HolMat 2019 was one week ago. Since then I've had time to reflect on the con and also get drowned in posts in the Facebook groups. I feel that many of us did have a very different con experience, so here are my own thoughts.
Pro: Location
The location, Marriott World Center in Orlando, FL was beautiful. It had so many amazing photo spots both inside and out. And since it's December in Florida, the temperature was nice too! At one point while I was photographing a cosplayer in the pool I was wearing shorts and just sitting with my feet in the water. At night it was still a bit chilly, but it is December in the USA after all.
Con: Hotel staff
Overall the hotel staff were very nice, but I did think that there were some that were rude and frankly not that into working a con weekend. The bell staff in particular caused a major issue wherein they did not allow us to keep our cart during check in and after taking it, did not allow me access to get my backpack off of the cart where my credit card that I was using for the room was. There was a small bit of damage in our room as well that I went to the front desk to report so that we would not be charged and the front desk staff was not interested in listening to my concerns.
Pro: Programming
The programming was highly diverse and, while some events were strangely scheduled at the same time as other events that would have had similar audiences, overall I felt that there was always something to do. I particularly liked that there was an entire panel room titled Cosplay University that was set up for more of a lecture style. I had the opportunity to present in that room and I hope it returns in 2020 and that more conventions adopt this.
Con: Con staff
The convention staff was all very nice, but it felt like to me that certain departments were more prepared than others. The registration team was well prepared and was also highly efficient, but the staff that was in charge of programming reimbursements I couldn't even find. The information was not in any emails, and unfortunately I didn't have access to any old forms from my applications. I asked multiple clueless staff members, some of whom pointed me to other staff who also didn't know, how to get my reimbursement. In the future I feel that a small con-ops station would be beneficial. This could even be set up near the VIP room or in a corner of the registration room.
Pro: Vendors and Artists
There were an amazing variety of both vendors and artists over the weekend. I went in on Saturday to find an item from a certain show and I found it after maybe a dozen booths. After making my purchase I looked around for a few more minutes and did find more from the same show! But there also wasn't too much repetition at this con. I did see lots of merch from the same shows, but it rarely seemed to be the exact same item (excepting figurines). There were also some vendors who didn't sell anything anime or fandom related at all that had super unique products (looking at you, Uniglitter!).
Con: Vendors and Artist's area
The space for vendors, artists, and also guests was very small compared to other conventions with the approximately attendance of HolMat. I do realize that this was likely due to the construction going on, however I do think that at least the guests could have been moved to somewhere else. There was a large empty hall one floor up near the VIP room that would have been a wonderful location to have lines wrap around. But instead they took up valuable space the vendors and artist's room. I do know that many large cons do have guests in the same room (Galaxy Con Raleigh is the first that comes to mind), but they have a much larger space and therefore can afford to do this.
Pro: Parking
I feel as though I'm among the few to find this as a positive, but as someone who stayed at the hotel and did only have one car for the room, I'm thoroughly pleased with my experience. My pass got mailed straight to me so I was able to just bring it with me to the con, and there was lots of parking in the garage itself. In regards to parking for those who did not stay on site or had more than one car, I cannot speak to that as I had no dealings with it.
Con: Lack of big Christmas trees
Okay, so this may just be me as a photographer and a cosplayer, but I felt that there should have been more large trees in the con space. In the hotel there was one large on in the lobby, two mid-sized trees in the lobby bar, a "park" in the lobby full of trees, and also a tree out by the pool. However on the con floor there was just one tree. With it being a Christmas con there will be people wanting pictures in cosplay by the tree. And with so many people, perhaps a "forest" of trees in the con space for pictures would be useful. I know for one that I would have been more than happy to have helped set that up on Thursday night for everyone to use over the weekend.
Pro: Food trucks
Whenever I stay in a hotel for a con I run to a grocery store and pick up some food for the weekend to help keep myself under budget. In my room there were three of us that split food costs, keeping it to about $17.50 per person. We bought sandwich materials, drinking water, fruit, milk, and cereal. However, after eating this since Thursday night it can get rather boring. And food at the hotel was extremely over priced. It was $15 (not including tax or tip) for a snack plate of chicken tenders! Outrageous! Having the food trucks on site on Friday and Saturday was a stroke of genius and I'd like to shake the hand of whoever had the brilliant idea. I only used the food trucks once, on Saturday for a late lunch at around 2pm, but I had three delicious bao from the Fluffy Asian Tacos truck. The line took about 30 minutes to get through, but the food took only about 5 minutes to make. It cost me about $10 +tax and was a delicious way to break up my meals of cereal and turkey sandwiches.
Con: The noise
I know that I should expect this when staying in a con hotel, but there was a screaming match outside my window on Saturday night that lasted for at least 45 minutes. I really hate yelling and screaming for personal reasons, so I didn't think it fair that we were being subjected to that. It's one thing to have to expect some extra noise of people walking in the hallway, its another to hear people screaming outside my room for almost an hour.
Overall, I would definitely return to the convention and hope to do so in 2020.
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