today is Mulan dressed up as Megara. This one is not my fav, it was hard to get the colours of Mulan’s main dress to work for Meg’s dress.
The first year we went was in 2004 – I was online and had a friend on the phone to get a decent hotel room. We scored the Omni right across the street & LOVED it. The rooms were sweet, the swimming pool was awesome, and every member of the staff was friendly and very helpful (right up the manager carrying our luggage for us downstairs when he passed us in the hallway as we left.)
But our flight to San Diego was canceled the day we were leaving. We managed to RUN back to the desk and get booked another flight that was leaving in 20 minutes, but our luggage was then lost for a full day. We had to go to the zoo (which we’d planned to do for months) in the clothes we’d flown in and slept in.
So while that wasn’t the fault of Comic Con, it did put a “stain” on the trip for us.
2005 it was another struggle to get a hotel room. We DID manage to book the Omni again – BUT, my friend on the phone got the reservation about 10 minutes before they opened. We called right back because we wanted to add a day (I think that was it) and got a different person who told us we were liars and couldn’t have made a reservation because they hadn’t opened yet (I was sitting there looking at the emailed confirmation while she said this.) We had some other travel issue that year – but I can’t remember what it was now.
2006 was horrible. Once again we were online and on the phone for reservations, and the best we could get was the Marriott Gaslamp 3 blocks away – not THAT bad, but for people who like to make several room stops a day, that little hike added up.
I could have dealt with it – but the staff as the Marriott treated us like crap. I’m not going to go into it all, but I complained up the ladder til I was blue in the face and I had a free night at a Marriott of my choice afterwards.
To top it off, on our fight back, our connecting flight was completely impossible to catch. It was in a different terminal than where we landed, and you had to take a TRAM to it. We had about 10 minutes between flights. We had to be put up in a hotel that night, we were sick and homesick and just tired of the whole process.
So that’s why we’ve never really gone again. I enjoyed the con, despite the crowds (people who complain about crowds at dragoncon haven’t been in the crush at Comic Con!), and I’d like to go again… I just don’t want to have to travel or get a hotel for it! LOL.