It was about 1:30pm when we picked up our Conan taping tickets during San Diego Comic-Con 2018 on Saturday, July 21, and we had some time to kill before the 3:30pm return deadline.
Josh and I had both won fast passes for the Mr. Mercedes Immersive Experience offsite, and I was pretty sure they were both +1, so Josh, Carlos, and I headed over to 643 G Street to check it out. It turned out that the fast pass didn’t really matter, since there was no line to get in. The guy at the front did ask if we had reservations though, and we showed him our email. Then he gave us each a pin and a stamp card, instructed us to download the Mr. Mercedes app, since this was an interactive exhibit, and we were let in.
Full disclosure, we’ve never actually seen an episode of Mr. Mercedes, and don’t really know what it’s about, other than it’s related to Stephen King.
We noticed one line to the left that said 45 minute wait, which was for VR, and one line to the right that said 15 minute wait. So, you guessed it, we got in line for the 15 minute wait option, although we didn’t really know what it was for. While in line, the guy in front of us, who was a big Mr. Mercedes fan, explained to us what was going on. Making sure not to give away any spoilers, he told us that at the end of the first season, the main character ended up in a coma, and that’s why there was a hospital theme. Using the app, we were supposed to go to the various numbered stations and scan each number with the app. At each station you scanned, there was an AR component, and you collected a clue. Once you collected all the clues, that would earn you a stamp on the stamp card.
There were other activities to complete on the stamp card as well. After a couple minutes of standing in line, a staff member came around to ask if we needed anything stamped, but we hadn’t completed any tasks yet at that point, so we said no. But then we each took turns exploring the area and scanning each station, while the others kept our place in line. Another task was to play a fishing game on the app, so we did that while waiting as well.
It turned out that what we were standing in line for was a transformative photo, in which they would make it so that your face transformed into that of the character’s face. The line went through a set of the character’s office, which apparently had real props from the show. We were then given the holographic photo as a keepsake, and also had it texted/emailed to us (although their wi-fi was going slow and we didn’t actually receive the text until much later that night!). One of the tasks on the stamp card was to share the photo on social media with a certain hashtag, so we just took a photo of it with our phone and posted it. This turned out to be Josh’s favorite piece of swag from SDCC, as he was so pleased at how well his transformation turned out. Mine, on the other had, did not turn out so well, as I was cosplaying as Violet from the Incredibles that day, so I was wearing a mask.
We didn’t really have time to do the VR station, so we skipped that one. But there was a station with large syringes filled with liquid, and the “nurses” there offered us caffeinated or non-caffeinated. I chose caffeinated, and squirted the amber colored liquid from the syringe into my mouth. It tasted like an energy drink. Josh and Carlos chose non-caffeinated, which was blue liquid, and they said it tasted like Powerade. We then got to keep the branded Mr. Mercedes syringes as souvenirs.
There were still some stations we had yet to discover, so we explored further, and went through a dark room and down some dark stairs. We found another scene set up with authentic props from the show, as well as the last couple of numbers, so we scanned those.
Then we went through some curtains, and we had reached the end! It was a nurse’s station. The “nurses” asked if we completed our stamp card, but no one had been around to stamp our card after that first person had asked about it at the very beginning, before we had done anything. However, they said that was okay, and gave us each a Mr. Mercedes drawstring goodie bag! We even got to pick what size T-shirt we wanted. I asked for whatever was the smallest size they had, and to my surprise they had an XS! I’m so used to free shirts being L or XL, but this year every free shirt I got, I was able to pick a size S or XS.
We went up some stairs on the other side, and our journey was complete. On our way back toward the Spreckels Theater, we stopped inside a small hot dog restaurant for a quick lunch and bathroom break. Then we made it back over to the Spreckels Theater around 3:00pm, in plenty of time before the 3:30pm deadline. Click here to read more about our Conan O’Brien taping experience at SDCC 2018!
