Post by Mario
Park It Here?
By Mario Candelaria
When looking up information regarding parking near the San Diego downtown for Comic-Con there is one constant message; “All hope abandon ye who enter here.” Just kidding. While it is not quite the ninth level of hell from Dante’s Inferno there is a warning right on the main comic con travel page of “Our advice is simple: Don’t try to park in downtown San Diego. We recommend parking in Mission Valley and taking the trolley, which has two stops right in front of the Convention Center.”
They are not kidding. Having not actually parked there, or even driven, myself I cannot speak from first hand experience but I knew people who have attempted this and trying to arrange a meeting with point before the show started them was a futile dream. But if you still want to try this here are a few sensible words of advice that I can give you.
1. DO NOT PARK NEXT TO THE CONVENTION CENTER. Unless you want to arrive on Wednesday and leave your car there until Sunday odds are the lots for the ballpark and the center itself will be full from the people staying at hotels as well as the cars, trucks and vans from the vendors who set up for the show during the week. So with that said I bring you:
2. There is easier parking above Broadway. It is a bit of a walk but it is a simple, time saving option if you do not want to deal with the hassle of pedestrian traffic or driving around looking for a spot. Also the convention offers free shuttles to hotels in the area. Just figure out where you are parked and take the corresponding shuttle when you are ready to go.
3. Another option is to park along the path of the trolley a bit north near the beaches and take the trolley. If you choose to do this I highly recommend you park near one of the further stops as the closer you get to the convention center the more packed the trains could be, especially if having a seat is important to you. They run from about 4 AM until midnight but there are a lot more homeless people at nighttime so use caution. BONUS! The trolley brings you right to the US boarder if you want to visit Tijuana, Mexico!
And that’s really the gist of it. Now it is possible to get parking at a premium spot and the show has been know to pre-sell parking passes in the past but if you want to get in on that I suggest you play close attention to the Comic-Con twitter feed for updates.
