Is Comic Con for kids? A review.

So is Comic Con for kids?

I never would have thought Comic Con was for kids before actually attending one myself. The idea of ushering my child around in huge crowds in London actually made me shudder. I never would have thought it was a particularly child-friendly place but in reality…. it absolutely is and I’ll tell you why!

We attended the London MCM Comic Con at the Excel London on Sunday 28th May. We were part of the 131000 strong crowd that attended over the space of 3 days. For those of you who don’t know, it is the ‘biggest and best celebration of modern pop culture’, covering film, sci-fi, gaming, anime, manga, online video, comic books and cosplay.

The event normally runs Friday to Sunday. During the weekend they have special guests attending for meet and greets and various shows and competitions running. To be honest we rarely go for either of those but purely for the great buzz of Comic Con.

I have to admit both myself and my husband are a bit geeky. We love browsing the many stalls for cool merchandise and seeing everyone dressed up in costume. Eden thinks it’s like Disneyland, she gets to walk around, have pictures and chat to all her favourite characters! Don’t get me wrong, some costumes are a little more ‘crafted’ than others but people put so much effort in, it adds to the charm. Some costumes are so lifelike, they are incredible! It doesn’t matter if you’re wearing your favourite Batman Tee or a full blown costume, everyone is welcome. It is such a relaxed environment, everyone there for a shared interest and to have a good time.

Getting there

If you drive you can park there in the car parks below the centre! Super easy! If going by Train then go to Prince Regent or Custom House station on the DLR line.

Even though there are thousands attending, it is really well organised and appears to be improving and evolving each year. You can pre order your tickets online. The queuing system to collect your wristbands and go through security was very quick considering the number of people there. We were moving the whole time, there was no standing still for ages with a fidgety child, so that was good. The staff were all clearly labelled and helpful.

Food

This year there were more food options. The usual venue eateries in the centre of the Excel can get quite busy but they also had brought in more food stalls inside the actual comic convention and they had a large catering area with chairs and tables. They had a few food options from noodle bars, deli sandwiches, coffee shop with salads and sandwiches, to ice cream vans and my particular favourite, a stall with chocolate fountains!!! Milk or white chocolate!!! One happy mummy right there and Eden!!! I don’t know how she managed to avoid her dress, I was quite impressed… it was everywhere else though!

Child friendly

This year there was also a very nice addition of a child friendly area, making sure Comic Con is for kids. They added a chill out spot with bean bags, books and toys. This was a really nice clean area and it was really calm surprisingly. A nice little spot to rest those tired legs. They were also offering kids tattoos and face painting for a small fee.

Facilities

There were plenty of toilet stops available and we didn’t need to queue. We walked straight in, I did also see signs for baby changing too, however I had no need to use these.

The Costumes

Eden loved spotting all the characters we knew and she wasn’t shy about asking for her photo with them. It was so lovely seeing her excitement getting to meet them all. Both myself and hubby were quite excited about meeting some of our own heroes! Such Geeks! Some of Eden’s favourite characters she met were Smurfette, Snow White, Wonder Woman and Groot, plus we met lots more.

Shopping

Eden enjoyed walking about and looking at the various stalls, there were plenty of Funko Pop vinyl figures there and lots of cute things for her to look at. She did beg me for a giant hamster rucksack the whole way round, the thing was bigger than her and would have needed an extension to live in our house! I managed to distract her with a little pack of sweets! Sometimes it’s the lesser of the two evils! Giant £20 hamster that will take up 1/5th of my house or a little pack of sweets?!! We went with the sweets!

Doug was super happy with his ‘Keyblade’ purchase, a piece of memorabilia from one of our favourite PlayStation games Kingdom hearts. Eden was equally happy with her Nightmare before Christmas and Harry Potter figures!

My 16 year old nephew came along with us too, he had a great time, even met one of his YouTube heroes Tonska and got his horse mask signed. One very happy boy!

We all had such a great time, we walked 6 miles and my legs were killing me after but definitely worth it and we will be going to the next one! Now I just need to get Eden’s outfit sorted!

If your kids (or you) like film, games, cartoon characters it’s a great place to visit for an unusual day out! Pop it on your list!

Thank you for reading Is Comic Con for kids? A review.