Convention Report
Friday, day before the con.
My group arrived Friday afternoon/evening excited for the con and ready to meet some people before the rush actually started. We got in there to notice that pre-reg hadn’t opened yet so we decided to eat and meet up with some friend then come back. Once we did come back, we found a huge line for pre-reg. We weren’t totally faltered by the line until we had to walk outside to get to the end of the line. After about an hour or more of moving about 4 feet (still far from being inside), we decided we would just wake up early in the morning to pick up our pre-reg. At that point we wondered why it was taking so long to get our badges, but weren’t too worried about it.
Saturday, First day of the con
We wake up early, get ready and go to breakfast. The staff working at the lounge of the buffet for the hotel were really nice. While at breakfast we notice the forming line of pre-reg and registration. Since it was still early, we were not worried about it. After breakfast we would just sit in line. After all pre-reg goes really fast because they already have our information. So after breakfast, my mother stays in line and we head up to go get in costume. We head about an hour later, because the pre-reg line should be open by now. When we get there, we find my mom has been waiting in about the same spot (about a foot difference) for the entire half-hour that pre-reg had opened. We join her and wait another hour or so until we get close to the front. Finally there, we hope it’ll go quick now. At this point, we’re a bit annoyed at the staff since we keep getting yelled at to move against the wall. The staff’s yelling is rather automatic since I’m squashed in a corner with the plant. No more wall to move against for my group and I. I suppose that’s why it annoyed me. Especially since when I get to the pre-reg booths and I notice there is only four people working (two for each section) I wonder why the four or so people couldn’t be helping pass out pre-reg badges to the attendees. My group splits up into registration line and pre-reg line. A half-hour later, my friends that went to on-spot reg are off to enjoy the convention while my mom and I are still there waiting for the lady running our section of the pre-reg to come back. She eventually comes back and apologizes but doesn’t give a reason for the disappearance. Once we got there it went rather quickly because we had the same last name. Still the wait, even for a convention line, could have been avoided by better planning.
Moving on, once we finally get to enjoy the convention it was great. The AMV contest was well organized this year except the one screen instead of two or so kind of was disappointing. Just for a quick shout out I loved the dramatic tribute which started up the AMV contest.
After the AMV contest, the next major event we went to was the dance. It was pretty fun except the time I was there (About an hour or so) I didn’t hear enough anime-type songs. That was forgivable though since I heard a lot of people were requesting non-anime songs. The availability of water was really really nice.
Sunday, Second day of the con
Wake up early for the cosplay pre-meeting. A bit too early for some members of our group who still sleep, but that’s alright because it’s not mandatory for them to be there until 1:30. Goes fine, cosplay staff is so awesome in making it smooth and answering questions. This year was really good in making the meetings to the point so we could leave to do some other stuff before the actual contest. Stopped by the dealer’s room and was confused if half of it was artist alley or if half was dealer’s room but I suppose I just was missing signs. The dealer’s room was pretty nice and they had everything and more that I personally wanted. Moving back to the cosplay contest, the post-pre-meeting rehearsal was okay. The ‘green room’ was a stroke of trying the best in the venue. I think one of my only complaints about the back-workings of the cosplay contest is that there needs to actually be a green room and that the stage should be higher (or the audience should sit on the ground)
I did have a brush with getting lost in the convention venue. Though it might have been just because of stupidity, lack of sleep, and loss of direction. But it wasn’t very fun since the elevator was broken (again) Finally, re-found my hotel room and changed cosplay then headed back down for the rest of the night. This night after my Death Note group was done posing for a picture, I had a brush with a semi-missing person case. Pretty much a girl and her friend had ditched their mom. But it was around 11:00 pm so I decided I’d keep an eye out for her. Out of a stroke of luck, I passed the head of the con and asked her about it. So I was sent down to Ops for them to take over. I was really impressed by Ops about this. They seemed sincerely concerned about it and went straight to the mother to talk to her. Kudos for Ops because they work really hard and have to deal with things like this all the time at the Con. I think I can forgive staff for yelling about the hallways if they stay up all night trying to find people (or trying to get rid of some people that aren’t suppose to be there).
Monday, Last Day
I woke up pretty late on Monday, and had missed the Pattern-making panel I had wanted to go to by about 30 minutes. So I rolled out of bed and headed out. Went back through the dealer’s room but was lacking money so no new items for me. Headed back to the creation station, which by the way was very awesome. It had so many supplies that were so good and I have to say I really liked it. Walked about some more before we had to leave. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay for Closing Ceremonies.
Overall
I really enjoyed Kumori Con. Just as I did last year. It is easily my favorite convention of all the ones I have ever attended. One of the things I do like about Kumori Con is the venues it picks. It’s close enough so you can meet up with people without having to plan it. I prefer bumping into someone you haven’t seen for a year in the small hallways instead of never finding them because the convention is too spread out. When the venue is close together, though it may seem too close, it creates a more community feel because you see the same people more and it allows more conversation to happen. However. If the con is going to pick a smaller set hotel, then please don’t yell at people for stopping by in the halls to talk to someone just because they aren’t ‘against the wall’. I also didn’t necessarily like the hotel’s staff. The breakfast crew was rad and some of the maids were pretty awesome, but my mom had a lot of trouble with rude hotel staff when checking out. Since Kumori Con 2007 will be even bigger, we should move to a new location since I don’t think the Red Lion could have taken any more attendees.
It seems the Bakazoku seemed tired this convention. I’ve always loved them even if they are broken up now I do love them all. Maybe Chris an itsy bit more since my sister has so much fun hanging out with him. But the ‘new Bakazoku’ seemed as if they were running out of ideas and having a hard time finding funny stuff to joke about. Well, I hope some new-found energy and freshness will be sent their way. *miss past Bakazoku*
Anyways…
Yay for Kumori Con 2006! Can’t wait until 2007!
