It’s been a long time since I last went to a Pokemon Worlds and I can’t say I really had any plans to go to one again because while I love Pokemon, I have never really been fond of the competitive scene for it. I ended up making an exception a decade ago when I went to my first one in 2016 as it was the 20th Anniversary and Mega Audino was recently in the TCG. The fact that the World Championship for the TCG that year happened to be Shintaro Ito who won with a Mega Audino Deck just made it better. I don’t know if we’ll see a similar victory this year, but it’d be nice.
After that, I ended up going two more times to meet up with some friends and stuff which is why we ended up going in 2017 and 2018, but that was it. I wouldn’t have really went otherwise as 2016 had been enough for me.
But the last couple of years, they’ve actually been doing things like having panels and workshops and just being more convention-like in general besides just really being a place to watch matches and shop at the Pokemon Center for some exclusive stuff, so when they announced that there was going to be an actual official Convention part this year, I really wanted to try and go. It being the 30th Anniversary and a decade since my first Worlds were just fun bonuses.
Unfortunately for me though, despite signing up for nearly every Arts & Crafts-based workshop, I didn’t get into a single one :( Considering that was a large part of wanting to go, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t super disheartened about it. I still planned to go since Mega Audino was finally back in a game and the 30th Anniversary, but I really wish we got into some of the Workshops…
Regardless, it does mean we’ll hopefully be able to knock out some of the Exhibition Booths and Pin Rally quickly and then uh… I don’t really know what else. We reserved the Pokemon Center for Thursday (and will be picking up our passes the afternoon we arrive) so we wouldn’t really overlap with everything happening during Worlds. Unfortunately, I don’t really feel comfortable taking my Nintendo Switch so I will have to wait until I get home to check out the special Pokopia Island ;~;
As we got ready to pack though, I had a very important decision to make. Which Mega Audino should I take? I knew I’d rather go with a plushie because I’d be too worried about losing a figure or a charm/keychain/pin breaking off and the idea of just bringing one of the Poncho Pikachu, even if it’s the only official Plush that Mega Audino has, is kind of depressing so I’d rather bring something actually of Mega Audino. After much discussion among them all and random draws for choice, we ended up settling on the newest Mega Audino to join the crew that was made for me by Ian Zell! It’s even more or less the perfect size for this cute little pouch I got from Japan:
A lot of people mentioned dressing up their plushies for Worlds so she decided to try on some Ribbons.
And thus, we were all prepared including a few things I had to give out (if I can overcome my shyness a bit anyway):
Day 1
Despite our best attempts, the beginning of the week didn’t quite go well unfortunately, so we didn’t end up getting things done quick enough to get any proper sleep and ended up only having a short nap before we had to make our way to the airport early in the morning.
Between traffic, various airport construction, and some long lines, it actually took quite a while to get there, but we made it with plenty of time to spare and even got breakfast from a cute Melt place near our gate! I got a Bacon, Egg, and Cheese and it was very good– I especially loved the bread.
We had time to spare though as there ended up being a delay for our flight due to part of the flight crew running late. Somehow, despite leaving an hour late, we got in an hour earlier than the initial planned time?? Anyway, some fun photos from the flight (And if you’re thinking, didn’t that Mega Audino have more ribbons? You are correct and they did not want to stay on):
We shared a cheese plate as a nice little snack along the way.
The airport, while being quite nice, was probably the roughest part– Baggage claim was further than expected, but the main issue was that it was really warm in the airport for some reason which can be incredibly rough for me.
Regardless, we got to our hotel and it was really nice. The nice guy who checked us in was also planning to go to Pokemon Worlds! He had gotten a three-day pass as well and was playing Pokemon GO so we chatted quite a bit before finally heading to our room.
After taking some time to relax, we then went to go have lunch and pick up our badges. It was actually really neat as we could see things slowly getting set up.
There was a kind of outlet/mall not too far from where we had to go for the badges. Since we had arrived early, we figured it was a good time to sit and have lunch. We ended up trying a BBQ place and also got some bubble tea. Everything was really good. They also already had a lot of advertisements for the Funko booth.
As it got closer to our time, we made our way across to Moscone’s West building and this is where we first ended up having to deal with the messiness of line management. It took a moment to even figure out where to go with so many people waiting for the Pokemon Center.
Eventually, we got to the hall for the badges and thankfully, the line was moving okay though I was still feeling rather tired from the airport. It was also really warm in the Badge Hall. When we finally got up to the front, I was able to easily scan the QR for my badge, but for some reason it didn’t also bring up my husband’s so I had to put his information in manually. Alongside our badges, we each received two TCG Packs and a pin.
It was then onward to the Accessibility line as that is where I was told to head when I had sent an email in advance asking about what was needed to apply. I wish I realized we could have gotten our badges directly there too though… Regardless, it made me happy to see Audino is still the mascot for the accessibility stuff. Frustratingly, we learned that there wasn’t really anything with an Accessibility pass at all. Apparently, we were just supposed to let people know or ask about an accessibility line which really sucks. As someone with invisible disabilities, this is just… incredibly awkward and was the beginning of more frustrating line experiences.
Regardless, we got our badges and that was the big mission for the day so now we could take the rest of the day a bit easier. We got to see more of the set-up on our way back plus a few other neat things. I did not expect that statue to sit when I sat on the bench. It scared me initially…
Also, our room had a rubics cube in it. Plus some more photos from our room and the lobby.
We ended up just having dinner (we just shared appetizers) in the hotel to finish things off as I was already pretty tired. Sadly, the fan on the AC in the room was fairly weak and I woke up a few times due to it being too warm at times…
Day 2
First things first, our hotel has officially started decorating! There were cute Pokemon stickers around some of the desks.
But most importantly, today was our Pokemon Center Day! I had gotten the first available option for Thursday (Since it was 4:30PM, I could only assume the rest were gotten by those who had access before spectators) as I really wanted to make sure we wouldn’t have to worry about it during the event itself. Unfortunately, I was in no way prepared for how things would end up going.
Unfortunately, breakfast in the hotel was already over, but we had wanted to check out the San Francisco Nintendo Store and figured it’d be a good day before the event started. We found a nice place to have brunch nearby and started our day there. It was very cozy.
We then made our way towards the Nintendo Store which I probably should’ve thought more about how things are uphill and still being tired from yesterday, it wasn’t the best walk. There was also a line around the block. Needing to sit, I rested a bit at the bus stop while my husband waited on line until we got closer to the corner. The bus stop had a “What’s your favorite?” advertisement which was cute. Finally, we were in the store which was also kind of warm. While they didn’t have the other mechanic pencil I wanted, I did get the one I wanted most and a cute notepad. We then headed downstairs because I knew my husband would want to see all the Zelda stuff. Looking around, I also picked up a cute Pikachu plushie. All the Peakychu plush were already sold out though. I hope the smaller one comes over as well and maybe I can get that one then.
Our lovely Nintendo Store haul:
I would have loved to get some of the other Animal Crossing household stuff (I have the Brewster cup already), but I didn’t feel confident about getting home in one piece.
Anyway, between the stairs and all the people along with my exhaustion yesterday, I was not doing well. Thankfully, they let us know where the elevator was for us to head upstairs that way in which was possibly the smallest elevator I’ve ever been in, but I’ll take it. We then took a moment to sit and relax in the nearby park. Ignoring the sun beating down on us today, it was actually pretty nice. Due to the Pokemon Center rules, we wanted to make sure we got all of our Nintendo Store stuff in my backpack, including the bag itself, before our time.
There was a bus stop nearby so that’s what we ended up taking to get there. Two others were also there for Worlds but were heading to the stadium for the Baseball game which we hadn’t gotten tickets for. One of them actually recognized Mega Audino and had been the only person to do so our entire trip so I wish I had offered her a sticker T~T But alas, I was too shy and awkward…
As we got there sooner than expected, we ended up having some ice cream in that same little outlet from yesterday. They had Jasmine Milk Tea today which I was very excited for. I wish we could’ve gotten it again before our trip ended!
Finally, it was nearly 4:15PM and the invitation said to arrive 15 minutes early. Maybe security didn’t get the memo or the crowds didn’t care, but being “on time” seemed to be a waste with how the line was handled. I did try asking about any kind of Accessibility line, but was told there wasn’t anything until we got inside. I was able to sit by a bus stop for a bit until it got too crowded and then I was just stuck dealing with a lot of pain.
Everyone was essentially stuck in a crowd waiting for their time. They were still calling people for 4:15PM timeslots, even as our timeslot of 4:30PM came and passed. It was after 5PM when they finally called us to properly line up to slowly get into the Pokemon Center. It took nearly an hour for us to just get inside the building and finally get any kind of accessibility help after initially just being told “well, there is an elevator you can use I guess?”. Someone finally came, helped us to the elevator, and essentially go right to the upstairs line (so we skipped the downstairs one) where I could sit in a waiting area while my husband went through the line. When he got to the front, I was able to join him.
The Pokemon Center was really beautiful. They really went all out on displays and theming– if only I could actually enjoy it and not think about the immense amount of pain I was in. There were a few things we planned to get, but we were mostly grabbing stuff for friends who couldn’t get a Pokemon Center reservation or go at all. Repeatedly, they asked people to keep moving and to “not sit on the floor” so I found a nice space out of the way where it was possible to sit without being in the way of anything which worked for a while until I was told to get moving again. Sorry that I was trying to not overheat in your store.
And once you got through the Pokemon Center? You got a long line where they would make sure you didn’t get more than one item per person. Why couldn’t they do this at checkout? Good question! Who knows. From there, we then had the checkout line. We got a cute postcard with various discount codes on it for the Pokemon Center plus a San Francisco keychain. Our lovely Pokemon Center Haul:
I will admit I was a little disappointed with the Jazwares bundle. Design-wise, they are adorable and I love the box art so much, but I expected them to be a lot softer/squishier and they’re really not.
Besides our things, here is what we picked up for friends!:
Desperately needing to sit as there were no seats during these long lines, I went back near where there had been some seating by the escalator… Only while totaling stuff up for friends to be told we once again had to move. We were not given a reason for why these seats weren’t okay, but we headed back to the elevator and left, just happy to be done.
We then ended up sitting outside Moscone West so I could finally give my feet and legs some kind of rest. It was becoming apparent that I had already overdid it and clearly maybe am not fully ready for conventions yet. Regardless, at this point, it was after 6PM so we stopped in at the Greek place across the way to have dinner before heading back. To make matters worse, I also nearly forgot my bag there because I was just that worn out at the point. Thankfully, we recovered it just fine.
It was then back to the hotel where I was beyond wiped but tomorrow was Pokemon XP in earnest and I wanted to be ready for it. Of course, what you want to do and what actually happens doesn’t always work out how you’d like it to.
Day 3 – First day of Pokemon XP/Worlds
I had gotten up early hoping to head over, but my husband needed a bit more time. I still wasn’t feeling too well, but I watched the opening ceremony on my laptop as, continuing our Pokemon World record for the 4th time, we never manage to get to the opening ceremony before it fills up. I wanted to try and do the booths today as Friday generally tends to work out the best, but feeling so awful, we got breakfast (A pair of sandwiches) ordered to the room and watched the panels together while resting.
Unfortunately, I ended up falling asleep for several hours. I was beyond devastated when I woke up after 3PM and while we hurried to the convention center, it was after 4PM when we got there. Most pins were gone, a lot of lines were capped, and I was still rather tired.
I made the mistake thinking, since Friday seemed so nice even as we got there late, maybe Saturday would be okay and we could work on the pins then. So, despite not doing well, we managed to get a few things from the booths around and enjoyed Rayquaza road.
On a more positive note, our hotel finished with their decorations and it was very cute.
We also did take a lot of pictures from around the Convention and Rayquaza Road for the brief time we were there. It really felt like maybe it wouldn’t be as crazy which I wish the atmosphere on Friday could have been there the entire weekend.
In the What’s Your Favorite booth, you took a quiz for your favorite Pokemon– of course, with only 24 out of 1,028, my actual favorite wasn’t there and the quiz ended up giving me Snom. We were able to put a sticker on a wall and I even shook hands with Pikachu himself!
We also got to check out the Sirfetch’d and Pichu booth– while the line was capped to actually they pictures with the duo, we did get to see some of the actual sets of the show which were gorgeous.
There was also a really lovely set-up for Pokemon Cafe Mix/Remix. I really want them to reuse the assets for a proper game so much.
Most importantly though, on the 30th Anniversary wall to vote for your favorite was Mega Audino!!! I, of course, added a magnet pin immediately.
We ended up eating a late-ish lunch there despite the Convention food expensiveness and shared a Brisket sandwich and a hot dog. The little food tray was also themed!
We walked past the garden and considered stopping there, but they were already closing it down for the day… So we just continued onwards to head back to the hotel to relax and also ended up having a late dinner picked up to bring to the room as we were still just… super exhausted.
Finally, some other fun photos from around the convention center today.
All the freebies we got for Day 1:
Day 4 – Second day of Pokemon XP/Worlds
I was so hopeful we could make Saturday better after my failure on Friday due to overexerting myself on Thursday, but if you’ve seen things online, you can probably guess how Saturday went. The pin rally closed down before we even got to the convention center which we later learned was due to the Fire Marshall shutting things down because of how crazy it ended up getting. Our hope throughout the day was maybe the Pin Rally would go better on Sunday and we could finally try and get there early.
In all honesty, part of me wanted to skip Saturday entirely seeing those messages pop up. Regardless, we had to meet up with a friend to pass off the Pokemon Center goods and maybe, somehow, we could still pull off some success.
Either way, since the pin situation fell apart, it did mean we could go and have breakfast to start the day a little brighter.
At the convention Center, I once again made my way to the Pokemon board to vote for Mega Audino. I was even first today!
I then went to do the My Nintendo sign-in redeem– I had tried to on Friday, but I could NOT get the sign-in to actually realize I was there until we were leaving so keeping it up since yesterday, I finally managed to achieve my adorable Ditto button.
Most other things had absolutely crazy lines, so we decided to try and focus on one thing– the LEGO Interactive booth. Unfortunately, not only was the line insane (With estimations of 80-90 minute+ waits), but I honestly wasn’t in a position where it felt like I could do the exhibition as I was still exhausted and while the convention center felt nice and airy on Friday, it was absolutely oppressive for Saturday. I especially knew I was doing bad when security went out of their way to bring me a chair.
My husband found out that there was a line to just do the trophy which was great (Initially, we thought maybe that was the only way to do it before learning you also did it at the end of the full experience), so I ended up moving to that line instead. It had closed for the moment but was supposed to reopen soon. I had brought my chair over, but it was such a ridiculous mad rush to the trophy line that it ended up being left behind with just my husband holding my hand for dear life getting us into the very next queue.
Frustratingly, we learned a handful of really annoying things only after getting on the line:
– People doing the full experience were prioritized. Considering the length of the other line and time it took to do the interactive exhibit (as they could only do one group of people at a time), the trophy only line was still faster, but only 1-2 groups from the trophy line were let through every 2-3 groups from the interactive experience.
– The special smart tag for the trophy was only given to those who did the full experience.
I still really wanted to do the trophy, so I didn’t necessarily regret it and as I mentioned before, I don’t think I would’ve been up to the full experience. By the time we were in the last part of the line, I genuinely felt like I was going to faint between overheating and pain. I pretty much speedran grabbing those LEGO pieces and trying to put them together, with my husband helping at parts, because my hands were shaking. There were no seats for the tables to make it so the only option I had was trying to get through it as quickly as possible.
Honestly, even ignoring the pain, I think I would’ve been pretty sad if I did the full experience because you bond with the LEGO Pokemon and even tuck them in and then you just leave them to sleep and I get too attached to things for them to just have me tuck them in and leave them. We did get a nice wristband for the trophy making too. (Posing with LEGO Pikachu was also exclusive to the full experience goers).
There is honestly more I would have liked to do such as maybe trying to help with the puzzle or seeing if some lines cleared up, but I just really needed to get out of the hall and thankfully for us, there was a free bench and a nice breeze. Before we could fully pause though, we noticed something at the Rayquaza building station: They were also giving out the Smart tags for the trophy to anyone who built blocks. The line was empty so despite the pain, we went on the line and built some white bricks for the big Rayquaza statue’s cloud base letting us get our Smart tags and attach them in the open space on our trophies:
It was nice being able to breathe and we even noticed the Parade would be starting soon so figured we could try and watch it today. We also decided to share a pizza from the other over-priced convention truck because of the cute pizza box design:
Unfortunately, our parade hopes and dreams crashed pretty hard due to people who decided to stand on the benches, tables, and even sides of plants so any kind of view we could have had was gone. As for why they didn’t put it on the screens around Rayquaza Road, I have no idea, but it was just another disappointment for Saturday. Not wanting to deal with crazy lines, we decided to make our way back to the hotel.
On the way back, we saw someone with the original Ash hat and the Puppet Pikachu carrying a boombox and dancing. Then someone in Leon’s cosplay came over and started dancing with him. If nothing else, it was fun seeing so many people come together to celebrate Pokemon. My favorite cosplay was the Detective Pikachu one I saw. I honestly want that outfit just to wear everyday.
And we even finally caught one of the truck ads! While I was only able to get the one picture, we did see the full rotation of them. I really love stuff like this.
As we got back to our hotel, I remembered there was a sign I hadn’t really been able to look at before we had left that morning. Our hotel was doing a Pokemon hunt! Somewhere in the lobby/main floor of the hotel, a Pokemon could be found. We did a quick look-over, but I was still exhausted and so we figured it’d be better to relax a bit before heading back out.
Due to just sharing a personal pizza, we ended up getting some food plus some groceries to the room. On my way down to get them, I kept an eye out for Pokemon and found this Lechonk!! It was up above the lobby PC on the like… art behind it? I just barely reached it.
Bringing it to the front desk earned me a cute “pokeball” that contained a point voucher which at least let the day end on a more positive note…
…At least until we got the lovely alert that the Pin Rally was cancelled for Sunday.
Day 5 – The final day of Pokemon XP/Worlds
As mentioned, we hoped this would finally be our day to take care of the pin rally, but those hopes were destroyed. Due to wanting to catch a panel in the evening, we decided to just take a bit more time to recuperate as Saturday really wore me out. When we did finally head out, we decided to go to a bakery that had some cute Pokemon-themed stuff. We had hoped to go on Saturday, but they closed earlier on the weekend which is why we made it our first stop on Sunday. They only had a single Pokemon thing left– a cute Pikachu cupcake, but I was still excited to get something and we also got some cookies and a brownie too.
We stopped next door to eat lunch which was not entirely what we expected. It was essentially a fancy quick service place, but honestly, everything was really good and it was nice to just sit down and enjoy our food.
Once we were done, we made our way over to the Moscone Center to try and get some things done before the final day. Unfortunately, whether it was due to others having the same idea as us or booths preparing a lot less on Sunday than expected (maybe even both), we weren’t actually able to do everything we hoped. In the end, we mainly decided to focus on the Nintendo Booth’s stamp rally hunt finally. And this was probably the first, and maybe only, booth where accessibility felt like it mattered. Of course, I still had to stop by Mega Audino to give them another favorite magnet pin. Shout outs to everyone else who voted for them too.
While I still struggled on the line, I had a seat as soon as we got close and was able to use it for all the demos. I was also able to be brought to the side to trade stuff in so I wouldn’t have to struggle with the line. My husband wanted to check out the special Fire Red/Leaf Green thing as it had a cute freebie for participating, but I wanted to head to the Pokemon XP stage to grab chairs for the panel I was really excited for.
On the way, I also got to check out the Pokecology booth which had some amazing dioramas.
And the Pokemon Center upcoming items area. I’m absolutely tempted to buy some of these things if I can afford to…
With that done, I grabbed two seats for the Gotta Catch ‘Em All Gameshow. I love game shows and Pokemon so it’s not really a surprise I’ve been super enjoying every episode of this. Do I know any of the people on it? No. But that doesn’t matter! It’s a Pokemon game show and I was very excited!!
We even got to play along. I picked Charmander as that is my personal Gen 1 starter.
On the way out, we also were randomly given stickers. Both my husband and I somehow got the Charmander ones. I know there was a Pikachu one too, but I am curious if they had stickers for all the different game Pokemon or just the Prize Pokemon. This essentially ended the convention (as everything ended at 6PM) but we decided to head to one of the other halls where they had things set up for the championship battles.
Even though I had the chance to go to the Chase Center, I really had no interest in doing so. From what I’ve seen, the lighting looked neat, but I know I would have just been bored and likely overstimulated from all the noise. Just watching a bit in the halls was enough for me and seeing others get excited even if I had no idea why something was exciting. As an aside, considering you COULD (and were encouraged) to still watch things at the convention if you weren’t at the Chase Arena, it’s sad that they even disabled the medal earning stuff as soon as it hit 6PM instead of going until the end of the ending ceremony.
We decided not to stay the whole time though as we were hoping to go to the Sushi place recommended for us for dinner. It was really neat, even if we essentially had to speedrun our ordering due to them closing soon.
We essentially watched the final battles and ending ceremony on my money through dinner and our ride back. I don’t really have much to say about the updates (Still waiting for Mega Audino in Pokemon Masters, Pokemon Sleep never works for me, and the only thing I have to say about the dual type TCG is that I will be very disappointed if we don’t get a Normal/Fairy Mega Audino), but I was very surprised they didn’t tease anything about Wind & Waves. I can’t say Singapore being the next Worlds location surprised me considering, but while I’d love to go to Singapore one day, it probably won’t be for this.
Everything we ended up getting on Day three:
Regardless, that was it for our Pokemon XP journey. And at the very least, we got to sleep without worrying about missing out on more things.
And more photos from our final day at the convention:
Day 6
Our last full day in San Francisco. For the most part, we decided to take time to relax and wind down. We both needed it. We even ordered in lunch (and also finally tried Jollibee– it was very tasty!).
As it hit the evening though, we decided to take a visit to the pier for dinner. It was really good– though, I did wish there was more of the appetizer for the price ^^; (There was more than shown below– I just didn’t remember to take a photo until there was one left…)
We couldn’t shop too much as places were closing (which is a shame as there were some places I would have loved to check out), but I was able to get my mini donuts which were still there and some cute souvenirs. Still had fun checking out the pier again either way.
Back at the hotel, we did our best to get things as packed as we could for tomorrow.
Day 7
It’s a good thing we packed in advance, since we ended up going a bit slower than we hoped. It didn’t help that breakfast stopped an hour earlier on the weekdays, so we were off to the airport on empty stomachs.
SFO may be a nice airport, but our gate is so ridiculously far away. We did have a very nice brunch though.
Unfortunately, our flight was pushed back already yesterday and again today due to some weather concerns… and this wouldn’t be the first issue we had. We were also told that the Wifi on board would barely work as well and most things would be spotty. Normally, I try to rest on the plane anyway or kind of zone out, but even in the air the problems were still coming. Due to weather issues, there were multiple instances where we just had to fly in circles until things cleared up :( While we had such a good flight there, the flight back was awful and we got in nearly two hours later than expected.
Thankfully, my mother kindly picked us up food on the way to pick us up and then it was just a very long ride home.
And with that, our trip to San Francisco ended. And honestly, I’m still recovering from it.
Did I have fun? I don’t know. I wouldn’t say I didn’t have fun. I got to see some friends, even if I wasn’t able to see everyone I knew who went (schedules are rough and I clearly overdid everything and was a mess). I wasn’t able to do everything I wanted, both in the convention and outside it despite trying to give ourselves extra days.
I wish the lines were managed better. I wish more people could have done the arts and crafts (You had so many video screens and honestly, I feel like they had a lot more room they could have used– there could have been something). I really hope they do something about the pins (and maybe next time, either give them out when people get their badge or just put something you scan your badge to redeem with security/staff there in case of any issues) due to the number of people who couldn’t complete their collection, if they got any at all. I only wanted 2-3 pins myself and got a grand total of zero.
I was happy to see mega evolutions included on the board. And I think if I wasn’t in as much pain as I was due to the lack of accessibility with many of the lines, maybe I would’ve been able to do more and had more fun.
Despite the pain and not really getting to do even a fraction of what I wanted, I liked feeling like I was part of a Pokemon World. Seeing the signs and displays and everything set-up was really magical, even if I wish I could’ve enjoyed it all more.