San Diego Anime Con: A Three-Day Convention in Mission Valley, Not Downtown

Overview

The first thing to know is where it isn't. San Diego Anime Con is not at the San Diego Convention Center. It's at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Mission Valley, and that's a deliberate scale rather than a downgrade — it's a hotel convention, with panels in named function rooms and a vendor hall you can actually walk in an afternoon.

This is the third annual, run by Silk Road Productions, the group behind Fangaea and Scream Diego. It's also easy to confuse with a differently-named event, which is worth a paragraph of its own further down.

What You Need to Know

When: Friday November 13 – Sunday November 15, 2026

Hours: Friday 3:00–8:00 p.m. · Saturday 10:00 a.m.–midnight · Sunday 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

Where: DoubleTree by Hilton San Diego – Mission Valley, 7450 Hazard Center Drive, San Diego, CA 92108

Cost: Friday $20 · Saturday $25 · Sunday $20 · Three-day $55 · VIP $100

At the door: Friday $25 · Saturday $30 · Sunday $25

Ages: Under 8 free with a paid adult (one free child per adult). 15 and under must be accompanied by a parent or guardian

Transit: Hazard Center Trolley Station (Green Line) is across the street

Tickets: Eventbrite — the organizer's only sales channel

Info: sandiegoanimecon.com

Hours by Hall

The convention hours and the hall hours aren't the same, which matters if you're coming for the shopping:

Vendor and Artist Hall: Friday 3:00–8:00 p.m. · Saturday 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. · Sunday 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

Programming: Friday 4:00–8:00 p.m. · Saturday 11:00 a.m.–midnight · Sunday 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

So Saturday's late hours are programming and entertainment, not shopping — the halls close at 6 either way.

What's Confirmed for 2026

Vendors: a partial list of roughly 80 is already published. Eventbrite advertises 50+.

Featured Artists: roughly 67 on the published partial list. Note the framing — the convention says plainly, "While we do not have an 'Artist Alley' at San Diego Anime Con, we do have an entire room dedicated to local and regional artists." If you're used to hunting an alley, it's a room.

Cosplay contest: Saturday, November 14, time still to be announced. The prize is an eight-pound WWE-style championship belt sponsored by Epic Cosplay. You need a Saturday or three-day pass plus separate registration.

PandaMonium: the Saturday evening after-hours dance party and concert — a performance followed by a DJ set — and it's included with any ticket, not a separate charge.

Game Room: board games, video games, VR through SD LAN, a kids zone, and a Doomlings play-to-win tournament.

Maid Cafe: separately ticketed and to be announced for 2026. For scale, 2025 ran $75 for a single VIP seat, $150 for a half tea table of three, and $300 for a full table of six, and it required a valid day badge.

There's also an 18+ Hentai Matsuri Room in the programming list, with details still to come.

What Isn't Announced Yet

Being straight about this, because it affects whether you buy now or wait:

• The 2026 guest and voice actor lineup is not out. The convention's own guests page still shows the 2025 names under 2025 headings and says 2026 guests will be announced in late summer — a deadline that has now passed.
• Panels for 2026 aren't published; the submission form is still open.
• Entertainment acts aren't announced.
• No schedule grid exists yet.
• PandaMonium's performers and start time aren't listed.

If guests are the reason you'd go, wait for the announcement. If vendors, artists and cosplay are the reason, it's already worth booking — and advance pricing saves $5 a day over the door.

Don't Confuse It With "Anime San Diego"

This trips people up every year. Anime San Diego is a different event, with the words reversed: it ran September 5–6, 2026, at the San Diego Convention Center, and sells through Tixr.

San Diego Anime Con is this one: November 13–15, DoubleTree Mission Valley, Eventbrite. Same city, similar name, different everything.

While we're at it: Vivid Seats is a resale marketplace, not an authorized seller. It lists Friday admission "from $86" against a $20 face price and a $25 door price. Buy from Eventbrite.

Cosplay and Prop Rules

The convention publishes a full policy, and it's stricter than some:

• Anything that might read as a weapon goes to Prop Check for examination on arrival
• Costume swords are allowed if secured so they can't be drawn
• Prohibited: firearms, crossbows and projectile weapons; metal armor with sharp edges or spikes; martial arts weapons like nunchucks and shuriken; skateboards and scooters
• Prohibited items bought at the con must be wrapped in thick paper or cardboard and stay wrapped
• Nudity and partial nudity aren't allowed — it's billed as a family-friendly event
• "Cosplay is not consent." Harassing photography is prohibited, with eviction and no refund as the penalty

Good to Know

Take the trolley. The Hazard Center station on the Green Line is across the street from the Hazard Center complex the hotel sits in. This is one of the few San Diego conventions where transit is genuinely the easy option.

Parking is the open question. The convention's parking page is still a placeholder saying information will be updated closer to the event. The hotel's own published self-parking rate is $40 a day with no valet, but that's the standard hotel rate and not an event rate — don't budget on it as though it's confirmed.

Hotel room block: $195 a night with group code SDA, booking cut-off October 23.

Outside food and drink are allowed but not in programming rooms. Outside alcohol is prohibited; the hotel bars are 21+.

Refunds are honored until the day before the event, November 13 — none on or after.