WONDER CON—A USER’S GUIDE

Hey everyone, it’s that time of year again. Time for the annual event in Anaheim known as Wonder Con. It’s a time when responsible adults turn into children and dress up as their favorite pop culture heroes. At least, that’s what anyone that has never attended a Con thinks it is. But it is so much more. So, if you’ve never been to one, you may be asking yourself what the hell is it all about? What kind of weird shit am I going to see? Why do I even want to go? Allow me to enlighten you since I am, at heart, a true and life-long geek.

That was my original opening to this particular blog…written about 3 weeks ago. And wow, does life change in a hurry! I will try to catch everyone up but suffice to say I’ve had a lot on my plate. Most significantly, I got hacked recently. That is fodder for an upcoming blog. Trying to get back into blog mode so here is the first, of what I hope to be many interesting blogs in the future.

I went to my first convention, or Con, which was, surprise, a Star Trek convention in the early 80s. I attended out of curiosity, which is probably the hook that draws most first timers. But also because I was a huge Star Trek fan. I still remember going to a convention, by then my third or fourth, and seeing a live interview with some of the actors, including Marina Sirtis our very own counselor Troi, about this new rebooted Star Trek series called Next Generation, the premiere of which was still several months off.

I really didn’t do a lot of conventions in the 90s because I was more focused on my career path. To that end, I had a customer in Mexicali, which is located on the US/Mexico border, about 120 miles east of San Diego. Whenever I went down to Mexicali, I would take the short route through the Salton Sea, truly a desolate drive. Coming home, though, I would always go West to San Diego and stop in the Gaslamp Quarter for dinner. On one of these trips in July of 2003 I stopped in San Diego as usual. I enjoy people watching, which is a great trait if you’re going to be a Blogger. I was seated at a restaurant, which had patio seating facing the street, so I could watch the people as they went by. Seemed like half the people I saw were in one kind of costume or another. I asked the waitress what all that was about. She said “Oh, it’s Comic Con”. Never heard of it. She explained it was just a convention they had every summer and a lot of people dressed in costume when they attended. Kind of a Star Trek convention on steroids, light on the Star Trek uniforms and heavy on the Star Wars gear.

When I returned home, I told my wife about it and said we should check it out sometime. We hadn’t been to a convention in a while and this one sounded fun. Also, a great excuse to spend a weekend in San Diego. And then, like most great plans, we promptly forgot about it. Fast forward one year. It is now July of 2004 and Petco Park has just opened. If you have read my blog in the past, you know I’m a huge baseball fan and, of course, we got tickets to see a Padres/Dodgers game at Petco. It was a Saturday evening game so we got down to San Diego early so we could have dinner in the Gaslamp. Once again, all these people were walking around in costume. I explained to my wife this is what I was telling her about last summer. By pure coincidence we had picked a game on Comic Con weekend. Point of interest. You can’t do that anymore. The Comic Con has gotten so big that they always schedule the Padres to be on the road for that weekend because downtown San Diego can’t handle the combined crowd from the Comic Con plus the 30,000 or 40,000 fans streaming out of Petco Park, which is just across the street from the Convention Center.

Returning home, I began to investigate ticket sales and, soon as they were available, I purchased two tickets for the 2005 Comic Con. I don’t recall what we paid for those tickets in 2005, but I know it was a lot less than the current $330 to attend all four days plus preview night on Wednesday. Comic Con originally started in 1970 so, by then, it had been around for 35 years. We had such a great time at the 2005 Con that we bought tickets for the 2006 Con. In those days it was easy. There was a special booth where we could purchase tickets for next year’s Con and get $10 off each ticket thrown into the bargain. Sold! We did it again for the 2007 Con but that’s when things began to change. In 2007, for the first time ever, attendance sold out. The Con, which now accommodates over 130,000 fans and is the largest in the world, has sold out every year since then. One of the things Comic Con offers is programs (more on that later). Here you can listen to guest speakers talk about a variety of subjects. There are programs on how to cosplay, on how make your own costumes, how to enter the comic book world as a writer or illustrator, how to collect comic books, previews of upcoming genre movies and TV series, and the list goes on. The programs are held at various conference rooms sprinkled throughout the Convention Center. Fire marshals are stationed throughout to strictly enforce occupancy levels. When we first started going, if we got to a specific program that we were just dying to see a few minutes late, it was no big deal. We could just go in and sit down. In 2008 we got turned away from two programs because the room had filled to capacity, and they weren’t allowing anyone else to enter. 2009 added insult to injury. My wife and I were both big fans of the TV show Lost, which was going into its’ final season later that fall. A program featuring several of the show’s writers, producers, and actors was scheduled for 11:00 AM in Hall H, which had a seating capacity of around 5000 people. At 9:00 AM we got into a line that stretched outside the Convention Center, down the sidewalk, and across the street. At 10:00 o’clock the doors opened to seat a program scheduled for 10:00 – 10:45. Hall H quickly filled up and we were left standing outside the Convention Center. They don’t clear the room between programs so, if anyone wants to stay for whatever is coming next, they’re more than welcome. A few hundred people, obviously lost on Lost, left the room after the first program and we managed to be one of the last people allowed in. So, we ended up waiting in line for two hours to watch a one-hour program. Almost as bad as going on the rides at Disneyland, just down the street. Aside from having to stand in long lines to see the programs, the Exhibit floor (more about that later also) was wall to wall people. It really wasn’t as much fun as it had been when we first started attending.

The demand was so overwhelming that the site crashed three times before they managed to get it working properly. Nowadays, when you go online at the designated time, you get a pop-up that redirects you. You must keep trying until you finally get into the virtual waiting room and are assigned a number. If you aren’t in the top 30,000 or 40,000 in the virtual line, you are VIRTUALLY assured of not getting a ticket. I tried a few times but, even if I got into the virtual waiting room, I’ve never had a ticket lower than 70,000. Finally, I just gave up on the whole thing.

We attended our last Comic Con in San Diego in 2009. After striking out on tickets for 2011, I began looking for alternatives. Enter the Wonder Con in Anaheim. Wonder Con is owned and operated by the same folks that operate the Comic Con in San Diego. While similar in scope and nature to the Comic Con, it is much smaller and therefore, more intimate. It also tends to focus a bit more on the scientific aspects of pop culture, i.e., the science of Star Trek or the science of Star Wars. The first Wonder Con was held in 1987 in the San Francisco Bay area. For many years its home was the George Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. In 2012 the Convention Center was undergoing renovations and they decided to move the Wonder Con to Anaheim temporarily. That was the year that we first attended. It was a smart move on their part. The Convention Center in Anaheim is the largest on the West Coast and, with Disneyland a short distance away, the whole area is designed to accommodate large crowds with plenty of hotels within walking distance, restaurants, and parking. We had a great time and decided to come back for the 2013 version. By then the Moscone Convention Center was completely renovated and open for business. But they had booked an event which conflicted with the Wonder Cons typical schedule, which is around Easter. So, Wonder Con returned to Anaheim for one more year. The Con became so successful over that two-year span that it was decided to permanently move it to Anaheim. Except for 2016 when it was temporarily moved to Los Angeles. Probably the worst con I have ever attended, and I was glad to see it move down the freeway and back to Anaheim in ’17. Just to attest to my geekdom, I have been to every Wonder Con held in Anaheim (and the one in Los Angeles) since 2012. Except for 2020 and 2021, as we all know what happened in those two years. So, if you are counting, the 2023 Anaheim Wonder Con was my 10^th.

So that’s a little bit of the history of Comic Con and Wonder Con. And my association with both. I imagine many of you, if not most of you, have never been to a Con of any sort. Maybe you’re curious and are wondering what to expect. If you weren’t curious, you wouldn’t have read this far. Surely not for my witty banter. Maybe you want to know how much it costs. What are these programs I keep mentioning all about? Cosplay? Probably a lot of other things. So, I’ll try to enlighten you and give you some prep so you can go to the Wonder Con next year.

WHEN IS IT?

While Comic Con is a summer event, held in the latter half of July, Wonder Con is in the spring. It usually takes place right around Easter weekend. This year it was two weeks before Easter, but I’ve been there some years when it was during Easter weekend. I don’t know if it’s intentional, but the timing is such that the weather is usually moderate and comfortable. Never too hot and even a little chilly this year, although we did avoid rain.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

It’s a three-day event, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The cost is around $40 per day, or you can buy a three-day pass for $120. I get a senior discount which is half off. My cost was $20 a day. Not bad when you compare that to the $330 for Comic Con. Of course, there are other costs involved. That first year we lived in Simi Valley, about 50 miles away. I decided to be cheap and make the slightly more than one hour drive each way. One thing I didn’t count on, which I should have expected being in LA, was traffic. On Friday night, as we drove home, there was a major accident. We got held up in traffic for well over an hour. That drive home ended up being three hours with an early turn around the next morning. Between traffic and the current cost of gas, driving even 50 miles isn’t really worth the time and expense. And now we’re coming out of Bakersfield to compound the issue. After that first year we just stayed at local hotels. One cool thing is there is a Marriott and a Hilton right next to the Convention Center. You can walk outside of either one and take maybe 200 steps and you’re at the entrance to the Wonder Con. I have also stayed at the hotel Lulu several times, which is perhaps a 10-minute walk. There are several other hotels in the vicinity as well. It is Anaheim so the hotels are going to be spendy. The organizers of the Wonder Con have an arrangement with the hotels, and you can make reservations through them at a discount. I think our stay at the Marriott was around $250 a night. Yes, a bit pricy but it’s Anaheim. If it’s too expensive just buy a one-day ticket. I recommend Saturday. That is generally the best day to go. There is a greater selection of programs available and there is the Masquerade.

At the numerous trucks parked on the main gallery facing the Convention Center you will find coffee and mini donuts, ice cream, shaved ice, Mediterranean/Greek, pizza, rice bowls, Mexican, burgers, barbecue, and more. Prices are going to run $10 to $15 a person. Since we are on vacation, we like to treat ourselves and go out for dinner on Friday and Saturday. The location of the Con is great because not only are there several hotels within walking distance, but there are several restaurants as well. Friday night we ate dinner at Bubba Gump’s for Shrimp. It’s a sit-down family style restaurant in Anaheim so you need to be prepared to spend money. We each had a couple of margaritas before dinner and an excellent bowl of French onion soup. My wife had Louisiana shrimp and I had salmon and shrimp. Since I was going off my diet anyway, I decided to go whole hog and we split a piece of cheesecake for dessert. The bill, with tip, came to about $160. That’s about what I would expect. On Saturday we went to Morton’s Steakhouse which is a 5-minute walk from the Convention Center. That’s a bit more high-end. We started with margaritas again. What else?! My wife wasn’t overly impressed with the Margarita she had at Bubba Gump’s the night before and initially abstained. I had a Cadillac Margarita and the waitress said she’d make it extra good so my wife could taste it. True to her word, it was an excellent Margarita and my wife ordered one for herself. My wife had pasta and I had salmon again. Trying to eat healthy these days although the calorie count was up. Skipped dessert that night. I had had enough sugar that weekend and I knew I was going to have more on Sunday. The bill here came to about $190 with tip. Like I said, Morton’s is a little bit more high-end. It’s a busy weekend between Disneyland and Wonder Con and the restaurants fill up fast. Most don’t take reservations except for large parties. If you want to avoid the long wait, try sitting at the bar. We did both nights and got right in. If you’re on a budget, especially if you’ve got kids with you, there are any number of fast-food places in the area. Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Carl’s Junior, Burger King and a lot more.

There is another option that might be worth looking into. The Con is very security heavy. Most of that security consists of people offering directions and checking badges as attendees enter. There are also people that help the disabled, help last minute registrants, pass out swag, help with setting up booths and such. Just generally providing different forms of assistance. A lot of these are volunteer positions. I’ve never really looked into it, but I always thought it might be cool to volunteer for the Wonder Con. I mean, if you could volunteer for half a day or one day and then get in to see the Con the next day for free that would be kind of cool. I don’t know if that’s an option or not, but it might be worth checking into.

There is also the cost of the Exhibit floor. I’ll cover that separately though. Here I just wanted to fill you in on the essentials, admission, shelter, and food. Those three will run two people perhaps $700 to $800 on the low end and $1000 to $1200 on the high end.

CAN I BRING MY KIDS?

Yes, but please don’t. One of the most annoying things people without kids can experience, is couples who drag their kids to, what is essentially, an adult entertainment venue. The last thing I want to hear when I’m having dinner at a nice restaurant with my wife is some kids acting up at the table next to us and the parents have no control over them. I expect it at McDonalds, not Morton’s. What is worse, is when they bring toddlers that start crying uncontrollably. I don’t blame the kids; I blame the parents. If your kids aren’t going to behave themselves and you can’t control them, leave them at home. If you can’t find a sitter, or leave them with family, then don’t bother going and ruining it for the rest of us.

I once approached a table where a couple had two screaming kids. The couple was completely oblivious of the looks they were getting from those around them. When I approached, I reminded them of a scene from the final episode of M*A*S*H. The doctors were hiding from the North Koreans with some locals. One woman had a baby that would not stop crying and the North Koreans were drawing to within hearing range. In an effort to silence the baby the mother suffocated it. Tragic, but it saved all of their lives. I finished by telling the couple to think of me as the North Koreans. Harsh? You bet. Effective? They got the message because all of the sudden the couple was laying down some discipline and those unruly brats were very well behaved. And I was thanked by a couple of other diners.

WHERE CAN I BUY TICKETS?

I’m glad you asked. simply follow the link. www.comic-con.org. You will find a ton of useful information here. The site is updated regularly and will let you know when you can buy tickets for the Wonder Con and/or the Comic Con. You will have to set up an account to buy tickets. The great thing about the Wonder Con is you can buy tickets all the way up until the day of the event. I think you can also buy tickets on site, but I can’t swear to that. A few weeks before the show you will receive your admission badge in the mail. You’ll need to attach it to a lanyard and hang it around your neck when you go to the Con. This really beats the old system whereby you purchased the badge in advance and picked it up on site the day of. This meant being directed to a registration area where someone would look you up in the database. Then they would have to print out the badge for you. And, because this was the way they did it for everybody, you could be sure there was going to be a long line. Registration still exists. Mostly for people purchasing a badge at the last minute, so there isn’t much of a line. It’s also where you go if you need a lanyard (guilty). You’ll also want to grab a program and a bag for swag. There are also usually a few free handouts like buttons or pins. Your badge is your pass to all the events in the Convention Center as the venue is security heavy. In the past, you had to show someone your badge every time you entered the convention center. They had to check the date and name and it was cumbersome. Now the badges are color-coded. One color for Friday, another for Saturday, a third color for Sunday, and a fourth color for a three-day pass. This way, as you enter, all they do is take a glance and see what color badge you have on. You don’t even break stride as you go through the doorway.

HOW DO I PLAN MY SCHEDULE?

Good question. There are a couple of ways. When you go to the registration area upon arrival, you can pick up a paper program. I hang on to the programs as keepsakes and don’t even really look at them anymore except for the cool artwork. These days the best way is to download the Sched app. There’s a link to it on the Wonder Con website. There it gives you all the events and provides different filters so you can sort them. If there’s something you particularly want to see, you click on it, and it opens a window with more details on the event. Another click, and it’s automatically added to your schedule. They are also color-coded so if you are looking for gaming, or anime, or programs, or autographs, it’s very easy to spot your particular interest.

WHAT IS COSPLAY & DO I HAVE TO DRESS IN COSTUME?

Cosplay is short for costume play, as if you didn’t already know that. It has been around as long as the first Star Trek convention. Back in those days someone might show up in a homemade Star Trek uniform. Or they might get creative and make themselves up to look like a Klingon. Not a Next Generation Klingon but Original Series Klingon. Trekkies will know what I’m talking about. Nowadays the costumes get much more elaborate. Cosplay created an entire cottage industry and today’s cosplayers have taken it to an entirely different level.

WHAT ARE THE PROGRAMS ABOUT AND WHERE ARE THEY?

The programs are the main reason I attend the Wonder Con. First, a bit of geography. As you walk up Convention Way, between the Marriott on your left and the Hilton on your right, you approach the Anaheim Convention Center. There is a long concourse between the two hotels and well over a dozen food trucks line up on either side of it, rooted there the entire three days of the event. This year they added benches with umbrellas where people could sit and eat. This was something new and a nice addition, even if the odd weather we’ve been having this year meant the Con was a bit cooler than it has been in past years. But the concourse is a hub of activity and most of the seating is taken from 11 AM onwards. If you’re in a group, it’s a good idea to have someone stake out the first available seats while somebody else gets the food.

Just past the food trucks is the main entrance to the Wonder Con, staffed by security checking the color of your badge as you enter. Just beyond this security checkpoint there is a large fountain. This is always an area of tremendous activity as cosplayers hang out here and there are plenty of photo ops. Just on the other side of the fountain is the main entrance to the Convention Center. Again, there are security staff to check the color of your badge as you pass into the center. Once inside, there is a wide hall running parallel to, and the length of, the building. Here you will find kiosks that provide information, help attendees with disabilities, cosplay weapons check (it’s a thing), and other services. You will also find several food service areas where you can purchase coffee, sandwiches, and snacks. Crossing the hall you’ll find doors, again staffed by security, that open onto the main exhibit hall. We’ll talk more about that later. You also have your choice of stairs, escalators, or elevators taking you to the second and third levels. This is where you will find all the meeting rooms where the programs are held.

The meeting rooms seat anywhere from maybe one hundred to a couple of hundred people. They are laid out in such a manner that the rooms can be opened to provide more space. For example, there are rooms 201A, 201B, 201C, and 201D. Four separate and small-ish rooms but they can be opened to form two larger rooms, or one much larger room and a small room, or one very large room, all dependent on the anticipated turnout for a given program. There are approximately 48 small meeting rooms between the two floors, all of which can be reconfigured into larger rooms. There is also the Arena, which is adjacent to the Convention Center. This building has a seating capacity of 7500 people and is where they hold the most popular programs. Many of these often include screenings. I remember one year they screened the entire first episode of the Lost In Space reboot. The approximately 4000 geeks in that room were the first people to see the pilot episode. Another year we saw an episode of the TV show Fringe. It wasn’t the pilot but was one of the upcoming episodes and, being a fan, I caught it. The screenings are often followed by panel discussions with the creators and cast members. They discuss character motivation, what goes into making a typical episode, where some of their ideas come from, that sort of thing. They also usually answer questions from the audience at the end. That is just one example of what you might see at the programs. Other programs have titles such as “Dawn of DC”, “Photography for Cosplayers”, Spiritual Themes and Comics” “Spotlight on James Rollins”, and “Nerdy Finance: Freelance Tax Tips to Keep Your Money”. Quite an eclectic selection with pretty much something for everyone. In both the digital and paper program guide there are thumbnail descriptions of what each program is about and who the panelists will be. Each program lasts 45 to 50 minutes, except for the Arena when they’re doing screenings, where they can last close to an hour and a half. They don’t clear the rooms between program so if you want to hang out and catch the next program or three programs in a row you can. Generally, we move around a lot because there are different things we want to see in different rooms. That little 10-minute window between programs gives you time to walk to wherever the next program is held.

WHAT’S ON THE EXHIBIT FLOOR AND WHERE IS IT?

Well, I already answered the second part of that question. The Exhibit floor is directly across the hallway right when you enter the Convention Center. It takes up the entire bottom floor and measures out at 1,000,000 square feet. Yes, that is million with an M. That doesn’t include the meeting rooms on the second and third floors or the Arena. The Anaheim Convention Center is the largest on the West Coast. The original Comic Con started out as a comic book convention in San Diego with less than 100 attendees. The Wonder Con came along about 17 years later. Not quite sure of its genesis, but I suspect the Wonder Con probably started out as a comic book convention as well. To that end, you can still buy plenty of comic books on the Exhibit floor. There are probably more than a dozen vendors selling vintage comic books for anywhere from $10 to hundreds and even thousands of dollars for rare editions. We are talking serious collectors here.

Another area is called Artist’s Alley and it’s just what you think it is. Here you will find dozens of artists, young and old, male and female, gay and straight, and however else you may want to label them. To me they are all just artists and they have their works on display. They work in mediums from oils, to acrylics, to watercolors, and just about any other medium you can think of. Of course, all their works are genre based depicting scenes of sci-fi or fantasy or superheroes. You can meet the artists and talk to them. Get signed prints. Some will do a quick hand sketch for you right on the spot. Or you can make purchases out of their catalog if it’s not something they have on site.

Similar to Artist’s Alley, there is also an area devoted to people selling their own books and/or graphic novels. Most are self-published, although a few are backed by small publishers. You can find a lot of short run self-published comic books here. Nothing that is probably ever going to be of any real value, but the stories are cool and so is the artwork. It’s fun to meet the authors and find out how they come up with their ideas, hear about their characters and stories. As a wannabe writer it’s interesting to learn their process, pick their brain for tips, and see how they got started. One of the things I want to do this year is to start publishing a few things online. I have the content, just not sure about how to go to the next step. And who knows, if the artist or writer ever hits it big those cool little, short run books or pieces of artwork could become very valuable.

There is another area where you can meet actors that played small but significant parts in the industry. For instance, I didn’t see him this year, but for many years Reggie Bannister was a mainstay. If you’ve ever seen the movie Phantasm, Reggie was the balding guy in the ice cream truck, and appropriately, his character’s name was Reggie. The actor who played the Gorn in the original Star Trek episode called “Arena” was there. I have seen June Lockhart, who played Maureen Robinson in the original Lost in Space, there. You can talk to them, thank them for their work, take selfies with them, get autographed pictures. In the past, I kind of felt sorry for them because I thought these were actors who never really hit it big and this one character they played was the thing they are really known for, and it was the only way they could make enough money to get by. After talking to some of them, I really don’t think that’s the case though. Most had steady, although inauspicious careers in Hollywood. Yes, this was one character they played that stands above the rest, and it’s what they will be remembered for, and the additional income from the autographs and whatnot does help.

The rest of the exhibit floor, comprising most of the floor space, is taken up with vendors selling all kinds of bric-a-brac. Every year I hit up the Tower of T-shirts and pick up two or three superhero T-shirts. My closet is packed with them. Something new this year was action figures made on a 3D printer. If you attended in costume they would take a picture of you and actually make a 3D action figure out of you. You could pick up toys and collectables. Several vendors offered high end sculptures and artwork. Collectible toys are big as are weapons such as lightsabers or swords for fantasy cosplay. I’m very much into steampunk and there were several booths that sold steampunk paraphernalia. If it’s collectible and/or pop culture related, you will probably find it somewhere on the trading floor.

ANYTHING ELSE?

Of course! Firstly, one important thing to note is every year they sponsor a blood drive. So, if you want to give back, and you’re not a little squeamish, then you can help by giving blood. Also, every year there is an Anime Film Festival. At one time, I seem to recall, there were showings of short live action and animated films. Those seemingly have fallen out of favor as I haven’t seen them recently. I’m not really into anime but there is a whole schedule of anime movies you can view in various meeting rooms on the second and third levels. On the subject of film, they also showcase a Children’s Film Festival. Even though I have been accused of being a big kid, my wife and I don’t have kids and we usually don’t catch that. But if you have kids, and you want to keep them entertained beyond all the cosplay characters, this is one way, and probably the only other way to do it.

Usually there will be background music and they may just do a simple dance. Others become more elaborate, performing intricate dance moves or they may recreate a scene from a movie. One of my favorites, which I watched at the San Diego Comic Con years ago, was something called Greasy Potter. Seven or eight players came on stage dressed as characters from the Harry Potter movies, which were at their peak of popularity at that time. They then performed a mash-up to music from the movie “Grease” with the lyrics slightly altered. You can still see this if you look it up on YouTube. As I said, this is a cosplay contest and prizes are awarded. After the 12 to 18 contestants have performed, the judges take a break to tally up their scores. During the break, the audience is entertained by something called the Saber Guild. They are the largest, not-for-profit, Lucasfilm-recognized, Star Wars lightsaber club in the world. That’s quite a mouthful and straight out of the program. After making their deliberations, the judges award prizes for best in show, judges’ choice, best re-creation, best original design, best workmanship, most humorous, most beautiful, and finally, best young fan. The winners in each category get up to six free passes for the following year’s WonderCon. And lastly, there are cash and merchandise prizes awarded by sponsors.