25 APRIL 2016
ECCC sure does like to bounce its dates around. We're back to March for 2017 and it's early March: specifically the 2nd - 5th. If you're curious how that stacks up against other Cons, WonderCon is 31 March - 2 April (back in Anaheim) and Silicon Valley Comic Con is TBA.
Oh and if you're curious about the Comic Con shuffle that seems to be going on in California, the official reason that WonderCon is headed back to Anaheim is just a scheduling thing, nothing more. And LA is still hungrily eyeing both WonderCon for the future AND San Diego Comic-Con for when its contract expires after 2018: Mayor Garcetti says that certain changes are afoot that will make LA especially appealing to CCI - and us.
What changes? "Redoing the entire convention center" for one (which presumably won't involve a city-wide battle involving feisty DAs, calculating developers, football teams and hotel taxes) and "new hotels, new attractions" like Harry Potter. I think LA already has plenty to offer, but his point is probably that LA will be able to accommodate our incessant demands for restaurants, transportation, ginormous auditoriums, overnight lines and hotel rooms that aren't $1000 a night.
The future: it's happening. And hopefully it won't be as brutal as our present when it comes to online sales and the general limitations of SDCC.
re: SDCC and LA - I really don't support that move at all. I attended an annual work conference at the LA Convention Center earlier this year, and the convention center leaves a lot to be desired. There are huge stretches of hallway between the rooms that require you to walk the entire length of the center to get from the exhibit hall area to the main meeting rooms. After doing that a few times, everyone looked exhausted, and I cannot imagine how those with handicaps were handling it. I stayed at the JW Marriott (the nearest hotel), and it was a 10 min walk to the convention center which required walking halfway around Staples Center with no signage or marked pathway, in an area which was eerily empty in the mornings and evenings. LA Live is still primarily geared toward sporting events and has only a few restaurants, and beyond that, there is little else to do in the area adjacent to the center. And if there is an event near Staples, the traffic is INSANE- my friend's husband drove to pick us up for dinner from their hotel 8 blocks away, and it took 45 min! The area around the convention center cannot even begin to compare to the attractions and safe, walkable atmosphere of the Gaslamp Quarter, Seaport Village, etc. I'm a local, and after 1 night, I checked out and went back home. Anaheim isn't much better, but at least it isn't desolate and weird when you get 1 block away from the action. I sincerely hope SDCC stays in SD!
ReplyDeleteI love your descriptions. Very vivid.
DeleteEveryone wants SDCC to stay in SD. I think it will but I'm quite sure we'll hear more and more ominous talk about LA and Anaheim as we get closer to 2018 and the expansion drama stays unresolved. People want to feel there's an option, even if it's an unlikely one.
According to Bill Watters (Director of Programming & Panels for Silicon Valley Comic Con) the dates for next year's con are still being determined, but it will be 'in March'.
ReplyDeleteHaving attended WonderCon at LA Live, I can agree with Goldeneyez that it would not work for SDCC. It was made to work for WonderCon, but it was obvious that Anaheim was a much better choice. The LA Live hotel and restaurant capacity is nowhere near big enough for SDCC, and the largest rooms at the LA Convention Center have much smaller capacities than the equivalent rooms at SDCC. Imagine Hall H capacity being cut in half and Ballroom 20 being cut by 2/3 and you'll have a good idea.
CCI is very happy to get away from Easter weekend, and suddenly had more bargaining power with Anaheim once they spent a year in Los Angeles. It's amazing what competition can do! They signed a 2 year deal, so WonderCon will also be in Anaheim for 2018.
I noticed their signs for next year said "Not Easter weekend" which was pretty funny.
DeleteOverall it seems no one was a big fan of LA for WonderCon.
I agree SDCC should stay in San Diego. Walking around SDCC vs. LA, there's no space to provide thousands of people walking in the LA Area if Comic Con moved to Los Angeles.
ReplyDeleteI am very glad that WonderCon will go back to Anaheim and can't wait how the expansion looks like.
Note: I've been to Long Beach Comic Con awhile back, but it kinda reminds me of San Diego....it's near the ocean and there's more space walking in that area. However the Convention and hotels don't match with SD and LA.
For now I don't mind SDCC in San Diego, even though I live in the LA area.
I think everyone prefers San Diego in terms of environment - it's just the capped sales and now the lack of the hotel rooms that are straining everyone.
DeleteI've never been to Long Beach Comic Con but you make it sound very appealing.
yeah Valerie just google map that area around the convention center and it kinda resembles SDCC but HOTELS and Convention Center is not even like LA or SD.
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