(Story rough draft. If you have any memories--good, bad, or just frustrating--about TFF's amazing vertical transport issues in 2014, please chime in! I'll do my best to incorporate them into the story :) Photos are also welcome, I'd love to get some shots of the fursuit parade as seen from over the escalator!)

TFF2014:
...It had its ups and downs.
(Photo Gallery)

In fairness, this was our first year in a new hotel. The old hotel, the Crown Plaza, was a modest four-story building with stairwells and elevators evenly spread out. The new space, The Hotel InterContinental, was a 14-floor building with one central block of six elevators. Things were going to be interesting.

Things went from interesting to exciting when one of the elevators broke. During big events, elevator lines stretched out into the lobby.

2014 was the year I learned to get escalator grease off of fur :3 it was a lot funnier once I found the right cleaning product. It was a brand new suit... —Shutaro

Not wanting to be left out of the fun, the big escalator in the central lobby—the link between main hotel floor and main con floor—was frequently offline, and freshly oiled. Looking back on 2014, sending the Fursuit Parade route down the escalator? Not the best idea. A narrow choke point, an escalator that (like the sign said) was "temporarily stairs," and fursuiters with poor visibility created a long, slow, parade, and a lot of exhausted suiters with greasy paws...

...who wanted to take the elevator back to their rooms.

A few good things came out of it. War stories from the fursuiters who braved the escalator, but one young hyena bravely helped attendees deal with the crowded elevator lines, and did such a great job that we begged him to join Security. Thank you, FlankHyena!

For laughs and a little terror, check out Eduardo Soliz's video of the fursuit parade, from the bottom of the stairs!