This year’s San Diego Comic-Con took place in person starting with Preview Night on Wednesday, July 20, and lasting through Sunday, July 24, 2022. We had only been able to secure 4-Day badges without Preview Night, so Thursday morning would be our first opportunity to walk the Exhibit Hall floor at SDCC 2022. Click here to go back to our article detailing our experience on Preview Night.
We had a few different options of what we might want to do on Thursday morning, as we didn’t have any concrete plans to be anywhere until our 1:30pm reservation for the Dungeons & Dragons Tavern offsite. One option was to get up early and get in line for The Gray Man offsite, while another option was to do the same for the House of the Dragon offsite. However, having been out a bit later than intended on Thursday night at the Corgi party, we decided to make it a leisurely morning and sleep in a bit.
Well, that is, except for trying to get reservations for the Severance offsite which went live at 6:00am. We were ready, but there was a weird bug in the “captcha” field that wouldn’t let you do anything. But we kept trying, and after a few minutes, it resolved itself. I was able to get a 5pm reservation, but when Josh tried, it got stuck on a time, wouldn’t let him change it, and then it was sold out. Sadly, reservations were not +1, it was only 1 person per reservation, so I would be going to that alone. More on that later.
Anyway, we went back to sleep for a bit, then decided to order some breakfast for pickup from Corner Bakery, which was conveniently just down the block from our hotel, the Westin Gaslamp. We were in no rush to be among the first into the convention center that morning. Rather, we preferred to be able to just walk in through the front doors instead of shuffled in with the crowd.
The Exhibit Hall floor was scheduled to open at 9:30am, but apparently it is tradition for it to open early at 9:00am for those already in line. However, it seemed that was not the case this year, according to social media. As a result, we decided to wait until about 10:00am before heading over, just to make sure the masses had already entered.
Sure enough, when we arrived at the convention center, which was about a half mile walk from our hotel, we were able to stroll right in with no line. Upon entering the building, staff made sure that you showed your Covid verification wristband and your badge, and that you were masked up, as masks were required inside. There was one man who tried to enter in front of us who was not wearing a mask, and staff stopped him, telling him that he needed a mask. He started to dig around in his bag to find it, and staff immediately had him step to the side and let others through while he did so. This was more in line with my experience at WonderCon, with there being enforcement upon entry, than with our experience at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, with there being no enforcement whatsoever when entering the main building.
We entered at Hall A, which featured video game companies. Click here to take a look at the Exhibit Hall map. Nintendo had a pretty cool display of a huge LEGO King Bowser!
We weren’t after any exclusives and didn’t have any real agenda in mind, just wanted to walk the floor and take in the sites after having missed out on doing so since three years ago! In past years, it’s typically very crowded on the Exhibit Hall floor, and although it was somewhat crowded this year, it wasn’t to the “shoulder to shoulder” level that we had experienced in the past. There were some pockets that were more crowded than others, but for the most part, you could kind of navigate to avoid those areas.
One booth we always try to go by is the Hero Within booth. We saw Tony Kim there, but he was busy helping a customer, so we didn’t bother him. We also always make it a point to see the Marvel booth. There was actually a separate, smaller Marvel booth this year specifically for merch.
While wandering around, we were pleasantly surprised that mask compliance was about 99%! There were only a few people just blatantly not wearing a mask or wearing it below their nose or as a chin diaper. There were also announcements reminding attendees that masks were required.
I should also point out that there were a couple of things missing this year that we’re used to having in other years. One, was carpet on the floor. It was just the hard concrete this year. Another major thing missing was the WB/DC booth, which would usually have a lot of cool things on display, plus swag giveaways. Oh well, maybe next year.
On the other hand, Funko expanded its presence on the floor with Funkoville.
LEGO always has some cool LEGO statues at their booth.
Toynami had some very realistic looking busts on display.
Lucasfilm had its own pavilion, with Star Wars costumes on display, and various Star Wars vendors, including Her Universe.
We walked around for about an hour or so. Despite it being less crowded than usual, this was the most crowded situation we had been in for years, so I was about done by then, and we had seen most of the major booths, so I was just ready to get out of there.
By then it was about 11:30am, so we decided to head over to Hall H to get in line for the Dungeons & Dragons movie panel — the first panel at Hall H in 3 years! — which was scheduled to start at 12pm. Click here for our recap and photos of the the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves panel!
You can view more of our photos of the Exhibit Hall at SDCC 2022 below.
