Various websites are debating whether WonderCon will or should try to remain in Anaheim or if it will or should revert to San Francisco. I'd prefer the latter and have no inside info into which is likely. I do know that securing dates in either venue is more than a matter of calling up and reserving space. It begins with the question of when the venue has space open…and how much space. WonderCon has always drawn huge crowds in San Francisco but it's not a convention that the Moscone Center fights to secure each year. When we convene in San Diego for Comic-Con, we have a major impact on the local economy for about a week: Hotels fill to capacity, restaurant business soars, etc. This is why I say that the folks who run the convention center down there would be brain-dead loopy — and would probably infuriate local merchants — to ever let Comic-Con go elsewhere.
WonderCon in San Francisco does not have quite the same local impact. It draws enough attendees to qualify as one of the biggest conventions in town all year…but the attendees tend to take the BART in for a day, buy stuff at the con, then go home. They don't flood the hotels or make a huge difference to the dining establishments. This doesn't mean S.F. doesn't want WonderCon back; just that no one there's going to lose his or her job if they relocate…as they had to, this year. (The Moscone is undergoing extensive renovation so not as many conventions as usual could be accommodated. WonderCon did not make the cut.)
WonderCon in Anaheim looks to have been a huge success…this time. Having no idea what kind of dates or rates they'd get in the future, I have just as much of an idea as to whether Anaheim would be possible or preferable from now on. I do suspect though that if the folks who run WonderCon (who also, of course, run Comic-Con and APE) go back to San Francisco, someone else will try to replicate what they did with WonderCon in Anaheim. And if they abandon San Francisco, someone else will try to do something like WonderCon up there.
The other question folks were asking this past weekend was a What If? What if Comic-Con was going to someday move out of San Diego? Would Anaheim work? Would it even be preferable?
Again, I dunno for certain. Comic-Con seems to be a July thing. There were a lot of complaints this past weekend about traffic and parking, even when it wasn't raining…and this was March. July is the biggest month of the year for that place nearby with the Matterhorn and the Indiana Jones ride. What would the freeways and parking lots be like then? How many hotel rooms in the area wouldn't be filled by families wearing mouse ears? The physical space at the Anaheim Convention Center seems sufficient but that's not the entire story. I'm inclined to think (or maybe just hope) the question is moot because Comic-Con will not have to relocate. I know its operators would prefer it to stay where it is. But assuming they had to migrate and dates and lodging were available in Anaheim, it seems like more of a viable option than it did before. Hope it never comes to that.