Rants and Raves about Kumoricon 2011

[Daws]

I didn't see a thread about this already so I figured I'd start one. If there is already one, please forgive me and let me know where it is
So I'll start by saying my most and least favorite things about this years con and others please join in.

Rants:

Location- the elevator situation in the hilton was ridiculous! the wait was sooooo long, just to try to run upstairs to get something from our room was near impossible. The Portland Hilton had more elevators, easier access to the stairs, and escalators.
I also preferred the con being all in one hotel as opposed to being spread out between two and having to walk in the heat in not always the most comfortable attire.
Lastly there was an extreme lack of food! the portland hilton is so close to so many places to eat. This year it was wait an hour for subway or survive off doritos and redbull (I typically chose the latter)

Artist's Alley/exhibitors hall- This year the exhibitors hall was super tiny, not to mention the whole exiting thing which was really weird, and didn't make much sense, considering you had to circle around and then double back to get out. I also really wish there had been a lot more exhibitors to look at.
The artist's alley seemed larger to me, but at the same time seemed to have less variety. The print artists all had really awesome stuff, but that seemed to be the mass majority of what was there and they seemed to have more of a vendor quality than that of a unique homespun item that I'd expect more from artist's alley. In particular I was really bummed to not see the pokemon hats back! (sorry I don't know her name, I know she was vaporeon last year and squirtle this year) but things like that are what I've really loved about artist's alley in the past.

Raves:

The artshow!- it was awesome how much more there was this year, last year the room was sooo tiny, it was really great this year.

The park- was really nice to have to play in and the fountains were beautiful, although I wish people hadn't littered so much...

Sunday rave music- awesome!

Various events- super fun!

all and all it was super fun, I don't want to sound like I hated it or something, it's just always easier to come up with what you don't like about something I'd like to thank everyone who made this great event possible and hopefully next year it'll be even better!

[backtoblue]

Since this was my first K-con, I don't have much to compare other than OTHER cons I've been to, but here it goes.

Rants
Location:At Fanime, they held it at 2 hotels.  HOWEVER.  Unlike K-con, they were connected by the convention center so it was barable.  In this situation, it wasn't a good idea. :/  I almost spent most of the con in my room because I was in too much pain to go to the things I wanted.  Having to walk that much from hotel to hotel in the heat was no the best of ideas.

Artist's Alley:  It was so small!  I was greatly disappointed!  I've seen bigger at a smaller con.

Raves
STAFF: Hotel staff and con staff.  They were AWESOME.

[LigerZeroLindsey]

This was my first KumoriCon but I have been to other cons.

Rant:
Exhibitors hall. Extremely dissapointed. Not cause it was small (iv seen smaller) but because there was almost no variety. Almost all booths I looked at had Girl figures. I have no intrest in girl figures. Also, they need to get more than Gundam models. There are a lot of other mechs out there. I wish there were Zoids but I know they are hard to get. But it would of been nice.
The hotel distance really was not a problem. It was a lot of walking, especially in my liger boots but I really did not have a problem with it at all. I really liked the location.
I was kinda not happy with the amv contest but that was just me.

Rave:
Pretty much everything else. The convention was well run. The staff was always nice. I felt the Cosplay contest was very well run. There were a lot of meetings but it really helped and I enjoyed them. The Artist alley was also very nice. It is pretty much where I bought everything seeing as how I did not enjoy the dealers hall. I loved the location as well and was happy to hear it would return there.
Just overall a fantastic convention and I know I'll return next year.

[veraca]

Oh yeah I forgot about the figures issue. I never buy girl figures unless they're ones I want from certain animes. But I usually like to buy Tales of, Final Fantasy, Zelda, or Disgaea figures. Something I at least know of. I was going to buy the YGO figures, but I'd never seen them before so I didn't get them and was seriously sad to see them gone by Day 3. So I settled for buying 2 Star Driver figures and trading one away :/ But seriously, I saw no Disgaea or Tales, and very little Final Fantasy (I think I only saw it at Kinokuniya's booth), which was a heavy let down since that's something I always try to look for to buy at cons.
As nice of a variety as their plushies were, I wasn't too crazy about so many of the large ones and how there was a drop n the smaller ones. I realize it's nearing the end of the con year for booths so their merchandise is low, but I've never seen it this limited with things I was looking for to buy at Kumori before.

[sushisoap]

This was my first Kcon, but I've been to several other conventions so I do have experience.. Hmmn~

Rant:
Location.. the walk back and forth was slightly ridiculous, but not bad. Though the park was nice, having an Alcoholics Anonymous festival on the last day and having them mingle with us was a bit awkward - for both parties. I know sometimes it can't be helped, but the attempt should be made to avoid other large events in the same area/same time.. From what I saw both parties were respectful to each other, but still. I know cosplayers need a lot of space to run around and whatever else... I dunno.

Food! Subway? A few other places to eat, but nothing as fast and cheap as congoers usually survive on. That really can't be helped too much, I guess..

Hmmn.. The weird elevator system in the Hilton! This was probably one of the most annoying things.. I mean, everything else was okay. HOWEVER. If you had to go up to the third floor to get an 18+ stamp, you HAD to take the almost always full elevators. The assistant could let on one extra person each time the elevator stopped, but when you have more than 10 people waiting.. that's more problematic. My three friends and I were standing around by the elevators waiting a good 30, 40 minutes to get our stamps. In that amount of time, only two of us 4 had gotten stamped and the event we were going to attend was 2/3 of the way over. I mean, the stamping process took all the time of 5 seconds. So, we walked back to the Red Lion to rest up a bit (2nd panel was at 1am). And promptly gave up going to the second 18+ event because we were just too pooped from the walk and a little frustrated from the waiting time.

So why not just take the stairs?

Well. For the third floor and above, you need a room key to access the floors from the stairwell. Even after asking a few people none of who had keys, that idea was thrown out the window even though the elevator assistant happily suggested it. Really? There should be waiting in line for events, or even waiting in line for stamps/tickets to events, but not a half hour wait time to get to something that should be readily accessible. And con attendees should not have to walk around asking people staying at the hotel if they could escort them up the stairs.

Rave:
Anyways~ Lol that's really it for rant. That last issue was slightly ridiculous, considering at one point there was literally 15+ people crowded around the 2nd floor elevators to get only one floor up for a stamp. And the elevators only came every 3-5 minutes, if that soon.

All the great hotel staff, police, and con assistants~ were uber awesome. Apparently the raves and especially Sunday night was amaaazing even though I didn't get a chance to attend.

The park was cool~ great area for everyone to hang out.

Hmm. xD Just consider on every other issue, I give a positive review. I didn't get to go to many events (sad day), so I don't know what else to say on the issue. Overall, the con was pretty good. ^^ I probably won't be back next year though. Not as much for lack of interest, but more for the allure of our Las Vegas and Yaoi-con plans.

Hope everyone had a good Kcon!

[ThiefKingsHier]

This was my first Kcon, but I've been to several other conventions so I do have experience.. Hmmn~

Rant:
Location.. the walk back and forth was slightly ridiculous, but not bad. Though the park was nice, having an Alcoholics Anonymous festival on the last day and having them mingle with us was a bit awkward - for both parties. I know sometimes it can't be helped, but the attempt should be made to avoid other large events in the same area/same time.. From what I saw both parties were respectful to each other, but still. I know cosplayers need a lot of space to run around and whatever else... I dunno.

Food! Subway? A few other places to eat, but nothing as fast and cheap as congoers usually survive on. That really can't be helped too much, I guess..

Oh damn I missed that! That must have been...amusing.

Di yo usoemhow miss the 20 or so incredibly cheap and fast food booths on the other side of the park? This location is the BEST for cheap and still good food.

[sushisoap]

Oh damn I missed that! That must have been...amusing.

Di yo usoemhow miss the 20 or so incredibly cheap and fast food booths on the other side of the park? This location is the BEST for cheap and still good food.

It was.. I'm pretty sure after seeing all the cosplayers running around they were ready for another drink but.. (i kid, i kid)

The booths, or actual stores..? Because the grower's market with the booths is like what we lived off of the whole con, until they left towards late afternoon of the 2nd day. :/ I don't think a lot of cosplayers actually wandered that way though, and when the market was shut down it was SOL from there.
However, I did hear later that some of the dark stores surrounding Subway were restaurants as well, though I never got the chance to go in and when I briefly glanced at them they seemed like they would be out of my/other usual congoers price range, so I just steered clear. (aka < 5 bucks for a meal at taco bell or some spare change for a burger.)

EDIT: Either way, food wasn't a big rant issue for me at all as you can see from my mini sentence about it. xD I mostly brought my own, and stuffed myself on our hotel's breakfast. 

[reppy]

I'll try to limit my "rants" to anything that someone could possibly do something about.  They can't do anything about the food near the hotel.  (I feel like if I have to pick between better food selection and a hotel staff that treats us like humans, I'll pick the latter.)

Rants
- No signs posted outside panel rooms? I seem to recall there being screens that would display which panels were taking place in the room.  It's possible I'm imagining this though. ^^
- The first dance was extremely hot and humid, even past 12pm when about 80% of the people had filed out.

Raves
- I liked the Kumoricon menu at Gray's at the Park.  Admittedly, this isn't the choice for people on a budget.  After dessert and tip, I ended up dropping $39 for me and my brother to eat.
- The staff at Gray's at the Park were amazing as well.  They were extremely polite and prompt.  One of them, Dimitry, even started talking with me about anime, asking me my favorites, telling me how he once watched a bunch of anime when he broke his leg and couldn't do anything.  One of the waitresses was even wearing cat ears!  (I thought she had on a tail, too, but it turned out to just be where she tied off her apron. hehe!)
- The dance on the second night was much, much cooler and well-ventilated.  I also enjoyed that the music on the second night was drastically different from the music on the first night.
- Hotel staff was awesome.  A female security guard was talking with me on Sunday night.  She was really funny.  She showed me how she had her middle-finger peace bonded.
- Kumoricon staff was awesome.  One of the staffers came up to me, because he thought I would be interested, and explained the unisex bathroom to me.  Honestly, I went in for a moment to adjust something, heard someone else in a stall, and immediately thought, "You know, I don't know if that's a guy or a girl in the bathroom and that makes me uncomfortable."  So I left.  A good idea, but not for me.  Also, I kind of get a kick out of the people that walk into the bathroom, only see me from the side, and start to freak out until I turn my head and look at them.
- I really liked the plushie workshop.  I'm sorry I forget who hosted it, but we made a bunny.  It was my first time taking a needle into my hand and trying to sew.  It has inspired me and I already went out and bought some needles and thread just to mess around with. XD
- I only got to experience the first 30 or so minutes of the "Oftenly Renamed Panel", but that was also great and had me cracking up.
- The attendees!  Heck, that's what it's all about, right?  I had a blast photographing, getting my photo taken, giving/receiving hugs, hanging out with people, and apparently, being adopted by a couple nice young girls. xD

[Daws]

Oh yeah! I forgot about that, I also was wanting there to be signs outside the doors. The screens were cool but I wish they had said the event instead of the space name.

[RemSaverem]

@ Reppy:
(1) Totally agree re: signage outside of panel rooms. I would like (if the hotel approves) one of the large-size schedules, as was on the Info Desk, posted on the wall of every wing in which we have programming, in each hotel.
(2) Heat level at a dance is a serious issue; people could get dizzy or pass out if dehydrated, especially in long-sleeved cosplays.
(3) Mouse, aka Lindsey Robbins, is our plushie panelist. She will be thrilled to know she inspired you. I don't know how often she's on the panels, but she is on my facebook, if you want to message her Did you finish your bunny? Post a pic! <3 u

[nikkiolie]

I never had an issue with the elevators. Sure there were lines at some times but I just took the stairs. And I NEVER had to use my room key to get on to any floor. Maybe after a certain hour or so room keys might have had to be used but not till after midnight (I used them around midnight with no key).

The elevators this year were MUCH better than the past two years. If I did wait in line it was 5-10 minutes tops this year. Last year it was 30-40 minutes and I ended up walking up 10 flights of stairs just because I didn't want to deal with it.

My one rant is the lack of food as many people have said. It was nice though having the farmers market there so I was able to get some food in the morning and early afternoon.

Raves: pretty much everything was amazing. I LOVED LOVED LOVED the Hilton staff. They were fantastic and genuinely loved us being there.

[sporkoon]

rants: this is really just one suggestion.. the live events room was really tiny :/ and for some of the popular panels (slightly anime dating game and whose line is it anyway) there was a huge line outside and not everyone got in. there is a divider separating that room from another room too, so maybe that could be opened up to accommodate larger crowds. also it was REALLY hot in that room on saturday night, but it was much better on sunday so i guess theres not much to complain about

raves: EVERYTHING. this was my favorite kumoricon and one of the most fun cons ive been to in general ^_^ the hotel staff and con staff were wonderful, the park was great for photoshoots, great programming, and i didnt have any problems with the elevators.. i used them well after 3am without needing a room key.. and hotel security was great too! they took care of disturbances efficiently without any unnecessary drama.

[GregAtlas]

Not much I can rant about and everything that I can is mild. This was my first time cosplaying and my only other time at kumoricon I only spent 3-4 hours so I don't really count that.

Rants:
Food was an issue, I personally didn't eat anything until the end of the day where my friend and I found a plaid pantry just a block away **zelda got item music!** I would have loved to go to the farmer's market if I had known.
Signs would have been great, I tend to get lost easily.
The gaming garage was somewhat disappointing... I was hoping for more variety and some arcade machines and pin balls.
I used the stairs all the time and didn't even realize there were elevators. Not really a rant to me, but I did notice some pretty long lines where I think the elevators were.

Raves:
I will actually put the walk on my rave list despite it being hot and a little uncomfortable out because that is where I got the most hugs and some nice pictures.
I could tell some of the staff were a little nervous on how "normals" might react to us, especially in that fancy over priced resteraunt, ($8 for mac & cheese?) but they were quite good and I don't know if he was staff or not, but this asian guy in one of those orange emergency vests was sitting near a couple of "normals" that were seated next to our table and he explained to them what all was going on and what my character and my friend's character were about. Again, I don't know who he was, but kudos.  

Can't think of anything else right now. I enjoyed myself quite a bit.

Edit: Oh, it would have been cool for con-goers to have access to a public pool or something to cool off and have some fun swimming. I was staying at a friend of a friend's house so no access to hotel pool 

[Washougal_Otaku]

This was my first Kcon, but I've been to several other conventions so I do have experience.. Hmmn~

Rant:
Location.. the walk back and forth was slightly ridiculous, but not bad. Though the park was nice, having an Alcoholics Anonymous festival on the last day and having them mingle with us was a bit awkward - for both parties. I know sometimes it can't be helped, but the attempt should be made to avoid other large events in the same area/same time..

If you're recommending that the con reserve the park for the whole weekend, that'll be quite expensive.  For just a section of it, it'd cost well over $100 per hour that we have it reserved.

[GregAtlas]

I believe they were saying that schedules could be looked at a little closer to try to avoid overlapping rather than renting park space... plus how would we keep people out of a public place like that unless it were taped off... yes, very expensive and probably a huge hastle for both con-goers and staff.

[Washougal_Otaku]

^ ...you lost me.

[GregAtlas]

^ ...you lost me.

Quite literally, you were on the 2nd page so the arrow up is meaningless hehe.

Ok... basics of what I said: I believe they meant that there could have been more coordination between Kcon staff, hotel staff, and the AA group, thus if there was a weekend that there was no events going on, there would be no conflict.

[superjaz]

Or even just letting us know ahead of time "there is this event going on on the bridge and across the street at such and such time"
Then people can adjust their schedules accordingly.

One lady walking with her family from the bridge was telling her young son "save it for halloween" when he was admiring the costumes and later took his t-shirt away (he had it in his back pocket trailing down) because he asked if it looked like a tail.

Not to make assumptions but as being part of the other events,
*there were 2 that teamed up 'hands across the bridge' for recovering people and their family to start celebration of drug and alcohol Recovery Month and speak out about it not hide behind the stigma (I think)
and in the park oxfest celebration of recovery from substance addiction*
  one can think she was a past drug addict or alcoholic or have a friend or family member who is, who I am sure would not want to be judge on that.
yet we are the bad costume wearing people...

[GregAtlas]

yep... people not only fear, but often hate what they do not understand unfortunately.

[Washougal_Otaku]

Okay, now that I see where you're getting at...

I suppose we could say that this was partially my fault, even though this was nowhere near my jurisdiction.  I talked with the woman who schedules the events at the park about some attendees possibly using the park for an unofficial ball; I was told of the all-day event on Monday, but thought nothing of it, since it was Monday, which wouldn't have been a good idea for the ball.

This might be possible, since the Facilities Liaison will have her number this year.  I'm personally going to make sure of that.

[Rathany]

Okay, now that I see where you're getting at...

I suppose we could say that this was partially my fault, even though this was nowhere near my jurisdiction.  I talked with the woman who schedules the events at the park about some attendees possibly using the park for an unofficial ball; I was told of the all-day event on Monday, but thought nothing of it, since it was Monday, which wouldn't have been a good idea for the ball.

This might be possible, since the Facilities Liaison will have her number this year.  I'm personally going to make sure of that.

We have contacts for the park.  However, whether renting it is feasible is a whole 'nother, complicated matter the next board will have to look into. Though, I think next year we need to be in contact with all other events that are going on, just to touch base with them, make sure they are aware of us and see what the best way for us to work together is. 

[Washougal_Otaku]

^ Oh.  Okay; that's good to know.

[shikyo]

My only rant is the exhibitor hall.. The EH is the one place I return to a few times a day and drop $800 but this year I didn't even hit $200... Since borders no longer excists in person and B&N doesn't allow yaoi anime cons are the only place I can buy it in person and because there were no booths there this year, mainly comic cellar, it was majorly dissapointing. I only went once.

Everything else I was good with. The staff were awesome, so kudos to them!! I loved the fact that Todd Haberkorn came to the yaoi panel and voice acted from a book XD He's so awesome, he had no idea what was coming

[Sui Fong]

This was my third year going to k-con, and i thought it was a good year, just a few comments...

Rant:
Food! There was only a few places around to go to. We did go to the farmers market set up on saturday and sunday, but they were only open til a certain time, and normally not when we wanted to eat. Also, due to the lack of food around, we went to the red lion restaurant and there were a few waiters there that were really rude! my sis and i sat waiting for our check, very obviously done with our food, and watched our waiter leave for the day without even glancing at us, then finally another waiter came over and asked if we had gotten our check (he was really chill).
Exhibitors Hall! It was too small. And like others who have posted, I came wanting to spend lots, but left only spending like 20 bucks. It would be nice if it was not in such a small place next year.
Panel Rooms! There were panels in rooms way to small, some in rooms too large. It just needed to be planned a little better

Rave:
Hotel(s)! I loved both hotels, the staff was SUPER friendly. It was my first k-con staying in one of the hotels it was being held at, and so i brought ear plugs b/c i have heard horror stories about people running the halls late at night, but i didn't have any problems at all!
K-con Staff! Seriously, i think each year the staff gets a little nicer and a little more helpful. GO TEAM!
Weather! ok, i dunno if i can rave about the weather, b/c we can't control it and all, but this year it was gr8! (oddly enuf) tho in my soi fong cosplay it was a little warm, but i'll live.

[Washougal_Otaku]

As an overall rant, I'm not really sure why some people have been saying that there's few places to eat in downtown Vancouver.  There's a lot of places to choose from.  Granted, not too many of them are cheap places, like McDonald's, but there's still a lot to choose from.  Just going up North by 4 blocks from the Hilton and down South to the Columbia River, there's over 30 eateries.  There were plenty of options.

[Sui Fong]

really? only 4 blocks? cause it seemed a lot farther away than that. it also seemed like all the places we wanted to go were closed. i guess after a long day of con-going, we just didn't really wanna have to walk. we ended up going to safeway and buying some microwaveable stuff.

[Washougal_Otaku]

I suppose that could make sense.  Plus, there are some that are some of these places that are kinda hard to find.  It might be possible that with better advertising (which was partially my fault), the places that were closed this last year might consider being open for us, at least for a few hours...

[FilkAeris]

Just a suggestion for next year, but.  Would it be possible to pass out a simple map showing all the restaurants for a few blocks around the hotel?

I ask because my fiance and I (being doughty mid-twenties types who already conquered Tokyo and Sapporo the same way) went exploring on foot and found more delicious, cheap food than we could shake a stick at, but...I bet a lot of the younger congoers were probably nervous about wandering around unfamiliar streets without some sort of guide.  Also, the lovely greenery in the park made it hard to get a line of sight on the available options without actually setting forth out of hallowed con space.

[Washougal_Otaku]

Well, there was the one in the con book, even though it did lack a lot of what is in downtown.  I'm actually planning on being this year's cartographer, so that the map can be rather thorough.

[acton]

As for the park on Monday  I did some digging in on Ox fest, Ox fest along with Hands part of the Kick of of National Recovery Month.
I do think it will be practical to try to block out the entire park on labor day . I will not put Kumoricon in good light. This wise thing to do is let it go. The last thing we need is bad publicity after what city of  Vancouver and the Hilton did to get us over to the Hilton.
http://handsacrossthebridge.org/aboutus/

[Washougal_Otaku]

If they didn't want outsiders there, then they should have gotten the fences for the park.  Since they didn't we had every much a right to be there as they did, even if they did rent the space.  No fence means open to the public.

I do hope that next year things will be worked out better.  They do represent a great cause, so I have no problem with them being there.  but if they don't want otaku to be there, then they should have the area blocked off from the public.

[Chek]

Fencing a park to prevent public access, even if you are holding an event in said park, is ludicrously expensive to permit. I will admit that I am not totally familiar with the park rental policies of Vancouver, but I work for Portland's Parks department and have a pretty in depth idea of the sorts of costs that might be involved for a permittee.

Let's just say that if you wanted to put fences around a park in Portland for a public event, you're looking at shelling out thousands of dollars in a lot of cases. I bet the Couv isn't much different, especially since that is their major city park.

I'm not surprised they didn't go that route!

/2 cents

[Washougal_Otaku]

Vancouver does, but it's not that much.  Either way, it should be obvious to them that without some sort of barricade, the public as a whole can show up, since it is a park in downtown.  The Hands Across the Bridge website even said that the even was free to anyone, so there shouldn't have been any problems.

[DSaturn]

I've actually been meaning to say something about this, and here is the perfect place.

The staff member who was managing the lines for autographs every time my group was there... we all agreed that he was by far the most awesome staff member we've encountered. He was super nice and funny, while still being strict and making sure people followed the rules. Even when he was turning people away for the day, he was firm but never seemed like the bad guy. He was absolutely fantastic.

[Titus_Love_Doll]

me and soem were were very upset there was no ball ITS not far to those who cant go in a rave becuse of the lights I saw 1 rave 1 ball becuse not everyone can go into the rave due to medical issues. >> just saying becuse i had a friend last year get very upset becuse it was her frist con adn we told her about a ball and she wanted to go to it and then relized there was just a rave and she couldnt go in becuse the lights will me her have a Grand mall sesior like it did last time her at anther con ..SO STAFF please if its possable we need a ball

[BlackHat]

I'm sure late! Being so late saying this, only the major things stuck to my mind. Good or bad? Haha.

Rant
Dealers hall
You really couldn't have packed it any closer together. I believe the space was poorly managed, and my experience in 2010 was much better. Move the games room to where the Dealers Hall or Artist Alley was, and move Dealers Hall and Artist Alley down to the basement again. It was much more open, and very easy to navigate. I snagged my regular clothes at least a dozen times in the Dealers Hall. Can't imagine how terrible it'd be with something more extravagant.

Food
Like many others, my budget was miniscule. Also, after running around all day at the con, finding food more than a few blocks away was out of the question. Subway was pretty much the only option visible, and the map provided of food was really paltry. Having a more comprehensive list, perhaps color coded by average price, would be fantastic.

Park
This isn't directed at the convention so much as the convention goers. Pick up your damn trash. The staff isn't your mother and the park is not your house.

Raves!
Park
To start where I left off at! The park is beautiful. I really love the ability to use it. Having the Hands Across the Bridge group there was no problem, but we should look closely at the times and if they're doing it again next year, so we can plan accordingly and make sure con goers know. It was certainly bizarre when they began parading by!

Staff, Kumoricon and Hotel
Fantastic! You guys are the best, really. I'm so glad the hotel is so accepting and nice.

Rave
Fantastic job keeping the line... in line, and the music was pretty alright. My only complaint is that having a ball of sorts instead of two raves would've been nice, but you guys did well.

[Drauska]

Rants:
 No ball

Raves:
 I loved the location and the staff at this Hilton are the bomb!!!  There were sooooo nice and respectful.  The space in the hallways were sick!!  So much room to walk through, and more places to just chill when chilling was required. 

Can't wait to see everyone again this year!!!!!

[Shadow]

I have to be completely honest here. I've been attending Kumoricon since '05, and '11 was by far the worst year yet. If my group and I decide to go at all this year, it'll only be for one day. We were all sincerely disappointed and overall considered it a waste of money.

Rants:

- Splitting the con between the Red Lion and Hilton.
Poor choice. Seriously.

- The Dealer's Hall and Artist Alley.
'Nuff said.

- Lack of food options close to the location.
Subway was just about it.

- The Hilton in general besides the staff.

- No masquerade.

Rave:

- The park.
The park helped control the amount of people actually inside the convention center which was nice. Though it was still crowded.

There were also factors that made '11 a bad year that the staff had no control over, but overall last year just left a bad taste in my mouth. As unfortunate as it is to stop attending a con you've gone to for the past 6 years, I think it's just time to move on. It seems like every year the attendees get younger and more disrespectful, which is a big turn-off. (Or I'm just getting older and more crotchety.)

[Washougal_Otaku]

I figured that I'd put this here, since so many people believed that there is little eating options to choose from in downtown Vancouver...

A NEW PLACE HAS OPENED UP!!!

Literally a week or two ago, a place called Asian Mini Mart opened its doors.  To get there, go North along Columbia Street (the road that you'd be walking along to get from one hotel to the next).  Cross 8th Street (the northern border of Esther Short Park) to the Starbuck's.  Asian Mini Mart is just to the North.

The lady there told us that this place opened up with this con in mind.  It's various Asian foods and snacks and such.  They will be adding more things in the next week or so, just in time for Kumoricon!

Come check these folks out!  It'll be a great option for your taste buds!