Taking kids to Comicon - a newbie's thoughts

So. You want to take your kids to Comicon. Here's how to do it.

DON'T!!

Ah, no, just kidding. The kids were really the best part. Seeing their reaction to all the people in costume was as good as Disneyland. Seriously.

So, what we did that worked:

(Edited 5/7/2013 to add:

• Wear comfortable shoes. Want to dress up like Jessica Rabbit? Forgo the heels. Find a pair of sensible red flats. They can still be fabulous. Or better yet? Red Converse. Converse make every outfit just a tiny bit cooler.
• If there are actors, writers, artists, etc. that you are interested in, research their previous Comicon appearances. If they are anything like John Barrowman or Wil Wheaton, you WILL want to have your picture taken with them if the opportunity presents itself.
• As I stress later, with kids in tow, unless they are mindless zombies, newborns that sleep 20 hours a day, or those rare magical angels who are always compliant, it is possible that you will pay for your photo-op, get into the ridiculous line, and then watch your child have a total meltdown. Be flexible. Find out if refunds are available if you are unable to do the photoop. 
• With all that stated, have fun with it! Some of these guys are NUTS, and it will be SQUEEE! worthy to have a picture of you with Captain Jack leering at you, grabbing your ass, or hell, you grabbing his. How often do you get to grab John Barrowman's ass?
• HOWEVER- not all people taking photos will allow you to grab their ass. Hence the "Do your research" statement above.
• On second thought, I would not grab anyone's ass unless you have a signed, notarized document indemnifying you from all future legal action.
• Maybe that's just the lawyer in me. Or the skeptic.)

• Bring food. I don't know how it works in other cities, but in Phoenix, the food that was available at the convention center was overpriced, crummy and hard to get (crowded). Except for frozen yogurt on two occasions, we mainly ate what we brought. We didn't really plan well, or rather, I didn't follow through on my plan well, but what was needed was:
• Water bottles. There were water coolers all over the place. I lugged a ton of water and Vitamin Water with me, and I'm not sure that was necessary. It was nice to have the Vitamin Water for the flavor, but I think we could have made do with water from the coolers, and had less to carry. Since so many drink makers now have those little portable flavor packets, maybe pack some of those for some variety.
• Peanut butter sandwiches in non-squashable containers. For my kids, a necessity. Take your pick on something substantial that doesn't weigh a lot but that will fill everyone up and pack it up. Make sure it won't get squashed if it's rolling around in a bag or backpack that is getting thrown all over the place, because your bags WILL get thrown all over the place.
• Granola bars, protein bars, LARA bars, etc- These were the easiest, most sensible thing to bring. I will admit to being very sick of LARA bars after the fourth day, but they did the job.
• If you can, stay at the host hotels.
• I know this isn't feasible for most people, but if you can, you've got a place to run to for a quick rest, quick shower, quick dip in the pool. You will need it after a few hours in the morning, and you will be refreshed for the afternoon/evening.
• If you cannot, still try to figure out some time and a place to get away from it all and REST. Seriously, this is full sensory overload on every possible level. Go somewhere else for lunch. Find a quiet place to read a book with your kids (load books onto your phone if you need to). Many of the rooms are empty every now and then- grab one of them for fifteen minutes.
• Do it ALL! 
• Ok, this worked for *us*, but truthfully, probably not for most people. We did all four days, in a fashion, because we needed to. We needed the escape. Possibly for our first time, just one or two, maybe three days would have been better. But I will say that there were things every single day that I can't imagine missing out on, so I would not do it any differently.
• Plan ahead!
• Phoenix Comicon has a brilliant app called Conquest, where you could look at all the panels, parties, etc. and add them to your schedule. It didn't occur to me at first to double-, triple-, and quadruple- book, so at first I was trying to decide between several panels or groups or whatever that appealed. Then I decided- screw it, I'm just adding them all, I'll decide when we get there. That ended up being the most brilliant idea, because a vital key to doing Comicon with kids is:
• BE FLEXIBLE
• Unless your kids are cyborgs that you have programmed to be perfectly compliant, chances are they are going to do one or more (or all) of the following: get tired, get hungry, get thirsty, get angry, decide they MUST have a balloon animal even if the line is 50 people deep, get sad, refuse to leave Captain America's side, get scared, have a meltdown, have an epic meltdown, run away, steal a Dalek, undress in public, scream loudly at inappropriate times, pull a fire alarm, regenerate into the 12th Doctor.
• Because of the above, you kind of have to go with the flow. Really wanted to see John Barrowman's panel, where he ended up hopping for joy, flashing his Batman underwear, and twerking?  Bummer. The kids wouldn't get dressed. (Looks like Captain Jack had the opposite problem...)

• But you know what? Because we missed that panel, we were able to go to the kid's fashion show (because the kids did, eventually, get dressed), which ended up being one of our favorite bits of the weekend. So it just goes to show - double, triple, quadruple book, you never know when you might need something different to do.

    

• Dress up
 




• I won't take a guess at the percentage of people who dress up. But it is high. And you know what? It is fun! Not just for the kids, but for everyone. Plan a little, be clever. Do some research. Be a little different. Help your kids with their costumes. Encourage them to be in character. Call them by their character names. Have fun with it. 
• Ask people if they will take photos with your kids/you. You will see crazy, awesome costumes. Most people are pretty proud of what they've come up with, and the really dedicated ones know they will be asked for photos. So be polite, ask. I wasn't turned down once. We got great pictures. If you want to take a picture of someone by themselves, if you can, ask. Especially if it's a kid.
•  

  

  Yes, that *is* an 8-foot tall Wookie. Seriously, you had to see it to believe it.

• Talk to the Super Heroes!
• If your kids have any interest at all in super heroes, find them and talk to them. As far as I can tell, every Comicon has at least one group, usually two (one Marvel and one DC) that does in-character cosplay. These were huge highlights for my kids. We must have visited both of these booths 2-3 times a day every day but Sunday.
• Don't like Super Heroes? How about Star Wars? Star Trek? Doctor Who?
• There were, at the very least, panels with cosplayers in character. I don't know if they were at booths on the exhibition floor in character, but I would be surprised if they weren't. This is just magic to a kid.
• Be nice to the volunteers
• These guys (and girls), in varying amounts, do a crap load of work to make sure that these things go off as smoothly as possible. Remember, they are just fans, too. They do what they are doing for the love of doing it. Tell them how much you are enjoying yourself. Be specific, if they are working something specific that you love. Most of the people I talked to who were working were so nice, so kind, would take the time to compliment the kids, etc. They were lovely.
• Don't be snotty. I witnessed a lot of that, and it made me sad. It was crowded. The volunteers did the best they could with what they had, and I'm not sure the attendees appreciated that.
• That said, I did witness some reverse snottiness, but I will chalk that up to utter exhaustion on the part of the volunteers.
• Be nice to security.
• There were bag checks. There were prop-gun safety checks. Sometimes the lines were long. People were irritated and angry about this. Some of you know how I feel about it, given my overseas time- If I have to stand in line for an hour, and it ensures that my kids and I are safe, I will do it with a pained grin on my face.
• Basically- shut up about it. Take a minute to thank them for being vigilant. I am not neurotic, but you never know. And in a place where 25,000 people are walking around with play guns, the potential for one idiot to bring in a real one? Luckily, so far, so good, but again, better safe than sorry.

 Things we didn't do that I would like to do

• Take some time to just watch. Find a spot. You'll know it after the first day or so. On the busiest day (Saturday, usually), plant yourself and watch. Make it a picnic. Be ready to jump up and ask for pictures. Maybe do this a couple of times, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon. There are amazing people to see, and you will miss a LOT of it if you are herding kids. And, more importantly, the kids will miss a lot.
• If you can go on the first day, spend time on the exhibitor's floor. It is the least crowded that day, the people are the least busy. 
• I did not take advantage of this, although we were there on Thursday. We were a little in awe of the whole thing and didn't really realize just how MUCH more crowded it would get (a TON). I loved Thursday, though, and will continue to try to make Preview Day. It was relatively quiet, uncrowded, laid back. Perfect for first-timers, and I think it helped us get our feet wet.
• Regardless, if your kids let you, spend time on the exhibitor's floor.
• Do your research, map out booths you might like to see. 
• We lucked out and ran into Adam Rex, completely unbusy, and got a one-of-a-kind drawing for a ridiculously low donation to the Red Cross because he was probably just trying to fill his time. I wish we had gone back and asked for something more original than we had. I understand that this was not a one-off, that lots of artists were doing similar things. Many for free! And free is cool.
• There are about a billion and a half things to buy. Do or do not, it is up to you. We did not, but oh, that life-sized blow-up TARDIS....

The BAD

You, 50,000 geeks in costume, your kids... what could possibly go wrong?

• For us- Z is high energy. He pushes boundaries. He is impatient. But I will say that for all that, there were few real problems. Two times, he bolted. Once on the first day in the exhibitors hall, when we were looking at the booths (and truthfully, if we were in a store shopping, I wouldn't consider it a "bolt", more of a "meander over to another aisle", but given the situation, it was nerve wracking). The second time was when we were in line to get drinks at the Doctor Who party, so it was a closed room. It was a little dark, so that was frightening for a minute, but someone found him wandering right away, and brought him back. Amazingly, both kids stayed with me the rest of the time.
• Exhaustion- Obviously, four days of high stimulation anything leads to exhaustion. We probably didn't take breaks at the right times, so we were all a little tired and crabby at the end of every day, and at various points throughout.
• Hunger - We also didn't stop to eat our provisions when we should have. The kids would swear they weren't hungry, and I believed them. Then suddenly they would start melting down, and I would realize that it was 2 hours after normal lunch.

Maybe I'm forgetting something or somethings, but I really can't remember other issues.

When all is said and done, Comicon was an amazing experience for us. Me, I am still in a post-Comicon haze, wishing it wasn't over.

Here's to Phoenix Comicon 2014!