Con Report: Preview Night

After checking into our hotel, (which was neither near the convention center nor convenient to the San Diego trolley system as the website suggested, but from what I hear, we had it better than a lot of people) we headed over to the convention center for Preview Night.  Preview Night is a 3-hour block given over to pre-registered con attendees.  We could get the lay of the land, check out a lot of the booths without the huge crowds that gathered later, and (most importantly) start collecting the primo freebies.  We went right through the registration line, though I understand there were some problems later on in the evening, so we got the entire 3 hour block on the floor.  Man, was that place HUGE.  Huge doesn’t even begin to describe it.  The front of the convention center occupies I’m guessing about 3-4 city blocks, and it was full to overflowing wall-to-wall with exhibitors, distributors, artists, and vendors—and that was just the first floor!  The second floor (or possibly third, it was a little confusing) had the autograph area, speaker’s rooms (more later on that, including plugs for ME’s panels), art show with Kaytee’s award-winning beadwork, and a few other things we never quite got to.  I only got to the top floor once, for the Robert Heinlein blood drive (see Day 3 for more on that), but that was also fully occupied by things I did not see.  Also at the con were about 6,000 Mrs. Fields cookie stands.  Judging by the snack stands, comic fans subsist on Mrs. Fields cookies, soft pretzels, and shots of Starbuck’s Light Mocha Frappucino (given away free at one of the booths).  At $8 for a deli sandwich, no wonder that free Frappucino shots were a primary source of nourishment for some.

Preview Night also has one other distinct advantage for the con:  it is the least gamey smelling part of the con.  Some people try to save a few bucks on lodging and sleep in their cars, others probably couldn’t find a hotel room this side of Tijuana, and others seem to believe that because there are people walking around dressed as Klingons, the normal standards of hygiene no longer apply.  By some estimates, there were 80,000-plus people there at the peak of the con.  My guess is 60,000 of them bathed.  Particularly by Day 4, it became apparent that some people were considering one or more of the three essential elements of conwear—soap, water, and antiperspirant/deodorant—to be optional equipment.  At least on the first day, even these people are reasonably April fresh.