Registration is now open for WonderCon, which is being held at the Anaheim Convention Center — a hoot and a holler from Disneyland — from March 16, 2012 through March 18 of the same year. I've been to an awful lot of WonderCons and always had a good time. I expect the trend to continue.
WonderCon was founded in 1987 and held in Oakland, California until 2003 when it relocated to the Moscone Center in the heart of San Francisco. The migration coincided with the acquisition from the convention by the same non-profit organization that runs the annual Comic-Con International in San Diego. It and A.P.E. (the annual Alternative Press Expo) are what the staff there does when they're not working on Comic-Con. Traditionally the last few years, WonderCon has had somewhere around a fourth the attendance of Comic-Con (still a helluva lot o' people) and it's a bit more oriented towards comic books than to Hollywood and videogaming…though there is plenty for those interested in those areas.
The con is always well-run and enjoyable, and I love the location. I'd much rather it be there than in Anaheim but due to renovation work, the Moscone Center was not available for '12. I gather that the current thinking is to go back to S.F. in 2013, assuming the venue is available…but who knows? Maybe Anaheim will be such a smashing success that they won't want to go back. We shall see, we shall see.
I will be a guest at WonderCon and you may be surprised to learn I'll be hosting a mess of panels there. More guests have been announced and you can read what's up and register to attend over at the WonderCon website.