Which is the Best Day To Go To San Diego Comic-Con?

REMINDER: Memberships go on sale for San Diego Comic-Con 2011 this Saturday, February 5th at 9am PACIFIC TIME.

This article was originally posted November 15th in anticipation of the 2nd membership on-sale date attempt. I’m re-posting it in anticipation of the new (and hopefully last) ticket release launch on February 5th. It has been updated slightly for the new dates.

One of the most common questions I’m often asked is, “if I have to choose just one, which is the best day to go to Comic-Con?” This often comes from someone who doesn’t want to face down or can’t afford a whole week of geeky madness on the sunny shores of San Diego. For many, one day is more than enough. But if you’re going to go just to have a look around or you simply have to choose JUST ONE DAY, which day can you get the most bang for your buck?

It all comes down to what your primary focus is for going to Comic-Con. If you’re there to take part in panels featuring your favorite celebrities or to get a sneak peek at some eagerly anticipated films, tv shows, or comics, you’ll want to pick the day that panel is scheduled. However, there’s one problem: We often don’t know the schedule until 2 weeks before the convention begins. And the tickets sell out months in advance! How can you know what will be featured on which day? Unfortunately, you can’t know. You can only guess. Hopefully, I can give you a few tips on what you can expect from each of the days.

WEDNESDAY – Preview night (already sold out). First chance at exclusives. No panels, but they sometimes have advance new tv show screenings.
THURSDAY – Historically 2nd biggest panel day and usually the day they schedule the Twilight movie panels.
FRIDAY – Star Wars Day, but with no more movies coming, hasn’t been as focused on a galaxy far, far away. Still, it has lots of panels for studios that couldn’t get a prime Saturday slot.
SATURDAY – Big studio panel day. Most major announcements, appearances, and reveals are done in Hall H that day. Also busiest no matter where you go since it’s the weekend. Also has the biggest and best late night exclusive parties, including the amazing Masquerade, where cosplay is king (and queen)!
SUNDAY – Kids day. Cheapest single day admission. No Hall H panels, few panels elsewhere. Best day to get last minute deals on the floor.

When it comes to reasons to visit San Diego Comic-Con, no two people’s answers are rarely the same. But I’ve managed to whittle it down to the major draws and the circumstances that might cause someone to have to choose one day over another. Just know that if you hesitate to make your decision, you may lose your chance at getting into Comic-Con at all. This event will sell out (fast)!

PANELS – If you’re trying to see any one of the major television or comics panels in the non-Hall H rooms, picking which day they’ll be scheduled is a crap shoot. The last few years have not been consistent in scheduling certain panels on certain days, but you can usually guess that the ones with major followings will get the prime time Saturday slots (True Blood, Dexter, etc). If they’re really huge, they end up in Hall H (Lost, Heroes), but they usually populate Ballroom 20, the 2nd biggest room at SDCC.

The same rules apply to movies and Hall H, which holds 6500 people and is considered the “BIG SHOW”. If there is a major film coming from a major studio, you can expect it to be in Hall H. And the biggest of the big get slotted on Saturdays. For 2011, I can almost guarantee that the Avengers movie will be in its familiar spot closing out the day on Saturday. Warner Bros will likely kick off the day, followed by another major studio. So if you know which studio your film is coming from, and if it’s being released AFTER late July of that year, you can bet that it will appear in Hall H. One thing to be ready for is Summit Entertainment‘s final Twilight movies. The idea of rabidly fanatical women outnumbering men at San Diego Comic-Con may sound like a strange thing to most, but in 2008 and 2009, the fairer sex took over the show when the cast of Twilight and the book’s author made appearances in Hall H on Thursday. And unless they do something to move Team Edward and Team Jacob out of Hall H to lessen the frustration of the fanBOYS, you can almost be sure that they’ll show up on Thursday at least 2 more times (the final film has been broken into 2 parts, Harry Potter style, and bowing in November of 2011 and 2012). If you’re a fan, odds are that you’ll know before I will if and when the Twilight panel will take place months in advance of the official schedule announcement by watching the variety of fan sites that track Edward Cullen’s every move. If for some magical reason all of the single day passes don’t sell out within a day or two of going on sale, just wait for Summit to announce their panel on their Twilight website. The remaining tickets for whatever day they are scheduled for will get snatched up within minutes by every teen girl (and their moms) with the means to get to San Diego that weekend. Again, in the past, this has been on Thursdays, much to the chagrin of the guys who wish they could see some of the other panels unluckily scheduled before or after Twilight, but there is no guarantee that this will stick.

In short, you can never know for sure when the panels will be scheduled, which is why people plunk down their money for the whole 4 day shebang, even if they don’t intend to go more than one or two days.

AUTOGRAPHS – The rules for the Panels also apply to Autographs. Normally, if you know that a certain cast is appearing in a panel on Friday, they’ll also be signing autographs at a scheduled time that same day, very often within minutes before or after the panel. This usually means that you have to make a choice: Panel or Autographs. See Angelina Jolie or the cast of Chuck from across a crowded room or up close. Of course, sometimes the panels provide the opportunity for people to get autographs through random selection while in the panels themselves. But that’s the nature of the event. It’s all about getting lucky when you can’t use science or connections to get what you want. The studios go out of their way to keep things fresh and exciting for their devoted fans. Like the surprise cast hosted Scott Pilgrim vs the World screening and Metric concert in 2010 (they handed out buttons randomly to people at the panel – if you had a certain button style, you got in), you’ll never know what to expect at Comic-Con.

SHOPPING – If you’re fighting for exclusives, well, the very limited ones go fast in the Exhibition Hall, sometimes on Wednesday preview night. The good thing is that the major exhibitors (toy companies like Hasbro and Mattel) allot the same amounts for each day, so no day is inherently better than the next, but no matter what, you need to show up early. If you’re there just to leisurely check things out and snatch up goodies at random, again, earlier in the week is better, because even the most coveted, hard to find non-exclusive collectibles go fast and won’t be around come Sunday. But if you really don’t have a purchasing mission and are just window shopping for something that might catch your eye at a decent price, Sunday is the day to snatch up what’s left. Some vendors are willing to cut deals rather than lug all of their stuff home. Plus, Sunday is also considered a lighter attendance day (but can you really say that 110,000 people in a room feels much different than 126,000 people?), but I don’t believe it. Considering that there are no panels in Hall H on Sundays (that could change), odds are good that the floor is actually fuller than normal. And also taking into consideration that Sunday is KIDS DAY means that every mommy and daddy who has ever purchased a stroller or a mini Spider-Man costume will be bringing their little ones to the show. Sundays may have the best last minute deals, but I honestly don’t believe that it has the smallest crowd (unless by small you mean kid-sized).

BUDGET-MINDED – An adult single day pass for Sunday is $20 (compared to $37 per day for the other days), since there are fewer panels and fewer celebrities, leaving you more money to spend on the Exhibition Hall floor (kids are only $10 on Sundays, compared to $18 per day for the other days). If you just want to experience the madness of the floor or maybe a random panel upstairs in Ballroom 20, while saving a few bucks, Sunday is the way to do it. However, if you plan on just coming on Sunday and you’re from out of town, I suggest either driving in that morning (EARLY!) or checking into a hotel room early on Saturday (way, way out of town as hotels sell out months in advance) if you want to explore the Gaslamp District prior to you hitting the floor on Sunday. The convention has spilled out into the streets of San Diego for blocks in every direction (well, not into the bay… yet), giving even fans without passes the opportunity to grab tons of freebies and photographs with guys dressed as Goku and Wolverine (and gals dressed as Chun-Li and Supergirl) without paying a dime. Don’t think that just because you can’t get into Comic-Con on a certain day that there isn’t anything to do downtown. From no RSVP required happy hour meet-ups to entire restaurants being thematically overhauled, Comic-Con can be experienced for FREE without ever stepping foot inside the convention center. However, if you do decide to come to the Gaslamp District to experience these goodies, do everyone a favor and park far away from the madness and take the trolley in. It’s fast, clean, and inexpensive. You’ll make things a lot easier for everyone.

In the end, there’s a reason why the 4 day membership passes go so quickly: it’s the best way to experience as much of San Diego Comic-Con as possible without having to be picky or running a bigger risk of missing something simply because you don’t have a pass. One day is rarely enough to give you a taste of what the event truly has to offer, especially for the hardcore geek. So if you have to choose a day or two instead of the whole show, use the above criteria to choose wisely.

NOTE: Just be aware that Comic-Con International can change up how they schedule their panels, the autographs, the exhibition hall events, etc at any time, hopefully in an effort to give everyone a better experience. These insights are based on the last 7 years of experience and may not reflect what they choose to do in the years to come. San Diego Comic-Con is always evolving. If there are any noticeable changes, you can be sure I’ll comment on them here in the coming months leading up to the show, during the show, and when it’s all over, in order to give you, my faithful readers, the best possible experience. Of course, buying the Survival Guide book and having it handy in your back pocket can’t hurt either.

If you have any questions about ticket buying or day picking, feel free to comment below and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

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