What do you dislike most about the FanimeCon Experience? [2012 Edition]

Started by Kupo, May 28, 2012, 03:21:02 PM

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What do you dislike most about the FanimeCon Experience? [2012 Edition]

Parking
9 (15.8%)
Elevators
13 (22.8%)
Protesters
13 (22.8%)
Spending Lots of Money
8 (14%)
Post Con Depression
18 (31.6%)
Hotel Check-In/Check-Out
4 (7%)
Long Lines
34 (59.6%)
Staff (Rovers, Volunteers, etc.)
12 (21.1%)
Rude/Annoying/Creepy People
18 (31.6%)
Smelly People
18 (31.6%)
Overpriced Items
18 (31.6%)
Convention Center Construction/No Fountain
25 (43.9%)
Everything
0 (0%)
Other (Please Specify)
6 (10.5%)

Total Members Voted: 57

Kupo

For the past few years, I've been making these threads about your FanimeCon experiences and thought I'd continue with 2012!

Akita

This year seemed to lack, a lot...  Like for newcomers, there are cries of awesomeness, but for those who have gone time after time, they were pretty bored, and was unsure what to do -resulting in staying in hotel rooms and doing whatever.

Personally:
- Autograph location is rather...odd...  Like, why Fairmont?  It was definitely intimidating imo
- Two pamphlet, just odd
- Game Room clutter (like during midnight hours...  Like damn, that place got messy.  Feel bad for those staffers cleaning it up...

Junon

The con itself was good, I think you guys did a great job. I really did like many of the panels, I've been to a few and loved them.

The part I hated the most was the 6 hour pre-reg line. I understand that you had no control of the power outage, but I think if pre-reg badges would start being mailed out to addresses it would solve that issue completely. The current setup for registration worked fine when the con was smaller, but as it got bigger, the method of registration remained the same. I think you guys need to re-think this.

I also noticed that the rovers coordinating the pre-reg lines weren't always coordinating well and were often confused, and even placed an entire section of people in line ahead of others (even though they came in an hour later). The one thing that did frustrate me was that when finally we were getting closer to picking up the badges after waiting 6 hours, a rover allowed people to cut in front of us. Normally I would have stirred up an issue with this and possibly got into it with the people cutting, but I was so tired from standing that long that I didn't deal with it. It wasn't fair to be standing there for hours only for people jump into the line and wait only 15 minutes. Seriously, I wanted to stop them down, and I would have if only I could have felt my legs.

The construction was a bit of a put off, but nothing you can do about it. Everything else really is beyond your control so I'm not going to blame Fanime for the little nagging things.

mdarkpoet

The poll brings up a lot of some of the things I disliked. I'll just comment on the few I chose.

Parking: It was a bit of a struggle because I am not extremely familiar with downtown San Jose. It was more of an "oh crap" moment than anything.

Elevators: This ranks on my highest. People's conduct in the elevators, elevators breaking, being shut down on the day of check-out. I'm sure everyone has something to say in regards to this. I made a thread on the Hotels section for those who feel like ranting haha.

Long Lines: Waiting 6+ hours in the line. The badge and line situation has always been problematic with every Fanime I've been to. It surprises me that it still hasn't had the kinks worked out to where the line can run smoothly and efficiently. It wasn't a huge deal but the wait for THIS Fanime's line was my longest and definitely not fun.

Overpriced Items: Less of an issue than last year but I still spotted those few dealers who mark things up way more than they should. The best solution is just to go around the hall 2-3 times, find the things you're looking for, and compare prices.

Convention Center Construction: Definitely depressing. I look forward to seeing it completed next year though.


All in all the only huge deal was the elevator situation. It really was chaotic...

Mayadesu

I'd say this year was overall better than last year, but I have to agree with the people above about some stuff.

Lines: The biggest problem I had was with the ridiculously long registration lines. I understand the blackout situation, but I think that something should be done about the way badges are handed out, especially now since the population of the con has grown over the years. I really think mailing the badges or having a system where we can just walk by and scan a code or something would save everyone a lot of time and resources. I think my friends and I ended up waiting 7 hours in total.

Rovers: I had much better experiences this year with rovers than I did last year, and most of them were friendly, but there were a couple of them that were rude to a group of us for no reason. A group of us were standing and waiting for an elevator at The Marriott, when some rover from near the peace bonding station came out and started yelling at us for something OTHER PEOPLE DID BEFORE US. She went off on us to not push each other, and literally that whole group waiting wasn't doing anything like that. She said other people were doing it before, but how is that our fault? Also, at one point she said she needed us to: "shut the fuck up". Totally power tripping. Very rude. We weren't even doing anything. Aside from her, the other rovers were quite reasonable.

Construction: I was really sad to see the fountains go (to me they were one of the best assets to the con), and the construction site was pretty ugly, but hey, I'm sure it will look nice once they are finished and I look forward to seeing it.

Elevators: The elevator situation was pretty bad at The Marriott, but I expected it to be like that. Maybe there's some way to make it less of a problem in the future.


BobMakihara

This con keeps getting better, and because of that it keeps getting bigger.

I don't know how many people ended up attending, but I am willing to guess that there was a bigger than normal jump in attendance. There were pretty huge lines on Sunday afternoon, for goodness sake. I have never seen that at another Fanime.

It is time to revamp the registration system.  Something that can clear more than a few hundred clients every hour. I know the reg staff worked their asses off and had a lot of setbacks that were out of their control, and I appreciate all the staff that stayed until midnight on Thursday even though you were supposed to be outta there at 8. Fanime is growing, and this process needs to grow in a way that prevents 7 hour waits for pre-reg (your most enthusiastic client base) and doesn't burn out the staff.

I have every expectation that the Fanime staff will rise to this challenge, as they have improved the con over the years. I love how Fanime has grown, it is still my favorite and hands down the best con on the west coast. Keep up the good work.

The Fanime Sax Guy.
Cosplays:
Bob Makihara from Tenjou Tenge (100%)
Kaoru Kaidoh from Prince of Tennis (100%)
Captain Jack Sparrow (95%)
Dee Jay from SFIV (95%)
Ren Jinguji from Uta no Prince-sama (100%)


Maskenlav

cons

construction site: demolished half the entrance. Beautiful and refreshing fountain replaced with a desert dry looking flower bed.

The Hilton side tree bed was gone so shade was only on Marriott's side.

Stage Zero: wasn't as exciting nor as diverse as last year's. Just had your standard vocaloids and maids singing a cutesy song or random one so I was kind of disappointed that there was like no video game tourney styled event like last year where they played Street Fighter. The little AMV they played weren't as diverse or unique as I wished.

Rovers: SOME were annoying me cause they asked me to stop leaning on something and when I move and leaned on something more sturdy they STILL kept asking me to stop. I kept saying, "dude I moved to this stronger thing can you stop bugging me now?" Some of them thought that wearing a bright green armband made them godly or felt powerful as if they were wearing a German WW2 uniform. I get that you have power over standard attendees BUT they need to understand THAT we the attendees HAVE the con by our hands. Without us, they wouldn't be able to boss us around.

Couples: I understand that they like to bring their partner to a weekend con and get bonded closer or share their interests but there were too many of them and it was hard to spot or know who was single or not. I bet many people tried to approach that pretty girl or cute guy but then their partner suddenly appear and give them a kiss so you had to back off and turn around. That was especially a harsh time for single people at the B&W Ball who tried to seek someone to get to know.
"I'll do it! I'll marry you!"

PinkWonder

The group of people I was with and myself all had a great time, but there definitely is some room for improvement. Just listing off a few majors that come to mind.

Parking: This one was quite difficult, I had a hard time finding empty lots. Of course the many one way streets didn't help our case. Then again parking is difficult at any convention. Maybe at the least some signs would have been nice.

Construction: It's too bad the fountain had to go. It was kind of disappointing they weren't done with construction so is was just a big blocked off pile of dirt. More disappointing than anything but hey what can you do?

Line: Registration was the most irritating part of the convention, I really think since Fanime's popularity has gotten to such a level it's important they consider new, faster ways to get badges to you. I mean come on, 6 hour lines for pre-registration lines? Definitely time for a change.

Rovers: Many of the rovers were very friendly, however I felt many of them were not doing their jobs and did not know what they were doing. When I asked a Rocer where to go for picking up my early registration badge he pointed me in the direction of the At-Con line. I thought it was strange but I figured hey he works here, he's gotta know what he's doing right? Needless to say I wasn't too happy when I got to the front after three hours just to be told I was in the wrong line the whole time. Also when waiting in extremely long lines many were not well supervised and I witnessed cutting in every single line I waited in but there were no rovers around to speak to about it. Very irritating.

Overpriced items: The price of drinks at the convention was my biggest complaint. There is the whole convenience but some of them were way too much! $5.00 for just a water? $4.00 for a soda? The food was priced okay...but it was terrible quality. I payed $3.00 for a pretzel which was hard as a rock. I took three bites and I couldn't do it.

Gatherings: The gathering list was so confusing. All they had for the location were a bunch of letters and numbers. Being that this was my first time attending it was really difficult to figure out locations with just a first glance.

That's all that really comes to mind right now. I love the con and for sure will be back next year.

royjovero

Quote from: Maskenlav on May 28, 2012, 06:06:07 PM
Couples: I understand that they like to bring their partner to a weekend con and get bonded closer or share their interests but there were too many of them and it was hard to spot or know who was single or not. I bet many people tried to approach that pretty girl or cute guy but then their partner suddenly appear and give them a kiss so you had to back off and turn around. That was especially a harsh time for single people at the B&W Ball who tried to seek someone to get to know.
Is this really a problem? I don't mean to bash you, but a comment like this makes it sound like you don't want couples to attend together at all. Fanime is a convention for people to gather together and enjoy commonalities. It's not an orgy.

And now I'll make my comments.

CREEPERS AND PEOPLE WHO STARE: I've noticed people, on many occasions, staring at my girlfriend's chest. I understand that she's super-busty and can't hide it well, especially when she was wearing her corset or her Maya Fey cosplay, but come on. Sneaking a peek is one thing, but when I'm looking at your looking at her cleavage, there are problems.

ROVERS: For the most part, they were OK, but Sunday night, I came across this burly Caucasian rover that yelled at my group when we were standing just outside of Stage Zero. He yelled at us, saying that we have to get out of the walkway when there was a group of about 20+ people 5 feet away from us taking pictures.

PEOPLE WHO TAKE PICTURES IN THE DEALER'S HALL AND ARTIST ALLEY: There were many places you could've gone to take pictures, especially in the corners of the rooms. This was especially a problem Friday and Saturday during the times with the most traffic.

PEOPLE CUTTING IN LINE DURING BADGE PICKUP ON DAY ZERO: There were a lot of Rovers out, but they really couldn't stop the cutters. I've seen people saying they left line to put their stuff away in their rooms, and when they returned, they had absolutely no shortness of breath or signs of sweating, even when they said they had to RUN back to the con so they wouldn't lose their place in line.

There's more that I can complain about, but I'm just too tired right now.

amandald98

Ok, it's my turn!

The Long lines were the first thing. I waited in line until 8:30, with confusion on what was going on. Some rovers said I had to leave, since I only had the Paypal receipt. Some said I could stay. Some said I had to leave because it was Early Reg, and not Pre-reg.After the final announcement about Pre-Reg only, I was asked by rovers to leave after waiting hours. And when I get home, I see they fixed the power issue and were continuing registration. I think that they could of at least said that they were working to fix the problem and that they could fix it, and not just told me to abandon all hope.

Rude/Annoying/Creepy People and Rovers were another issue. While waiting in line on Day 0, my friend and I were confronted by a cosplayer who was cosplaying the same series as my friend. They were talking, and conversation got to the power outage. This cosplayer had no paper proof of reg, and had changed her email, restricting mobile access to the information. She started having a panic attack, yelling and screaming, leaving a 13-year old to try and diffuse the situation. My heart must have skipped a beat as she freaked out. The worst part is that it took about a minute for the Rovers (who were within earshot of normal talking conversation) to come and take care of the situation. My friend who was trying to help begin to become verbally assaulted by the girl, and it did not stop until rovers arrived. A little more reassurance in time of peril and power outage would be great, Staff!

Other than that, I had a great time, so keep up the good work!
I like trains.

Crizum

Waited in line for hours with an early reg friend on friday for us to be told around 10ish early reg couldn't get their badges (To be fair the room was loud and they couldn't use megaphones, we got helped by an obviously overwhelmed but really nice rover who we felt bad for) so my friend ended up leaving only for us to be told shortly after they could do early reg again! Awesome.

Quote
Couples: I understand that they like to bring their partner to a weekend con and get bonded closer or share their interests but there were too many of them and it was hard to spot or know who was single or not. I bet many people tried to approach that pretty girl or cute guy but then their partner suddenly appear and give them a kiss so you had to back off and turn around. That was especially a harsh time for single people at the B&W Ball who tried to seek someone to get to know.

I didn't stop liking anime the moment I got married :/. There were plenty of girls looking for validation and the confidence only lonely men at a con could provide, which brings me to..

QuoteCREEPERS AND PEOPLE WHO STARE: I've noticed people, on many occasions, staring at my girlfriend's chest. I understand that she's super-busty and can't hide it well, especially when she was wearing her corset or her Maya Fey cosplay, but come on. Sneaking a peek is one thing, but when I'm looking at your looking at her cleavage, there are problems.

This is not directed at you, I quoted you for context, is it just me or did the amount of girls who show up just to be drooled over increase this year? You couldn't really go anywhere without seeing them in basically the same amount of cloth as a newborn onesie. I get that the characters many people chose to cosplay are not always the most modest bunch, but beach episode Mario? Srsly? I would like to know where the line is drawn, because I did see some dudes this year in a similar amount of clothing, but they got rovered out pretty damn quickly it looked like. Equality for man-whores.

M

To prevent confusion, please use the official 2012 thread. I like the idea of having polls, but this thread is quickly turning into a duplicate feedback thread.
FanimeCon Head of Marketing & Director of Communications (2008-Current)
(Former Fan Services Director, Registration Staff, & Volunteer)
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