If you want to go to this very sought after event, you need to prepare. From seeking tickets, booking flights, and reserving a hotel room, here is our family prep list of what you need to do.

Tickets 

Tickets for this very sought after event are extremely hard to get your hands on, but it is doable. In fact, we finally got tickets to the convention which takes place usually in the summer with a preview night beforehand. To say the least, our two teenage boys are on cloud 9 and can’t wait until this very sought after event comes around. At this time, tickets were already randomly drawn. In order to get future tickets, you will need to register each person interested in attending and receive member ID’s for each. Then you just wait in front of your computer, literally, when the company is ready to randomly draw names. This year, it was only 3 tickets per person that is randomly chosen. Honestly, I wish it was 4 or even 2 to keep it even. There are 4 days to the convention. In our family of 4 only 2 of us were chosen, but we were unable to get Saturday. Even when you’re chosen, you’re not guaranteed to get every day of the convention.

Flights 

We booked our flights with United Airlines because my husband flies quite a bit for his work and we have their credit card. If you have their credit card, you can get free miles for future flights every time you make a purchase. Otherwise, you can search for flight deals by making sure you check each airlines website or go to specialty search engines to do the work for you like Cheapflights. Knowing when to book is important as well. Typically the middle of the work week is the best time because most people wait until the weekend when they’re off work and students are out of school. Since Comic-Con starts usually on a Thursday with a preview night of Wednesday, we decided to book our flight out one day prior on that Tuesday before the convention. We were able to secure flight coach tickets for all 4 of us under $950.00. That price includes arriving in San Diego on a Tuesday and leaving Las Vegas 2 weeks later.

Rental Car 

If you need a rental car, the best thing to do is to do your homework and look at all the different deals the companies offer. However, if you stay in downtown San Diego you won’t need one. The best thing to do is call Uber or Lyft to get to the convention. We rented a car because we’re planning on traveling to Las Vegas after the convention. We got a good deal to pick up in San Diego and drop off in Las Vegas with Hertz for $98. As for insurance, first check with your credit card company. A lot of times, your credit card company will have enough insurance to cover you for your duration of the trip.

Hotel Room 

I suggest you don’t book your flight or a hotel room until you make sure you are able to secure Comic-Con tickets. If you plan on being in San Diego regardless, then go ahead and book everything. Our main reason for going to San Diego is for Comic-Con, so we went ahead and booked everything we could. Now, we booked everything, including the Las Vegas hotel with Diamond Resorts, but we have not booked a place to stay in San Diego. Booking a hotel in San Diego is either going to be virtually impossible, especially if staying in the downtown area, or you’re going to pay a pretty penny. Comic-Con has a block of hotels/rates set aside for ticket holders, but those will not be available until April. Therefore, we are waiting until April and in the meantime we are saving up for that hotel stay because, like I mentioned, it will be expensive. 

I hope this helps you in making your decision and prepping for your Comic-Con San Diego trip.