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Megaplex 2022
3 years ago
General
I can honestly say that for a variety of reasons this summer has been one of the best, most memorable summers I've had in many many, many years. Sensing a coming end to things, I've been spending more on myself recently. I've been chasing exotic flavors of Mountain Dew across state lines, going to Retro Game conventions to reclaim the family's lost Nintendo games (which, thanks to fantastic luck with low prices I've nearly completely achieved), and have been venturing forth more back into the (mostly) post-Covid world.
Megaplex, hosted in my childhood hometown of Orlando, Florida, was one of those contributors to why this year has been different from most. It was their last year at the Caribe Royal Resort, a resort hotel just down the road from SeaWorld and in driving distance to Universal Studios and Disney World. We had no intentions to visit these fine attractions due to money concerns, but still made some time to visit lesser-known venues, such as The Abbey, where we saw a performance by Aurellio Voltaire. We also took a repast to Soupa Saiyan, a Dragonball Z-themed ramen and Vietnamese noodle house, which was actually quite good.
So, from what I understand, Megaplex had originally started as an anime convention, and the furry fandom took over it over the course of several years. I don't know if this is true or not, but my roommate was concerned about people being unfriendly the first day of the con after he was ghosted by the friends who invited him down. I tend to be pretty solitary myself, so I am ok with the standoffish crowds at anime conventions or at least I am tolerant enough to want to attend them occasionally. I don't think my roommate was expecting it as much, though he did warm up to the con and start talking to more people in the second and third day of the con, though he spent much of the event sleeping. We did run into some people we knew from elsewhere, so we had that to lean on.
The hotel was amazing, with it's own sitting room separate from the bedroom. Used to getting cramped two-bedroom hotels we didn't expect the room to be that big, otherwise we may have insisted on bringing a third to help drive the price down. The hotel had a large pool that wrapped halfway around the property complete with a waterslide and waterfall. Now, I've been going to cons for years now and most hotels have pools; but this is the first time I've ever actually made a point of bringing my swim trunks and going swimming at the con. It was so much fun! I endeavor to do this more often in the future, wherever these facilities are available. The staff was curious and friendlier than most hotels-I had a cabanna waitstaff member ask me about the characters we were portraying and assisted two lovely hotel cleaning ladies at one of the raves the last night of the con. The only downside to the hotel, and probably the reason why the convention is leaving it, would have to be the severely limited parking. I was able to luck into a good spot after a lot of driving around on the first night, but not everyone was so lucky, and a lot of people ended up getting towed despite the fact that they had rooms at the hotel.
From here to Orlando was roughly 8 hours of driving, and my roommate and I swapped out every four hours to give each other breaks. The trip down was very nice; uneventful with memorable trips through cities like Savannah, St. Augustine, Jacksonville and Daytona. I wish we had more money and been able to stop at more places or even go to the beach but we had decided early on to make the con our focus, and it paid off in the long run as I didn't spend too much, despite how terribly expensive Orlando can get (I do regret eating out more often than I should have). We did stop at Bucky's, which holy heck, was worth the detour. The ride back was more tense, as we drove through several bouts of torrential rain and my roommate had an "autistic episode" (his words) which led to about an extra hour of driving time. This was inconvenient since our late exit from the Caribe Royal meant we wouldn't get home until after dark, and my roommate's night sight is not great. We worked it out though, and I got us home. We both feel like this is a con we can do again, though maybe not on regular rotation. We would both very much like to see more of Florida before it gets destroyed by climate change, and Megaplex looks to be a good vehicle for doing that.
Originally our plan was to do Bewhiskered next but we both talked about our finances and I don't think it's on the table any longer, unless if things should somehow just fall into place for it. It's location in NC makes it a lot closer and a lot cheaper, but...I dunno. It's not going to tear me up if I miss it as after Megaplex I'm feeling like I've had my fill, and anything else is just a bonus.
Next year I think we are going to stick closer to what we usually do, and just attend FWA and one smaller semi-local fandom con, most likely Bewhiskered since ASE folded and Blue Ridge keeps doing stupid crap like attendance caps and overpriced camping hotels in Asheville. I have several home maintenance projects that need worked on that I will need to put money into, so I expect that will keep me occupied for the year up to my 40th birthday.
So yeah. I've at long last, had a summer that felt like freakin' summer. And it ain't over yet...it's only August and I've a few online events yet to do.
Megaplex, hosted in my childhood hometown of Orlando, Florida, was one of those contributors to why this year has been different from most. It was their last year at the Caribe Royal Resort, a resort hotel just down the road from SeaWorld and in driving distance to Universal Studios and Disney World. We had no intentions to visit these fine attractions due to money concerns, but still made some time to visit lesser-known venues, such as The Abbey, where we saw a performance by Aurellio Voltaire. We also took a repast to Soupa Saiyan, a Dragonball Z-themed ramen and Vietnamese noodle house, which was actually quite good.
So, from what I understand, Megaplex had originally started as an anime convention, and the furry fandom took over it over the course of several years. I don't know if this is true or not, but my roommate was concerned about people being unfriendly the first day of the con after he was ghosted by the friends who invited him down. I tend to be pretty solitary myself, so I am ok with the standoffish crowds at anime conventions or at least I am tolerant enough to want to attend them occasionally. I don't think my roommate was expecting it as much, though he did warm up to the con and start talking to more people in the second and third day of the con, though he spent much of the event sleeping. We did run into some people we knew from elsewhere, so we had that to lean on.
The hotel was amazing, with it's own sitting room separate from the bedroom. Used to getting cramped two-bedroom hotels we didn't expect the room to be that big, otherwise we may have insisted on bringing a third to help drive the price down. The hotel had a large pool that wrapped halfway around the property complete with a waterslide and waterfall. Now, I've been going to cons for years now and most hotels have pools; but this is the first time I've ever actually made a point of bringing my swim trunks and going swimming at the con. It was so much fun! I endeavor to do this more often in the future, wherever these facilities are available. The staff was curious and friendlier than most hotels-I had a cabanna waitstaff member ask me about the characters we were portraying and assisted two lovely hotel cleaning ladies at one of the raves the last night of the con. The only downside to the hotel, and probably the reason why the convention is leaving it, would have to be the severely limited parking. I was able to luck into a good spot after a lot of driving around on the first night, but not everyone was so lucky, and a lot of people ended up getting towed despite the fact that they had rooms at the hotel.
From here to Orlando was roughly 8 hours of driving, and my roommate and I swapped out every four hours to give each other breaks. The trip down was very nice; uneventful with memorable trips through cities like Savannah, St. Augustine, Jacksonville and Daytona. I wish we had more money and been able to stop at more places or even go to the beach but we had decided early on to make the con our focus, and it paid off in the long run as I didn't spend too much, despite how terribly expensive Orlando can get (I do regret eating out more often than I should have). We did stop at Bucky's, which holy heck, was worth the detour. The ride back was more tense, as we drove through several bouts of torrential rain and my roommate had an "autistic episode" (his words) which led to about an extra hour of driving time. This was inconvenient since our late exit from the Caribe Royal meant we wouldn't get home until after dark, and my roommate's night sight is not great. We worked it out though, and I got us home. We both feel like this is a con we can do again, though maybe not on regular rotation. We would both very much like to see more of Florida before it gets destroyed by climate change, and Megaplex looks to be a good vehicle for doing that.
Originally our plan was to do Bewhiskered next but we both talked about our finances and I don't think it's on the table any longer, unless if things should somehow just fall into place for it. It's location in NC makes it a lot closer and a lot cheaper, but...I dunno. It's not going to tear me up if I miss it as after Megaplex I'm feeling like I've had my fill, and anything else is just a bonus.
Next year I think we are going to stick closer to what we usually do, and just attend FWA and one smaller semi-local fandom con, most likely Bewhiskered since ASE folded and Blue Ridge keeps doing stupid crap like attendance caps and overpriced camping hotels in Asheville. I have several home maintenance projects that need worked on that I will need to put money into, so I expect that will keep me occupied for the year up to my 40th birthday.
So yeah. I've at long last, had a summer that felt like freakin' summer. And it ain't over yet...it's only August and I've a few online events yet to do.
As for Blue Ridge, I think you might be getting confused with Furry Takeover at Fontana resort, which is more of a camping/cabin venue in the mountains..
BRFF has been held at hotels in Asheville, and both Bewhiskered and Blue Ridge have had attendance caps due to the small hotels, although this past year BRFF's cap was higher than previous years as they were in a bigger venue, and from what I heard, did not reach that cap. The group that runs both cons is striving to get bigger venues for both cons, and have been relatively successful in the limited market that Asheville provides for BRFF, they're still struggling to get a larger venue for Bewhiskered due to the legacy the previous con has left behind.
At the beginning of the year we were both trying hard to get into Blue Ridge Furfaire, but the hotel they chose was an Asheville Resort Hotel out in the middle of a designated park. There were no other hotels within reasonable distance and the hotel price was ridiculous enough that we couldn't do both Blue Ridge and FWA. FWA won that argument, lol.
I went to Furry Takeover's online con last year and consider it an interesting alternative if something should happen to the NC cons. Bewhiskered had its first year last year and was very small (only 4 vendors!) but the way it was organized really impressed us. We also didn't find out it was capped until long after we'd already registered, so I'm assuming it's cap wasn't as small as Blue Ridge's was; we were locked out of Blue Ridge's first year almost immediately. When we went looking just now Bewhiskered actually still had tickets at early bird prices, so we've gone ahead and gotten all signed up for it.
I agree, the resort hotel was pricey for BRFF, but not terrible compared to some cons I've attended. However, Asheville has a limited market for sizeable convention space, it's also an expensive location for anything and you go with what you can get. Again, hopefully they can find someplace to grow more.