It was Sunday, July 22, 2018, and San Diego Comic-Con was coming to a close for us. We had already attended our final SDCC 2018 panel, Supernatural, and gone to our appointment at the Ready Player One offsite. We had noticed the Manifest offsite when walking by the Hard Rock Hotel, so decided to check it out, since there was no line.
Manifest Offsite
We walked right up to the check-in desk, and the two ladies dressed as Montego Airways employees took down our contact information on tablets. Then we were each given a “boarding pass” and instructed to wait off to the side. After a couple minutes, a man dressed in a matching airline uniform came and unhooked the rope, and collected our boarding passes, then escorted us to a nearby lounge area. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that the boarding pass would be taken from us, so I didn’t get a picture of it.
The lounge area had places to sit, where you could charge your phone or just relax. There was also an oxygen bar, the kind I remember seeing about 10-15 years ago in theme parks and malls, but never bothered trying. Josh opted to just relax in one of the lounge chairs, while I tried out the oxygen bar.
Each person at the bar was given a nostril tube thingy to wear (I just looked it up – apparently the proper name is “nasal cannula”) and then you could insert the end into one of many scents, which each had certain effects. For example, the Gardenia scent was for memory recall, Vanilla was calming, Lemongrass was therapeutic, and Almond was an appetite suppressor. Cherry was… just cherry, I guess! I tried out each of the ones in front of me, while I watched a preview of NBC’s upcoming show Manifest playing on the large monitor.
Manifest is about a plane that goes missing for 5 years, and then suddenly returns… except that to the passengers on the plane, only a normal amount of flight time has passed. I’ll definitely be checking out this show!
In between previews, the monitor would display made up flight status updates.
After I finished trying out each of the scents, we decided to move on. As we left, we noticed that the line waiting to get in had gotten a bit long, as well as the line waiting to check in! Good thing we came when we did.
Program Premiums Room
Our next stop was the Program Premiums Room (formerly known as the Fulfillment Room), located at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. We had each gotten a ticket from the Origin panel, and Josh had gotten a ticket from The Passage panel (I guess they handed those out after I had left early, unfortunately). So we headed over to pick up our swag.
Usually I take a photo inside the room just to show the various panels you could have gotten swag from, but this year photos were prohibited inside the room. That makes sense, because some unscrupulous attendees could go in and take a photo of the tickets required for each giveaway, go out and find the corresponding colors/styles at a store somewhere, and come back and get a bunch of swag.
Our Origin tickets got us each a long-sleeved gray T-shirt. Thankfully, we were able to pick what size we wanted, and I was able to get a size Small. Josh’s The Passage ticket got him a paperback copy of The Passage novel.
Comic-Con Merch
We then went over to the Marriott to pick up our pre-ordered exclusive Comic-Con merch. We each had ordered a T-shirt. I had ordered the Catwoman shirt, while Josh ordered the navy blue collegiate shirt with SDCC in orange writing, plus we ordered an extra Catwoman shirt to give away to one of our lucky readers, so stay tuned for that! The line for pre-orders wasn’t that long, but the line to purchase items without pre-orders was pretty long. There were signs on the walls indicating which items were sold out, which were quite a few. The hats were sold out, as well as the SDCC pins. The only shirt left in men’s sizes was the Catwoman shirt.
Nintendo Lounge
Even though we had been staying at the Marriott, where the Nintendo Lounge was located, we never had the chance to actually go to the Nintendo Lounge! So we decided to stop by and check it out. However, the line to get in was really long, so we opted to go ahead and get on the road instead.
Our car was still parked in the Marriott garage, where we had left it on Wednesday evening upon checking in. We hadn’t used the car since then, as we walked everywhere. Then we headed back home to Orange County on the 5 North. Of course, we stopped and ate at the Olive Garden in Carlsbad, which has become a tradition for us ever since we ate there upon our drive home after our first SDCC in 2012.
Can’t wait until San Diego Comic-Con 2019, which takes place July 17-21, 2019! Hope to see you there!
