Comic-Con 2010 Rundown - SUNDAY: The last day

Wake up hour - 5:30am. It was time to head down and wait in line to enter the Exhibit Hall and at last buy the "Tron" vintage figure and Light Cycle. For the first time in many years, there was actually nothing scheduled in Hall H all day. I was kind of surprised. Instead, most of the major panels were held in the next sized room down, Ballroom 20. The line just to get into the convention center was a bit longer than I expected at such an early hour. After Rebecca and I settled into our place in line I decided to walk up to the midway point of the convention center to make sure we were in the right place. Sometimes they let people in from two different locations and I wanted to be assured that I wasn't going to miss out on those "Tron" goodies! Turned out the reason why so many people were in line this early was because the "Smallville" panel was happening first thing in Ballroom 20. It's the final season for that show and this was to be the big send off. At that point I knew we'd be O.K.

Heading back to where Rebecca was standing I told her I was going to the hotel to pick up something. I didn't walk fifty feet from the line when the phone in my pocket rang. It was Rebecca telling me we were about to head inside early. Sure enough the security guys were telling people the doors were about to open. I knew this meant that those of us who were planning to get into the Exhibit Hall would be directed to an upstairs wanting area in the Sails Pavilion, since I'd been a part of this maneuver a couple of years ago. We hooked up with Bill and our other friend Scot with his son Jake who we hadn’t seen the entire event!

I love seeing the Exhibit Hall when they very first open. There's no one on the floor except for the occasional runner trying to get to an all-important line before everyone else. It's kind of like the eye of the hurricane, a moment of calm before the storm arrives. Even though they were telling everyone to not run...I just ran! As was just about everyone else. Finally arriving at the "Torn Legacy" booth I saw about 50 to 75 people in line already for the "Tron" figures. I'd told Rebecca that I was going to book it over there and for her to just take her time. She was picking up both of those items as well, and we were really happy to find ourselves comfortably in line and ready to buy! A few moments later we were at the counter, pulling out our money, and becoming the proud owners of two items I thought I'd never get my hands on. Yay!!!

Next stop: the Sails Pavilion to buy our 4-day memberships WITH Preview Night for next year. Last year money was so bad we decided to skip this, only to just barely be able to purchase ours before they all sold out! When we got to the Sails Pavilion line it was pretty long, a lot longer than previous years. I think people are finally coming around to the idea that you really need to secure these things far in advance, even while you’re at the current year's event. When we arrived at the computer kiosk where you could actually register, we found the process to be incredibly streamlined. Before, you had to enter all of your information from scratch. Now all you do is scan your current membership badge and everything you entered when you registered for this year comes up automatically! Wow! We were really impressed! A person behind the counter talked us through where we had to go onscreen and in seconds we were all set! Receipt in hand, we exited the registration area knowing we wouldn't have to give this process another thought. Then it was off to once again pick up where we left off in the Exhibit Hall.

At this point we were nearing the end of the room and it was time for one of those really tasty pretzel dogs. The clock was ticking and the three of us knew the dreaded announcement that there was only thirty minutes left before the Exhibit Hall closed would be echoing overhead shortly. Taking in a few places we couldn't get near because of the crowds the previous days, the bell rang and the word came down that it was time to leave. I stopped at the door and took one more look around before exiting. I always hate leaving.

Sunday night finally saw our return to Chianti's for a wonderful steak dinner. Time to reflect on the past four-day's events and relax a bit. Checking out of the hotel Monday morning we were told that room reservations would actually be up within a few days, and WITHOUT having to pay the full week's stay in advance! Take that, San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina!!! Once secured, we can just put it all in the back of our heads without a care. God Bless The Hilton San Diego Bayfront, our new home for Comic-Con!!! We just had an amazing stay there and I can't imagine going anywhere else. The place is really beautiful, very comfortable, and of course the view from our room was spectacular!

Ultimately this year was the most enjoyable, most satisfying, and most flat out fun I've had since my first time attending in 2005! And one of the nice things is I didn't feel that post-event depression I usually get the day after. Bring on 2011!!!!

And of course, you can view all of the photos from this year's event right here in my Flickr set, or by clicking the Flickr link near the bottom of the left sidebar.