos (2004)
Photos from San Diego and Comic-Con are up! Sightseeing, panels, and exhibits Hall Costumes / Cosplayers
- Only In San Diego? Part 2
More strange sights at Comic-Con: Indigo Grills, a Martini Ranch, the Death Star cannon hidden in the convention center, and Salvador Dali’s hotel soap.
- Only in San Diego?
Illegal pizza warnings, odd movie combinations, and other strange//interesting things we found in San Diego during our stay for Comic-Con.
- To The Con: Getting into SDCC 2004 at the last minute
Back in the day when you COULD get Comic-Con tickets and hotel reservations a week or two before the event. It still wasn’t easy, but it was possible.
- Comic Con! (2003)
Photos and comments from our day at Comic Con International in San Diego