DALLAS COMIC CON FAN DAYS, Irving, Tx. Overall takeaway, I had a good time I really debated whether or not I wanted to go due to Ebola, and EbolaScare Cancellations, but I am glad I chose to go That said, there are both Pros and Cons to discuss. CONS On Sunday, we left extra early to get good parking and the parking attendants had different ideas. They were loading cars into the street facing row all the way down to the following block so if you were early, but not the first 20 cars, your reward was to be routed into the next zipcode. Literally after I pulled in and complained about it, they realized what they were doing and started letting people go the other way to fill the front half. Glad they realized their error, but for people with pain conditions like mine who came early specifically to get good parking, the damage was done. I was already in pain before I even got to the building. Very much ruined my morning and we left much earlier than planned. The elevator/escalator routing. They had barriers up making you walk long circles around the building to go up or down and for myself and/or people with the aforementioned pain issues, that went a long way toward reducing my ability to walk around the vendor room. At some point one Lady security officer stopped us, and then wandered off to address other people to the point of not hearing the call to let people through and we had to yell for permission from the upper floor officer to let us go up the escalator At one point when my pain levels were high I wanted to get on the elevator but the security guy on 1 refused me-made me get on the escalator. I might have understood if it wasnt Sunday, early, and not very crowded, but ---I was very put off. If you exited on 3 to the patio, you had to walk downstairs to 2 to get back in....why? How does that make sense? I wish cons, especially ones set up like Irving, kept in mind that not all congoers are teenagers or 20Somethings with healthy joints, and not all pain disorders are easily visible. There needs to be more seating for food and just for breaks around heavy walking areas like the vendor room. Con Pros I appreciate the evidence of them trying to fill the gaps left by the cancellations. Last minute AddOns were a great effort. The volunteers working the vendor floor, and the celeb areas were very friendly and well informed which I appreciated, especially considering all the last minute changes. I liked the food-area change from last year but there still isnt enough seating. I loved the overabundance of hand sanitizer. I loved the rootbeer dude on 1, that was wonderful. I like that there were concession options on every floor, that helped a lot to keep energy levels up and the food trucks outside provided even more options without having to leave...but, again no place to really sit to eat...unless youre cool with plopping down on the floor. I liked the flow of the vendor room...artists and vendors seemed a little intermingled, not sure how the artists felt about it but I did not feel either overwhelmed or oversaturated by either one. All in all, a good time was had. I wouldnt rank it in my top 5, but I did not leave unhappy. Id give 1 star to parking attendants, 1 star to security and traffic management, 4 stars to con management...2.5 ave/overall.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 14:24:27 +0000