Fan Expo Dallas 2019
What a tremendous year this con season is turning out to be! And we can’t go without attending Dallas Fan Expo of course! This will be my 5th year attending Dallas so there is tons to compare the layout too in the experience.
I found myself with many VIP or 3-day pass holders being able to enjoy the early entrance before the main crowd entered. I took advantage of it and was able to visit a few booths that had exclusives or giveaways. There were lots of awesome handouts of posters, comics, and more at the DC comics booth as well as John Wick coins at the Chronicle Collectibles area.
The Friday crowd would seem to have been one of the more comfortable days as the lines were few and the space was plenty. Especially this year as they moved the photo op area, which had been on the left side taking a giant rectangle space and moved it to BEHIND the celebrities and into an auditorium hall. The key success in this was that it was out of sight and out of the way. The only crowd issues were if there were multiple photo ops and everyone is traveling down the same path but was often controlled by staff.
It was especially refreshing to see many new and old faces in the cosplay community as the convention had brought many out of state or even country – cosplayers to the show. PLUS the amount of cosplayers this year throughout the convention seemed to be a good 60-70% of the convention which was way more than in previous years or cons. I am unsure If its just the growing community or the diverse selection of guests that were brought in to contribute but it was awesome to see the love.
I cant imagine the type of numbers generated this year as it was one of the biggest years to date but didn’t feel as overwhelming thanks to the fantastic floor layout this year. But with these numbers came a lot of breaks or super long lunches which at one point on Sunday over half of the celebrities were gone on lunch or photo ops or both. It also pays to be a VIP because compared to last year where the lines were as quick as 10 minutes – turned into 3 hours average this year for big names. Highly recommend weighing your options with who you want to get first when you stand in your first line of the day. These long lines and breaks or schedules seemed to have reflected into the experience with some of the celebrities as people such as from the flash were less than welcoming from my encounter. But oppositely you had celebrities such as Gregg Cipes who was more than inviting and interactive with his fans.
Hopefully they won’t be doing any late Sunday night shows like this years Lynda Carter experience where you wouldn’t be leaving to home or your long drive until about 8pm after the concert and photo op., work was rough when arriving at 2am from driving. There was just so much to the con experience that made it very memorable because they brought in BIG name brand vendors this year such as Funimation, DC Comics, Ubisoft, and more that had tons of free swag to offer plus many booths like Ripleys believe it or not for the kids/adults.
I hope to continue to see such great success and improvised schedule adjustments vs cancelling and the expansion of its continued layout and even more interactive guests or vendors to come!
