Convention - SDCC 2025 : The Ultimate Guide to Outdoor Fun Beyond the Convention Center

By Mulder, San Dieg, Around Convention Center, 24 july 0002 to 24 july 2025

San Diego Comic-Con 2025 proved once again that the best way to understand the scale of the event is to step outside the badge checkpoints and follow the current of fans along Harbor Drive, the Hilton Bayfront lawn, Fifth Avenue Landing, and into the Gaslamp Quarter, where studios and streamers turned the cityscape into a constellation of free or open-to-the-public destinations. With the convention running Thursday, July 24 through Sunday, July 27 (following a July 23 Preview Night), the offsite footprint felt like a curated festival in its own right, and crucially, the city’s transit agencies made it easy to stitch a full day together without a car thanks to boosted trolley service, discounted multi-day PRONTO passes, and clear shuttle timetables that pulsed in tandem with panel peaks. For visitors balancing inside programming with waterfront exploration—or for families sampling Comic-Con without badges—the move between the Convention Center stops and the promenade outside felt seamless and intentional, a sign that SDCC’s “beyond the walls” identity is now core to the experience as much as any Hall H reveal. 

Down on the Hilton Bayfront lawn, FX’s “The Wreckage” made the year’s biggest offsite statement by splitting its “Alien: Earth” experience into a daylight crash-site investigation and a nighttime “Code Red” escalation that dialed up the adrenaline with actors, lighting, audio stingers, and in-universe surprises. The activation worked because it mirrored the show’s split personality—procedural curiosity by day, dread by night—and because its schedule was posted with the precision of a theme-park attraction, letting attendees plan around transitions from 11:00 a.m. to late evening. Tying the waterfront mayhem back to the series itself, FX’s cast and creative presence underscored the moment: “Alien: Earth” is created by Noah Hawley and stars Sydney Chandler, with the series premiering August 12 on FX/Hulu—a synergy that turned the lawn into both a marketing anchor and a fan-first haunt. 

A few blocks north beneath the Gaslamp arch, Paramount+ once again proved why its takeover of Happy Does (“The Lodge,” at 340 Fifth Ave.) remains an offsite cornerstone: generous, public-friendly hours from Wednesday through Sunday, a clear entry flow with standby options, and a showfloor-sized buffet of franchises stitched together with light gamification. Inside, guests bounced between a holodeck-style Star Trek zone, a high-wire “Mission: Impossible” pose photo, a cheeky NCIS: Tony & Ziva Paris Café, a Landman Patch Café wink to Taylor Sheridan’s oilfield drama, and even Pluto TV’s retro-cinema treats—with the kind of throughput that kept lines moving and return visits tempting. The key here wasn’t just scale; it was location and rhythm: by placing a multi-IP hub in the Gaslamp, Paramount+ captured casual foot traffic and converted it into hands-on play while letting locals and families taste Comic-Con without the badge stress. 

Anchoring the promenade beside 5th Avenue Landing, Adult Swim’s “Pirate Purrrty on the Green” doubled as a daytime playground and a cheeky manifesto, rolling out a feline-pirate fantasia with daily 1:00–7:00 p.m. hours and off-kilter micro-worlds that nudged passersby to linger even if they were en route to something else. The activation thrived on contrasts—big, silly set-pieces that photographed well paired with an evening vibe that brought fans back after panels—so the waterfront felt alive in multiple dayparts. Crucially, Adult Swim kept it free and positioned just outside the security lines, which meant curious hotel guests and families naturally folded it into their walking loop, amplifying that sense that the Con no longer begins and ends at a badge checkpoint. 

The year’s most audacious first-timer belonged to gaming: Supercell’s Brawl Stars floated “Starr Park” on a barge behind the Convention Center, inviting guests on a 45-minute “monorail” journey that unraveled into carnival-style missions, character encounters, and a pipeline of giveaways that spilled into the streets via Spike’s roving team. The stunt’s secret sauce was twofold: standby access that didn’t feel punishing and a high-profile collaboration with Jimmy Donaldson’s Feastables that saw 20,000 limited-edition “Brawl Bars” dispersed across the weekend, each a photo-op and in-game code in one. With hours that tracked the main show day and a family-friendly tone, “Starr Park” became an easy recommendation for anyone asking “what’s worth it without a badge?”—and a blueprint other studios will likely borrow for 2026. 

For a true open-air festival vibe, Petco Park’s Interactive Zone once again delivered a free-to-enter midway in the Lexus Premier Lot, with posted hours, food trucks, and a tidy mix of franchises that rewarded both quick drop-ins and linger-and-mingle afternoons. This year’s line-up made clever use of playable demos—Arc System Works brought stations for HUNTER×HUNTER: NEN×IMPACT and more—while lifestyle-friendly draws like the Hello Kitty Café Truck and a “Magic: The Gathering x Avatar” stop ensured multi-generational appeal. Local outlets and the SDCC blog emphasized how visible and approachable the zone was from the ballpark, a detail that matters when attention spans are short and the July sun is long; it’s the one place you could reliably point a Comic-Con newcomer and know they’d find something tactile, tasty, and photographable within minutes. 

Hulu’s “King of the Hill: Hank Hill’s Backyard” rounded out the waterfront with a bit of Texas in San Diego—lawn games, photo ops, and a comfort-forward set that prioritized hangout energy over spectacle. What it lacked in pyrotechnics it made up for in placement and cadence: steps from the Convention Center at Bayfront/Fifth Ave Landing Lot A1 with hours that started before many panels and ran into early evening, it became an easy meet-up point and an ideal breather between tentpoles. That a decades-loved animated world could command such steady foot traffic, surrounded by higher-tech neighbors, says something about how SDCC’s outdoor ecosystem has matured: the right premise, in the right place, with the right schedule, is enough to win a day. 

None of this works without the practical scaffolding, and 2025’s was genuinely fan-friendly: MTS boosted service and sold discounted Comic-Con PRONTO passes (including a five-day option that neatly matched the Wednesday–Sunday window), local outlets amplified the deal, the official shuttle map covered hotel corridors with long operating hours, and ACE Parking’s lottery plus public sale let drivers lock in spaces within walking distance weeks in advance. The net effect was that a parent with a stroller could hop off the trolley at the Convention Center, cross Harbor Drive to the Hilton lawn for FX, loop the marina to Adult Swim or Starr Park, detour through the Gaslamp to The Lodge, and finish at Petco’s Interactive Zone—never once flashing a badge, and never once feeling out of the flow. That’s not a side-show; that’s the show, and in 2025 San Diego staged it with precision.

You can found in our Flickr page our photos here

Photos and video : Boris Colletier / Mulderville