Author Topic: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?  (Read 9753 times)

Offline perc2100

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #60 on: May 04, 2017, 10:24:27 AM »
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The trolley is not 24/7 during Comic-Con or any other time. The only thing that's 24/7 are the hotel shuttles.

You're correct, I misspoke.  The trolley (last year at least) ran from 4ish am until 1:15ish am (depending on the stop).  This is still GREATLY improved from BITD when it didn't run nearly as early in the morning.  I guess the days I've taken the trolley to SDCCI I didn't need to jump the trolley before 5am.  I get that's not early enough for others though

Offline perc2100

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #61 on: May 04, 2017, 10:26:00 AM »
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I stayed in Old Town last year. Easy access to the trolley, great food, etc. I definitely wouldn't mind if I got put out there again.
That's a great place to stay & really close to a HUGE transit station.  And yeah, the food is pretty awesome!

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #62 on: Today at 06:54:13 AM »

Offline perc2100

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #62 on: May 04, 2017, 10:34:31 AM »
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My first year, waaaaay back in 2003, I didn't know a darn thing about Comic-Con, so I booked the only place I could find, some cheap motel maybe 20 minutes driving distance away (up Hwy 163), with a broken toilet. Back then, you could find street parking, down Harbor Blvd over the bridge past the Convention Center. Also, back then, you could buy badges at the door as well as next year's badges in Sails Pavilion.
I'm with you!  When I first started attending SDCCI in 2000 I would park on the streets around the same area, or further.  In my mind street parking beat garage parking (certainly price-wise).  When my kid started attending with me when he was a toddler in 2005 I would do the Padres parking because it was easiest for me (at the time) to get to from the 163 & I knew it wouldn't run out of parking by the time I got down town around 8:30am.  My kid HATED the walk, so we did the CCI shuttle coming back from the convention center (which would take at least as long as walking, if not longer if you got caught waiting for a train or something).  It actually wasn't until ACE started their pre-paid parking that I started parking.  It worked out nice that when I was in my 20s I walked quite a bit from parking, hit the 30's and parked closer but with shuttle; now at 40 I'll park as close as possible (or take the trolley).

Offline Darth_Primus

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #63 on: May 09, 2017, 11:49:41 AM »
My second year attending SDCC in 2009, I stayed about 35 miles away at San Diego Central Courtyard. I had no idea about using CCI for a hotel room, so I used Expedia.  I rented a car to get to and from the convention.   It wasn't bad at all because I was able to park in the garage across from Petco Stadium and left like 7am.   I had a cooler in the car for drinks and used to the car to store items I bought.

It was $119 a night for SDCC back then. Now it's $249.


Offline joey125

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #64 on: May 10, 2017, 09:51:42 AM »
Still hoping for something near the convention center, but realizing PLAN B is probably now PLAN A. Thank you for starting this thread. I can see everyone really likes old town, but it may be all booked up? Does anyone have suggestions for the easiest places to drive from if we have to rent a vehicle?

I miss the time when I could use hotel points for the MMM and walk up to a machine after receiving my badge at registration and purchase my badge for the next year.
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Offline MickeyJack

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #65 on: May 10, 2017, 10:05:51 AM »
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Still hoping for something near the convention center, but realizing PLAN B is probably now PLAN A. Thank you for starting this thread. I can see everyone really likes old town, but it may be all booked up? Does anyone have suggestions for the easiest places to drive from if we have to rent a vehicle?

I miss the time when I could use hotel points for the MMM and walk up to a machine after receiving my badge at registration and purchase my badge for the next year.
Don't we all miss those days! I've stayed very far away, and I've stayed literally next door. I've had the whole gamut of rooms from good to bad. The room for me has always only been a place to sleep and to store stuff. I've adjusted my travel times accordingly. I honestly don't ever remember, though, ever having a bad SDCC.


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Offline frgx

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #66 on: May 10, 2017, 10:51:50 AM »
In 2008, we decided very last-minute to attend and only got Thursday and Sunday badges. So we just drove in on those days. That's a 320-mile round trip. But it was fun.  :)

Offline sylent_asassin

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #67 on: May 10, 2017, 11:04:44 AM »
Back in 2006 or 2007 (I can't recall), I stayed in El Cajon with a group of friends. Their house was up in the hills and tarantulas were just walking around like they owned the place. Between all of us, we only had one 4-day badge, so we took turns using it. This was the year when they had the Donkey Kong contest, and I got the highest score on Friday and got my name mentioned on their website with my picture and the high score.

Offline jeffa

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #68 on: May 20, 2017, 08:53:56 PM »
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Don't we all miss those days! I've stayed very far away, and I've stayed literally next door. I've had the whole gamut of rooms from good to bad. The room for me has always only been a place to sleep and to store stuff. I've adjusted my travel times accordingly. I honestly don't ever remember, though, ever having a bad SDCC.


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I too have done the whole range.

A few times I played the lottery and failed, and stayed as close to SD as I could where rates weren't Conflated and parked at Jack Buck Stadium and rode the trolley. It's pretty pleasant if you have a car and want to have extra freedom, and avoid parking downtown. I stayed as far away as Fallbrook but the total commute was a bit tiring. Last year I reserved a room in Escondido but turned it in for an MV hotel from the waitlist, but it was 3 blocks away from where the shuttle stopped. (Whether that was what was *supposed* to happen, I don't know, but the drivers were not in the mood to go the extra distance.) The room wasn't the best either, but I had no reason to spend much awake time there.

I've stayed in Mission Valley from the Comic-Con block and in hotels that didn't participate. But my big issue comes from being on the Red Line or Purple Line shuttle and having to walk down to Petco to catch the bus, especially if you're walking through the crowd from the Hall A end. That adds considerable time to the "commute" and tires the old bones, especially the year when I brought my (then) 65-year-old sister who had back issues. I learned to dread Red and Purple when I'd been on my feet in the Exhibit Hall for hours; I'd rather be pampered by curb service.

This year was another lottery fail, so I decided to try Shelter Island. Shuttle boarding should be easier for the Teal line.

But my favorite "distance" story came a few years back, when the closest I could get was Wyndham Bayside, good hotel. It is called "downtown" but isn't the nicest of walks to the CC, so it's just as much of a shuttle trip as MV. However I got a very nice email from the hotel, saying sorry they had overbooked, and they had arranged to move me to an alternate hotel and would pay the rate difference. The alternate hotel they found for me was the MMM -- Aw, golly, no apologies needed. The first night I arrived late evening and MMM was overbooked too so they put me in the Courtyard, but the rest of the stay was very pleasant for being able to stash stuff in the room and take sheltered breaks. It seems I get awfully loaded up and don't want to take a roundtrip bus or trolley ride to a hotel or car trunk just to lighten my load. Bless them for having bag check open fairly long hours now!