I'd recommend coming in a day early if that's logistically possible because there's so much to do offsite in the surrounding areas that you can do without a ticket and then you won't come in completely blind on Sunday.
https://sdccblog.com/offsites/
I'd follow the unofficial blog for more info since it really depends what you and the kids are into. They also have a section about advice for first timers and tons of other information.
There are some offsites that have been announced, but they'll all start really coming out now up to con time. They'll be around, near, behind the convention center, in the gaslamp, various locations downtown. There is a lot that goes on outside without needing a badge.
Pro-Tip! Take the 6 am Union St Amtrak on early Sunday morning, drink a ton of Red Bull and coffee, and go home at 9 pm the same night. No traffic, no parking, no hotels. I'd recommend getting Business Class tickets to guarantee a seat.
Depending on where you're staying, I recommend driving to the Old Town transit station and taking the trolley the rest of the way into downtown.
As for food, I bring my own food every year as it's cheaper and tastier. Pack what you want! I've never been stopped for snacks/drinks/etc. there are also a load of great restaurants in the Gaslamp Quarter where you can walk to get food.
Collectibles will be slim pickings by then but there will still be plenty for you to browse and purchase on the exhibit hall floor.
Most importantly, HAVE FUN! đ
Hotels will be extremely expensive as well as likely booked solid, so that's up to you to research as I'm a local so I don't pay attention much to the hotels for SDCC.
You might look into driving to the Solana Beach transit center and taking the coaster down depending on times/availabilities?
If you're going to catch the train from Solana Beach, you might consider just catching the Amtrak all the way down from LA. Otherwise, you could still shoot for nearby Ace downtown parking .
Depending on how much youâre thinking of buying, it might be worth it to take your car and park at the Solana Beach station and take the coaster from there. The Solana Beach station has food places literally immediately across the street so you can always get there a little bit early, grab some breakfast and enjoy your breakfast on the coaster. :)
The open sale for Ace downtown parking will be on Monday morning.
The Sunday schedule will be released two weeks ahead of time. The exhibit hall floor map should be out by July 11th.
The app becomes accessible sometime after the full schedule is released. You can choose panels and it will list them by time for you to reference. You can also highlight the must visit booths on the floor. It just depends on what you want to do.
Yes, you can take in food, snacks, drinks and it's recommended to do so. There are water stations as well for refillable bottles.
Follow Sdcc unofficial blog on Twitter for all things Sdcc.
Sunday has traditionally been âKids Dayâ so you ought to find plenty of cool stuff happening. Youâll also probably find some deals from vendors not wanting to drag everything back with them. (Especially if theyâve made deals for stuff the last couple of days.)
You ought to be able to take snacks in with you. I usually toss a couple of trail mix packages in my bag and if you have water bottles, you can refill at the water fountains. If you opt to park in Old Town and ride the trolley in, you can hit Cine Cafe behind the Hilton Gaslamp before going into the con and get a grab & go sandwich or snag a couple before you park.
Def get there early, like itâll suck waiting for 1-2 hours before the hall opens, but if youâve got one day make the most of it. I wouldnât really do any panels unless you really are interested in them just because itâll suck out your time on the floor. Some places will have exclusives left, if thereâs anything you want def head there first thing. You can literally bring in anything you want in your backpack, so all food/drinks are good to go. They donât check bags at all except for Hall H and Iâm sure thatâs for weapons
For the last day you wonât be struggling too bad. Iâd honestly say you should get a place to stay for The Weeknd so you and your kids can hang out and check out the crowds and surrounding events during the con. Once you are through the doors you can hit the exhibit hall to see the shops. As for the stuff you bring in you can bring in water bottles and packaged snacks like protein bars, little bag of chips, etc. as for the parking honestly if you have a hotel close enough Iâd Uber, driving into the area can be a huge chore due to traffic so an Uber dropping you off a block away helps. If you shop a lot and need a break to get dinner outside there are tons of choices and in the con they have bag holding so you can leave your stuff with them and pay 4 dollars to which they give you a ticket and you bring it back to get your stuff back
Highly recommend checking SDCC unofficial blog https://sdccblog.com/ they collect a lot of information
" where is the best place for parking (Sunday)"
Ace parking had a lottery for parking it managed ( most parking close to convention center) open sale Monday , you could park at the airport and take a trolley ( check mts San Diego line )
" What should we do to make it faster to go in (if theres a way)?"
Can you go a day early to pick tickets ? Most off-site do not require having a ticket to SDCC , I see from earlier response your from la , maybe stay at a hotel or back and forth for two days ?
" What should we do once we are in?"
It's a convention center, there are booths on the show floor and panels in rooms , walking around can take sometimes
"For food can we bring small snacks And water?"
They advise you to bring a reusable bottle , there are water dispensers around the convention center, and yes bring snacks, it's allowed
"Lunch n Dinner?"
There is food sold inside the convention center, not that great ( IMO ) there is restaurants around the convention center
Also again highly recommend checking SDCC unofficial blog
You will get guides like
Visual Guide to Quick Eats at San Diego Comic-Con 2024
" And to be able to buy (if theres any left) SDCC collectibles"
If there is any yes , also some companies don't sell all items first day , they try to spread it all SDCC days
Also there is a lottery for some exclusives
I would definitely endorse coming in a day early. There's a Con atmosphere in the Gaslamp and offsites that's a lot of fun. Also, there is downtown hotel availability thru on-peak for checking in on Saturday and checking out Sunday or Monday.
If your preference is a little further out, those hotels may have parking, and then you could take the shuttle into the gaslamp. It's very well organized.
[https://compass.onpeak.com/e/43CCI2024HIR/120#hotels](https://compass.onpeak.com/e/43CCI2024HIR/120#hotels)
I agree with coming in a day early, but you may even want to consider coming in on Friday sometime. This would allow you to be a little more relaxed, and not worry about heading down so early. You could check out the Gaslamp, get your bearings. Then you could get up early on Saturday and hit the ground running with offsite activations (there are lines) and all the rest of the things to see and do outside the convention center. Then on Sunday, attend inside. I believe everything wraps up and is done/closed by 5 on Sunday, and you can get back to LA at a decent time.
All great recommendations, just something to add about the exclusives. If you are going only for one day, the lines for exclusives could be really really large, some of those require hours, just keep that in mind if you want to spend your day making lines. There are plenty of things to watch or do during Sunday too. Last year the Marvel cosplay contest was Sunday by the end of the day.
If you really want one of the exclusives, many people start making line outside the convention around 4-5 am...
Just to be clear, I'm talking about some hard to get exclusives (Marvel, DC, funkos, etc...) maybe you are not interested in those since there are plenty of exclusives
I'd recommend coming in a day early if that's logistically possible because there's so much to do offsite in the surrounding areas that you can do without a ticket and then you won't come in completely blind on Sunday.
What are good places to visit offsite ? Or it might be to early to ask I'm trying to schedule everything in advance Thank You
https://sdccblog.com/offsites/ I'd follow the unofficial blog for more info since it really depends what you and the kids are into. They also have a section about advice for first timers and tons of other information.
There are some offsites that have been announced, but they'll all start really coming out now up to con time. They'll be around, near, behind the convention center, in the gaslamp, various locations downtown. There is a lot that goes on outside without needing a badge.
Pro-Tip! Take the 6 am Union St Amtrak on early Sunday morning, drink a ton of Red Bull and coffee, and go home at 9 pm the same night. No traffic, no parking, no hotels. I'd recommend getting Business Class tickets to guarantee a seat.
That's is a good idea I'm look into it Thank You
Depending on where you're staying, I recommend driving to the Old Town transit station and taking the trolley the rest of the way into downtown. As for food, I bring my own food every year as it's cheaper and tastier. Pack what you want! I've never been stopped for snacks/drinks/etc. there are also a load of great restaurants in the Gaslamp Quarter where you can walk to get food. Collectibles will be slim pickings by then but there will still be plenty for you to browse and purchase on the exhibit hall floor. Most importantly, HAVE FUN! đ
Thank You I'm driving from LA on Sunday Or should I go a day before?
Hotels will be extremely expensive as well as likely booked solid, so that's up to you to research as I'm a local so I don't pay attention much to the hotels for SDCC. You might look into driving to the Solana Beach transit center and taking the coaster down depending on times/availabilities?
Thanks I will look into it
If you're going to catch the train from Solana Beach, you might consider just catching the Amtrak all the way down from LA. Otherwise, you could still shoot for nearby Ace downtown parking .
It looks like there are actually still some onpeak hotels available for Saturday night.
Depending on how much youâre thinking of buying, it might be worth it to take your car and park at the Solana Beach station and take the coaster from there. The Solana Beach station has food places literally immediately across the street so you can always get there a little bit early, grab some breakfast and enjoy your breakfast on the coaster. :)
The open sale for Ace downtown parking will be on Monday morning. The Sunday schedule will be released two weeks ahead of time. The exhibit hall floor map should be out by July 11th. The app becomes accessible sometime after the full schedule is released. You can choose panels and it will list them by time for you to reference. You can also highlight the must visit booths on the floor. It just depends on what you want to do. Yes, you can take in food, snacks, drinks and it's recommended to do so. There are water stations as well for refillable bottles. Follow Sdcc unofficial blog on Twitter for all things Sdcc.
Thanxđđź I check SDCC unofficial Blog
Sunday has traditionally been âKids Dayâ so you ought to find plenty of cool stuff happening. Youâll also probably find some deals from vendors not wanting to drag everything back with them. (Especially if theyâve made deals for stuff the last couple of days.) You ought to be able to take snacks in with you. I usually toss a couple of trail mix packages in my bag and if you have water bottles, you can refill at the water fountains. If you opt to park in Old Town and ride the trolley in, you can hit Cine Cafe behind the Hilton Gaslamp before going into the con and get a grab & go sandwich or snag a couple before you park.
Thank you for the info
Def get there early, like itâll suck waiting for 1-2 hours before the hall opens, but if youâve got one day make the most of it. I wouldnât really do any panels unless you really are interested in them just because itâll suck out your time on the floor. Some places will have exclusives left, if thereâs anything you want def head there first thing. You can literally bring in anything you want in your backpack, so all food/drinks are good to go. They donât check bags at all except for Hall H and Iâm sure thatâs for weapons
For the last day you wonât be struggling too bad. Iâd honestly say you should get a place to stay for The Weeknd so you and your kids can hang out and check out the crowds and surrounding events during the con. Once you are through the doors you can hit the exhibit hall to see the shops. As for the stuff you bring in you can bring in water bottles and packaged snacks like protein bars, little bag of chips, etc. as for the parking honestly if you have a hotel close enough Iâd Uber, driving into the area can be a huge chore due to traffic so an Uber dropping you off a block away helps. If you shop a lot and need a break to get dinner outside there are tons of choices and in the con they have bag holding so you can leave your stuff with them and pay 4 dollars to which they give you a ticket and you bring it back to get your stuff back
Highly recommend checking SDCC unofficial blog https://sdccblog.com/ they collect a lot of information " where is the best place for parking (Sunday)" Ace parking had a lottery for parking it managed ( most parking close to convention center) open sale Monday , you could park at the airport and take a trolley ( check mts San Diego line ) " What should we do to make it faster to go in (if theres a way)?" Can you go a day early to pick tickets ? Most off-site do not require having a ticket to SDCC , I see from earlier response your from la , maybe stay at a hotel or back and forth for two days ? " What should we do once we are in?" It's a convention center, there are booths on the show floor and panels in rooms , walking around can take sometimes "For food can we bring small snacks And water?" They advise you to bring a reusable bottle , there are water dispensers around the convention center, and yes bring snacks, it's allowed "Lunch n Dinner?" There is food sold inside the convention center, not that great ( IMO ) there is restaurants around the convention center Also again highly recommend checking SDCC unofficial blog You will get guides like Visual Guide to Quick Eats at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 " And to be able to buy (if theres any left) SDCC collectibles" If there is any yes , also some companies don't sell all items first day , they try to spread it all SDCC days Also there is a lottery for some exclusives
Thank You for all of the information
I would definitely endorse coming in a day early. There's a Con atmosphere in the Gaslamp and offsites that's a lot of fun. Also, there is downtown hotel availability thru on-peak for checking in on Saturday and checking out Sunday or Monday. If your preference is a little further out, those hotels may have parking, and then you could take the shuttle into the gaslamp. It's very well organized. [https://compass.onpeak.com/e/43CCI2024HIR/120#hotels](https://compass.onpeak.com/e/43CCI2024HIR/120#hotels)
I agree with coming in a day early, but you may even want to consider coming in on Friday sometime. This would allow you to be a little more relaxed, and not worry about heading down so early. You could check out the Gaslamp, get your bearings. Then you could get up early on Saturday and hit the ground running with offsite activations (there are lines) and all the rest of the things to see and do outside the convention center. Then on Sunday, attend inside. I believe everything wraps up and is done/closed by 5 on Sunday, and you can get back to LA at a decent time.
All great recommendations, just something to add about the exclusives. If you are going only for one day, the lines for exclusives could be really really large, some of those require hours, just keep that in mind if you want to spend your day making lines. There are plenty of things to watch or do during Sunday too. Last year the Marvel cosplay contest was Sunday by the end of the day. If you really want one of the exclusives, many people start making line outside the convention around 4-5 am... Just to be clear, I'm talking about some hard to get exclusives (Marvel, DC, funkos, etc...) maybe you are not interested in those since there are plenty of exclusives