Supercon 2013

Happy Friday!

Last Friday, I got the chance to attend Florida Supercon for the FIRST TIME! It was a last minute decision (bought tickets last Monday...). I had many friends going and they were expecting me to go too! I wish I had taken pictures, but I was cosplaying... But let me share my Supercon experience with you.

So I left the house at 1:30 PM last Friday. I had previously been to a convention at Miami Airport Convention Center so I had no trouble getting there. However, once I got to the location...my Boy and I were turned away because all on-site parking lots were FULL. A kind gentleman who could not speak English shoved us a sheet with directions to a garage 3 miles away. I didn't know how to respond to that, but I guess he was exhausted. Then we asked another gentleman who was direction traffic and he roughly told us that there was no more parking and the off-site lot is very far away (well...he said it with some expletives...) and suggested we park in private lots around the block (banks, gas station, etc). That's dangerous...we could be towed since it is a private lot. I was very disappointed at how Supercon's staff dealt with the situation.

My Boy and I decided that we'd go to their off-site lot and park there since they will have a shuttle taking us to the convention center. To our surprise, the lot was very safe and the shuttle came in no time.  We happily hopped on board and headed to our destination. Once at the convention center, we grabbed lunch at the Double Tree Hotel (because we are fearful of convention food...over priced and not very good). There were some helpful signs that pointed us in the right direction to the convention. Once inside, we were directed to the pre-registration booths and the staff quickly checked us in. (Bravo!!!)

Our first thought when we stepped in was...WHOA it's PACKED. The guest stars were directly to our left, a wrestling ring not too far from that, the center stage in front, and a sea of people! I was super impressed with the turn out. We hurriedly found our way to the exhibitor hall. It was organized similar to Megacon, BUT the space between aisles was VERY limited. I had a terrible time trying to navigate my way without getting elbowed and knocked on. Luckily, the people there were very courteous. (That is one of my favorite things about conventions...everyone is so nice!) The vendors were not impressive. Many of them were vendors I had seen at Megacon. Unfortunately, I went home empty handed...

On top of being congested, it was HOT. I had to escape to the second floor for air and space. The second floor hosted the artist alley and food, as well as panels and showrooms. The set up was similar to Mizucon, which is held in the same location. I found the rest of my friends upstairs. Earlier down stairs, a man from Riot stopped me and took my picture (I cosplayed as Caitlyn...). He also gifted me a free skin card! Since my friends were also dressed as League of Legends Champions, I led them to his booth. (Ehehee, the man immediately called me out when he saw me...whoops.) Shortly afterwards, I decided it was time for me to go. I wasn't interested in any panels and I was insanely exhausted.

My boy and I went outside to catch the shuttle back to the garage... We waited for 30 minutes and a shuttle arrives, but it fills up immediately. We had to wait for another shuttle, which was going to arrive in 10 minutes. A shuttle comes, but the drive told us she cannot take us. Instead she parked at the drive way and made phone calls. Another 30 minutes later, a shuttle comes and we were able to hop on. The drive told us we will wait another 5 minutes for stragglers. We agreed seeing that it took so much effort for us to catch the shuttle. That was a mistake...the 5 minutes turned into a 45 minute joy ride. The driver took us from the front of the hotel to the front of the convention center. And then we rode into a fenced lot. Oh it doesn't stop there. He drove us under the highway into a construction zone that looked into the airport. I honestly thought I was going to get mugged at this point.

This continued for almost an hour until the driver finally decided to take us back to the garage. So much for 5 minutes. I had to cancel my haircut appointment because of this. After we finally got our car, we headed to El Pollo Inka for dinner.

Conclusion?

Vendors 2/5
Setup 1/5
Location 3/5
Food 4/5
Parking 0/5
Experience 3/5

All in all, if we had arrived to the convention earlier, I think I would have enjoyed it so much more. The shuttle ride REALLY killed it for me. The set up of the convention was terrible too. There just wasn't enough space! They should work on finding a better location with a larger on-site garage and exhibition hall.

Would I go to Supercon 2014? Maybe. I am planning on going to Megacon 2014 though! I already have a cosplay line up. Hopefully I can make everything on time... I have so many other things I need to focus on too! Until next time.

<3 Debbie