Fans of NBC’s The Good Place were delighted at San Diego Comic Con this year by an immersive off-site experience. Taking place on the edge of San Diego’s historic Gaslamp District, The Good Place also took over the famous Tin Fish restaurant and turned it into “Good Plates” throughout the duration of the convention. Fans could get in and have special menu items that related to the show.
While the restaurant option was awesome, the real fun was found when fans were able to step into the real Good Place. Everyone who wanted to complete the experience was asked to register (those who registered before jumping in line were expedited through the process). Once registered, everyone was assigned a character who had made it into the good place.
My character happened to be the Duke or Worcheshire and liquidated his entire estate in order to open up a pitbull sanctuary. He collected bumper stickers in his spare time.
The line experience as a pre-registered attendee was actually quite pleasant. For me, the whole experience took roughly an hour even though I had been told two hours when I hopped into the line. It also worked out that at the start of the day the entire line was in the shade, something me and my fellow line dwellers were infinitely grateful for.
Contributing to the swift motion of the line, the activation brought in large groups of attendees at a time to have the experience together. We stepped out of the sun into a room that for fans of the show no doubt looked familiar. On one wall was pleasant green text welcoming us to the Good Place and on the other was a video introduction from none other than Michael, Good Janet, and Bad Janet.
Welcomed into the Good Place we stepped through to a courtyard area where our new and slightly creepy neighbors greeted us and asked us about ourselves. I answered all of their questions as the character I had been assigned and was given an extra pin that was a replica of the Good Place pin Michael had to retrieve on the show in order to try and save Elenor and the crew from the Bad Place.
A sneak peak into #TheGoodPlace. To learn anything more you have to go check it out. Again, pre-registration is key! #SDCC pic.twitter.com/7ywRn6HTpd
— NERDOPHILES @ SDCC (@nerdophiles) July 21, 2018
The courtyard held true to the Good Place seen on the series too. There was a froyo store front, café tables set out, a shrimp themed mini carousel, and someone who looked a lot like Chidi giving an ethics lesson. Participants could ride the carousel and try their hand at solving the ethical conundrum of the Trolley Problem.
Throughout the whole experience attendees wore chipped wrist bands that could be scanned – presumably impacting the Good Place score everyone received after completing the encounter. My answer to the Trolley Problem earned my wrist band a scan and I definitely didn’t end up in the Good Place after it was all over.
While we were enjoying the fruits of the Good Place a few strange characters started to pop-up. Individuals who definitely didn’t belong in the Good Place started running around trying to throw off our neighbors who started to panic and asked us if we had let these strangers in.
As the experience progressed, mass panic broke out as a giant ladybug invasion appeared. We were ushered out of the Good Place and given a stress-ball material shrimp.
NBC really did a great job this year with this off-site activation. There was not a single moment along the way where I regretted waiting in line or checking it out. We were engaged every step of the way and given a really fun immersive experience along with the chance for some amazing photo ops inside.
We can’t wait to see what they do next year.
Fans still hanging out at San Diego Comic Con still have time to check it out before everything closes so don’t wait! This is a can’t-miss experience.
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