Hello all.
Time to get hyped for Blizzcon, and I’m here to offer tips and information about things that I’ve learned in my past Blizzcon experiences, and so I will impart this knowledge to you, should you decide to take heed.
Please keep note, this is ONLY going off of information from Blizzcons in the past. We know there’s already several changes, and I’m sure there’s others that will be revealed in time.
Hotels:
If you haven’t booked a hotel yet, I suggest you do so. Several of the closest hotels will sell out fast, assuming they haven’t already. Be sure to note how far away your hotel is from the convention center. While there’s hotels right on the same block, there’s others that are farther away, but most of the hotels will easily be within walking distance of the convention center, ranging from 20-30 min walks.
There’s no shortage of hotels, but there’s three factors you should look at: Price, Quality, Distance. You shouldn’t have to pay for an extravagant hotel room that you likely won’t be in for most of the duration, but I do suggest you compare prices, see what’s nearby and expand from there, and read reviews of the hotel.
Food:
There’s plenty of food options outside of the convention center. The Garden Walk has a California Pizza Kitchen, Cheescake Factory, and Bubba Gump Shrimp. Also near by is Panera Bread, Dennys, various pizza places, Mc D’s, Carls Jrs (Hardees), IHOP, and more.
During the convention, there’s several food options inside the convention, but also there’s usually food trucks on-site. Viking Dogs is a personal favorite.
Important stores nearby:
On the corner of Katella and Harbor (Just a short walk from the convention center) is a CVS and Walgreens, They have most things that you might need. About 1 mile south on Harbor Blvd there is also a Target.
If you bought too much stuff during your trip to Anaheim, the Marriott has a Fed Ex shipping facility inside it. You can have them pack everything up, and send it to home for you.
Things to bring:
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A small backpack is always good to have. We’ll be getting one of these this year at badge pickup, but not sure what the quality will be like yet.
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Have a small first aid kit. Just a small box of bandages (bandaids), as well as some kind of pain reliever and allergy medicine if needed.
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You’ll want your ID with you. They check this when you pick up your badge so that they can verify it’s you.
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An empty water bottle of some kind. This can be a steel bottle, something you can clip to your backpack, or even a circul bottle. There’s water fountains inside the convention center you can fill it up with.
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Bring your phone charging cable, as well as one or even two spare batteries to use to charge your electronics with.
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A camera. Most cameras are usually allowed, but several of the more professional looking cameras may not be. Your phone could also work.
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Something to do. Be it games on your phone, or even your Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck, you’ll want to pass the time before you finally enter the hall. Just keep in mind that YOU are responsible for your own items. (Speaking from experience on this as I lost both my 3ds AND my phone one year.)
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Sunblock. Even though we’ll be inside the convention center, and it’s the end of October and start of November, bring some sunblock. Southern California is still plenty sunny and you don’t want sunburn.
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COMFORTABLE SHOES/INSOLES! I can’t stress this enough. You’ll be walking and standing most of the day, so you’ll want your feet to be well taken care of.
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Some sanitizer and/or hand wipes. Enough said.
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A facemask of some kind. Wear it if your feeling sick, and let’s face reality, a crowd of ~40k people, yes people are going to get sick. Additionally, if California decides it wants to be on fire during that time, it’ll also help with smoke. Smoke from wildfires can travel alot farther than you think.
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A poncho. You can get these anywhere and they don’t take up much space. In fact you can get them for less than $5 and will last you all week, if not longer.
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A light jacket. Inside the convention hall it CAN get slightly chilly.
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Moleskin. You’ll be doing alot of walking, and it’s VERY likely you may get blisters on your feet.
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Ample luggage space. Personally I fill my small suitcase with anything I’m taking with me and lock it inside a bigger suitcase. Southwest has that you can have 2 checked bags for free. And again, if you don’t have the space, Mariott has a Fedex in it.
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A small trash bag. This is my own personal life hack for travel. Keep a small trash bag in your luggage. You can probably use this for a number of things, trash, emergency poncho… a kite? Personally I bring it along to hold dirty laundry. Some hotels MIGHT have laundry services, but not all of them do. Keep your clean clothes separate from your dirty clothes.
AIRPORTS:
There’s two main airports near Anaheim. LAX and the John Wayne International in Santa Ana. (SNA) The John Wayne is a smaller airport, but much nicer and closer. I know most international flights will only go to LAX and there’s little choice.
If your not renting a car for your duration, you’ll likely want to use an Uber or Lyft to get to/from hotel. From what I’ve seen, most shuttles either no longer operate, or they do but only for groups of people. (I used to use Supershuttle, but it looks like they only do groups, so cheaper to take an uber/lyft)
Before Blizzcon:
Registration and picking up your ticket begins on Thurs, Nov 2 at 8:00 am in the North hall. After this, you can pick up any of your merchandise that you’ve preordered for pickup at the convention. Keep in mind, some merch WILL NOT be available until AFTER the Opening Ceremonies. This is generally merch that is related to any announcements. After opening ceremonies, these will generally become available for purchase through the Battlenet/Blizzcon app.
DURING BLIZZCON:
Please be civil. We’re all here to have a good time.
If you want good seats for the opening ceremonies, you’ll likely want to show up early. While the seating is lottery based for the main hall, I don’t think it’s assigned seating. As the opening ceremonies are played in all the halls, you shouldn’t have to worry about missing any important announcements.
There’s two entrances, one at the main entrance (between the Hilton and the Marriott), and the North Entrance, at the Arena and North Hall. Use whichever is better for you. (Not sure if there’s a south entrance or not, never went down there to find out.)
Plan your experience. Is there a certain panel you want to see? Perhaps watch one of the tournaments? Other than the Opening Ceremonies, all seating is first-come first-serve basis. You’ll want to make sure you arrive early enough to secure a seat. Once the seating is filled, convention personnel will NOT let you into that particular hall. (However, generally it’s only the Opening Ceremonies and the Closing Concerts that reaches capacity) If your in an area and don’t have a seat, you MAY be asked to leave. Don’t argue with them, this is VERY important from a safety standpoint.
Demos: There’s demos for all of Blizzard’s main games, so here’s the breakdown of what you may see:
World of Warcraft - Basic demo about the next expansion or major content.
Diablo - Demo of upcoming major content/expansion
Hearthstone - demo of the next adventure pack
Overwatch 2 - Demo of newly announced heroes/maps
Also: possibility of a demo for a new IP?
Food during the convention:
There’s food stands inside several areas of the convention hall for any food/drinks you might need. Alternatively, you can visit one of the nearby restraunts. However, there’s also food trucks that will be at the convention too.
Food trucks:
Several food trucks have shown up for Blizzcon in the past, and hopefully we’ll see some of them again this year. Most could be in between the Hilton and Marriott, however some also showed up at the North Plaza too.
The Viking Truck is a favorite of mine.
Chef’s Tasting Spoon
Deb’s Cup of Tea
and more
Other things at Blizzcon:
The Darkmoon Faire is usually in the North Hall. The Faire usually includes:
The Hearthstone Tavern
The Gatchapon machines for badges and other prizes
The Tinkerer’s Toybox (small shop with WoW themed toys, games, and plushes)
The Pin Traders Emporium. Most pin collectors will be here trading their pins with each other, as well as using the pin trading board and buying new convention exclusive pins
Cosplay:
Most cosplay is allowed and all cosplayers of all degrees of are welcome, from the amateur to the professional.
The traditional cosplay group photo is usually outside at the main fountain shortly before the Cosplay Contest on the first day.
Most cosplayers don’t mind pictures being taken. All you need to do is ask!
PLEASE keep in mind that cosplayers are people too. If you want a picture with a cosplayer, feel free to ask. Most won’t mind.
CONSENT!!! - Consent is very real, and don’t take it hard if someone says no for a picture. There could be reasons for it. IE: the cosplayer may need to go to the lounge to take a break and get water, or something went wrong with the costume and they need emergency repair.
When it comes to cosplay, don’t act like a creep. If you want to pose with the cosplayer, there is a chance they don’t want you to touch them either due to potential for damaging the cosplay or props, or more personal reasons. Respect their request. Most cosplayers are pretty chill.
Blizzcon is over! What’s next?
Have no fear. Blizzcon is only two days, but there’s still plenty to do.
The Downtown Disney area is free to walk through if you want to pick up any Disney merchandise should you want to walk through.
Universal Studios Hollywood just opened up the Super Mario Land section of the park. It’s not too expensive but you’ll need some kind of ride there. You can literally visit and go on each ride through the course of one day.
Disneyland is a bit more expensive, but most convention goers will be visiting this park the day before or after. Disneyland has two parks: the main park, and California Adventure. A single person can cover most of the rides between the two parks in one day using the single rider line (since they use you to fill the ride)
You can get the Single Park pass, which only allows you into either the main park (Where the Star Wars themed park is), or to California Adventure (Where the Marvel, Cars, and Toy Story themed attractions are at).
The Park Hopper pass gives access to both parks.
Knotts Berry Farm
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Beaches: there’s several beaches you can go to. If you’ve never been to a beach before, this is your chance. Walk along the beach, take a swim, visit a boardwalk, go deep sea fishing.
Additional information/tips:
We’re all going to have a good time. Don’t act like a fool only to get yourself thrown out. (There’s at least one each year)
Meet your old friends, or make new ones. We all have something in common, or we wouldn’t be coming here!
Finally, (and I REALLY wish I was making this up) make sure you shower and use deodorant!!! Nobody wants to walk through your cloud of BO. Like I said, I wish I was making it up, but it DOES happen and I’ve gone through that haze myself more than once. And for that matter, don’t take a bath in your deodorant either. If you spray axe, just a short half-second spritz under each arm is enough. There IS such a thing as too much.
If there’s any other tips/information, feel free to add on!
Hope to see you all there!
There are some great tips here for conventions in general but thank you for calling out the Camera part!
