The main problem was that hall wall between the Corral and the BMO Centre.
With people constantly leaving the expo floor to go to various panels it created a massive jam at that tiny entrance. People coming and going through that one space... It was a mess.
When I left the gf and I couldn't believe how much walking space there was on the floor compared to that hallway, looking down from the walk to the ctrain.
Oh well lessons learned I hope.
If the Saddledome is out as an option they should make it three full days and space out the bigger guests.
Assuming they can get the names to sell tickets next year, they should book the Convention Center too. Have a 3 day Transit pass part of the event pass too. Helps with the parking issue too.
Well based on what happened today I doubt I'll try to come out with the toddler tomorrow, just not worth it.
If the event has gotten this big how can they possibly change it for next year? They are already taking up ALL of the space at the BMO Centre (including the corral).
There's a big GMC tent sitting on the Stampede grounds. It's not like the Stampede doesn't see more people come in. This is still very much a small fanclub run convention that lacks professionalism and managers. It's all volunteers with no radios and no way to communicate what's going on.
It was an absolute gong show. Many people from out of town were turned away. People waited in line for 4 hours and were turned away. No official announcements were ever made. Just hapless volunteers repeating heresay throughout the crowd.
For the record, ticket sales were shut down at approximately 11:30 AM on Saturday morning. Even people who had prepaid for passes or had photo sessions were turned away by volunteers who didn't know what was going on most of the time. Ridiculous!
This is still very much a small fanclub run convention that lacks professionalism and managers. It's all volunteers with no radios and no way to communicate what's going on.
And boy does it show!
The volunteers are generally friendly and well-meaning, but it was clear they lacked sufficient training. Nobody knew which of the eight different lines they should direct you to.
I appreciate that this started as a small fan-run convention, but it's grown to the size where they desperately need to bring in professional event managers. If they don't publicly announce BIG changes for next year, I won't be back no matter who the guests are.
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So if one did want to try and go tomorrow, what would be the best play? 11:30-12:00, so all the lineups have gone in and are starting to leave? 2:30, in the middle to miss the early ones and before the later ones come? Or just not worth it?
From what happened today 11:30-12:00 is basically walking into the epicenter of the earthquake at ground zero at the exact moment an atomic bomb detonates. Best to go very early in the morning or wait until late afternoon.
I got there at 10:00 AM. Spent 2 hours waiting in lines to buy passes. Was turned away, they turned away ticket purchasers and volunteers were even telling people who had pre-purchased "the fire marshall has shut everything down for today. Go home and come back tomorrow." 11:30AM! Managed to get a badge from someone (kindly Edmontonians) leaving in disgust, then waited another 2 hours WITH a badge and ended up getting inside around 2:00 PM by wading through a sea of humanity with determination.
The massive crowds and lines didn't dissipate until well around 4 or 5 PM IIRC.
From what happened today 11:30-12:00 is basically walking into the epicenter of the earthquake at ground zero at the exact moment an atomic bomb detonates. .
So.... everyone is.... dead?
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Everybody at ground zero dies, but 80% of the city is still alive for the next few hours, suffering from fatigue, radiation burns, radiation sickness, thirst, shock, etc. and all crowding toward the few sources of water left...it was just like aggressive zombies left, being herded like cattle to the slaughter is exactly how I would describe the atmosphere. It was on the verge of getting pushy and oxygen was clearly lacking outside Hall D. Somebody was screaming out not to trample the kids.
I'm pretty disappointed I missed the Spiner, Burton, Wheaton panel. Those guys are very hilarious together and Spiner said very little during the actual evening event.
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I felt the worst for the out of towners who got a very bad impression how things were run at this con. A couple from Wisconsin were beside me for much of the sardine packed hours around noon trying to even get into Hall D and they said they paid $5000 for flights and hotels, etc. to get here and they had already missed a lot of the stuff they were planning to see because they didn't know their way around. There were no clear signs, volunteers weren't doing their jobs or know was going on, and they got lost and ended up outside and couldn't get back into the con for another 4 hours because it was over capacity.
Last edited by Hack&Lube; 04-29-2012 at 01:54 AM.
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Worst part is I think it'll be crazy tomorrow too. People will know to show up early. It'll be nuts from the get go.
Yep. When they told everybody that everything was getting shut down, and to go home at 11:30 AM, they told them they had to try their luck again tomorrow to show up at 8:00 AM or they might not get in again. The volunteers (who tried their best but all they had was hearsay and rumors) all said tickets would not be sold again that day and I know many people left in disgust. Of course that wasn't true. You just had to wait a few hours.
The crowds might be better tomorrow actually. Saturday is usually the big day. Many of the people who couldn't buy tickets have given up and resolved not to experience that again because you can't buy them online and there is no guarantee they will sell them in a better fashion tomorrow.
The volunteers are generally friendly and well-meaning, but it was clear they lacked sufficient training. Nobody knew which of the eight different lines they should direct you to.
I appreciate that this started as a small fan-run convention, but it's grown to the size where they desperately need to bring in professional event managers. If they don't publicly announce BIG changes for next year, I won't be back no matter who the guests are.
I came out of the C-Train and there were about 5 lines of hundreds of people snaking all over the place. I asked people and they said they assumed they were lines to buy tickets but they were all going in different directions and some looped onto themselves or went to dead ends. People were just blindly lining up without any direction at all!
There was one line where people exited the C-Train station, walked south all the way to the BMO entrance by the Corral and lined up to just go up the C-Train ramp all over again!
"Frak Off Will Wheaton" - Chief Tyrol, Battlestar Galactica
Crazy bunch of surprise guests. TNG Panel ended up to be the cast of TNG with bonus intro by Garrett Wang, surprise appearance by John DeLancie, and surprise audience question by Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) + video segments with Christopher Judge (Teal'c), Robert Picardo, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Kevin Conroy (Batman), Edward James Olmos, Maurice LaMarche (The Brain), Rob Paulsen & Jess Harnell (Yakko & Wakko), etc.
Also Patrick Stewart kissed all the female members of his crew while handing out flowers given to them by the surprise appearance of John DeLancie. Not to be outdone, Gates McFadden collected up all the flowers and kissed all the male members with an especially long one with Patrick Stewart. Wil Wheaton then shouted out: "fanfics come true!"
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First time at the Expo for me and the wife. Gotta say we both totally loved it even with the absurd crowd that we were totally unprepared for. Sounds like we got lucky and were in the doors around 11:30 just before the Fire Marshal started the lock out.
Some cons:
Our camera wasn't used at all because there was just too many people and every time someone in an awesome costume was asked to stop for a photo it just created a huge blockage. We didn't want to be the cause, so we pretty much just left the camera in the bag.
We only really made it to one panel. Really wanted to see Robert Englund but couldn't find the Boyce in time. That's just my inexperience and unfamiliarity with the venue. However, the panel we did make it to was place in a room beside some FILKing contest, so all we heard the whole time was people singing their FILK songs in the room beside us. It was horribly obnoxious and our panelists were clearly distracted.
Dudes in skimpy costumes. I checked out the ass on some Poison Ivy chick at the Alpha Minx booth. Then later while wandering around saw said Poison Ivy and realized it was a dude. There was also some guy in a Leeloo costume walking around.
Pros:
Atmosphere was amazing. Everybody having a good time and getting along, open to conversational and approachable. Met some great folks while sharing a table in the food court area and shared stories over a bite.
There's something for everyone. It was awesome checking out all the different assortments of swag available from the geeky t-shirt vendors to the costumers and prop crafters to the artists to the merchandisers. Wife grabbed a few shirts and a pink Mario mushroom for her car rear view. I got a Ray Fawkes commission piece.
Chicks in skimpy costumes. Boobs and ass everywhere. Ohhh yeah.
TNG: EXPOSED was great once the cast finally came out. Took a while to get rolling though. The first bits with the movie and two semi-related speakers was iffy and the 30 minute intermission was totally unnecessary. The Inner Space crew did a good job of running things once they took over. John Delance showing up was phenomenal. Things were only slightly spoiled by a few ######s feeling the need to yell out stupid remarks during spots while cast members were sharing moments. A couple were funny, like the guy who yelled "I feel sick!" to Gates, which she responded by telling him to let her find her tricorder and meet her in her quarters. ;D But the tool who bellowed during a touching comment by Levar Burton needed a kick in the back of the head from whoever was sitting behind him. Patrick Stewart was fantastic. What was with Denise Crosby and the Flames toque? Bleh...
TNG: EXPOSED was great once the cast finally came out. Took a while to get rolling though. The first bits with the movie and two semi-related speakers was iffy and the 30 minute intermission was totally unnecessary. The Inner Space crew did a good job of running things once they took over. John Delance showing up was phenomenal. Things were only slightly spoiled by a few ######s feeling the need to yell out stupid remarks during spots while cast members were sharing moments. A couple were funny, like the guy who yelled "I feel sick!" to Gates, which she responded by telling him to let her find her tricorder and meet her in her quarters. ;D But the tool who bellowed during a touching comment by Levar Burton needed a kick in the back of the head from whoever was sitting behind him. Patrick Stewart was fantastic. What was with Denise Crosby and the Flames toque? Bleh...
I believe the 30 minute intermission was necessary because they didn't get all the whole-cast photo sessions done. Did you notice those blocks of seats that were totally open and unfilled in the otherwise capacity crowd from 7:20-8:30? I think those were the VIPs with the photo session passes and they were all backstage doing the photos (~$400 a pop I think!).
It was hilarious when McFadden said: "I don't have my tricorder, meet me in my room!" and then Patrick Stewart said: "That's what Jean-Luc wished Dr. Crusher would have said to him".
Denise Crosby was meh the whole time. She was the real outsider and a bit awkward (I heard Frakes and her got into a fight previously) and coming out in the Flames toque just felt like sucking up the to the crowd.
The audience questions were surprisingly high quality, and much better than the ones the lame Innerspace moderators asked, ie:
"Brent, do you think we will ever have Androids as advanced as your character?"
Spiner: "Why are you asking me? Ask a real scientist"
There was also some guy in a Leeloo costume walking around.
