Megacon

Attended MegaCon 2015. While I was glad I finally got to check this con off my list, I left feeling a little disappointed. I say this because it draws 80k+ attendees (according to Wikipedia), and yet it felt like it was a big fish in a small pond. The programming didn’t reflect the size of the crowd.
I think Mega technically counts as a multi-​genre con, with maybe a heavy emphasis on animé, games, and comics (in that order). They also have enough media guests to draw the photo-​ops/​autograph collecting attendees. Demographic is high school to early college animé fans, sprinkled with older comic and sci-​fi fans. So let’s break it down by the things you can do there:
Costume Watching: Good quality and wide variety of costumes, though animé ones still take the majority. I would say it’s pretty kid friendly too. The Orange County Convention Center does a great job of spreading out the crowd. Although the main convention is basically limited to a gigantic dealer hall room, just getting from one end of the building to another takes a long time. The building also has multiple levels so you can people watch from different perspectives, and groups have ample space to convene for themed group photoshoots.
Panels: They had 1 – 2 events every hour, but they honestly didn’t really draw my attention as must see. In fact, I left the weekend without attending a single one. If you were hoping to catch media guests, then I hope you caught them in the ONE panel they did all weekend. As it is the case for most cons, programming basically stopped at 7pm. Time to clear out the convention center. There was also a small arcade with old school games.
Dealer Hall: As I previously mentioned, the bulk of the convention was in a giant warehouse-​style room on the bottom floor. You first enter a fan group area, with displays from Lego clubs, the 501^st Star Wars fan club, and other fan tables. Next is the cluster of a dealer hall. It was large, but not much walking room between each dealer. There wasn’t a real disctinction between independent artists and commercial type stores. You just had to walk through each aisle to see where everyone was. Nothing really out of the ordinary, but you did see bigger vendors like WeLoveFine.
Autographs/​Photo-​Ops: At the «north» end of the giant room, you had a celebrity autograph area. Some of the headlining guests that year included Norman Reedus, Hulk Hogan, and Karen Gillan. Apparently there was a lot of cancellations in the months leading to the event. This area stayed pretty busy all weekend, especially Saturday. On the «west» side of the room, you had a designated professional photo-​op area. It was ran by Celebrity Photo Ops, and I was quite impressed with their setup. After purchasing a ticket, you had clearly marked lines and times for each guest. If you paid for a digital print, you would get it INSTANTLY after your photo. The process wasn’t too rushed either, you had a minute or two to talk to the guests. One of the highlights for me!
Lowlight was the overpriced food in the convention center! $ 10 for stale, tasteless Chinese food/​Pizza slice/​and similar things.
In summary, MegaCon seems like a perfectly acceptable convention… if it were a fraction of the size. It seems the attendance numbers have outgrown the planning by the owners. I’m glad I went to see it, but I don’t see myself returning anytime soon when there are other cons that offer more things to do.

I think the best way to explain my opinion of this event is this–
I was given my tickets for free, and still feel ripped off.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but MegaCon fell painfully short of it. Way too many people in way too little space. No organization at all. Even employees couldn’t give us information on where to find things. Everything is overpriced. I expect to pay more than i’d like for something unique like an artist’s sketch or collector’s item. However, what I wasn’t expecting was paying double the price for things I can find on Amazon, or the UNREAL $ 10 for a pre-​packed turkey sandwich about the size of my hand, not including a drink or anything. I could have gotten a much larger, much better sandwich at Publix for half the price. To best illustrate how unreasonably expensive everything is here, when we left we went over to Downtown Disney, and found DISNEY prices much more acceptable!
I think my biggest complaint is the attitude of both the workers and the patrons. Having been a part of the «geek» community most of my life, I’ve come to expect a general niceness and consideration for others. Not so at this event. The employees I encountered were rude and clueless about the event. It was sort of like they picked random people off the street and handed them a t-​shirt and said «stand here». The workers that did have an answer for us were generally wrong. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like the people working at an event should at least be able to tell you how to get from the room you’re in to the one you want to be in.
And the other guests… shameful. I try to be aware of my surrounding and considerate of those around me but I think I was one of the few on that. People pushing, shoving, etc. They’ll walk right in front of you, shove you away from something you’re obviously looking at, poke you in the eye with the things sticking out of their costume because they’ve apparently forgotten what they’re wearing. I had one person run into me so hard I nearly fell to the ground. One person in a scooter came very close to running over my foot, and I wasn’t in their way by any means. People (i.e., adults) were literally running around and screaming like children on playground, when in fact they were in a very cramped area where you could barely walk. At a panel, someone came in and though there were many empty seats around me, sat ON ME. Literally, sat so far over in the chair next to me that he was sitting my leg.
And honestly? I was bored. Waiting in line to pay for a picture. Waiting in line to pay for an autograph. Waiting in line to pay for food. Waiting in line to pay for merchandise. Waiting in line to get close enough to booth to actually see what they were selling. Waiting in line to get into a panel. Waiting in line to get out of a panel. That’s pretty much all you do here. Wait, and get shoved around. Aside from waiting in line and spending money, there wasn’t much else to do. We both were so fed up and frustrated and disappointed that we ended up leaving around 2, beyond glad we hadn’t paid to be there.
I will say, one good thing, was the celebrities. I was only able to pay for one meeting, and chose Sean Patrick Flannery from the Boondock Saints. He was very sweet and funny. He spoke on the phone with one guest’s wife, and went around the room on another’s skateboard. He allowed for pictures with him to be included in the autograph price. I’ve heard similar good reviews of the interactions with other celebs here, and they certainly all looked to be giving quality experiences to their fans. So, yeah, the one good thing I saw at this event, was the one thing the event itself had nothing to do with. (I’ll also say, bathroom waits were impressively short, and the facilities were very clean.)

What to say? I had a blast at Megacon! The convention center was of course packed and crowded which was expected but Ioved every minute of it. This the time of the year where you get to see amazing people in costume and meet comic books illustrator.
I had a ticket to meet one of the cast member from The Walking Dead and while in line i was told the wait was about 3 hours. I am a fan of the show but could not see myself waiting that long to pay for an autograph and a hand shake so I ended up giving my ticket to a teenager who was almost in tears.
The only criticism i have is how disorganized the lines were for photo ops/​autograph signing etc. It was pure chaos. I hope next year they will have some kind of system that will make the lines less convoluted.
I have to say my favorite moment of all was the photoshoot with all the comic book heroes, villains and other characters. I thought that was awesome.
I really enjoyed myself and had a wonderful time. I will definitely go back next year in costume!

I did this show in 2013 and came to sell artwork from western Canada. If this was a short drive away from me, I would probably do this show again in a heartbeat. The biggest issue for me is it costs me a ton to do this show and I can’t do an epic show like this all the time, but I do want to do it again.
It was fun, there is a lot to do at this show regardless if you’re a no name like me, they managed it really well, you could find my table and really any tables at the show easily (very well indicated BTW), and Florida is a friendly beautiful place. It sets a standard other cons probably ought to be jealous of.
When I can afford it, I’m coming back. That’s all there is to it.

MegaCon is an annual SciFi/​Comic Convention that is held annually in Orlando. It includes a main exhibition hall which has vendors, artwork, and more. There are also a variety of panels to take in. Photo opportunities and autographs with the celebs can be purchased for an additional cost.
The location of the main hall was at the bottom of escalators this year, which was chaotic to say the least. It caused a huge bottle neck with entering and leaving the exhibition floor. This was also the location of the confusing ticket lines. The organization for the panel and ticket lines weren’t up to par. For the panels many of the varying panels intertwine and it was often unclear which line was which. Also, it seemed as the event was oversold and the main hall was so packed all the time. It made us feel like a herd of animals charging through at all times. Many of the vendors we wanted to browse we couldn’t make it to.
One of the highlights of the convention for me every year is taking in all those that are dressed up as characters. I could spend all day people watching! The other part that I really enjoy is browsing all the artwork. It was challenging this year due to the crowds, but the artwork we did see was phenomenal. I am hopeful that the convention will learn from this years downfalls to plan for the future.

Megacon is the convention that us Floridians have it’s the only place where you can meet your favorite writers, artist and actors. Your never bored there’s always a stand with something that will help you show your inner geek with a souvenir or a belt or a dog collar but I’ll let you find that out for yourself ;) it’s also great to see someone dressed up as your favorite movie/​comic book character but if that’s all you want I would recommend hanging out by the 501^st legion all day that is if you like stormtroppers. So overall it’s just a fun place to show your inner geek and to have fun doing it!

Packed like a steaming can of sardines is what I’ll call this! I’m a new member among the comicon and megacon community. I enjoy’d both visits these events provided each time. I went to Phoenix comicon in 2012 and just recently megacon here in Orlando.
I consider my self a treki to the very end, not much into anything else maybe except for the board gaming. I was introduced to Steve Jackson gaming and had a blast. There were a bunch more vendors and things to do for all sorts of folks tho. It was all very overwhelming with excitement.
There were many food vendors but nothing that I just had to have. We all wanted to save our appetite for Sea Dog brewing co and I’m glad we manage to do so.
In the end I got to do everything that I wanted with the exception of the crowds restricting my abilities sometimes. Our group plans on doings this again but managing our time right next time is going to be crucial because we spent almost 4hrs in traffic!