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#MP2012 con report and photo link
13 years ago
Megaplex 2012 Con Report ( #MP2012 #MP11 #megaplex2012 #megaplex11 )
PHOTOS AVAILIBLE AT: http://photos.kovudalion.com
Well another Megaplex has come and gone, this is one of my two home cons (Megaplex and FWA). I had been looking forward to this con for the past month or so, really excited to go to the con. However, through no fault of con staff or board members, this con has been an emotional mixed bag for me. Those of you who know me may have noticed I seemed to not be all there and not as enthusiastic as I normally am at a convention. So, I will explain what was going on before I get into my con report.
On Wednesday afternoon I was called by my mother because my father had taken a fall and was having some other issues. Some of you may remember them from Megaplexes in past years because they attend the convention with me, my mom is usually in an electric wheelchair. My father convinced her that he had just tripped and was ok. Well the following day he was no better and in fact was showing additional symptoms. Mom took him to the hospital and he was diagnosed as having several strokes. On top of the stroke each day during the con the doctors would find something else wrong including heart problems, and possible cancer in his lungs. His condition while not dire (He is able to feed himself and converse with some slurring of speech and other deficits but overall he is able to function at a high level) has caused great concern and worry (along with the emotional state of my mother). This coupled with the bad news being metered out in doses has led to the weekend having its ups and downs. So, if I was short with anyone or seemed mopey at times, I am sorry. At least one benefit, I was already in town with the con so I was able to visit my dad at Florida Hospital east.
Now onto the con report:
The hotel:
Well, what can I say except the hotel was grossly average in both condition and service; it lacked any wow factor that impressed me.
Prior to arrival when I went to make my reservations, the hotel staff while courteous appeared disorganized and lacking knowledge of their facility. I was originally slated to be in the con block of rooms but when I called up and asked about a junior suite and found out it was only a marginal increase from the cost of a regular room I chose to upgrade my room out of the con block. I was assured that the room was a 2 room suite with 2 bathrooms, 1 bedroom with 2 double beds, and a sitting area with a full sized pull out couch, and that roll away beds were also available.
When I called a couple weeks before the convention to confirm my reservation, I was again assured the same thing. I inquired to assure the rate was the same and was shocked, apparently someone had keyed in the rate wrong and after sending me a reservation confirmation I was told by the staff since it was their mistake they would honor the rate (BIG KUDOS TO THEM FOR THIS). I will not divulge what I paid but with 6 people in the room, this is the cheapest con I have been to budget wise.
Upon arrival we checked in and paid for the room and had all additional services turned off (No room charges), this way there was no holds put on our cards. We then went up to the room to inspect it. I guess at this point me and Kerne have been watching too much Hotel Impossible (http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-sho.....el-impossible/) as we were more observant of maintenance and housekeeping issues than would normally have been noticed. Examples include an empty water bottle under our fridge (We jokingly though of putting an envelope under the fridge with a large tip and a note that says this tip goes to the housekeeper who properly cleans this room) and poorly maintained wall conditions behind an unfinished cabinet in the sleeping rooms. One big plus is the air conditioning worked great in our room and with 4 fursuiters in the room that is a BIG plus.
When we were checking the room we also noticed that the promised pull out couch was actually a regular couch, we contacted the front desk and they agreed to send up 2 roll aways since we had 6 people total in the room. One roll away arrived and we waited for the second one and it never came, further the hotel never notified us what was going on. It turns out they did not have another roll away, we were assured that when one of the rooms which were checking out on Friday that had a roll away had checked out, they would bring one up. Sadly, this never occurred, the maintenance staff in an attempt to provide an accommodation showed me what they considered a FULLSIZED pull out couch sadly it made the chairs in the room look large (I do however give them props for trying to find an accommodation), so after some shuffling of sleeping arrangements we had everyone situated (however the roll away bed from the reports our roomie gave us made the floor look soft).
The food services area was average and the wait staff could use some more practice in being attentive to the tables at the breakfast buffet (I ate there each morning). My drink was often empty and no one around to do a refill. The lack of attentiveness may have also been an indicator of dissatisfaction with the tipping from convention attendees, I rarely saw anyone leave a tip on the table when I was there.
Housekeeping did their best, but it seems this hotel has a shortage of towels, I was hearing about many people unable to get clean towels for their room and I myself had to wait over 2 hours for housekeeping to get more towels on our floor before we could exchange our towels on Saturday. This may be an area that Con Staff can address with the hotel to improve service.
Now onto the convention:
Thursday:
Check-in went smoothly, interesting that now you are scanning drivers licenses using an electronic device, I am a bit of a security nut so it initially made me a bit nervous but it was adequately explained. We then went to the bowling event. Kernedahusky being the goofball he is decided to wear his suit to the bowling alley and ride with his head out the window. This garnered a lot of strange looks and also quite a few photo ops. Bowling was fun, I did not bowl, however took quite a few photos. We left the bowling event around 9:45 to get back to the hotel so as to host a get together in my room with some friends. We also needed to get a key to the 3rd person in our room who was arriving that night (@steelclawfox). Stayed up till 4 am to wait for roomies # 4 and 5 and finally gave up.
Friday:
Found out roomies 4 and 5 didn’t leave till around 6 am from north Florida so they were going to be in later in the morning. Also found out roomie #6’s car transmission blew up and he was stranded in Gainesville on the way down (Many thanks to nighteyeswolf and Othello for picking him up on their way). Roomies 4 and 5 (@mazamure and @oskiethefox) arrived and got settled in about noonish. Opening ceremonies were nice with a good introduction to what steam punk is and introduction of the mascot Sir Pouncealot. Many thanks to the guest of honor for attending (@Noel_MacNeal and @ Ron_Schneider) and a big thanks for bringing Lionel (I know it sounds childish, but I LOVE Read Between the Lions (http://pbskids.org/lions/), go figure I am a Lion. I then hosted my first of 3 panels, First Year Con Panel, this was following a panel, breaking the Ice, so I guess they had 2 first year con panels. The panel was a lot of fun, with lots of good questions and suggestions. I introduced the new attendees to the 6-2-1 rule (if you don’t know it, learn about it), con planning and how to interact with fursuiters. I then taught the 2nd panel First time suiting panel where I introduced safety concepts, performance concepts, interaction with local businesses and then paired up those who were interested with experienced suiters to learn the ropes. I took a few photos today and was EXTATIC to be able to get a picture with Lionel from Read Between the Lions, only thing that would have been better is if they had brought Theo as well, sorry getting all fanboy here. About 6-7 roomie #6 (@Ari) arrived following his transmission ordeal. I Called it a night a little early this night.
Saturday:
Woke up and rushed to get food before the parade step off. Was able to get a picture of EVERYONE in the parade I belive (Over 300 shots), so check out my pictures. Attended some of the Care presentation (sadly could not make all of it due to trying to get lunch before the auction), Went out to Bahama Breeze with Oski and Kerne (Great food). Attended the auction and tried to bid on a couple items but all went out of my budget, bad for me and good for Care. Almost had to put the smack down on a fellow lion (@Wildmark) because he was bidding up the MP8 Poster I wanted since it was my first con, sadly both of us were out bid. I then prepared to host the Florida Furs Meet and Greet (Many thanks to Skippyfox for getting me a TV to the panels room it was a big help.) We went to dinner then back to watch #JullyBunnyMustDie (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julie.....e/209574650782) this is not only a good play but a GREAT play. I am surprised that it has not made it to at least an off Broadway theater. I was happy that MP11 brought this to the event and look forward to further HIGH QUALITY shows like this in the future. Following Jullie Bunny went to get some libations for the party that I was hosting that night. It was an enjoyable visit with some friends following a stressful day and a couple drinks helped me to relax as well.
Sunday:
Wow, can PCDs (http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Post-con_depression) start before you even leave the convention. Attended the fursuit games for a while then left the convention and spent several hours visiting with my mother and father at the hospital. I arrived back at the con (After taking my life into my own hands with the Orlando drivers) in time for the tail end (get it tail end) of the PawPet Show. I then attended closing ceremonies. Great show at closing ceremonies, and WOW the numbers:
--- Statistics --- (Taken from Kerne’s con report)
- Attendees: 625, a 75% increase from 2011!!
- Fursuits: 142, a 65% increase!
- Charity donations raised for the C.A.R.E. Foundation: Over $4,200, up from $1,328 in 2011!!
We then went back to the room to start packing for the trip home. Said good bye to many a good friend and now have to trudge through to Furloween.
BTW, as of the date of this posting, my father may be coming home today. He still has many months of therapy and rehabilitation ahead of him but they expect he may make a significant recovery from the strokes. If they can control the heart problems and the shading in the lung x-rays is not cancer he should be able to return to a somewhat normal life.
Many thanks for those of you who have shown concern, it is appreciated more than I can express.
Kovu DaLion
PHOTOS AVAILIBLE AT: http://photos.kovudalion.com
Well another Megaplex has come and gone, this is one of my two home cons (Megaplex and FWA). I had been looking forward to this con for the past month or so, really excited to go to the con. However, through no fault of con staff or board members, this con has been an emotional mixed bag for me. Those of you who know me may have noticed I seemed to not be all there and not as enthusiastic as I normally am at a convention. So, I will explain what was going on before I get into my con report.
On Wednesday afternoon I was called by my mother because my father had taken a fall and was having some other issues. Some of you may remember them from Megaplexes in past years because they attend the convention with me, my mom is usually in an electric wheelchair. My father convinced her that he had just tripped and was ok. Well the following day he was no better and in fact was showing additional symptoms. Mom took him to the hospital and he was diagnosed as having several strokes. On top of the stroke each day during the con the doctors would find something else wrong including heart problems, and possible cancer in his lungs. His condition while not dire (He is able to feed himself and converse with some slurring of speech and other deficits but overall he is able to function at a high level) has caused great concern and worry (along with the emotional state of my mother). This coupled with the bad news being metered out in doses has led to the weekend having its ups and downs. So, if I was short with anyone or seemed mopey at times, I am sorry. At least one benefit, I was already in town with the con so I was able to visit my dad at Florida Hospital east.
Now onto the con report:
The hotel:
Well, what can I say except the hotel was grossly average in both condition and service; it lacked any wow factor that impressed me.
Prior to arrival when I went to make my reservations, the hotel staff while courteous appeared disorganized and lacking knowledge of their facility. I was originally slated to be in the con block of rooms but when I called up and asked about a junior suite and found out it was only a marginal increase from the cost of a regular room I chose to upgrade my room out of the con block. I was assured that the room was a 2 room suite with 2 bathrooms, 1 bedroom with 2 double beds, and a sitting area with a full sized pull out couch, and that roll away beds were also available.
When I called a couple weeks before the convention to confirm my reservation, I was again assured the same thing. I inquired to assure the rate was the same and was shocked, apparently someone had keyed in the rate wrong and after sending me a reservation confirmation I was told by the staff since it was their mistake they would honor the rate (BIG KUDOS TO THEM FOR THIS). I will not divulge what I paid but with 6 people in the room, this is the cheapest con I have been to budget wise.
Upon arrival we checked in and paid for the room and had all additional services turned off (No room charges), this way there was no holds put on our cards. We then went up to the room to inspect it. I guess at this point me and Kerne have been watching too much Hotel Impossible (http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-sho.....el-impossible/) as we were more observant of maintenance and housekeeping issues than would normally have been noticed. Examples include an empty water bottle under our fridge (We jokingly though of putting an envelope under the fridge with a large tip and a note that says this tip goes to the housekeeper who properly cleans this room) and poorly maintained wall conditions behind an unfinished cabinet in the sleeping rooms. One big plus is the air conditioning worked great in our room and with 4 fursuiters in the room that is a BIG plus.
When we were checking the room we also noticed that the promised pull out couch was actually a regular couch, we contacted the front desk and they agreed to send up 2 roll aways since we had 6 people total in the room. One roll away arrived and we waited for the second one and it never came, further the hotel never notified us what was going on. It turns out they did not have another roll away, we were assured that when one of the rooms which were checking out on Friday that had a roll away had checked out, they would bring one up. Sadly, this never occurred, the maintenance staff in an attempt to provide an accommodation showed me what they considered a FULLSIZED pull out couch sadly it made the chairs in the room look large (I do however give them props for trying to find an accommodation), so after some shuffling of sleeping arrangements we had everyone situated (however the roll away bed from the reports our roomie gave us made the floor look soft).
The food services area was average and the wait staff could use some more practice in being attentive to the tables at the breakfast buffet (I ate there each morning). My drink was often empty and no one around to do a refill. The lack of attentiveness may have also been an indicator of dissatisfaction with the tipping from convention attendees, I rarely saw anyone leave a tip on the table when I was there.
Housekeeping did their best, but it seems this hotel has a shortage of towels, I was hearing about many people unable to get clean towels for their room and I myself had to wait over 2 hours for housekeeping to get more towels on our floor before we could exchange our towels on Saturday. This may be an area that Con Staff can address with the hotel to improve service.
Now onto the convention:
Thursday:
Check-in went smoothly, interesting that now you are scanning drivers licenses using an electronic device, I am a bit of a security nut so it initially made me a bit nervous but it was adequately explained. We then went to the bowling event. Kernedahusky being the goofball he is decided to wear his suit to the bowling alley and ride with his head out the window. This garnered a lot of strange looks and also quite a few photo ops. Bowling was fun, I did not bowl, however took quite a few photos. We left the bowling event around 9:45 to get back to the hotel so as to host a get together in my room with some friends. We also needed to get a key to the 3rd person in our room who was arriving that night (@steelclawfox). Stayed up till 4 am to wait for roomies # 4 and 5 and finally gave up.
Friday:
Found out roomies 4 and 5 didn’t leave till around 6 am from north Florida so they were going to be in later in the morning. Also found out roomie #6’s car transmission blew up and he was stranded in Gainesville on the way down (Many thanks to nighteyeswolf and Othello for picking him up on their way). Roomies 4 and 5 (@mazamure and @oskiethefox) arrived and got settled in about noonish. Opening ceremonies were nice with a good introduction to what steam punk is and introduction of the mascot Sir Pouncealot. Many thanks to the guest of honor for attending (@Noel_MacNeal and @ Ron_Schneider) and a big thanks for bringing Lionel (I know it sounds childish, but I LOVE Read Between the Lions (http://pbskids.org/lions/), go figure I am a Lion. I then hosted my first of 3 panels, First Year Con Panel, this was following a panel, breaking the Ice, so I guess they had 2 first year con panels. The panel was a lot of fun, with lots of good questions and suggestions. I introduced the new attendees to the 6-2-1 rule (if you don’t know it, learn about it), con planning and how to interact with fursuiters. I then taught the 2nd panel First time suiting panel where I introduced safety concepts, performance concepts, interaction with local businesses and then paired up those who were interested with experienced suiters to learn the ropes. I took a few photos today and was EXTATIC to be able to get a picture with Lionel from Read Between the Lions, only thing that would have been better is if they had brought Theo as well, sorry getting all fanboy here. About 6-7 roomie #6 (@Ari) arrived following his transmission ordeal. I Called it a night a little early this night.
Saturday:
Woke up and rushed to get food before the parade step off. Was able to get a picture of EVERYONE in the parade I belive (Over 300 shots), so check out my pictures. Attended some of the Care presentation (sadly could not make all of it due to trying to get lunch before the auction), Went out to Bahama Breeze with Oski and Kerne (Great food). Attended the auction and tried to bid on a couple items but all went out of my budget, bad for me and good for Care. Almost had to put the smack down on a fellow lion (@Wildmark) because he was bidding up the MP8 Poster I wanted since it was my first con, sadly both of us were out bid. I then prepared to host the Florida Furs Meet and Greet (Many thanks to Skippyfox for getting me a TV to the panels room it was a big help.) We went to dinner then back to watch #JullyBunnyMustDie (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julie.....e/209574650782) this is not only a good play but a GREAT play. I am surprised that it has not made it to at least an off Broadway theater. I was happy that MP11 brought this to the event and look forward to further HIGH QUALITY shows like this in the future. Following Jullie Bunny went to get some libations for the party that I was hosting that night. It was an enjoyable visit with some friends following a stressful day and a couple drinks helped me to relax as well.
Sunday:
Wow, can PCDs (http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Post-con_depression) start before you even leave the convention. Attended the fursuit games for a while then left the convention and spent several hours visiting with my mother and father at the hospital. I arrived back at the con (After taking my life into my own hands with the Orlando drivers) in time for the tail end (get it tail end) of the PawPet Show. I then attended closing ceremonies. Great show at closing ceremonies, and WOW the numbers:
--- Statistics --- (Taken from Kerne’s con report)
- Attendees: 625, a 75% increase from 2011!!
- Fursuits: 142, a 65% increase!
- Charity donations raised for the C.A.R.E. Foundation: Over $4,200, up from $1,328 in 2011!!
We then went back to the room to start packing for the trip home. Said good bye to many a good friend and now have to trudge through to Furloween.
BTW, as of the date of this posting, my father may be coming home today. He still has many months of therapy and rehabilitation ahead of him but they expect he may make a significant recovery from the strokes. If they can control the heart problems and the shading in the lung x-rays is not cancer he should be able to return to a somewhat normal life.
Many thanks for those of you who have shown concern, it is appreciated more than I can express.
Kovu DaLion
Convoy
~convoy
I miss teh lion already.
