FC trip report
Another Year, another FC. However lots of new things were brewing this year.... new hotels, new convention center.... lots of growing pains.... but I expect them to resolved or sorted out better for next year. Admittedly, this wasn't my favorite year. I still had fun, but I admit I have had MORE fun in previous years. But! 5 years of going to the same con, it does hold a special place in my heart :3
So! On with the boring report!
Wednesday: I flew in on Wednesday. Strangely enough, I ended up on the same flight as a local fur (I knew she was going, but was still surprised by the coincidence. We hung out between layovers and shared a cab to the hotel.
The hotel was.... for lack of a better word.... RETARDED. The moment I walked into the hotel, I was concerned this was not like previous FCs. No furries milling about the lobby... and almost no suiters. There is normally at least 5, even on Wednesday night. The staff weren't very friendly either. One of the things I loved about the Fairmont was that all the staff wore bunny and kitty ears. I know it's cheesy, but I liked how they at least looked like they were welcoming. The first thing I got when I approached the front desk was a sour look from the lady behind the desk.
There was a trouble with my Credit card (which is not the hotel's fault), but they would not accept my debit card instead (apparently bank issued debit cards don't work in the US? News to me). Then to make matters worse, I asked to use their phone to sort out my Credit card to which they replied "We don't have a courtesy phone"
"Oh.... well, where is the nearest payphone, then?"
"I don't know"
"... right... thanks for your help"
I respect that I am probably one of the last dinosaurs out there without a cell phone, but I think they also need to respect that even if I HAD a cell phone, some of them don't WORK outside of our own country. They could at least assume that SOME of their guests may not come from the USA and need to use a courtesy phone.
Fortunately my friend was all booked and let me use the phone in her room.
Once my card was sorted (easy 5 minute phone call fix), I got myself booked into my room. My room was on fursuit floor 5.... my friend who booked the same time as me also requested a fursuit floor and got floor 24. WTF? Everyone I spoke to who requested a fursuit floor ended up all over the place (5, 9, 11, 21, 24). Look, if they can't accomidate I understand. Perhaps they could just eliminate the fursuit floor booking altogether like AC. But it really sucks if you request something and find yourself blatantly ignored.
I suited around in the lobby for a bit, but found it lacking.... as I said, the hotel lobby was pretty dead, and suiters were almost non-existant. This was SO different from previous years.
Thursday: I took off in the morning to tour San Jose with a friend. We hit the rosicrucian egyptian museum this year. A nice little museum a 5 minute bus ride away. The Museum was interesting enough, but after awhile, countless vases and beads all start looking the same. There were 3 human mummies and a bunch of animal mummies, which was cool. I had never seen one aside from on TV before. The only trouble was there were 2 field trips going through the museum at the same time... it made it very hard to concentrate on reading or looking at certain exhibits.
We got back and got in a 2 hour line for our registration (same as usual... the wait times are still about the same). I heard rumors of a shorter line if you had all your paperwork, but I have NO idea where that was. No one ever mentioned it or marked a location on the map. I'm still not sure where this was.
My roomie arrived and we catted up and fooled around the lobby a little to get a better feel for the con space. Even with a map it was a confusing. The Fairmont's circular layout certainly helped one never feel really lost.... if you just kept walking you were bound to find what you were looking for.
Friday: Set up for the art show, bought stuff in the dealers area, then put on Bea for the rest of the day. Lots of great response to Bea. :3 I was a little paranoid about her wings. I don't think I will make another costume with such exposed wings again.... they are very sturdy, but it's very hard for suiters to keep their surroundings in check with we both have limited vision and it is very packed.
In the eve I switched to a cats costume instead to fool around with the other cats. We're far more fun in a group :3
Saturday: A massive day of costume changes.... Bea for the Parade, then into a Cat costume for a photo shoot with the group, then back into Bea for the masquerade, then into Anubis for the dance D:
The Parade was fun. I put on Bea's crown and carried a scepter. I did the royal wave and knighted a bunch of people. I could hear lots of people shouting "Beeeee" >_<
The photo shoot was done by Lionboogey, who has done photo shoots with us before. He's good at finding great locations and putting us in fun poses. We took photos for 2 hours or so before I had to leave and get BACK into Bea for the masq.
I always love doing the masquerade. Everyone participating is always fun to talk to, and we usually end up picking at each-others costumes like monkeys figuring how seams are sewn and padding is used. No award this year. Numbers were down, there were half of what normally participate, but more pros than previous years. I was just glad to get on stage and show off Bea... and people got the joke of the Blind melon song and the Bee dance :D *Phew!* I was worried it might be too generational for anyone to laugh at.
Sunday: Me and my roomie wore costumes I made as a pair - Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser from the Swedish version of Cats. We did another photo shoot with LionBoogey, which was amusing as there were 3 pairs of Mungo and Rumple, so there were lots of fun pair shots and group shots.
We went out for a big dinner, and I said my goodbyes.
No trouble flying home until I got to Calgary. My baggage took 40 minutes to arrive on the carosel (along with half the passengers on the flight.... no reason why). Customs took only 20 seconds D: whyyyyy did my bags take so looong?
Today: A few days of getting back into the groove of being home and back to work and the Con crud has hit. I'm not too surprised, but I hate being sick T_T
For the Tl:dr people....
Good stuff - lots of good friend and fun. Good location and lots of room for the con to grow.
Bad stuff - Lots of growing pains to sort out. Confusion and lack of common area meant we were more spread out around the con. Sharing the con with the Girls Volleyball tournament was kind of annoying... yes they loved us and wanted photos, but where it was okay for them to crash OUR con, we were barred entry to walk through THEIR section of the con. WTF? Hotel staff didn't seem as welcoming and "fursuit floors" were certainly left up to interpretation.
In the end it's the people that make a con... I am sure next year will be better.
So! On with the boring report!
Wednesday: I flew in on Wednesday. Strangely enough, I ended up on the same flight as a local fur (I knew she was going, but was still surprised by the coincidence. We hung out between layovers and shared a cab to the hotel.
The hotel was.... for lack of a better word.... RETARDED. The moment I walked into the hotel, I was concerned this was not like previous FCs. No furries milling about the lobby... and almost no suiters. There is normally at least 5, even on Wednesday night. The staff weren't very friendly either. One of the things I loved about the Fairmont was that all the staff wore bunny and kitty ears. I know it's cheesy, but I liked how they at least looked like they were welcoming. The first thing I got when I approached the front desk was a sour look from the lady behind the desk.
There was a trouble with my Credit card (which is not the hotel's fault), but they would not accept my debit card instead (apparently bank issued debit cards don't work in the US? News to me). Then to make matters worse, I asked to use their phone to sort out my Credit card to which they replied "We don't have a courtesy phone"
"Oh.... well, where is the nearest payphone, then?"
"I don't know"
"... right... thanks for your help"
I respect that I am probably one of the last dinosaurs out there without a cell phone, but I think they also need to respect that even if I HAD a cell phone, some of them don't WORK outside of our own country. They could at least assume that SOME of their guests may not come from the USA and need to use a courtesy phone.
Fortunately my friend was all booked and let me use the phone in her room.
Once my card was sorted (easy 5 minute phone call fix), I got myself booked into my room. My room was on fursuit floor 5.... my friend who booked the same time as me also requested a fursuit floor and got floor 24. WTF? Everyone I spoke to who requested a fursuit floor ended up all over the place (5, 9, 11, 21, 24). Look, if they can't accomidate I understand. Perhaps they could just eliminate the fursuit floor booking altogether like AC. But it really sucks if you request something and find yourself blatantly ignored.
I suited around in the lobby for a bit, but found it lacking.... as I said, the hotel lobby was pretty dead, and suiters were almost non-existant. This was SO different from previous years.
Thursday: I took off in the morning to tour San Jose with a friend. We hit the rosicrucian egyptian museum this year. A nice little museum a 5 minute bus ride away. The Museum was interesting enough, but after awhile, countless vases and beads all start looking the same. There were 3 human mummies and a bunch of animal mummies, which was cool. I had never seen one aside from on TV before. The only trouble was there were 2 field trips going through the museum at the same time... it made it very hard to concentrate on reading or looking at certain exhibits.
We got back and got in a 2 hour line for our registration (same as usual... the wait times are still about the same). I heard rumors of a shorter line if you had all your paperwork, but I have NO idea where that was. No one ever mentioned it or marked a location on the map. I'm still not sure where this was.
My roomie arrived and we catted up and fooled around the lobby a little to get a better feel for the con space. Even with a map it was a confusing. The Fairmont's circular layout certainly helped one never feel really lost.... if you just kept walking you were bound to find what you were looking for.
Friday: Set up for the art show, bought stuff in the dealers area, then put on Bea for the rest of the day. Lots of great response to Bea. :3 I was a little paranoid about her wings. I don't think I will make another costume with such exposed wings again.... they are very sturdy, but it's very hard for suiters to keep their surroundings in check with we both have limited vision and it is very packed.
In the eve I switched to a cats costume instead to fool around with the other cats. We're far more fun in a group :3
Saturday: A massive day of costume changes.... Bea for the Parade, then into a Cat costume for a photo shoot with the group, then back into Bea for the masquerade, then into Anubis for the dance D:
The Parade was fun. I put on Bea's crown and carried a scepter. I did the royal wave and knighted a bunch of people. I could hear lots of people shouting "Beeeee" >_<
The photo shoot was done by Lionboogey, who has done photo shoots with us before. He's good at finding great locations and putting us in fun poses. We took photos for 2 hours or so before I had to leave and get BACK into Bea for the masq.
I always love doing the masquerade. Everyone participating is always fun to talk to, and we usually end up picking at each-others costumes like monkeys figuring how seams are sewn and padding is used. No award this year. Numbers were down, there were half of what normally participate, but more pros than previous years. I was just glad to get on stage and show off Bea... and people got the joke of the Blind melon song and the Bee dance :D *Phew!* I was worried it might be too generational for anyone to laugh at.
Sunday: Me and my roomie wore costumes I made as a pair - Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser from the Swedish version of Cats. We did another photo shoot with LionBoogey, which was amusing as there were 3 pairs of Mungo and Rumple, so there were lots of fun pair shots and group shots.
We went out for a big dinner, and I said my goodbyes.
No trouble flying home until I got to Calgary. My baggage took 40 minutes to arrive on the carosel (along with half the passengers on the flight.... no reason why). Customs took only 20 seconds D: whyyyyy did my bags take so looong?
Today: A few days of getting back into the groove of being home and back to work and the Con crud has hit. I'm not too surprised, but I hate being sick T_T
For the Tl:dr people....
Good stuff - lots of good friend and fun. Good location and lots of room for the con to grow.
Bad stuff - Lots of growing pains to sort out. Confusion and lack of common area meant we were more spread out around the con. Sharing the con with the Girls Volleyball tournament was kind of annoying... yes they loved us and wanted photos, but where it was okay for them to crash OUR con, we were barred entry to walk through THEIR section of the con. WTF? Hotel staff didn't seem as welcoming and "fursuit floors" were certainly left up to interpretation.
In the end it's the people that make a con... I am sure next year will be better.