Comic Con 2009 Sunday - Still Standing in Line

We were here at 7am this morning, standing in a lonnnng line for about half an hour, only to be led into another line within the building. The line was much longer than the one I sat in on Friday, going into the same room. But, three hours later, here we are finally in the room, waiting another hour before the Smallville panel begins. And the rumor I had heard via Twitter was true: Tom Welling will be here for the first time. AND we got a Smallville hat handed to us when we came in the room!

There are two guys in costume standing in the aisle while others clap and take photos - Batman and Superman. The Batman is dressed in a stunningly realistic costume.

We have seen some amazing costumes along the way, but I'm usually in such a hurry to get somewhere that I can't take a photo. The masquerade was last night, and it sounds like 6,000 attended. I'm sure several hundred costumed fans paraded on stage.

The worst part for us for Comic Con is standing in line, and hoping we'll make it in. Room 6ABF, which we're in now, holds only 2,000. Apparently we were at the end of the first 1,000 or so, because we're halfway back. But for three hours of waiting in line, we will only be here an hour.

And the problem with walking and standing in line, for me, is all the stuff I'm lugging around.
1. My blue bag, filled with water, food, medication, toploader for fragile items, badge, and small Aspire computer (on which I'm typing).
2. My poster tube. I hate this thing, but I've gotten a lot of neat posters, many of which are still destroyed by the time I get back to the room.
3. Jacket, fanny pack, phone.

Try juggling all that and dashing to and from.

As a consequence of the crowds (over 125,000), the idea of picking one thing to do and sticking to that, as far as programming is concerned, is still a valid one. We didn't do that yesterday, as there was only one thing we wanted to see in Ballroom 20: V. So we woke up late, took our time getting there, wandered the convention floor, and then finally got in line 3 hours before the panel. We needed all of that time.

This is our last day, and this is my last post. We saved a bit of money this trip: we stayed in a timeshare, we took the trolley the 2 miles to the convention center at about $4/day; we tried to grab something cheap at the convention center, or, when we could, at Subway on the way.

And I've already booked the timeshare and my convention ticket for next year. I had a good plan for this year, but most of it didn't work out. There's always next year!