Introduction
The Anaheim Convention Center held WonderCon for 2024 from March 29 to 31, 2024, a comic book fan convention by Comic-Con International, based in San Diego, who also organizes San Diego Comic-Con. WonderCon featured exhibitors ranging from comic book retailers of cheap and/or high-graded books, independent publishers, artists selling their art, collectible manufacturers & retailers, and comic book studios. Along with programs about comics, TV shows, movies, the production process for those mediums, and more. There were separate areas for card & table games, along with video screening of Japanese anime, TV shows, and movies.
I went to 2022 & 2023 shows with my own attendee coverage. It was mellow for the 2022 first year back from the 2020 closures, perfect for someone’s first convention, like for me, and I was hooked on going to conventions. Last year, 2023 was so much bigger and had a lot more attendees, exhibitors, and panels. After doing coverage of WonderCon 2023, outside of San Diego Comic Con in 2023, and press pass for DesignerCon and Travel & Adventure Show, and I am excited, to announce I received a press pass for WonderCon! I still have to work in the morning on the convention dates, at least I will be there after work on Friday & Saturday at 3 pm. However, festivities end at 4 pm on Sunday, so I can’t do any coverage that day. Sunday also happens to be Easter anyways.
Badge prices for Friday were $47, Saturday was $57, and Sunday was $40, along with an eye-watering $15 badge processing fee! Badge replacement was $15, which I will talk about later.
History of WonderCon
How did WonderCon come to be? What is now WonderCon started in 1987 in Oakland Convention Center in Oakland, CA by a comic retailer, John Barrett, with a comic book convention called “The Wonderful World of Comics Convention”, then a few years later, shortened to “WonderCon”. The Oakland Convention Center currently has over 100,000 sq. ft. of event space, which probably was smaller at the time.
Then in 2002, the show was gaining much popularity, then Mr. Barrett gave the management of the show to Comic-Con International, which moved the show to the much bigger Moscone Center in San Francisco. Then the show landed in Anaheim in 2012 due to construction at Moscone Center. According to Moscone Center’s website, their current exhibit space is 860,000 square feet vs. Anaheim’s 1,800,000 square feet in total of all spaces & the arena, probably making the move permanent due to space constraints & popularity of the show.
In 2016, due to the expansion of the Anaheim Convention Center to get to the modern-day 1.8 million sq ft, it was moved to the 720,000 square feet Los Angeles Convention Center for that year only, then moved back to Anaheim thereafter thanks to the size expansion, making it 2.5 times bigger than the LACC, LA will never get WonderCon back now.
| City | Rounded Square Footage of Event Space | Exhibit Hall Space |
| Oakland | 100,000 | 64,000 |
| Sacramento: Comparison | 240,000 | 160,000 |
| Long Beach: Comparison. | 400,000 | 224,000 |
| Los Angeles | 878,600 | 767,500 |
| San Francisco: Moscone Center | 860,000 | 581,000 |
| Anaheim | 1,800,000 | 1,041,700 |
| San Diego | 2,600,000 | 525,700 |
| Las Vegas | 4,600,000 | 1,940,600 |
Comparing WonderCon to San Diego Comic-Con
WonderCon is related to San Diego Comic-Con as it is run by the same company, Comic-Con International. WonderCon is the little sibling to San Diego Comic-Con at the San Diego Convention Center, with 2,600,000 square feet of space with many of the festivities spilling out into the adjacent waterfront areas and hotel event spaces. I have gone to outside of SDCC in 2023 with the outside festivities and sponsored areas you can check out in the downtown San Diego area, which I did last year to take in the fun & chaos. For 2024, I was lucky to get a badge and finally see the convention space, programs, and vendors. Talking to some of the WonderCon attendees & vendors, they all pretty much said SDCC has become one giant media industry advertising campaign with long lines for everything, while WonderCon is smaller & is actually about the artists, you can easily meet & greet artists, and plenty of seating at programs.
Below are examples from outside of San Diego Comic Con.
Media Application Process
I have been writing for my Southern California tourism via transit blog, AntSolTravel.com, for over a year and it helps give me legitimacy when applying for press coverage for conventions. Especially with these unnecessarily long articles yet insightful articles I write. However, I am not a verified member of the press with any press agency. Thankfully, most conventions are okay to have a website blog as your point of publishing, which I prefer to do when writing about conventions. That was good enough for Comic-Con International to give me a press pass for WonderCon.
Applications for press coverage for WonderCon & San Diego Comic-Con 2024 were opened on November 9, 2023, so I applied immediately during then. However, it requires a press assignment letter, to show that I am assigned by my agency to cover WonderCon and SDCC, which was signed off by my “manager”, which was signed off by my parents. Then I submitted as I am the point of contact myself to allocate the press badge of one, if approved. The names of the press had to be assigned when applying, so I could not have invited unless they knew they wanted to come along. I ended up only with a WonderCon press pass, which was fine since I was lucky enough to get a one day badge for SDCC this year. Maybe next year I could be the press at San Diego Comic-Con, we will have to see.
Thursday March 28: Checking In & Badge Pick Up
On March 28, there was a setup and badge pickup day for WonderCon. I worked at one of the hotels near the Anaheim Convention Center, so we had plenty of returning vendors & attendees staying with us. As I welcomed them back, I also welcomed some of the first time attendees as well. At the end of my work day, I clocked out and headed to the Anaheim Convention Center Hall D to pick up my press badge.
In Hall D, it was purely for badge pick up with long tables of eager volunteers to get attendees their badges and booths for press, presenters, vendors, media, purchasing an attendee badge on site, and more. At the press booth, the volunteer asked for my name & agency I worked with, crossed my name off the media list, and verified me with my drivers license. Then she gave me my pre printed badge, along with a bag with the WonderCon program. I was excited to finally be the press at WonderCon, the first comic book convention I went to back in 2022, which has now come full circle to be a member of the press two years later. Since I picked up my badge, I did not need to wait in line to pick up my badge on the convention days, if I did not forget at home the next day.
Heading back outside, barricades, security, and food truck area seating was getting set up in the Grand Plaza between the Marriott and Hilton. On the outside of the Anaheim Convention Center, there was a huge banner advertising a movie last year. Thankfully, this year is only just WonderCon!
Advertisements on the program bag, program insert, and on the badge were all for the Comic Con Museum at San Diego’s Balboa Park, which I have been to back in 2022. At the time, it featured exhibits about popular culture. Such as the Archie comics, Star Trek, Pac-Man arcade games, the Rocketeer, and more. Exhibits rotate on a regular basis to keep things fresh for members and returning visitors. They also have an event space to hold events and even workshops for people to create their creative project.
After badge pick up, I headed back to the apartment and ran errands as I would be too busy to do errands on the convention day.
Downtown Disney’s Hulu Activation
Disney Parks Blog posted earlier that day that there is a Hulu activation at Downtown Disney during WonderCon. Coincidence? I think not! With Disney buying out Comcast’s piece of Hulu in 2023, Disney now fully owns Hulu streaming platform. To celebrate the full acquisition during what happens to be during WonderCon, is “Hulu on Disney+ Celebration”, an activation or called sponsored activities, featuring photo ops. for shows like Futurama, Golden Girls, and Abbott Elementary. There were bands, DJs, lawn games, and specialty cocktails in the evening. It ran March 28 to April 2, which was during WonderCon. What is this San Diego Comic Con?
When I went to Disneyland on April 2, I took pictures of the photo ops. and a terrible selfie with the Futurama photo display.
What’s an Activation?
Want your company to leave an impression on the impressionable general public with an immersive engaging experience at a convention? That’s a marketing activation, according to the Customer Data Platform Resource. Outside of San Diego Comic-Con, it was pretty much filled with activations as things to do so paying and non attendees can be like “wow, this is so cool, I definitely want to buy their products or services”.
———-
Friday March 29: First Day of WonderCon & I Forgot My Badge
Bright eyed and ready for work at 6:30 am, I wore my regular guest service uniform of a gray jacket, slacks, and blue dress shirt for work. I brought along my messenger bag and a change of navy blue polo & khaki slacks for when I would change after work to go to WonderCon. However, the one thing I forgot to bring was my WonderCon badge on my apartment’s kitchen table. Why did I not throw in my messenger bag the night before? I forgot to do so that night and was running late to work. Now I have the dread for the badge replacement fees for the whole work day, which I did not know at the time. It should not cost too much, right?
Through the work day, I checked in primarily attendees coming for WonderCon for the weekend. Thankfully, living nearby and working right by the Anaheim Convention Center means I don’t have to stay overnight or drive back super far at night, which attendees outside of the Anaheim area have to contend with if they should drive back or stay overnight. If I want to splurge, see if any other hotels in the chain brands still have their employee discount availability for that night.
WonderCon Badge Replacement
After work, I changed from my work clothes to my polo & khakis and headed to the Anaheim Convention Center. I did not realize that the Grand Plaza, the plaza between the convention center, the Anaheim Marriott & Hilton Anaheim, had security checkpoints so no random person just comes in without a badge and I had to show my email confirmation for my press pass at each checkpoint before getting to Hall D to get my replacement badge.
At Hall D, if you lose or forgot your badge the following day like I did, you can go to the badge resolution booth and ask them to reprint the badge for a $15 fee to pay for the reprint of the badge, along with the badge holder & lanyard.
My First Stroll Around the Exhibit Hall
After getting my replacement badge, I did my first walk around the exhibit hall floor with many vendors & exhibitors. All the halls had vendors exhibitors showcasing their wares, from comic book shops, collectibles, books stores, cosplay, custom t-shirts, art, figurines, and more. Hall A had small press book publishers, author signings, and WonderCon merchandise store by Fanatics. Hall B had fan clubs, including R2-D2 Droid Builders Club. Hall C had the game tables to learn about how to play card & board games, and the artists alley for small-time artists to showcase their artwork for sale. Nothing caught my eye on Friday, maybe on Saturday. At 4 pm, it was time to go to my first program of the day.
Program Panel: Comic Con Museum
My first program was about the Comic Con Museum. Opened in 2021, the Comic-Con Museum was opened to showcase that popular arts can be a fine art. It took over the former Hall of Champions Museum sports museum in San Diego’s Balboa Park. The museum is an expansive and impressive place to showcase works in popular culture and the process by the artist. They have held twenty two exhibitions featuring a few of the artists who were at the panel.
The panel featured Colleen Dorean, who illustrated Chivalry graphic novels & many comic books, her exhibit is wrapping up this month. John Jennings, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of California at Riverside, who will have an exhibit at the Comic-Con Museum about his works and his collaborations. Charles Glaubitz, a graphic book artist from Tijuana who is preparing an exhibit Artistas Del Cómic de Tijuana, an exhibition featuring works of artists from Tijuana. Both John Jennings & Artistas Del Cómic de Tijuana are set to open on May 9.
The San Diego Comic Con Museum has an education center with school in the park events and their maker space. This helps the Comic Con Museum to lead the way in education in Balboa Park.
Coming soon to the Comic Con Museum is Betty Boop, the first female human animated character. She was presented as a celebration of the womanhood of the 1930s, however, was considered indecent in some aspects. After that, her personality went away. Paramount bought her back in the 50s and continues along with the brand. The exhibit features collectibles, art, and statues of her.
Program Panel: The Music of Avatar the Last Airbender
The second program I went to was about the music of the Avatar the Last Airbender animated series and Netflix live action adaptation, featuring their respective composers. The original series was composed by Jeremy Zuckerman and Takeshi Furukawa was the composer for the live action adaptation. When Jeremy was working on the series, he experimented with various instruments & digital MIDI instruments to see what would work. Instruments are used for characters & situations, not tied to any nation. When Takeshi was tasked with the live action over twenty years later, some original music files could not be retrieved, so he used a classical orchestra for much of the music to fill in the music gaps.
After the Exhibit Hall Hours
After the program, it was 8 pm, and the exhibit hall closed up for the day. Food trucks were getting ready to close up for the day and waiting for the last minute attendees to get their dinner. Attendees can still go to the Hilton Anaheim to watch anime screenings and play board & card games.
—
Food & Beverage
To keep everyone fed, the Anaheim Convention Center deployed all of their concession stands in the exhibit hall and bought Food Truck Smackdown’s network of food trucks to bring a variety of food for everyone.
The Food Truck Smackdown’s network of food trucks had sixteen trucks in the Grand Plaza with table for attendees to sit and eat at. For dinner, I went to truck, &Fish, a fish food truck. I had their loaded mahi mahi fish burrito loaded with rice, corn, and beans. It was delicious and tasted like a mahi mahi taco but bulked up into a burrito, which filled me up for the rest of the night.
I did not get anything from the exhibit hall concession stands, however, they had all of the stands open with plenty of tables to sit & eat at. The main stands had pizza, chicken strips, sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, pretzels, and more. There were snack carts dotted around the halls from coffee, lemonade, cotton candy, nachos, and more. Between the concession stands in the food trucks, there were plenty of options for everyone. However, there weren’t any vegan food trucks. Sorry, vegans, you need to bring your own food.
How will the WonderCon attendees fair with the rain tomorrow? Check back tomorrow starting at 3:30 pm tomorrow for more continuing coverage of WonderCon. Here on AntSol Travel!
———-
Day 2: Rain, Please Go Away! A Rainy WonderCon
When I headed to work at 6AM, a rain storm system was hitting Southern California the next two days, unfortunately it was during Saturday & Sunday of WonderCon. Rain storms were scattered with heavy rain cells that downpored occasionally throughout the day. Radar on the Weather Channel indicated that it would stop after noon, so we have to see.
Updating My Coworkers About WonderCon
Many of my coworkers at the hotel don’t have time or full interest to go to fan conventions like I do, that is partly why I started blogging about my adventures around Southern California, area news, updates to Disneyland & surrounding theme parks, and conventions, so they are up to date about the area & live vicariously through my writing on my blogging adventures. This gave rise to AntSolTravel.com and the updates I post on our Microsoft Teams chat called, Anaheim Resort Updates.
When my coworkers saw my WonderCon Day 1 post was published on the chat, some of them were excited to read my updates when they were not actively helping a guest. Since many of them did not have time to go to WonderCon, the updates got them up to speed about the convention. I am just doing my duty as a member of the press.
Blogging has certainly improved my research & writing skills over time as I now post on my Instagram Story to outline my adventures and then expand upon in my Google Docs documents. Some places & conventions I have writer’s block and just don’t want to write about, or writing just flows naturally, for this case, WonderCon!
Off to WonderCon Day 2
At the end of my work day, I changed to my polo, khakis, & a light jacket if it rains, and then went to the Anaheim Convention Center. At 3:30 pm, rain was scattered, but stopped for a bit. Food trucks in the Grand Plaza all had pop up tents so their customers won’t get rained on while waiting in line or waiting for their food. Right when I got to the fountain, it started to rain, forcing all the cosplayers to take their photoshoots inside the convention hall foyer.
How many times do you need to check my badge, Again?
From the Grand Plaza to the entrance of the exhibit hall, there were contracted security personnel checking if each person coming through had a badge. There were two sets of guards in the plaza, one set at the convention center doors, and then a final set at the exhibit hall doors, all making sure no random person could slide into the convention without buying a badge. This disappointed some of my coworkers who wanted to run over to get lunch at the food trucks and cannot for this weekend. Usually, larger the convention, the more security personnel and more stringent badge access they require, especially fan conventions like WonderCon and VidCon. If you are going to pick up your badge and enter via hotels off of Harbor Boulevard, you have to show the security personnel your confirmation email and will direct you to Hall D to pick up your badge. After showing my badge to security four times to enter the exhibit hall, I went inside to see if I still wanted to buy anything or see any cool exhibitors.
R2-D2 Builders Club
One interesting exhibitor I found was the R2-D2 Builders Club & other droid builders clubs, where people recreate their droids from scratch from the Star Wars franchise. They even had a program that was starting at 5 pm, which I was excited about when I found out about the panel program. After wandering the hall a bit more, it was time to learn about building a droid.
——-
Program Panel: “How to Build Your Own Droid” by the R2 Builders Club
Do you love Star Wars droids and want to build one yourself, but don’t know where to start? You can join the R2 Builders Club, a group of passionate droid builders enthusiasts who made many droids from scratch and can provide advice on building your first and hopefully, many droids thereafter.
The panel featured the more experienced members of the club, Victor Franco, William Miyamoto, Michael McMaster, Chris Romines, and Mike Senna. Each made a droid that had a cameo in the Star Wars Disney+ series, so you know what they are talking about. However, this is a serious hobby for them, they all have day jobs, and build on their leisure time. They also take their completed droids to club display days like WonderCon to showcase their droids & promote the club.
You can check out their website, astromech.net, to take a look at what is needed to build your own droid.
My Perfect Art Print Purchase
After the program, I wanted to find the right purchase in the exhibit hall. I circled around the exhibit hall yesterday and today to see if any of the vendors had anything in my interest. I mostly was looking for a poster print for my travel wall that looked like a travel poster that promoted a place inside a video game, TV show, or movie that I liked. One that caught my eye was by Kristi “Smearg” Ruiz, a print that was inspired by Pokemon Legends Arceus. It shows the female protagonist, Akari, on the back of a Wyrdeer, a snow deer like Pokemon. They stop at the lakeside of Lake Verity as Akari looks out to the island in the middle of the lake with a mysterious pokemon on top of the island cave. It was a perfect addition for my travel wall! Kristi did an amazing piece. After I purchased the print, I headed out of the convention center for the day.
Back at the Grand Plaza, it was 6:30 pm, the hall was going to close in thirty minutes, so I got ready to head back to the apartment. Since the rain let up, all the cosplayers were back to take more pictures in front of the fountain.
Conclusion
With that, it is the end of my field research coverage of WonderCon! I got to see great & informative programs, see the expansive exhibit hall, and bought a great print. I can’t wait to attend San Diego Comic Con in July! Of course, WonderCon is only a fraction of the attendance, scale, and media madness of San Diego Comic Con.
AntSol Travel 
Leave a comment