San Diego during ComicCon 2018

carnivalkid

Earning My Ears
Joined
Mar 4, 2011
Hi all

We are travelling from Australia (our 7th visit to the US) and were thinking of staying a few days in San Diego to explore (not so much the zoo other parks) but our dates are not very flexible and we would be there the same days as ComicCon is on.

Should we just avoid the whole area.... or do the people going to the convention tend to stay in downtown/convention centre areas??

Thinking we might base ourselves in a Mission Bay resort... is this a good location if we have a car??
 
I work about a 10 minute walk from the convention center. Really the parts tat get most crowded is right near the convention center and the gaslamp quarter, eastvillage(ballpark area). Other than the crowds there a few days and the astronomical price gouging for parking in all of downtown, you would barely know there was a comic con if you were further than a mile or two from there.
 
Thinking we might base ourselves in a Mission Bay resort... is this a good location if we have a car
It's a pretty good location. It will really depend on what all you plan on doing. If you will be spending all your time in the city, it's a great location.

As mentioned by PP, Comicon crowds are pretty much limited to the surrounding area. Go a couple miles away, you probably won't even be aware it is going on. It likely will not affect your vacation in any way.
 
That area is fairly central in San Diego so you're close enough to downtown if you want to check out the scene and far enough away if you don't want any part of it. Frankly, Comic Con is such a fun event even if you don't have tickets into the Con itself. I would recommend you at least take one evening and go downtown to have some fun. Be aware though that it will be crowded and prices will be jacked up but it is fun.
 


We did a Southern California trip this last summer and our 3 days coincided with Comic Con and I didn't realize it until a few weeks before we left. I was all worried about it but it was 100% completely fine. We stayed at an Airbnb in Encinitas though so I can imagine if you were trying to stay in downtown you may have some issues but we even drove down on the Saturday of comic con to walk around and see some costumes. Other than paying $15 to park and walking about 6 blocks to get to the convention center we weren't affected by it at all. In fact, it was super fun to go check it out for a few hours! We just walked around people watching and got something to eat. The restaurants were super crowded the closer you were but we ended up getting our car and driving away from the area a little bit.
 
Its super fun downtown during comic con, even if you do not go to the convention. They have cool stuff everywhere. The problem is the hotels are extremely hard to get a and will be very expensive
 
Last summer we spent two weeks in SoCAl with part of the time in San Diego. ORIGINALLY I had unknowingly planned our San Diego trip while Comic thing was going on but changed it as the Hyatt Manchester was WAY MORE expensive during the Comic festival. Several people at the Hyatt told me smart move changing it is gridlocked here during the festival. I LOVED our location very central in city etc. I would think if you were not smack in the middle of the city you would avoid some crowds but not the high prices...If you can't change it, go with it, if you CAN I would avoid.
 



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