I'm a New Yorker who went to San Diego Comic-Con for the first time. Here are the 5 things that surprised me most.
- I'm a New York-based reporter at Insider who attended San Diego Comic-Con for the first time.
- I was surprised by how reasonably priced food and beverages were at SDCC.
Wearing a mask indoors was actually enforced.
The pandemic has gone on for longer than most people anticipated. With that, I found that a lot of rules regarding safety have become lax and less strict.
SDCC 2022 marked the event's full-scale return for the first time since 2019. Even though SDCC announced that all attendees must wear masks, I was skeptical about whether or not that rule would be enforced.
As it turned out, event staff took the COVID safety measures very seriously. Everyone had to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative test in order to obtain a bright orange paper wristband that was to be worn during an attendee's entire time at SDCC.
Various security guards and event staff were stationed outside the San Diego Convention Center, and they diligently checked to make sure that people had their wristbands on before letting them pass.
I also saw staff asking people to put their masks on before entering the convention center.
On-site food and beverages were reasonably priced.
As someone who has attended concerts, theme parks, and cons for years (mainly in an expensive city like New York), I'm used to prices for food and drinks being ridiculously high.
I was shocked that purchasing food at SDCC didn't leave a dent in my wallet.
One food truck sold tacos for $7, chips and salsa for $4, and churros for $6. Meanwhile, cocktails named after popular shows and movies cost between $16 and $18.
The Hilton San Diego Bayfront, where many SDCC panels and events took place, also offered affordable breakfast options, from coffee or tea costing $3 to a meal deal for $16.
It was hotter in San Diego than I had anticipated.
Prior to my trip, people who had visited San Diego assured me that the weather there was comfortable and less hot than in areas like LA.
But during SDCC, temperatures were in the high 70s Fahrenheit with a real feel in the 80s.
Aside from overcast mornings, the afternoons — which is when I was most often walking around SDCC — were extremely sunny.
When waiting in lines for outdoor activations, I was exposed to the direct sunlight because there were hardly any shaded areas.
No one warned me that San Diego has a large number of ruthless mosquitoes.
Apparently, there are 27 known species of mosquitoes in San Diego. During my trip, I accumulated approximately 25 total bug bites all over my body, including on my face.
Whether it was inside my hotel room or while I was outdoors, I was constantly uncomfortable because of the painful, bright-red welts on my skin. My left hand even swelled from the irritation.
By the time I went to a CVS to buy Off!'s insect repellent and Benadryl's maximum strength itch-stopping cream, the damage had already been done.
Lines were longer than I expected.
I've previously attended New York Comic-Con and beauty conventions, so I'm familiar with the unavoidable lines that attendees have to wait in.
But at SDCC, lines for activations for shows like "Abbott Elementary" took anywhere between two and four hours, depending on when you joined the queue. While the experiences were fun, the time spent waiting took away from exploring other parts of SDCC.
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