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Post AC 2025 Journal
2 months ago
Another July, another Anthrocon. I'm back from my eleventh in-person AC, happy to share all the fun tales from yet another installment.
Hotel
This year we jumped back to the AC hotel, and I roomed with
ArgentVZ, 
Vonadi, and Merc. We had one king bed plus the pullout, which made it a bit tight, but thankfully AC's ultramodern vibe puts a bench underneath the TV that I was able to turn into a makeshift bed. Generally speaking, I think there's nothing WRONG with the AC, but the lack of free breakfast, plus the experience of having a full kitchen in the Homewood last year, leads me to juuuust put the Homewood over the AC (of course, both are below the Drury, but good luck getting a room there!).
Con Space
Before I mention anything else, I want to praise the con for undertaking a logistical overhaul that worked extremely well. We went to get our badges on Thursday evening, and it was the smoothest experience at a large con I've ever had. Sure, there was a LOT of walking along pre-determined rope lines, but we were...moving! And not sitting still for hours! And when we got up there, we got right to a volunteer who slapped a sticker on a badge in all of about 30 seconds!
The parade was super solid, too. I'm sure the extra restrictions on poodling played some role, but I also noticed that staff did a better job all around, with a hydration cart while we waited, being more proactive to ensure the lines remained cohesive throughout the parade, etc. Argent said we spent as much time (a) leaving the AC hotel, (b) walking to the lineup, © waiting, (d) walking in the parade, and (e) walking back to the hotel that we spent just waiting in the hall in 2024, and I'm inclined to agree. I think the whole 2025 parade was less than an hour?
The poodling restrictions seem a bit odd for a fandom that very much emphasizes inclusivity, but I feel like it's less to be exclusive and more using any excuse possible to cut the size of the parade to make it more manageable. I dunno...if I had my way, honestly, what I'd do is abolish the parade entirely and simply hold the block party.
BUT, if we HAVE to keep the parade, I have a suggestion for lining up. One of the stressors is getting your butt over to the hall at the perfect time to balance waiting and not being in the back of the parade. Now admittedly, even being in the back of the parade wasn't bad this year, but if they ever relax the rules on poodling..... Maybe they could leverage a new procedure they have, where you have to go to Con Ops to get your fursuit vetted to receive a little eligibility sticker on your badge ahead of time. At that time, you could get assigned a line up "group", kind of what airlines do for boarding groups. If you get to the vetting early enough, you get an earlier line up group that gets you closer to the front. But the point is that once you lock in a group you don't have to worry about what time you get there as long as it's before they close the doors. Within a group there'd be no assigned order, like Southwest does (or used to do before assigned seating).
Finally, AC apparently fucked up and allowed some shithead into the parade who wasn't supposed to be there. I can sort of see how something like that could happen, if someone really wanted to, but I also don't.
(1) They require vetting of the fursuit to get a sticker on your badge before you can enter the parade, so if the breach occurred at that point, the people doing the vetting need a pic of banned suiters.
(2) There should be someone posted at the entrance of the hall checking for banned suiters as they enter to line up.
(3) NEVER should anyone be allowed to join the parade once it's in progress. Either post security or law enforcement within eyesight of each other to prevent this from happening.
Tsk tsk, never should have happened!
Food
Quick reviews of the food we had this year:
The Eagle: We've been as a group to the Eagle for a few years now; it's about a five minute walk from the con center. They have kind of a small menu with southern-style fare, so think fried chicken, bbq pork, that sort of thing. The food is fine but I'd say the atmosphere keeps bringing us back. We struck up a conversation with our server and even got free shots out of it to give you an idea. Argent and I also noted that the venue has way more furries there than it did when we first discovered the place - a testament to how much the con has grown.
Mad Chicken: On the subject of chicken, we went to a place called Mad Chicken on Thursday night, which was located about as far as I'd walk for food - about 15 minutes from the con center. Totally worth it though. Although it has the vibes of a pop-up shop that may not be there next year, super tasty. The bathroom was also located in the backrooms, somehow? Apparently it's a small midwestern chain, too, so you may even have one of these near you.
Social House 7: Japanese/sushi place about 10 minutes from the con center. I rarely give negative reviews because I tend to self-select places that I feel are going to be at least okay, but man, I was seriously not happy with the service. We had a big table - about ten people, but for a place that wasn't even packed we were consistently facing orders that would not come unless we mentioned it multiple times. As a result, there's a few things on the menu I never actually got a chance to try - including the dang sushi! I had a tasty sharable golden curry and short rib robata, but....I've never really gotten the idea behind lukewarm meat, so I thought it was just okay. They had some issues with their AC or something, too, because despite us sitting decently near the grill, it was uncomfortably warm/humid with not enough airflow.
De Fer/Island Bowls: We hit up two places for coffee in the Strip District: De Fer, which is a local chain, and a place we've done before; and Island Bowls, which is reskinned from past years' Soluna/Cafetano but still generally a good place for breakfast. Von pointed out a second floor in De Fer which basically means they'll have seating unless its super packed, which is a plus, and they have a few small breakfast items to gnaw on. Island Bowls is good if you want to have that sort of fruit/granola type breakfast....but I'm disappointed they got rid of the tasty breakfast sandwich I remember fondly.
Bae Bae's: Bae Bae's is a Korean joint and has become kind of a meme in our room group, with how much Von always wants to check it out. Apparently they've also expanded so that there's a Cafe and a Bar/Supper location near each other. We went to the Supper place. I really really wish they publicized their menu better, because the website is a little unclear about which menu works in which location, and we had to kind of figure out on the fly what they had to order. That being said, I wanted to avoid red meat, so I skipped the bulgogi this time and went with their spin on Korean fried chicken (very chicken heavy con, huh?!). Full disclaimer, Bonchon's fried chicken is just about my gold standard that I compare to, so I can't quite rank it that high - but they did the soy garlic flavor pretty well and it's a solid choice. I just wish their sauce were a bit thicker....hard to enjoy with the consistency of a marinade.
Con Memories
This was an awesome AC. I have plenty of good memories, including watching the city fireworks while slightly tipsy with the roomies (free shots, remember!?) on one of the city bridges. They moved the staging area from the city point to North Shore this year, which meant that we got an even better view, and unlike last year with a torrential downpour the weather was perfect.
They dumped the macro meet in the giant hall this year, which was sectioned off in fourths(?) to support larger meets like ours. It sort of worked, and sort of didn't. I'm comparing this to the excellent meet that happened a few months ago at FWA, which was proceeded by the incredibly unique and fun idea of Kaiju Clash (fursuiters wrestling among a model city). By definition, then, it's not going to measure up, but...I dunno, this felt a little cold and impersonal. As usual, really enjoyed mingling and seeing peeps, but I'm just wanting a little more cohesion. TBF, I did get there about halfway through, too, so if there was something at the beginning, I missed it.
We made up for it by going to the macro party hosted by Nommz, which was so, so fun. That gave me the intimacy and looser feel I was looking for. Really appreciative to the hosts for putting that together, and hope it continues at future cons.
That's not to say our own room didn't have fun, too. We played a game that Von brought with him, Coup, which I had sort of halfheartedly tried out a year or two before, but this time we really got into it and all loved it. It's your typical "try to bullshit others" game that's super easy to learn.
The gang also got me into watching Amazing Digital Circus finally, and I'm hooked! Too bad there's such a huge amount of time between eps. I told them that the bubble was my fave char, but Jax (in his maid outfit, heyo) is starting to grow on me too.
Yesssss, I bought the damn plush with the ridiculous shipping.
Thankfully, I also have some friends of taste who are into YTPs, so I was introduced to plenty of PragerU YTPs that I will always think back to and laugh. Every morning, we shit the bed. No excuses!
Let's see....oh Dealer's Den. First of all, we didn't even get a chance to do the Art Show this year, that's how busy we were. But the Dealer's Den is so large now that we needed multiple days to get through it. There was yet another cute character that I had to adopt (Moff, the lovable green sentient clump of moss).
And that does it! The quick one-two punch (at least for me) of FWA + AC is probably gonna be followed by Megaplex in late August, as my roomies are all very close to the venue and I'll be missing them by then. So maybe see you in Orlando soon? It'll be nice and warm, fo sho!
===
P.S., realized I didn't do a journal for FWA, so to sum that up in a paragraph...okay venue, but really like the con as a whole and will probably make part of the regular rotation as long as I continue to do cons; great roomies; got a photoshoot of the suit with pics that I'll post on social media in a few months; super fun paw party where I got to see some macro furs that I either haven't seen in a while or never before, and no, I didn't catch anything on my fishing trip, lol.
Hotel
This year we jumped back to the AC hotel, and I roomed with
ArgentVZ, 
Vonadi, and Merc. We had one king bed plus the pullout, which made it a bit tight, but thankfully AC's ultramodern vibe puts a bench underneath the TV that I was able to turn into a makeshift bed. Generally speaking, I think there's nothing WRONG with the AC, but the lack of free breakfast, plus the experience of having a full kitchen in the Homewood last year, leads me to juuuust put the Homewood over the AC (of course, both are below the Drury, but good luck getting a room there!).Con Space
Before I mention anything else, I want to praise the con for undertaking a logistical overhaul that worked extremely well. We went to get our badges on Thursday evening, and it was the smoothest experience at a large con I've ever had. Sure, there was a LOT of walking along pre-determined rope lines, but we were...moving! And not sitting still for hours! And when we got up there, we got right to a volunteer who slapped a sticker on a badge in all of about 30 seconds!
The parade was super solid, too. I'm sure the extra restrictions on poodling played some role, but I also noticed that staff did a better job all around, with a hydration cart while we waited, being more proactive to ensure the lines remained cohesive throughout the parade, etc. Argent said we spent as much time (a) leaving the AC hotel, (b) walking to the lineup, © waiting, (d) walking in the parade, and (e) walking back to the hotel that we spent just waiting in the hall in 2024, and I'm inclined to agree. I think the whole 2025 parade was less than an hour?
The poodling restrictions seem a bit odd for a fandom that very much emphasizes inclusivity, but I feel like it's less to be exclusive and more using any excuse possible to cut the size of the parade to make it more manageable. I dunno...if I had my way, honestly, what I'd do is abolish the parade entirely and simply hold the block party.
BUT, if we HAVE to keep the parade, I have a suggestion for lining up. One of the stressors is getting your butt over to the hall at the perfect time to balance waiting and not being in the back of the parade. Now admittedly, even being in the back of the parade wasn't bad this year, but if they ever relax the rules on poodling..... Maybe they could leverage a new procedure they have, where you have to go to Con Ops to get your fursuit vetted to receive a little eligibility sticker on your badge ahead of time. At that time, you could get assigned a line up "group", kind of what airlines do for boarding groups. If you get to the vetting early enough, you get an earlier line up group that gets you closer to the front. But the point is that once you lock in a group you don't have to worry about what time you get there as long as it's before they close the doors. Within a group there'd be no assigned order, like Southwest does (or used to do before assigned seating).
Finally, AC apparently fucked up and allowed some shithead into the parade who wasn't supposed to be there. I can sort of see how something like that could happen, if someone really wanted to, but I also don't.
(1) They require vetting of the fursuit to get a sticker on your badge before you can enter the parade, so if the breach occurred at that point, the people doing the vetting need a pic of banned suiters.
(2) There should be someone posted at the entrance of the hall checking for banned suiters as they enter to line up.
(3) NEVER should anyone be allowed to join the parade once it's in progress. Either post security or law enforcement within eyesight of each other to prevent this from happening.
Tsk tsk, never should have happened!
Food
Quick reviews of the food we had this year:
The Eagle: We've been as a group to the Eagle for a few years now; it's about a five minute walk from the con center. They have kind of a small menu with southern-style fare, so think fried chicken, bbq pork, that sort of thing. The food is fine but I'd say the atmosphere keeps bringing us back. We struck up a conversation with our server and even got free shots out of it to give you an idea. Argent and I also noted that the venue has way more furries there than it did when we first discovered the place - a testament to how much the con has grown.
Mad Chicken: On the subject of chicken, we went to a place called Mad Chicken on Thursday night, which was located about as far as I'd walk for food - about 15 minutes from the con center. Totally worth it though. Although it has the vibes of a pop-up shop that may not be there next year, super tasty. The bathroom was also located in the backrooms, somehow? Apparently it's a small midwestern chain, too, so you may even have one of these near you.
Social House 7: Japanese/sushi place about 10 minutes from the con center. I rarely give negative reviews because I tend to self-select places that I feel are going to be at least okay, but man, I was seriously not happy with the service. We had a big table - about ten people, but for a place that wasn't even packed we were consistently facing orders that would not come unless we mentioned it multiple times. As a result, there's a few things on the menu I never actually got a chance to try - including the dang sushi! I had a tasty sharable golden curry and short rib robata, but....I've never really gotten the idea behind lukewarm meat, so I thought it was just okay. They had some issues with their AC or something, too, because despite us sitting decently near the grill, it was uncomfortably warm/humid with not enough airflow.
De Fer/Island Bowls: We hit up two places for coffee in the Strip District: De Fer, which is a local chain, and a place we've done before; and Island Bowls, which is reskinned from past years' Soluna/Cafetano but still generally a good place for breakfast. Von pointed out a second floor in De Fer which basically means they'll have seating unless its super packed, which is a plus, and they have a few small breakfast items to gnaw on. Island Bowls is good if you want to have that sort of fruit/granola type breakfast....but I'm disappointed they got rid of the tasty breakfast sandwich I remember fondly.
Bae Bae's: Bae Bae's is a Korean joint and has become kind of a meme in our room group, with how much Von always wants to check it out. Apparently they've also expanded so that there's a Cafe and a Bar/Supper location near each other. We went to the Supper place. I really really wish they publicized their menu better, because the website is a little unclear about which menu works in which location, and we had to kind of figure out on the fly what they had to order. That being said, I wanted to avoid red meat, so I skipped the bulgogi this time and went with their spin on Korean fried chicken (very chicken heavy con, huh?!). Full disclaimer, Bonchon's fried chicken is just about my gold standard that I compare to, so I can't quite rank it that high - but they did the soy garlic flavor pretty well and it's a solid choice. I just wish their sauce were a bit thicker....hard to enjoy with the consistency of a marinade.
Con Memories
This was an awesome AC. I have plenty of good memories, including watching the city fireworks while slightly tipsy with the roomies (free shots, remember!?) on one of the city bridges. They moved the staging area from the city point to North Shore this year, which meant that we got an even better view, and unlike last year with a torrential downpour the weather was perfect.
They dumped the macro meet in the giant hall this year, which was sectioned off in fourths(?) to support larger meets like ours. It sort of worked, and sort of didn't. I'm comparing this to the excellent meet that happened a few months ago at FWA, which was proceeded by the incredibly unique and fun idea of Kaiju Clash (fursuiters wrestling among a model city). By definition, then, it's not going to measure up, but...I dunno, this felt a little cold and impersonal. As usual, really enjoyed mingling and seeing peeps, but I'm just wanting a little more cohesion. TBF, I did get there about halfway through, too, so if there was something at the beginning, I missed it.
We made up for it by going to the macro party hosted by Nommz, which was so, so fun. That gave me the intimacy and looser feel I was looking for. Really appreciative to the hosts for putting that together, and hope it continues at future cons.
That's not to say our own room didn't have fun, too. We played a game that Von brought with him, Coup, which I had sort of halfheartedly tried out a year or two before, but this time we really got into it and all loved it. It's your typical "try to bullshit others" game that's super easy to learn.
The gang also got me into watching Amazing Digital Circus finally, and I'm hooked! Too bad there's such a huge amount of time between eps. I told them that the bubble was my fave char, but Jax (in his maid outfit, heyo) is starting to grow on me too.
Yesssss, I bought the damn plush with the ridiculous shipping.
Thankfully, I also have some friends of taste who are into YTPs, so I was introduced to plenty of PragerU YTPs that I will always think back to and laugh. Every morning, we shit the bed. No excuses!
Let's see....oh Dealer's Den. First of all, we didn't even get a chance to do the Art Show this year, that's how busy we were. But the Dealer's Den is so large now that we needed multiple days to get through it. There was yet another cute character that I had to adopt (Moff, the lovable green sentient clump of moss).
And that does it! The quick one-two punch (at least for me) of FWA + AC is probably gonna be followed by Megaplex in late August, as my roomies are all very close to the venue and I'll be missing them by then. So maybe see you in Orlando soon? It'll be nice and warm, fo sho!
===
P.S., realized I didn't do a journal for FWA, so to sum that up in a paragraph...okay venue, but really like the con as a whole and will probably make part of the regular rotation as long as I continue to do cons; great roomies; got a photoshoot of the suit with pics that I'll post on social media in a few months; super fun paw party where I got to see some macro furs that I either haven't seen in a while or never before, and no, I didn't catch anything on my fishing trip, lol.
I don't think I would do the fursuit death march again though, lol! I've been in the parade twice and that's enough for me XD
I feel ya about the parade. I keep telling myself that one of these years I'm gonna be watching it comfortably instead. But either way would love to see you back soon!