It’s now halfway through January and they still haven’t sold tickets proper. There’s no news on Comic-Con hotels yet, and you know San Diego gets full-up for the convention by March. Prices for hotels have already skyrocketed for July. Rates for the same hotels I stayed at a couple years ago have jumped upwards of $200 a night.
It’s becoming clear that Comic-Con is getting further out of reach for many attendees. Is this the fault of Comic-Con International? I don’t know. I don’t think so. You can’t blame them for being successful. And San Diego is a beautiful city to hold it in, but it’s simply too small. I fear that even if (in imagination land) they expand the convention center and make all the rooms twice as big so everyone can get into panels without a 4 hour wait, the city would still gang rape my bank account for a decent hotel room. Also, if they expand, they’ll sell more tickets, further compounding the problem of hotel space.
I fear there is no solution but the one I most dread: moving it out of San Diego. There’s only one city I believe can hold everyone, but it’s not a city I would choose for a convention in July: Vegas. Not only that, but it’s not a walkable city. The convention center area isn’t that wonderful. 2 blocks over, you’ve got scumville. There’s no fun awesome Gaslamp district. Oh, and no ocean.
I don’t believe they’ll ever move Comic-Con out of San Diego. If I were in charge, I would fight tooth and nail to keep it there. But I have no solution to suggest for the problem of overcrowding. Does anyone?
– barry
My solution is to ponder other conventions. I’m going to the con in Phoenix in May.
Move attention towards some of the other great cons. If you promote the others and push to have more panels at them then they can draw people away from the big con for the yearly pilgrimage.