Ten Tips for doing Comic Con with kids

MCM Comic Con with Clone 1 & 2

We had a blast at MCM Comic Con and of course have the pictures to show you. Unfortunately Clone 2 and I didn't get to dress like ninjas after all, but Token Geek had us all printed fabulous Tokengeekery t-shirts so we looked like a proper geek family.

Going again in October so that gives me plenty of time to order costumes. I got cat ears and Clone2 had rainbow dash hair/headband so she was happy.

The Coolest Green Lantern

As we were travelling from outside London we were up at the crack of dawn (4:00) to get ready for our trip.

Tokengeek with Clone1

Some tips for travelling to Comic Con with kids

Go on Friday or Sunday - I think its probably a good idea to take the kids out of school on the Friday, if you can, as I imagine this will probably be a lot quieter. Clone 2 is five years old and tall for her age but was dwarfed by cylons, ninjas, and robots, so I had to keep picking her up to make sure she didn't get lost or trampled (my poor aching back though). So I would try to go on a quieter day next time.
Buy Priority or early entry tickets - Priority tickets would probably be a good idea. We couldn't make it on Friday (school) or Sunday (Clone1's bestie's birthday party) so we had to brave the crowds of Saturday
Stay Over in a hotel - If you can afford it this, it is a wise choice and you can even do two or three days at Comic Con
Driving or taking the train - We opted to drive but arrived at 8:00 to ensure parking. It did mean waiting around for ages with hungry children and a two hour wait to get in as the general entry was 11:00. However once we were ready to go we just hoped in the car and left. Didn't need to carry sleeping children off the tube which was nice.
Take a packed lunch - Even though we prepared food to take with us, our packed lunch was eaten during our two hour queuing time, before we'd even entered the venue. Hungry children are cranky children who don't want to go into the Hello Kitty tranquility garden or pose for photos with Beymax (Clone 1, I am looking at you). We did purchase some amazing Japanese food which picky kids ate quite willingly ( they must have been hungry) and once tummies were filled children were very happy indeed and a bit more willing to walk around. there are tons of little goodies to buy and I even scored some flavoured Ramune. Yay!
Take enough cash - I took out £50 and for some reason thought this would be plenty. Even though most places took card, not everyone did and the queue for the cash machine was just incredibly long. You wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy. After buying Luna, the sailor moon cat for Clone2, I realised I only had £30 left and that was for food, which we just had enough cash for. We paid for everything else by card but that wasn't always an option. The kids went crazy for all the gorgeous plushes and even though there was stuff I wanted too, like a picture with the BTTF Delorean, I didn't want to risk £5 of our food money.
Identify a meeting point - This is probably a good idea but better with older kids. I think Clone 1 would have found this no problem but Clone 2 is a little young and probably would have just cried. We didn't lose either of them and they were pretty good at staying close.
Identify the toilets - These were pretty easy to find and no queues but still worth pointing out as soon as you get in
Identify the exits - I am a bit of a nut when it comes to 'In an emergency' scenario so I always have a first aid kit or two on my person at all times. So I like knowing where the exits are if there is a reason to leave in a hurry.
Have Fun! - As it was our first comic con, I think we had a great time. Clone 2 coped better with being hungry than Clone 1 but once they'd eaten they enjoyed looking at the costumes and stage shows. All in all, a good day but next time I will definitely bring more food and cash!!