San Diego ComiCon

[furtech]

A friend asked for advice for her first SDCC and here's what I said (sorry for the repeat post, Kim!)

Friday's the best shopping day: Thursday is the busiest day (people rushing to be first to buy "X"); Saturday is like human head-cheese: a mass of bodies jammed together barely able to move and stuck together with sweat (they had to stop selling memberships on Saturday for the first time last year); Sunday is pretty good (crowd-wise)-- but a lot of stuff is sold out by then. Friday is the only real "dead day". This has been learned by having a dealer's table there for 15 years.

Stuff to know:

Things that can get you injured/killed: Standing in a busy aisle talking on a cellphone. But people will let you know that you are blocking the path by simply rolling over you. Eventually you will become part of next year's carpet.

Beware of mega-backpacks: owners will spin unexpectedly and knock you silly. People trying to squeeze in front of you going sideways-- when they're wider with the backpack this way and take your face off.

Don't be short (sorry, s'true!).

SUV-strollers: WHY do people bring babies/infants to ComiCon?!? And then expect you to make way for them (when you can't move yourself)!

Food: the stuff in the convention center has gotten better (won't make you sick), but is also $$$. You can do a LOT better walking across the street/trolly line to the fish-taco place or the Quiznos. Save your money for dustcollectors and get better food to boot!

You will never get a seat alone on the shuttle. Rather than look for an empty row, pick a seat next to a skinny person with no bags. On the other hand, if you are skinny/small, a fat guy with huge bags will sit next to you. Hello.

Water-water-water: hydrate! Carry a bottle or hit the drinking fountains. Often.

Wear the most comfortable shoes you own-- it's like walking a marathon every day on hard, unforgiving cement.

A comfortable shoulder bag or backpack with help avoid having your fingers cut off by the multiple razor-edged bags you will end up carrying.

Network: talk to friends often-- you'll find out where the cool freebies are being given out!

Comments

[brerandalopex.livejournal.com]

Last year I helped out at the Sofawolf Press table, and ended up getting rather tired of the food in the building by the end of the con. It was decent stuff, but limited variety, especially if you wanted to eat healthy. So I decided to hit the restaurants across the street to get some stuff to bring back to the folks at the table. Bad mistake. I found very few restaurants that weren't sit-down style eating, and the Quizno's had a super-long, super-slow line that I decided to wait in anyway, for lack of better options that I could see. And then there was the task of carrying all the food back through the head cheese of humanity (love the imagery!) to the table.

I suppose most people won't be in my position of wanting to bring the food back into the convention hall, but thought I'd toss my experience out there as a cautionary tale, anyway.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

You're right about the Quiznos, now that you mention it. The fish-taco (they had other stuff) had a line, but it wasn't bad. Best bet is to go down the main Gaslamp quarter street (the light in front of the convention center is that street--5th ave?): anything after a few blocks should be cheap, better and have smaller lines.