As previously mentioned in another post, I was planning on attending Wondercon 2012, and I did. Unfortunately I was only able to make it one day, but that day happened to be Saturday. At most conventions similar to Comic Con and Wondercon, Saturday tends to be the most popular. So furthermore, if there was only one day to go, that day would be Saturday.
What seems to be a reoccurring theme with my convention adventures is that I plan out the entire day to the minute and then something goes wrong that prevents me from meeting all my goals. Well, despite a scary start to the day, this may be one of the only times I actually got to do everything on my schedule without any hitches. Hopefully I've broken the curse.
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What seems to be a reoccurring theme with my convention adventures is that I plan out the entire day to the minute and then something goes wrong that prevents me from meeting all my goals. Well, despite a scary start to the day, this may be one of the only times I actually got to do everything on my schedule without any hitches. Hopefully I've broken the curse.
Press "Read More" to continue reading.
7:45 - I wake up and can't decide whether or not I overslept. I eat, get my stuff together, yada yada yada. This part really isn't important. I'm not sure why I'm even including it.
~9:30 - I finally hit the road. From where I'm staying it's about a 10 to 15 minute drive to the convention center, but its raining pretty hard and winds were reaching very fast speeds. Not to mention the highway system is total garbage in Anaheim as well as the drivers who inhabit it.
10:08 - After a lot of unanticipated traffic and other mischief, we finally are nearing the convention center. The street is a complete mess and we are feeling kind of stuck. As we get even closer to the convention center we notice the police have blocked off certain streets. On the loud speaker we heard on policeman say, "The parking at the convention center is full. Please park at the Angels Stadium. There will be shuttles." Then, you could hear me say, "Oh $#*%". That's the direction we just came from! No way we're going to park there! We decide to try and park at Downtown Disney.
10:20 - I'm sure you think the drama is over by now. But it sure as hell isn't. We pull up to the Downtown Disney parking lot and look at the rates. First three hours free, 6 dollars an hour after that. Plus we would have to get it validated somewhere inside. At that rate, for as long as we planned on staying, it would come to a total of $54. And it wasn't even that close to the convention center. It was still a good 8 block walk to the center in the howling storm. Also by this point I'm getting very nervous about missing the Adventure Time panel that stars at 11 o'clock.
10:25 - We decide to cut around the back of the convention center to make our way to the stadium. As we are coming along the back side we notice the parking structure doesn't look even remotely full. And what's that? They're letting people in! Praise Odin, we're saved! Not to mention we get to park on site for only twelve bucks.
10:40 - We got our badges and tried to figure out how the heck we were going to find the panel in twenty minutes.
10:45 - We actually found room 204 and made it in with no problem.
11:00 - Let the hilarity ensue. This panel is freaking amazing. I'll have a whole article dedicated to it over on our television page. There's A LOT of great things you want to read about. Trust me.
12:00 - Begin to wander the exhibit hall. I manage to snap a few pictures (which will be uploaded). I narrowly missed out on a signing with the all the Adventure Time Creators, but I still managed to get my Adventure Time #1 comic book signed by the head character artist.
2:00 - Eat stuff.
3:00 - Attend the DC Comics All Access panel. I was hoping for more of a broad scope of their entire lineup and possibly learn of some new series but it turned out to be devoted entirely to Before Watchmen. It was pretty interesting, I got to see Jim Lee in person which is awesome. I might post a brief article about what I learned over on the comics page.
4:00 - Finish covering the entire exhibit hall.
5:45 - Wait in the huge line to buy dinner. I didn't feel like going outside the convention center because I was afraid I would get whisked away by the enormous monsoon. To make things worse the cash register kept getting jammed and the only way they knew how to fix it was to have a large man roughly shake it about (I'm not even kidding you).
6:00 - Watch some of the most strangely perverted anime I have ever seen in my whole life while eating dinner.
7:00 - Go to the Tournament of Nerds. It was a panel where two geeks would take on the identity of a famous character in pop culture (such as Thor, J. Jonah Jameson, and Godzilla to name a few) and would essentially roast their opponent to prove the age old question "Who would win....?". This panel was HILARIOUS.
8:00 - Get herded through the line for the Masquerade.
8:30 - Watch and heckle the hilariously poor skits at the Masquerade.
10:30 - Leave the Masquerade and head home.
Overall I had a terrific day at Wondercon. I am very glad it happened to be in Anaheim this year otherwise I would not have had the chance to go. I managed to see the entire exhibit hall, go to two awesome panels, watch some anime, see the Tournament of Nerds, and watch the Masquerade all in one day. I would call that a successful outing.
-Mitch
~9:30 - I finally hit the road. From where I'm staying it's about a 10 to 15 minute drive to the convention center, but its raining pretty hard and winds were reaching very fast speeds. Not to mention the highway system is total garbage in Anaheim as well as the drivers who inhabit it.
10:08 - After a lot of unanticipated traffic and other mischief, we finally are nearing the convention center. The street is a complete mess and we are feeling kind of stuck. As we get even closer to the convention center we notice the police have blocked off certain streets. On the loud speaker we heard on policeman say, "The parking at the convention center is full. Please park at the Angels Stadium. There will be shuttles." Then, you could hear me say, "Oh $#*%". That's the direction we just came from! No way we're going to park there! We decide to try and park at Downtown Disney.
10:20 - I'm sure you think the drama is over by now. But it sure as hell isn't. We pull up to the Downtown Disney parking lot and look at the rates. First three hours free, 6 dollars an hour after that. Plus we would have to get it validated somewhere inside. At that rate, for as long as we planned on staying, it would come to a total of $54. And it wasn't even that close to the convention center. It was still a good 8 block walk to the center in the howling storm. Also by this point I'm getting very nervous about missing the Adventure Time panel that stars at 11 o'clock.
10:25 - We decide to cut around the back of the convention center to make our way to the stadium. As we are coming along the back side we notice the parking structure doesn't look even remotely full. And what's that? They're letting people in! Praise Odin, we're saved! Not to mention we get to park on site for only twelve bucks.
10:40 - We got our badges and tried to figure out how the heck we were going to find the panel in twenty minutes.
10:45 - We actually found room 204 and made it in with no problem.
11:00 - Let the hilarity ensue. This panel is freaking amazing. I'll have a whole article dedicated to it over on our television page. There's A LOT of great things you want to read about. Trust me.
12:00 - Begin to wander the exhibit hall. I manage to snap a few pictures (which will be uploaded). I narrowly missed out on a signing with the all the Adventure Time Creators, but I still managed to get my Adventure Time #1 comic book signed by the head character artist.
2:00 - Eat stuff.
3:00 - Attend the DC Comics All Access panel. I was hoping for more of a broad scope of their entire lineup and possibly learn of some new series but it turned out to be devoted entirely to Before Watchmen. It was pretty interesting, I got to see Jim Lee in person which is awesome. I might post a brief article about what I learned over on the comics page.
4:00 - Finish covering the entire exhibit hall.
5:45 - Wait in the huge line to buy dinner. I didn't feel like going outside the convention center because I was afraid I would get whisked away by the enormous monsoon. To make things worse the cash register kept getting jammed and the only way they knew how to fix it was to have a large man roughly shake it about (I'm not even kidding you).
6:00 - Watch some of the most strangely perverted anime I have ever seen in my whole life while eating dinner.
7:00 - Go to the Tournament of Nerds. It was a panel where two geeks would take on the identity of a famous character in pop culture (such as Thor, J. Jonah Jameson, and Godzilla to name a few) and would essentially roast their opponent to prove the age old question "Who would win....?". This panel was HILARIOUS.
8:00 - Get herded through the line for the Masquerade.
8:30 - Watch and heckle the hilariously poor skits at the Masquerade.
10:30 - Leave the Masquerade and head home.
Overall I had a terrific day at Wondercon. I am very glad it happened to be in Anaheim this year otherwise I would not have had the chance to go. I managed to see the entire exhibit hall, go to two awesome panels, watch some anime, see the Tournament of Nerds, and watch the Masquerade all in one day. I would call that a successful outing.
-Mitch