Local's guide to Comic-Con 2024: Where to go without a badge
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Cosplayer Milan Nguyen as Lady Deadpool poses in the Gaslamp in 2023. Photo: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images
More than 130,000 superfans will attend Comic-Con this weekend, but for all the San Diegans who didn't land a badge, here's how to enjoy our time as the capital of pop culture.
Why it matters: The Gaslamp Quarter is going to be bedlam from Wednesday through the weekend, but if you go with a plan, there's plenty of fun to be had without stepping foot in famed Hall H.
Driving the news: Get started at Petco Park with a free installation by "Exploding Kittens," the new Netflix show from Mike Judge and Greg Daniels.
- The 20-foot "Exploding Kittens" statue, covered in flames and smoke, looms over the Petco Park Interactive Zone in a parking lot across the street from the Convention Center.
- The first 250 guests each day receive "Exploding Kittens" plushies and games.
- The Hello Kitty Cafe Truck will spend the weekend at the interactive zone, which is basically a Comic-Con-themed street fest, open 10am-5pm Thursday-Saturday and 10am-4pm Sunday.
Between the lines: The Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park is open daily, including its new "Becoming Betty Boop" exhibit. Tickets are $12-$25; kids under 6 are free.
- The San Diego Public Library has featured events throughout the week, including a virtual sketch night Tuesday, a graphic novel-making kit giveaway at the Point Loma branch, and a superhero craft project Thursday in Rancho Bernardo.
- Grab a collectable Comic-Con MTS fare card at the Transit Store downtown or at select ticket machines from Tuesday through Sunday.
Zoom in: FX will have a pop-up for "The Bear" on the lawn of the Hilton Bayfront.
- Guests will be served "daily chef's specials" of exclusive merch, and can pose for photos outside a mock-up of Paddy's Pub from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
- It runs 11am-6pm Thursday, 10am-6pm Friday and Saturday, and 11am-4pm Sunday.
The big picture: Feel free to keep it simple and watch the cosplayers on your own schedule along the closed-to-cars Gaslamp Promenade on 5th Avenue, between Broadway and K Street.
- Outdoor tables will be hard to come by, but with some persistence, you'll get a spot.
- Don't count on parking cheaply or easily. You'll have better luck parking farther away and walking, taking transit or getting a ride or taxi as near as you can.