The first one in the Oregon-Washington area. The con also reached it's highest attendance record with 5,000 +. It may not have been the best year for me but I still adore Kumori-con very much as it was the first con I cosplayed at. We met friends there, reconnected with old friends and where our love of cosplay bloomed. This con is our home con, it's very close and has a family vibe to it.
This will be our first four day con that we have ever attended and I will admit I do have my doubts about it going smoothly. But before I get to the cons of a four day event I'll explain what I'm excited about. As to every con there is a pro. So here we go!
Pros
- Three full days to cosplay
-Day three is always such a drag. We have to pack, check out of the hotel and head home. There really isn't much going on beside cosplay chess. Shopping ends early. And there barely anyone around. It's dead. So having three full days to cosplay without having to worry about packing up and leaving will be amazing. Three full days and three cosplays. It's awesome!
- More time with friends
-Cons are our break from work and stress, we can get together, share some drinks and make some memories and let loose. We also cosplay from two series together (They are doing xxxHolic with us next year!) so that is always more fun, hanging out in matching cosplays!
- More time to go out and take pictures
-I never have any time to do this! Between cosplaying big cosplays and the contest there wasn't much time to stop and go around to take pictures of the many awesome cosplayers. I really wanted to but due to the heat and my very heavy cosplays I really couldn't go out and take any pictures. Next year I'm planning to go out in the evening and take some pictures, maybe even do a few mini shoots!
- The contest
-More time to focus on the contest. Kumori-con's contest takes up the full second day. Between the judging, the tech rehearsal and contest, there really isn't much time to do much the day of the contest. With another day we'll have more free time. We love the contest so this gives us the chance to give all our attention on the contest during that day.
- More panels and guests
-Hopefully the con adds more guest and allows more panels. Some people were complaining about the lack of anime/manga related panels (Hellllllo! You should have gone to our Pandora Hearts panel! It was amazing!) so this give the con the chance to allow more panels. Our friend is hoping to get us a Pandora Hearts 18+ panel!
- More time to enjoy the full con experience.
Three full days plus half a day (day four.) What's better than that? There is down side to this but I'll explain that below.
Cons
- Not enough to do.
One of the reasons we grew so bored during con. We couldn't go shopping due to low funds. My fiance had just lost his job. Shopping and window shopping is one of our favorite things to do so when we couldn't do it, we found ourselves hanging out in our hotel room for hours on end. It didn't help most of the panels we wanted to go to we had to attend either judging or the pre-meet. Sitting in a hotel room is not fun. We were bored, I was restless making myself sick. It was not fun. If they don't add more panels and invite more guests and dealers, it could be quite awful.
- Price increase
-More food. Four nights at a hotel. Price increase of tickets. Price of parking for Hilton (Parking garage has reg and dealer's hall in it.) Not fun. Will it be worth it? I hope so.
- Out growing the con space (Spike in numbers.)
-The con was packed. It was obvious to us the con had out grown the site it is at. The long lines, stuffed halls and packed hotels. It was horrible. The elevators took up to ten minutes to go down, some times up as well. How will it be during the hotels' renovations? Worse.
- Not enough people.
-This is where you might become confused. Yes, the con grew in numbers. It was packed and over crowded. BUT there are not enough people for a four day con. It needs to move back to Portland where the venue will be much larger. This gives the con a chance to grow not be squished at a small venue it has over grown.
- They don't take full advantage of both hotels.
-There are two main hotels that the con is at. The Red Lion and the Hilton. Expect there was nothing but gaming located at the Red Lion. Rarely anyone was there. At least from what I saw. If they moved the dealer's hall back to the RL it would create less traffic at the Hilton.
Over all I have mixed feelings. We will be bringing two very large cosplays (Seth and Abel from Trinity Blood) with large wings. It will be very hard but we won't give up on the con as it's dear to us. I am keeping positive by thinking about how awesome our cosplays will be. If we get them done on time. I am glad that we will have a full extra day to prance around in our new cosplays. I hope the con will be better than it was this year. I have high hopes. And the biggest pro of all is.... At least it isn't Sakura-con who added on another day! Boy, that would cost a ton of money....
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