This was my first time at WonderCon in Anaheim (though I did go that year it was in LA) since it moved from SF. Anyway, it was good to see that the con itself was pretty much as I remember it. Great exhibit hall, interesting anime screenings, and best of all, top notch panels and screenings that (for the most part) weren't difficult to get into. There were enough panels about properties I was interested in to 2/3 of my time at the con, and enough that I didn't know but looked like they might be interesting enough to check out to fill out the remaining 1/3. Some of the smaller rooms got full but not too far ahead of time, and nothing in the Arena I went to filled up or got anywhere close to filling up (including Agents of Shield, NOS4A2, WB/Godzilla/Shazam, or either the Justice League vs. Fatal Five or Batman vs TMNT premieres). And yes, that Godzilla clip really was as awesome as everyone said it was.
The exhibitor hall itself was bigger but seems to have fewer big name booths but way more retailers. Still, there were a few big names; Toynami, UCC, Boom, etc. I picked up some Tulipop blind box figures from Toynami and found out the artist (Signy) was here so I went over to her booth and she signed them -- that was cool. The Shazam booth was cool too.
Food trucks were a nice idea and I liked the selection. The food I had from them was good...but they were grossly overpriced. I suppose that's due to the convention center charging a premium, and to be fair I guess it kept the lines down (the three times I went to a truck I never had to wait more than a few minutes.) But food choices in the immediate vicinity weren't a whole lot better -- with few exceptions (Roscoe's and Sabrosada are really the only ones that come to mind), they were either pedestrian, also overpriced, or both.
I still don't think it feels right in Anaheim. Despite how much WonderCon has going on, it still feels fairly...passive. It needs the energy of a big city to complement it. Even WonderCon in LA felt better than Anaheim. But I guess the nice part about there being little of interest in the surrounding area was that it made it easy to go back to my hotel and get a good night's rest every night. And as long as the programming stays top notch, I'll still probably keep on going.
Also, since I didn't want to pay rental fee + $20 parking per day for a car, I tried to get familiar with the OCTA. It's $2 per bus ride (no transfer discounts, although transfers were usually required since most lines primarily just run N-S or E-W) or $4.50 for a day pass if you use the app. I got in on Thursday and bought a day pass to get from the airport and make a few stops at breweries. For the most part it worked how it should and buses arrived with a few minutes of the scheduled time (and drivers were surprisingly friendly!) The main issue was that buses don't run that often--on average about once every half hour, sometimes every 15-20 min during peak hours but only once an hour off peak. And the airport line only runs once an hour all day. Since transfers were often required, this meant that you had to time them perfectly (and hope for no major delays).