SDCC 2016: Headed To The Petco Interactive Zone? Here’s What You’re In For!

We’ve been having a ton of fun covering some of the many offsite events at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, including the Amazon Village, FXHibition, and AHS: Fearless VR.

If you’re looking for a more diverse offsite, which includes a batch of installations from various companies and sponsors in a wide open, public, no badge necessary space, you’ll definitely want to take a look at the always fun Petco Interactive Zone.

I spent some time at the interactive zone during Thursday’s sweltering afternoon, and took some photos of the installations and opportunities that you can expect to see if you decide to visit. The Zone is decidedly smaller than it’s been in previous years, but I didn’t have to wait in line for more than ten minutes to experience anything that the booths had to offer.

Here’s what you’re in for if you decide to visit this year:

There’s a pretty simple Geico booth, where you can take your photo with a GIANT Geico lizard, and also have an opportunity to win a $500 gift card. There was no line for this almost the entire time that I was present at the Petco Interactive Zone.

The Yo-Kai Watch booth was pretty awesome. You’ll notice a giant, photo-op ready Jibanyan as soon as you step foot in the interactive zone, and as a full-grown adult surrounded by children, it was unexpectedly hard not to hug the thing.

The booth was offering face painting for kids, Dance lessons (followed by a dance party) throughout the day (also for kids I’d assume), demo 3DS units where you could try out the game. A Nintendo representative was there to show you some of the newest Yo-Kai Watch toys, and offered up a ‘Stamps of Fury’ game card, where you could win some cool prizes just by obtaining all of the stamps in the booth.

You can also take a ride on a ferris wheel, which I imagine could garner some pretty sweet photographs of the busy San Diego downtown. This ferris wheel didn’t actually seem to have anything to do with SDCC, and is $2 per rider per ride.

Snickers and TBS are hosting a ‘Satisfaction Station’, where you can put on some silly clothing and be featured on your very own comic book cover.

Jack In The Box and The Walking Dead: Road To Survival were hosting a pretty awesome photo-op. Attendees have the opportunity to pose with Lucille at a dilapidated Jack in the Box restaurant, completed with a walker ready to take your order.

As in the past few years, virtual reality is king at Comic-Con. Razer is hosting virtual reality demos in their booth, and attendees also have the opportunity to win some cool prizes.

Ash vs. Evil Dead probably had the coolest (and quickest) installation at Petco. After waiting in line, you walk through a small, destroyed cabin. Inside, you’ll see bugs crawling all over the floor, pots and pans rattling, a few bodiless heads (that are still talking) and more. There are some great photo ops at the installation, and when you emerge you’ll receive a ticket which will net you a foam chainsaw, beer-coozy, t-shirt, or poster.

As always, there are a ton of themed food options available in the interactive zone as well, so if you’re looking for some quick grub without the long lines (that you’ll unfortunately have to eat in the heat), this may be a good option.

It’s definitely worth the visit to the Petco Interactive zone. There are some neat installations, and some awesome prizes to be had, just down expect the vast amount of options that have been present in previous years. The plus side to this fact, though, is that the crowds seem far smaller as well.

Already visit? What did you think!?