I mentioned this back in August. The Missus and I decided to go early, like five minutes after things were scheduled and the place was already packed. We parked on the street; the combination of Zion shoppers and folks checking this out made for a chaotic parking situation. The folks who put this on managed to keep a small footprint.
The area with peace and quiet was the Beer Garden. Perhaps it was too early, but it also seemed that 50% of the folks here weren't legal drinking age and the crowd was overwhelmingly Asian. I probably would have settled in here if we stuck around.
There was a decent variety of food booths, though only one really interested me. It also seemed that just about everyone else was interested in this one as well…..the grilled cuttlefish on a stick looked quite appealing….though the super long line did not.
This was at 5:15 mind you….just imagine later on?
It was nice to see some familiar faces……
Here are some of the other food booths.
Other than Pangaea, nothing I was particularly interested in.
The size of the crowd this early on in the evening shows that San Diego can really get behind this concept.
I hope they do well.
It runs tonight from 5pm – 11pm. It's about 8 right now, so you still have time to get on down there and check it out yourself.
7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111
Wow, you were fast with this post! I’m waiting to hear from my friends who went as well. Looks like some cosplayers were there! Is this event meant to be weekly or monthly?
I’m not sure what the planned schedule is right now….the crowds and traffic was a mess CC….even at five minutes past 5.
I went at 8:00. Parking was a nightmare. It looked like people were coming from at least 5 or 6 blocks away and it was rather dark in those areas. I found street parking in front of 99 Ranch. It was horribly crowded, which I hope meant that it was successful. It was so packed I couldn’t see what each of the booths were offering and couldn’t make out who was lining up for what. The only place that wasn’t crowded was the beer garden. Since I couldn’t see anything, nothing held my interest so I went into Zion’s food court and got myself a smoothie.
It was super crowded with long lines, especially with people waiting to pay $8 for that spiral potato thing on a stick.
Here is an overhead video:
http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=T7BimpCOPwg
I left my comments about the event in the comment section.
Here’s hoping for better planning, and a larger event next year!
Nice post Kirk! I was actually looking out for you since I thought you might go early. You made a smart decision not getting in line for the squid. I’m still pissed about my experience with Pangea.
Hi Kathy – I can imagine. Zion seemed like an oasis of tranquility compared to the crowds outside.
Hi GT – I don’t think these folks expected as many people….though you should always plan for more than meeting the minimum.
I agree RCLC. Six porta-potties ain’t gonna cut it either.
That sucks Kirbie. I’m really not the type to wait in super long lines. There’s better things to do with your time. We only spent a half hour looking around…..it seemed mostly Fair Food.
After reading yours and Kirbie’s post, I’m kind of glad that I didn’t go. I do hope the organizers will hold another one soon to (hopefully) improve on the logistics.
I hope so too Sandy.
Oh man, my wife and I got there about 8:00pm or so and it was *PACKED*! We ended up circling the parking lot for a good 15 minutes before we found a space out by the bowling alley.
Then, the lines! The LINES! It was at least 15 deep at each booth and wall-to-wall people. Heck, we could barely walk around to see every booth before trying to decide on what to buy.
We ended up buying sandwiches from the Gourmet Seafood Sandwiches booth. It was quite good, but we must have spent a good 20 minutes between waiting in line to order and waiting to pick-up our food.
Hi Steve – It sure looked like a bit of a mess. I believe they got more than they projected for….hopefully these problems will be fixed in the future.
We got there later in the night as well when a lot of the things the vendors were serving sold out. I hope next time they expand the space and now the vendors have an idea of how much they need to prepare for. What we ate was determined by the length of the line…not usually how I like to roll. But a few of us even went to the food trucks(serving American food) because they didn’t want to wait. :/
Hi Darren – I don’t think they expected the turn-out, nor did any of the vendors. This was a bit too much for them.