Last Friday I took a vacation day and went to the FanX convention with my nephew. I have never been to a con before and generally would have avoided this one but one of my favorite web comic artists was going to be there and I’m subscribed to her Patreon so I wanted to go. I found a discount code on IG and bought 2 general admission passes. I really wasn’t sure what to expect at all but ended up having a great time.
The first thing I did wrong was
massively underestimate how popular this con is. We didn’t leave for Salt Lake
until around 10:45 and when we got down there, the parking garage I had planned
on using was full. So was the only other parking lot that I’m very familiar
with. We had to drive around for a bit to find a parking lot that was about 3
blocks south of the convention center. By the time we parked and got back to
the Salt Palace there was a huge line to get in. I was hungry and getting a
little bit impatient with my nephew so we decided to go eat at the food court
at City Creek. This was an excellent decision. By the time we finished and
walked back, not only was my blood sugar back up and I was happy, the line had
died down and we basically walked right in. We picked up our wristbands and
headed inside.
Artist Alley was the first thing we
saw and I found my web comic artist right away. It was fun to meet her in
person and talk to her for a few minutes. I bought a keychain from her to hang
from my car rear-view mirror. I have a variety of fun things hanging there from
other trips.
Then we basically wandered around for
a few hours. The convention center is huge and there was so much to see. I did
not dress up or take pictures of anyone dressed up, but there were some great
costumes. My nephew did dress up as Crazy Dave from the Plants vs Zombies video
game (it’s been his Halloween costume for a few years). I didn’t think it would
be a big deal and bet him $10.00 no one would ask for his picture. We weren’t
even there for 10 minutes when he got asked the 1st time. It was
funny how many people stopped him and recognized who he was dressed as. He had
so much fun and is already thinking about what he could dress up as for next
year.
We went near the booths set up for
pictures and autographs of the celebrities but didn’t actually go into that section
because frankly, I’m not going to pay money for a picture or autograph. Most of
the names I don’t recognize anyway. So that part was skipped and not missed by
either of us.
After walking around for a while, I
was tired and thirsty so we got overpriced drinks and found a place to sit. I
decided that it might be a good idea to download the app so we could see what
all was going on. 😊 We found out there was 20 minutes before… LOL I forget
the guy’s name… was scheduled to do a panel. It’s the guy who voices Mario and
Luigi and all the sounds for the Mario games. My nephew really wanted to go to
that panel so we did. It was fun. The guy was so nice and friendly and even I
recognized the voices and sounds he made.
After the panel was over, we walked around for a bit more but it was after 4 pm by then and I swear the number of people doubled. So. Many. People! So we decided to call it a day. I did have a great time and I would definitely go again. Lots of fun, it was.
