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Alamo City Furry Invasion con report!
8 years ago
ACFI was a nice big surprise. I didn't know about the con until a few months ago and after looking at the website I didn't expect much out of it besides being in what looked like a cool downtown hotel. I thought even if the convention sucked the rest would make up for it. But ACFI was a very well organized and well ran con. And surprisingly 737 attendees showed up. That's more than TFF's first year (around 550) and from what I heard was just 14 away from breaking BLFC's first year attendance. Pretty good for a con that I didn't see get much attention around the fandom.
I loved the El Tropicano's retro 60's design and vibe of the place but it's 16 dollar for 24 hr a day parking was high compared to Dallas hotel self-parking. The wi-fi was disconnecting all the time or super-slow for most of the weekend (thanks to everyone who brought their X-Box or Playstation). I had to crank the shower knob all the way to full hot and the water still wasn't very hot even at 1-2 am. And my room's AC vents were dirty (I have asthma so that really matters). The staff was super nice and helpful though there wasn't any good restaurants in walking distance.
And my gripe with the con itself was with the schedule. The one printed up in the con book was confusing to read (and made me miss closing ceremonies which I thought was at 6 pm Sunday) with the openings, panels and events all crammed on the same page. It needed to be spread out on 2-3 pages along with the event/panel descriptions. I hope the ACFI staff uses Sched.com (TFF, AC and MFM use it) for next year. And I heard some gripes about not having a dance on Friday nights so I hope they'll add more DJ's. And nobody wanted to have a pool party with that nice big pool outside?
Everyone seemed well behaved and friendly. It was good to see some old friends and fursuiters from TFF and to make some new ones too. It seemed most of the attendees were local or from Austin or Houston. Getting 737 attendees just shows there was a need for another convention in Texas. With the way word gets around now in this fandom ACFI could grow really fast.
I've had a busy week back at home, so I haven't done any editing on my photos and videos. I hope to get my ACFI photos on Flickr and a few favorite photos here on FA this week. It's been too long since I've used FA!
My Alamo City Furry Invasion 2017 photos are now online at https://flic.kr/s/aHsm5PmE8k So go check 'em out!
I loved the El Tropicano's retro 60's design and vibe of the place but it's 16 dollar for 24 hr a day parking was high compared to Dallas hotel self-parking. The wi-fi was disconnecting all the time or super-slow for most of the weekend (thanks to everyone who brought their X-Box or Playstation). I had to crank the shower knob all the way to full hot and the water still wasn't very hot even at 1-2 am. And my room's AC vents were dirty (I have asthma so that really matters). The staff was super nice and helpful though there wasn't any good restaurants in walking distance.
And my gripe with the con itself was with the schedule. The one printed up in the con book was confusing to read (and made me miss closing ceremonies which I thought was at 6 pm Sunday) with the openings, panels and events all crammed on the same page. It needed to be spread out on 2-3 pages along with the event/panel descriptions. I hope the ACFI staff uses Sched.com (TFF, AC and MFM use it) for next year. And I heard some gripes about not having a dance on Friday nights so I hope they'll add more DJ's. And nobody wanted to have a pool party with that nice big pool outside?
Everyone seemed well behaved and friendly. It was good to see some old friends and fursuiters from TFF and to make some new ones too. It seemed most of the attendees were local or from Austin or Houston. Getting 737 attendees just shows there was a need for another convention in Texas. With the way word gets around now in this fandom ACFI could grow really fast.
I've had a busy week back at home, so I haven't done any editing on my photos and videos. I hope to get my ACFI photos on Flickr and a few favorite photos here on FA this week. It's been too long since I've used FA!
My Alamo City Furry Invasion 2017 photos are now online at https://flic.kr/s/aHsm5PmE8k So go check 'em out!
I know that as this con grows, it will definitely be upgrading hotels. From working to help run FangCon, I can tell you that many hotels go out of their way to squeeze an extra dollar out of the convention. Cons have to stay on top of these things constantly and try to work out beneficial contracts.
Hopefully, next year, Draconis and I will be able to attend. It all depends on how close they are to FangCon. I hate that they are so close to our dates, but there are only just so many weekends that are good for cons and more cons on the way, apparently.