San Diego Comic-Con is a marathon, not a sprint. It's important that you remember this so that you're not crashing hard 24 hours after it starts. To help you newbies out there, here are 15 great survival tips from some of our favorite Comic-Con veterans.
1. Breakfast. Eat it.
"For five consecutive days, you will feel like you are running late to something extremely important, and you will sense the line you are supposed to be standing in getting longer with each passing minute. That's unavoidable. But do yourself a favor and make sure to eat something substantial at the start of each day. It will carry you to dinner, because the day will fly by in the blink of an eye. But if you skip breakfast, all you will think about during your important panel/interview/presentation is how hungry you are." -- Sean O'Connell, Cinemablend
2. Pace yourself!
"Pace yourself! Skip the panels you can read about/see pics from online, i.e. toy companies etc. Don't be afraid to miss Hall H. I've skipped it the last 6 yrs and it actually felt good. For me it's all about the people & the unique experiences. For me, it's much more enjoyable to go with the flow of the day than sticking to a rigid schedule. It's far more stress free and refreshing than hitting that wall Saturday or feeling fatigued / rundown." -- Kyle Newman, Director (Barely Lethal, Fanboys)
3. Don't forget your deodorant
4. Master the Hall H line
"Don't get too nervous if you see the line superlong overnight. Security doesn't completely fill the lawn section until like 8 or 9 a.m. each day. If that hasn't happened yet, odds are no matter where you are in line, you'll be okay. If they condense and you still don't find yourself on the lawn, that's the time to get worried. Early in the day, the lawn means you're in." -- Germain Lussier, io9
5. Water, protein bar and phone charger
"Always have a water, a protein bar, a phone charger and a pair of comfortable shoes at the ready! And you might want to bring some portable body spray - to refresh in between mayhem, panels and madness!" -- Roth Cornet, IGN
6. Reward those less fortunate... with Twinkies
"I try to walk the Hall H line late on Friday night giving out Twinkies and reminding myself to be thankful I have a VIP pass." -- Duncan Jones, Director (Warcraft, Source Code)
7. Work that bathroom pass
"Camping out in Hall H all day? Grab a bathroom pass to duck out during panels and grab some refreshments or recharge your phone. Just slip back in before the panel ends -- the passes switch out with each one." -- Angie Han, Slashfilm
8. Always have a backup plan
"No matter how hard you plan and schedule everything, something’s going to change—you won’t be able to get into a panel or party, your planned event will run late—and the best thing is to keep your schedule as fluid as possible so that you have something else to do rather than moping about not getting into something." -- Ed Douglas, Coming Soon
9. Bring sunscreen
"Here's one thing that most people would probably not think about when they imagine going to Comic-Con and sitting inside dark rooms for hours on end: sunscreen. For all that time spent indoors, there's equally as much time spent waiting outside in line in the hot Southern Californian sun. Spare yourself a painful sunburn and pack some SPF 30 for the trip." -- Mike Sampson, Screencrush
10. Manage your artist signings wisely
"Don't bring an entire longbox for a creator to sign. Break it up over several days or visits! It puts the creator and crowd in tough spot!" -- Rob Liefeld, creator of Deadpool
11. Purell! And preserve your schedule
"...And also take a picture of your schedule with the room numbers on your phone in case you can't get on the Wi-Fi. That way you'll always know where you're going." -- Meredith Woerner, Hero Complex
12. Know your transportation options
"It can be a real pain navigating downtown San Diego, especially for out of towners, so you want to be on top of that right away. There's a really cool app called RideScout that has all your transportation options available including bus, bike, taxi, carshare, rideshare, bikeshare and walking directions all in one spot. In addition to RideScout, Car2Go will have a free DropZone close to the convention center for their 400 available cars on the streets of San Diego, making it so you won't need to find parking or pay for it. More info on that here." -- Erik Davis, Fandango
13. Protect your poster purchases
14. Wanna party? Dress to impress
"I have a tip for those who want to get into Comic-Con parties -- bring a blazer and especially pants. You'd be surprised how many folks show up at the door in cargo shorts, flip-flops and those ugly mandals. That's the best SDCC survival tip I can give because half of getting into parties is being properly dressed." -- Umberto Gonzalez (aka El Mayimbe), Heroic Hollywood
15. Have fun!
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Batman v Superman, X-Men: Apocalypse, Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- it's our complete 2015 Comic-Con preview!
