On Thursday afternoon of SDCC 2023, Violet and I headed towards the Paramount+ Lodge with a couple of our usual Comic-Con friends (Hi, Pablo and John!), which seemed to be a bar in the San Diego Gaslamp District that had been converted to the “Paramount+ Lodge”. This “Lodge” was set up to showcase some of the Paramount+ streaming shows that were coming soon, or already showing, such as Yellowjackets, Special Ops: Lioness, Spongebob Squarepants and Star Trek.
When we arrived, there was a bit of a line outdoors, but it looked like Paramount+ had their offsite event in order. Violet had managed to snag 4 tickets to the offsite, and so Pablo and John came along with us. Pablo had scouted the line out already, so it was really just waiting for our appointment time to come up.
While waiting we discovered that there was an AR scavenger hunt event that Paramount+ was also doing, where at the various Paramount+ focused spots both in the Gaslamp District and inside the convention center, you could scan 7 different areas, and once this was completed, you could return to the Paramount+ Lodge for a few free items: namely a small shoulder bag, metal cup and a Paramount+ pin. So while we waited to enter, we opened up the website needed to scan the various AR images, and found out one was right outside the Lodge. After some fiddling with our phones, and finding the right place to scan, we got the first AR image scanned–leaving 6 to go. Later we would get the rest of those after completing the Lodge’s events.
What Was Inside the Lodge
Each “station” was for a specific show, and what was pretty nice of Paramount+ (particularly those that partake in adult beverages), is the Lodge event offered two drink tickets, and a “Good Burger 2” food ticket. Violet and I had eaten recently, so didn’t really take advantage of this, but it was nice for those who were able to put their tickets to use.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
The Transformers: Rise of the Beasts station was offering the choice of either “Primal Brew” (cold brew coffee) or “Autobot Tea” (iced tea). I don’t like either coffee or tea, but Violet loves iced coffee, so she made that her first stop, and seemed to be happy about the sweetener and creamer options provided.
Yellowjackets
The next stop was a quick “jump scare” for the show Yellowjackets. I haven’t watched the show, and my experience with it is just from Violet’s explanation to me, so I wasn’t sure what this station would be about. It turned out it was a little underwhelming–as Violet went into the “station” first, (which looked a bit like a hollow tree?) and came back out, not really noticing anything. While she went inside I saw the staff member in charge of the station fiddling with a remote, so I assume she was trying to activate something.
I went inside next, and saw mirrors on either side of me. Then a reflection of a girl in the mirrors appeared, however I couldn’t see the head of the girl in reflection, merely a body in a dress. Afterwards, talking with Pablo and John, we determined it was probably supposed to be something scary, but it fell flat, given we couldn’t make out the image well. This was likely due to the sun being extra bright, and washing out the image too much. In any case, we were each given a jar of honey and a deck of cards after going through this station.
Special Ops: Lioness
We then made our way to the Special Ops: Lioness station. The premise of this was pretty entertaining, with a couple of the staff members roleplaying military recruits trying to recruit for a “Special Ops” unit, as that is what the streaming show is about. The staff members seemed a little disinterested in the whole role-play bit, but it worked well enough with the role they were partaking in, as military recruiters.
Standing in line, Pablo was the first “recruit” to be tested, and worked through the 3 rounds. John partook second, followed by myself 3rd. Violet opted to be an observer as she is not a fan of time-based challenges. The challenges went something like this:
Challenge number one was decoding a few phrases. There were words on a page, and you had to figure out what phrase the words related to. If you want to participate I will provide the ones I remember:
Riddle #1:
Forgive
Forgive
Forgive
Forgive
And
Forget
Forget
Forget
Forget
Riddle #2:
Secret
Secret
Secret
Riddle #3:
Man
Board
So here is the answer to the first challenge:
This first challenge/puzzle was pretty easy for me, I recognized what they were right away–Riddle #1 being “Forgive and Forget”. The second one was “Top Secret”, and the third one was pretty easy as well, being “Man Overboard”.
The remaining two challenges, unfortunately, I can only explain, as they were physical “feats”. Challenge number two was a metallic puzzle, of 3 pieces that were roughly pyramid shaped (the station next to me was a spherical metal puzzle), and the pieces are supposed to link together to create one solid piece. I had seen these before on variety YouTube short videos, but had never handled one in person, so I was fumbling trying to figure it out, and couldn’t quite complete it within the 1 minute time limit. Pretty funny side note here though–Violet told me after finishing the whole thing, that during the second challenge, apparently a camera crew was video-recording me doing the puzzle, and was apparently really close to me, but I was so mentally “locked in” trying to figure out how to link the pieces together, I was completely oblivious to this happening. Violet was truly shocked I wasn’t flustered by the camera, but I was completely unaware of it. I was flustered only because I couldn’t figure it out!
Anyway, as for the last challenge, it was relatively straight forward. There was a clear plexiglass/ acrylic box, that had a hole in it, that one could put their hand inside. Inside the box was a brick, and the goal was to retrieve the brick inside the hole, and pull it out within the span of a minute. This challenge proved easy for me, with me getting it out within a few seconds passing. I only saw a few other people complete this part, so I was pretty curious if this was actually difficult or just a “cheesy” gimmick to do, but I will say my exercise routine does work on grip strength, so I will say that is what allowed me to complete this challenge with such ease!
At the end of the 3 challenges, the “recruiter” then assigns you a card which indicates the Special Ops cast member you most relate to–and I got Zoe Saldana. Clearly the the resemblance is there! I kid, however I can’t complain, as I do really like her as an actress in Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Trek, and she along with a few other cast members for have made me consider giving this show a chance!
Star Trek
We then went inside, which was a nice break from the heat, as even though we were in San Diego, it was still very hot outside the entire Comic-Con trip. The area was a bit decorated with Star Trek themes, and there were people having their caricature drawn. This area is where the alcoholic drinks were being served, as well as the food. Pablo and John got a drink (they offered non-alcoholic drinks as well, and you didn’t even need to redeem a ticket for those), and we took a look at the other stations, such as Inkmaster and Pet Sematary: Bloodlines. Violet and I skipped on the drinks and food, but it was quite nice of Paramount+ to offer free sliders and drinks. Pablo was very interested in retrieving a Paramount+ The Lodge apron the food staff was wearing, but alas, he was not able to convince any of them to part with theirs.
After Violet, Pablo, and John did the Pet Sematary photo op, the four of us hung inside for a bit, but there weren’t really any activities to do that didn’t involve a long line to wait in, so we eventually made our way back outside.
Spongebob Squarepants
Our time was running short (each group let in had just shy of an hour inside the Lodge before they would be ushered out), but Violet and the group noticed that the Spongebob Squarepants photo op line was basically empty, so the group of us four went to check it out. It turned out to be a photo op where participants stood in front of a “Krusty Krab” cash register with Squidward, and would get a Polaroid photo taken (who here is old enough to know what a Polaroid camera is?). It came with a little cardboard frame that was Spongebob themed as well, that you could put the Polaroid in. Violet and the gang each took a photo, but I opted out due to my acute disdain for Spongebob. I will, however, admit that the Polaroid part was pretty nifty, as it took me back to when my dad had a Polaroid camera.
Closing out the Paramount Lodge
After the Spongebob photo op, we lingered for a few more minutes, but time was winding down. Sadly, the staff was seemingly having a hard time unloading their veggie sliders, and began offering them to anyone who’d take them.
Paramount Passport Scavenger Hunt
After wrapping up at the Paramount+ Lodge, we decided to work towards completing the AR scavenger hunt event I mentioned earlier. We found a couple locations in Gaslamp District, then hit the Comic-Con show floor, and found a few more there.
While on the show floor, John tried to see if he could get in line for Marvel, but it was capped. We also noticed that the Marvel booth had different costumes on display than the day before.
Before heading out, we spotted Patton Oswalt signing at the Dark Horse booth, and then as we were leaving, right outside the convention center we got to see the dog cosplaying as Cosmo from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3!
Violet and I parted ways from John and headed over to the IMDboat for the LEGO DreamZzz event. Click here for our recap and photos of that. But after we were done there, we headed back to The Lodge to pick up our prize for completing the scavenger hunt. As I mentioned before, it was a nice, small shoulder sling bag, a Paramount+ metal cup (you could choose from one of three colors: black, silver, or blue), and a Paramount+ 2023 pin, which you can see pictured below.
Stay tuned for more recaps and photos of our experience at SDCC 2023!
