Comic-Con – KelsonV Social Posts

Orange: Sky, Flames, Balloon…

The first thing I noticed when going through my photos for the orange challenge is that I take a lot of sunset pictures! I made a point to mix it up and narrowed it down to twelve shots, then checked out how they looked together and settled on six. Then I realized I’d forgotten to upload one, and couldn’t bear to leave it out, bringing the gallery up to seven.

Ragged clouds in a blue sky, lit up yellow-orange just like a Maxfield Parrish painting…a bird of paradise flower…a cosplayer at Comic-Con dressed in a jumpsuit, wielding a Portal gun…ocean waves reflecting another sunset, made even deeper orange than usual by smoke from a wildfire….visiting the big orange balloon at Orange County’s Great Park…torches lighting the gateway to Adventureland at night…and finally a sunset shot, silhouetting the Manhattan Beach Pier…

Outside WonderCon

Sometime in the past year, the Anaheim Convention Center tore out a street between two hotels and turned it into a pedestrian plaza with fountains and lights. It turned out to be a great gathering place for con-goers who wanted to take a break, socialize, hold photoshoots, etc.

I’ve written up my experience of the weekend over at K-Squared Ramblings, and you can see more photos on Flickr including exhibits, people in costumes, and sightseeing.

River of Stars

Night at the new pedestrian area at the Anaheim Convention Center, taken during WonderCon this past weekend. This walkway replaces a street that used to run between two hotels, and is anchored by fountains at either end. It turned out to be a perfect place for con-goers to gather socially during the day, and for cosplayers to hold photoshoots.

More photos on Flickr including exhibits, people in costumes, and sightseeing.

San Diego at Night

Downtown San Diego’s nighttime skyline, seen from Harbor Island across the bay to the west. You can see the light trails from a couple of boats. The yellowish sky is the reflection of street lights on low-lying clouds. I have a wider shot that shows how much darker the sky is away from the city.

This was taken during last year’s Comic-Con. I figured I’d post it this week because the first round of hotel rooms go on sale this Wednesday. These are non-refundable, outside of downtown, and in some cases specific packages with minimum stays, but if you already have tickets and want to avoid the “Hoteloween” rush when the rest of the rooms go on sale, it might be worth taking a look.

Either way, you might be interested in my collection of Tips for Comic-Con.

Hallway Sunset

San Diego Hotel: Holiday Inn on the Bay

Hotels went on sale for Comic-Con International this week. I sat things out this year, since we’re only making a day trip. Naturally, everyone I know who was trying to get a room ended up with the smoothest experience in more than five years, rather than the crashes, timeouts, frustration that we’ve come to expect.

In case you didn’t make it through, or if you decide to just chuck it all and do something else, here’s a link to some ideas on how you can still get a hotel in San Diego.

Bridge Under Construction

Eventually, this will connect the Hilton Bayfront parking structure with the Petco Park parking lot. It’s not exactly an ideal spot for the convention — they really need a bridge near 5th Street — but it should help a little when it’s completed.

At Comic-Con International ← Check out my write-ups.

Tower Spiral

Looking up at the antenna on a TV news van.

At Comic-Con International 2010 ← Check out my write-ups.

San Diego Convention Center

Over the weekend I attended Comic Con International in San Diego. It was fun and exhausting as always. I’ve posted over 150 photos of people, costumes, displays and sightseeing on Flickr. If you’re interested in write-ups of events, stories, quotes and such, I’m keeping an index of all my posts over at K-Squared Ramblings and Speed Force.

Marriott Towers and Pool

The Marriott Hotel in Downtown San Diego, right next to the convention center.

Hotel reservations for Comic-Con International go on sale at 9:00 Pacific time tomorrow morning. For the last several years, demand for hotel rooms has been so high that hours spent redialing a phone or trying to get into the website have been typical. The travel agents have set up an entirely new procedure to counteract it. I’ve posted some thoughts on the change over at K-Squared Ramblings.

I guess we’ll see tomorrow how well it works.

Update: Better than I expected, at least for the first part. Here are my thoughts on how the process worked.

Update 2: The request may have gone smoothly, but the rest of the day turned out to be an exercise in frustration.

Update 3: I’ve posted some tips on how to get a hotel for Comic-Con if you couldn’t get one through the convention.

Rainbow Lagoon & Wyland Mural

An artificial lagoon on the seaward side of the Long Beach Convention Center. I was there this past Saturday for the first Long Beach Comic Con and did some sightseeing.

I’ve got more photos, both of the convention and sightseeing, and a write-up of the con.