Tag: Anaheim

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A round, flying-saucer-shaped building on a bright sunny day, flanked with palm trees.This year’s Worldcon, LAcon V in Los Angeles (well, Anaheim), felt small. And it wasn’t just comparing to older cons like Chicon 7 (2012) and LAcon IV (2006). I don’t know how much of it was that we only went on Sunday (the last Sunday in August), and how much of it was that the section of the convention center they booked was just way too big for the number of attendees, but I gather from what I’ve heard that it was in fact comparatively small for a Worldcon. (It’s also been suggested that some people who ordinarily would have traveled internationally to attend figured it might not be worth the risk.) I don’t know how anyone managed to catch Covid there.

At least the lines for the food trucks were short.

A world-weary woman in jeans, leather jacket, and bloodstained tank top with a stab hole through it, standing next to a cat-shaped creature (prop, not real) made of dried vines, leaves and thorns with a pair of glowing yellow eyes.I mentioned in the post about Katie’s October Daye cosplay that this was our first con since 2019. It was also our first general sci-fi/fantasy con in ages. More bookish, skewing older than comic cons, less cosplay. (There was more cosplay at the Undertale concert we went to on Friday the same weekend. A lot more.) Katie went to several panels on writing and worldbuilding, and I made sure to catch the Murderbot book-to-TV panel.

A sculpture of mirrors and LED strip lights, in the form of a hypercube tesseract, reflecting itself on and on forever.The teenager made a beeline for the video game room, only to discover that it was one person promoting his own games (which at least were interesting), a handful of old game consoles, and another person keeping track of a library of cartridges you could check out. It was cool to try out the old consoles, but the novelty wore off pretty quickly since the sparse attendence meant there wasn’t anyone to play the games with except when I joined him there. The other cool thing he found was an electronics workshop with circuit boards shaped like (among other things) caffeine and theobromine (chocolate) molecules, with LEDs and soldering stations where you could attach the LEDs yourself.

Looking down at the atrium of a hotel lobby. Ringed lights rise above a bar in the center, surrounded by cushy seating areas. A couple of balconies are visible along the inner walls and a staircase or escalator climbs diagonally across the far side.The con was split between the Hilton (which has been there forever) and the newest section of the convention center, next to the classic flying-saucer arena. (I think it was under construction the last time we were here for WonderCon.) Stylisticaly it looks like the expansion built in the 2000s: A curved full-height lobby with floor-to-ceiling windows, a lower level for general space, and an upper level. The difference is that the upper level is also big enough for general space, with portable walls to create breakout conference rooms. This meant even the hallways were gigantic, contributing to the feeling that, as Katie put it, the people were rattling around in a space too big for them.

6-foot-high scaffolding for a marble run.I had a few other panels that I was sort of interested in, but decided to prioritize going through the entire art show and making at least a single pass through the dealer’s room. I don’t regret that decision, because it meant I got to take my time really looking at the art. I didn’t buy much – a handful of books by guests and Hugo nominees, some stickers, a tote bag. They were out of T-shirts in most sizes, so I didn’t get the one they were selling onsite. (I bought the other design online afterward.)

Katie met up with one of her friends, and a family friend I hadn’t seen in years turned out to be helping run registration. Otherwise we didn’t run into anyone we know this time.

The only book I brought for autographs was Good Omens (the Ineffable Graphic Novel), because I hadn’t make time to look through the guest list. Instead, I hastily tossed stuff in my backpack the morning of the con while Katie splashed fake blood on herself for her costume. I remembered Colleen Doran was there, and figured anyone else doing signings I could probably buy something at the con. Most of Sunday’s signings were authors or artists I didn’t know, but I did manage to find Doran’s booth toward the end of the afternoon!

Photo Gallery on Flickr

A round building in the foreground, and a wavy-looking glass building in the background, with palm frons reaching down from the top of the frame.

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The Beat’s offhand mention of Anaheim GardenWalk got me curious and I went looking around for more info on the mall’s current status. The last few times I’ve been there, it’s been practically a ghost town: behind the anchor restaurants out front, there were a handful of stores, then nothing, nothing, more nothing, and finally a movie theater way at the back and a Johnny Rockets that probably only stuck it out because it was so close to the theater. (The mall opened in 2008 — very bad timing — and never recovered.)

Apparently they’re trying to reinvent it as a restaurant/entertainment hub, with House of Blues moving over from Downtown Disney and more luxury hotels. (What is it with the luxury hotels?) Edit: I think I’ve been to the old location a half-dozen times, and it did suffer from sightline issues and crowding. They’re taking over part of the movie theater at Garden Walk to build the new venue, which will be bigger, add some seating areas in addition to the standing room, and have some of the side spaces as well. I think the HoB has a better shot than the rest of the mall, honestly.

So I’m not convinced, but if it works out, it could benefit WonderCon next year. It’s not a super-long walk (except in hot weather), and if they have a shuttle for parking like last year, it would make it even easier to get to.

From a comment at The Beat’s article on the Guardians of the Galaxy ride opening at Disney’s California Adventure.

2026 Update: I haven’t been back in ages, probably not since the last WonderCon I attended in 2019 (if then). But the mall’s still there, and the House of Blues at the back and anchor restaurants at the front are still open. There are still a lot of empty spaces on the map, though, especially on the upper level. Johnny Rocket’s apparently is still there, which I think makes it the only restaurant to have closed at Del Amp and stayed open at Garden Walk.

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As of last weekend, I’ve been to more WonderCons in Anaheim than San Francisco, and more with a kid in tow than without. And I’m finally at the point where I’m no longer comparing the current incarnation of the con to the previous one, and just taking it on its own terms.

(Jump to the Photo Gallery if you don’t want to read my ramblings on the con.)

Honey Lemon and Photobombers.WonderCon is still a lot like old-school San Diego Comic-Con, with the mix of various media presence but without the cattle-drive crowds. It’s the kind of con where you can find the high-profile events or guests and actually visit more than one in the same day!

The era of gigantic booth displays (other than the tower of T-shirts) seems to be over, or maybe exhibitors are saving them for the bigger cons. I was surprised that DC didn’t have a booth, since they’ve been heavily involved in WonderCon every year I’ve gone, though they provided the program cover/T-shirt as usual, hosted panels, and of course were well-represented by artists and writers.

Even without giant booths, the main floor filled most of the convention center. Artist’s Alley was probably about the same size as at SDCC, but easier to navigate. It’s a bit of a blur, actually, but I remember:

  • Looking at a lot of art
  • Comics sellers (though I only took the time to look at the discount books that were actually organized)
  • Pirate-themed devices
  • Antique keys, tools, drafting instruments and the like. (In some cases the artifacts weren’t actually that old. There was a Swiss Army Knife that looked pretty much exactly like the one I was carrying in my backpack, for instance.)
  • Tentacle Kitty!
  • Talking to several artists including: Phil Foglio, from whom I bought a Girl Genius-inspired card game; Amy Mebberson, who got a kick out of Spider-Elsa; the writer of an indie comic about airship combat with amazing artwork called Skies of Fire.
  • What is it with me and airship comics?

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This year at WonderCon (April 18-20) was the year that I missed a lot of things. It’s not at the SDCC level where you have to assume you won’t get to what you want unless you’re really lucky, or deliberately go for the less popular events. Even if you’re at the very end of a long line, or arriving five minutes before, you might still make it into the room. Mostly, I got there late two days out of three, and spent most of Saturday finding things for a three-year-old to do (more about that later).

WonderCon is settling in at Anaheim. The crowds are coming even on Friday, and parking…well, it’s not perfect, but it’s better than the first year, when they sent people out to Anaheim Stadium for overflow, and a lot simpler than San Diego’s collection of dozens of tiny parking lots scattered around downtown. After the first day following signs from lot to lot to lot, I just went straight to the Garden Walk structure for the next two days. It’s a bit of a hike, but not much worse than parking at the far end of the Toy Story lot, and the time you save waiting to get into the lot will probably make up for the extra 5-10 minutes on foot. (But if you leave the con before sunset, make sure you walk out to Katella along the convention center, where there’s shade, and not along Harbor, where there’s a wide street to let the sun reach you and a wall to reflect the heat right at you.) Continue reading →

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Lights strung across an empty walkway past empty windows.

During Wondercon I discovered that Anaheim Garden Walk is even emptier than I remembered it. This used to be the third-floor food court. There’s nothing there anymore.

The outdoor mall had the misfortune to open just before the recession hit, too close to Disneyland to attract locals and too far to attract tourists. It never completely filled in, and as old stores leave, new ones don’t seem to be taking their places. I’ve only been there a few times, mainly when I happen to be in the area for something else (like a convention) and it’s been odd and kind of sad to watch it slowly empty out.

It’s not completely abandoned like, say, the Hawthorne Mall. From the street, you’d never know there was a problem. The front is packed with chain restaurants like California Pizza Kitchen, P.F. Chang’s and Bubba Gump Shrimp, all of which seem to be doing well, or at least they were busy during Wondercon. Behind them, the main floor of the mall only has a handful of stores. There are a few clothing stores and a tourist welcome center. Almost every storefront is walled off.

Here’s a shot from 2010. Note that there’s only one open restaurant in the photo. It’s not there anymore.

Anaheim Garden Walk in 2010. The one restaurant open in this photo isn't there anymore.

The top floor is just eerie, especially at night. When I grabbed lunch during Wizard World’s 2010 Anaheim Comic Con, they had several mid-range restaurants and a half-full food court. That’s all gone. There’s one bar and grill, which seemed to be doing well enough during the convention, but you really have to know it’s there. And then there’s a Johnny Rockets waaaaay at the back, which I imagine is only hanging on by being next to the movie theater. Otherwise, no one would go back there.

What makes it especially eerie is that the place is so well-maintained. It’s clean, well-lit, even decoratively lit. The walls are the same temporary walls put up when any other mall has an empty storefront or two, they’re just everywhere. It reminds me a little of the southernmost part of Irvine Spectrum when that section first opened, before many stores moved in…except that was part of a larger mall that was actually occupied.

It looks a LOT like the outdoor parts of the Del Amo mall…but if you stand up on the walkway outside the theater and look down, instead of a bustling courtyard with people milling around the fountain and walking in and out of stores, you’ll see an empty courtyard with flat walls.

Garden Walk Empty Courtyard

On the plus side, they did build a parking structure big enough for a full mall, which means that it’s available for event parking. Of course, even the parking structure is unfinished. I took this photo four years ago, and the top floor still looks like this — chain link, sandbags, exposed rebar and all.

Unfinished Parking

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WonderCon has officially announced that they’re returning to Anaheim in 2014 for a third year, from April 18-20. It’s turned out to be a good venue for the convention, especially if they can work the remaining kinks out of parking next year, and it means it’s easy for us to attend, since it’s close enough for us to commute. (That really takes some of the pressure off of trying to get tickets for San Diego, too.)

Still, I hope they find a way to move back to the Bay Area soon. I attended three years at the Moscone Center when it meant traveling (it probably helps that we have family and friends in the area to visit on the way up and back), and while the show still feels very much like part of the same family, it does feel like a slightly different show. I was in San Francisco on a business trip last week, and when I realized I was in the neighborhood, I just had to stop by Yerba Buena park and the Moscone Center for old time’s sake. Continue reading →

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Outside WonderCon 2013 at the Anaheim Convention Center

WonderCon 2013 returned to Anaheim after last year’s experiment, and the event felt more solid this year. As much as I hope they’ll be able to return to San Francisco, they’ve shown that they can put on a really good convention in Anaheim as well.

The Anaheim Venue

Since last year, the Anaheim Convention Center has replaced a long driveway between hotels with an extended pedestrian area, with fountains at either end. This turned out to be fantastic for the convention, because it gave people a place to hang out, visit, hold photo shoots, and more. This was also where five food trucks set up shop to handle the lunch rush, which added not just supply but more variety. Compare to San Diego, where most exits from the convention center make you cross a driveway, a major street, and two sets of railroad tracks, one for freight and one for the trolley, before you get to any sort of open space, and even that has been co-opted by off-site events.

Another difference from San Diego: The sections of the main hall are separated by permanent walls, including the food courts…and as I discovered on Friday, an atrium. That atrium was a bit of a shock the first time I walked into it, because it gave me an overwhelming sense of deja vu, like I’d just walked out of WonderCon 2013 and into WorldCon 1996. I could swear it’s left over from before the major remodeling they did in the late 1990s.

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