We did it! We survived The Walking Dead Escape July 12. I know we said we were going to be spectators, but we just couldn’t give up the opportunity to experience it as survivors. The people around us were prepared with knee and elbow pads, helmets and Go Pro cameras strapped to their heads. By comparison, we were carrying our backpacks with cameras and laptops and sans knee and elbow pads (should’ve read the email more thoroughly). What did we get ourselves into?
When our “wave” time came, they herded about 30 of us into Petco Park’s first level. As the first set of doors closed behind us, we noticed a cage full of zombies. The crowd looked at them in awe, snapping pictures, admiring the make-up, calmly walking not knowing what to expect. We heard some inaudible words being spoken by someone in the crowd. Some of us turning to each other with a, “what did they say?” face. And then it happened; they were screaming that the zombies had escaped. They came at us with fake blood and puss oozing out of their faces, arms and legs. Everyone started running, fire sirens were set off, smoke began to cloud your view; it was time to survive. Throughout the obstacle course we climbed, crawled, ducked, slid and ran from the living dead. Fake news coverage played out on TV screens with scenes of abandoned cities, doctors examining patients and people going into potholes for survival. Once we made it past the zombies and completed the obstacle run, we went through a black tent for “testing;” workers waved black wands over us to confirm we weren’t “infected.” We saw participants with scrapes, bruises, limps and bleeding cuts. The whole experience provided both of us with a huge adrenaline rush.
Comic-Con was full of amazing costumes, panels, workshops, movies, artists and game previews. There were so many things to do it was hard to decide. We were pleasantly surprised to see Lucy Lawless on a panel about women in pop culture. She wasn’t scheduled in the program, so we were ecstatic as avid Xena and Spartacus fans.
During the True Blood panel, Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse), did a walking handstand across the stage. The crowd went wild. The host didn’t waste any time coaxing Joe Manganiello (Alcide Herveaux) to do his Big Dick Richie dance from Magic Mike. Even new member, Christopher Meloni (Roman Zimojic) showed off some moves.
Costumes have hugely improved from when we attended the convention two years ago. Three of our favorite costumes were, the dalek, blue beetle and a zombie clown. We are looking forward to next year’s Comic-Con.
costumes today can be so extraordinary!