The day had finally arrived. We had scoped out the convention center on Tuesday afternoon, well at least from the outside and a friendly guy let us know that door E would be the place to be with lines forming around noon.
After the morning at the zoo, we managed to make it the there by 2:20. We went as directed to door E, the door was already open and we were ushered up escalators, through open-air hallways, around corners to at least 10 neat rows of people with computers ready to register us. A quick scan of the ticket, check of the ID and printing of our badge, we were hailed to a free loot station and done. All said maybe 5 minutes. Then what?
This begins the part of Comic-con they don't tell you on the site, in programs or in blogs: it really does help to actually have been to Comic-con before SDCC virgins, though accepted are at a disadvantage. Anywho, after about a half-hour, and a quick change into my well-loved Supergrover tee, we found the right line. By 3pm, Rob had registered for the blood drive and we were hunkered down for the 3 hour wait til 6. Thankfully, the huge program book kept us entertained for a while; Rob started in on his right away while I perused the big ads.
At 4pm, I promised myself a snack, and when I returned with nachos, I started a local line trend.
Finally at 5:30, the good people of Comic-con started letting people into the Exhibit Hall. Now, other events were occurrring at 6pm, such as TV screenings and I think some cosplay folks were meeting up as I saw a bunch floating around on my nacho run.
Again, the line moved through the maze of the center and ended up in the hall. Rob and I meanandered around trying to get our bearings in this vast land. The overhead numbers range from 100 to 5000 and that alone was a little overwhelming.
As we got closer to te Hasbro both a long line had formed and we started to sense something was up. At this point we also started seeing large bags for Harry Potter. Hmmm... As we walked closer to the studio tables, things became insane. People and lines everywhere, pushing, shoving, little children almost trampled. It was so overwhelming. Since no one seemed to hear my plantive "excuse me", I started to shoulder my way through the crowd. Rob's crowd aggression was on the rise, so we manuevered out of the mayhem.
I admit I did have big bag envy and tried twice for the HP bag (but had the worst timing - the line was shut down each time right as I got there. ) We also saw Dark Horse, SyFy and some others. In retrospect, there's not anything even practical about those bags. And they're all yucky non-eco plastic. We did score some buttons, including my I heart V, and free comics.
Our attempt to visit the California Browncoat table was even thwarted as they were packed all night. (It's ok we're volunteering on Friday). We did see several Jayne hats which made me curse the mail for my lack of one. One highlight was seeing Felicia Day and having her sign the California Browncoat page in my program. She didn't know it was there. I admit I was surprised too, but it works out really well as people have to sign the program for free regardless of if they're charging for other stuff.
Although it was kind of fun, I'm not so sure I'd wait in line for 3 hours again, unless I was waiting specifically for something. It was definitely nice to get on the shuttle and head back to our pad in Little Italy, escaping from the scene.
Off to start Day 2...
Click here to see our photos on Flickr
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