Lines queuing up outside Convention Center's Hall H.

As one of the largest conventions in the United States, Comic-Con attracts people from around the world to San Diego. This year's convention housed everything from rare anime  to sneak peeks of New Moon.

However, with tens of thousands of attendees every year, planning is an integral part of any trip down to San Diego for the convention- convention tickets sell out, hotels become booked, traffic becomes a nightmare, and parking near the actual convention is often unrealistic. Through trial and error, I have come up with some tips on how to maximize fun and minimize the hassles associated with this massive convention.

Booking tickets: Booking your Comic-Con tickets months in advance is vital since tickets sell out quickly. While you can buy tickets for a single day, buying a 4-day is often advisable both in terms of value and scheduling. Since the most popular events aren't on the schedule until after tickets have sold out, buying tickets for a single day can be a bit of a gamble. At around $75, buying the 4-day pass offers some needed flexibility and really helps you get a great deal since it allows you to go to a special preview night in addition to the 4 regular days of the convention.   

Where are you sleeping?: Hotels can be tricky especially since many are expensive and sell out long before the convention. Book early for better deals but it's also a good idea to check with friends in the area and see if they have a couch with your name on it. 

Be prepared to wait: Chances are if you want to see a panel, there are hundreds of other people that have the same idea. Have realistic expectations about how long you will wait to get in that hotly anticipated panel you're excited about makes everything go a little bit smoother. Going to wait in line 1 to 1 and a half hours ahead of time is really the minimum needed especially on busy days like Saturday. The most popular panels will take substantially more hours in line. Some lines queue up outside the Convention Center so make sure that you have ways to stay cool and sunburn free since you may have to wait quite some time. But here's the good news. For a relatively low ticket price for the convention itself, you get into a number panels of your favorite films and movies with popular stars and directors.

Take the train from Qualcomm stadium straight to Convention Center

Managing expectations: You won't be able to get into everything. Since you often need to wait in line for quite some time for one panel, making it to panels in different venues that are only 20 or 30 minutes apart is unrealistic. Figure out your priorities and being realistic how much you can do in a day is an integral to having a great time at the convention.

Where to park the hovercraft: You can always try to park near the convention, but you're likely to loose some time searching, spending a lot of money, and get stuck in traffic when everyone tries to leave at night. Consider leaving your car at Qualcomm stadium. Parking is free and the trolley goes directly to the convention. A one day pass on the trolley will set you back $5. 

Very official looking sign for the weapons inspection at the Convention.

Food:  Bringing munchies is a wonderful idea since many of the vendors at the convention are overpriced and not always impressive. Save your money by packing some snacks and once you've exhausted yourself at the convention, walk over a block or two to the near by Gaslamp district which is packed with sit-down restaurants.

Leave the gun take the camera!: Convention-goers dress up as literally everything you can imagine from pirates to your favorite anime character. Nothing is really off limits in terms of costumes. Well, everything except "functional weapons" is pretty much permissible per the Convention rules. The amount of time and money that was obviously spent on these costumes is nothing short of amazing. You'll want pictures of this stuff.