Wondercon Day 1 - Friday

So I was up around 8am, showered and started to pack. I was hoping to get everything in one suitcase but my Hobbit clothes are so bulky (the cloak takes up most of one suitcase alone) that I had to pack everything in two suitcases. So even though I was only staying a few nights in a hotel it looked like I would be there for a few weeks.

I left my place around 9:30am, traffic was hit and miss, took me about two hours to get to Anaheim and the convention center. I was staying at the Hilton which is literally right next to the convention center so I found the self parking for the hotel and parked. I couldn't check into the hotel until 4pm. So I just grabbed my backpack and headed over to the con.

 I made my way to room E where I was to pick up my badge. As expected it was a mad house. There were people everywhere. As I made my way into room E I went to  the left side of the room for the professional badges. They had four lines, A - F, G - L, M - S, T - Z ( or something similar). The lines were super long but when I got midway down the line my friend Jarad called out my name so I joyed him. It was very confusing at first as there were four lines at the front but some how only three towards the end. Jarad and I looked around and he said to me.. I think you're suppose to be in that line.. with the guy with orange backpack. And sure enough my M - S line (which is normally the longest) was the shortest with only 10 or so people. I immediately walked passed everyone and got in that line and with in 10 minutes I had my badges for Wondercon. My buddy Jarad took almost an hour to get his badges... I got lucky.
 
After obtaining my badge I had to get into this crazy long line that went up an escalator, out the side door, wrapped around the back of the con and then folded in on itself two times before going back into the building and into the main hall. It looked pretty crazy but it actually didn't take too long to get inside.

I had gotten to the con around 11:30am and was finally actually in the main hall by 12:30pm. So all in all it wasn't that bad.

First thing I did was hook up with my buddy Brett, who got in about a half hour earlier. We walked the vendors room from beginning to end. Ran into a few friends, including Andrew, Brian K, Brian F, Jennifer, and Felicia Day.

Around 3:30 he and I headed back to my hotel to check in. I went to the parking structure and got my bags and then checked it. It was pretty painless and really quick. Brett and I went up to my room, dropped off my stuff and rested for a few minutes.

When then headed back down to the main convention hall and we ran into my friends America Young and Andrew Seely. They were with several of their friends. We joined them and took them over to the gaming area. We sat with them and chatted for about an hour or so when another friend of mine Amy Radcliffe joined us. It was so much fun seeing all these friends. Amy and I caught up for bit before Brett and I parted ways with the group and headed out to find my buddy Robert who had just arrived. We found Robert and continued to walk around the floor for a bit.

My buddy Chris was arriving from Montana tonight at 9:15pm, I got a text from him informing me that he caught an earlier flight, so he was now getting in around 8pm but his baggage was still on his original flight and wouldn't be in until 9:15pm.

He was flying into Santa Ana airport which is about 30 minutes away from the con so we (Robert, Brett and I) left around 7:15pm for the airport. Got there around 7:45pm and parked (that was an adventure all into itself). We waited for his plane to land and shortly after he was walking up to us. It was awesome seeing him. I haven't seen him since my visit to Montana last December. So it's been about three months and I miss him so much.

Of course we still had an hour to wait for his luggage so we went to a local El Torito for some dinner. It was a fun dinner, service was kind of slow and everyone was starving but the company was fantastic. We got back to the airport around 9:30pm, picked up his bag and then headed back to the hotel/con. When we got there we said our goodbyes to Brett and our hellos Aaron, Rachelle, Anne, Nicki, Brian K, Brian F, Rachel, Jen and Kim who were all there to welcome Chris to the con. We got some drinks down in the hotel bar and found a place to sit and chat.

Around 12:30am I called it a night since I had to be up early in the morning to Hobbit-fy myself. Shortly after Robert, then Chris and Aaron showed up. The four of us were sharing a hotel room. We got into our Pj's and went to bed.

Overall day one of Wondercon was a blast. I got to hang with good friends, see the return of my best friend, and be surround by a ton of nerds and geeks.. it doesn't get much better then that. Tomorrow it's HOBBIT TIME!!!!

You can see more con pictures HERE