Reaching Hall Hell

It was Friday July 10th, 2015, getting close to midnight. There were thousands of people, some dressed in costumes, hanging out by the waterfront behind the San Diego convention center. At that point, my little group of friends and I had been out there since Thursday night. After being stuck under the Southern California sunshine for a whole day, we really appreciated the cool breeze coming in off the water throughout the night. We sat on the grass and formed a big circle, all tired and red-eyed, but we were chatting, laughing, and eating fried chicken out of a bucket.

Sounds crazy, right? This is a scene from an experience I had waiting in line for San Diego Comic-Con’s Saturday Hall H. You’ve probably heard of San Diego Comic-Con, the largest pop culture convention in the world. Hall H, to some people, is just a section at the Convention Center, but to many devoted Comic-Con attendees, hearing “Hall H” can trigger a whirl of emotions. It's a place where the biggest movie studios like Warner Bros and Marvel break their news, a place where many Hollywood A-list celebrities make appearance, and, it is by far the toughest room to get into during Comic-Con. If going to Comic-Con is like attending the Super Bowl, waiting in line for Hall H is like playing in it.

Hall H is is a huge space with capacity of 6,000 people, but compared to the 130,000 people who attend Comic-Con every year in total, it's basically nothing. The line for getting into Hall H has been getting longer and longer each year. Recently it’s become so long that you have to stay overnight wrapped in a thick blanket or in a sleeping bag to just get in. If you want to get a good seat near the front, you have to spend at least two nights in line. People give Hall H a nickname—“Hall Hell”.

I had been to Comic-Con before, but 2015 was the first year that I decided to challenge so-called “Hall Hell” because I was a huge X-Men fan. That year, 20th Century Fox was suppose to make a huge announcement about the X-Men movies, and many celebrities from the movies were going to meet the fans as well. I needed to be part of that, no matter what it cost, I told myself.

I heard that the only way to survive the madness of the Hall H line is to team up with other people and be super prepared. So I started planning ahead as soon as I got my Comic-Con tickets. I found a group of people online who also were trying to get into Hall H on Saturday. We made a rotating schedule as if we were on a shift job, so that while some of us waiting in line and holding our spots, others were able to explore the main convention area. Mid-day in San Diego is no-joke, I was glad that someone in our group brought beach umbrellas, but I still got some sunburn. I also had to bring a sleeping bag to survive the cold ocean breeze at night. A few of us booked a hotel room nearby despite its super high cost during the convention, so we could take turns to go back to take a shower.

There were plenty chaos and drama during the two days waiting in line especially when it got closer to midnight Friday, the convention staff started handing out wristbands to everyone in the Hall H line. By getting the wristbands, you are guaranteed to get into Hall H the next morning. Of course, cheaters started to show up, trying to sneak in the line to grab the wristband. Guess what, for us who had been in line for 24 hours, our spots were our most precious treasure in life. As soon as we noticed the line jumpers, we made sure they were removed.

There were also surprises. When most of us were falling asleep in our tent and sleeping bags, suddenly, cheers and screams bursted out somewhere nearby. It was Zack Snyder, the director of Batman vs Superman, in his Batmobile, stopping by the Hall H line, to hand out some free gifts. I heard it and ran to the crowd, caught a T-shirt he threw at my way — it was just a Batman t-shirt, but I was so happy. I’m not even a big Batman fan.

We got in line so early, my group was near the start and got assigned to Zone A. So on Saturday morning, when we finally stepped inside Hall H, we ran in and got really good seats on the third row. We were able to spend a whole day inside Hall H, seeing panels after panels. I got to witness some epic moments that day, including seeing James McAvoy, Ryan Reynolds, Channing Tatum, Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender and many X-Men cast taking selfies with Stan Lee. After an exhausting day, I left Hall H with my friends, smiling, satisfied, and with a bag full of free gifts. That night I was finally able to sleep comfortably on my hotel bed.

Trust me, it was overwhelming. But was it worth it? I would say yes. Overall, my first Hall H experience was memorable, eye-opening and an exercise in patience. Plus, I was able to spend time and catch up with old friends, and make new friends along the way. I did the Hall H experience all over again in 2016, and someday in the future, I’ll think about doing it for the third time.