Here it is three days after Planet Comicon, Kansas City and I am still recovering both mentally and physically.  This was my first, fully immersive trip ever to a larger Con. It was an emotional overload in every sense of the word.  If you have never been to PCKC, it may not be one of the larger Cons in the country, but it is still large. Unless you keep your focus tight, you will need all three days to get through it as we did.

Three Negatives From the Weekend

Before I launch into the myriad of awesome things about this Con, let me get the negatives out of the way.  There are three. One is in God’s hands.  One is in the City’s hands and the last is something the Con itself can improve.

First off was the opening day’s weather.  It had been raining the day before and continued through Friday.  The morning rain was hard enough that it did delay some guest arrivals.  The drive back to our hotel just outside the city was an absolute nightmare.  I could barely see as I drove and we had to pull over, stopping at a restaurant.  Power was knocked out twice for brief times while we were there.  It was horrid, but nothing PCKC can do anything about.

Planet Comicon: Municipal Woes

The second thing is a city issue.  Parking can be a nightmare, especially on Friday when you are fighting not only the thousands trying to attend the Con but also the natural downtown traffic.  The recent flooding has caused some issues with some streets on the fringe, and cell signal is near non-existent once you get in amongst the buildings of downtown.  Finding parking on Friday was a real challenge.  Saturday and Sunday were much better.  Kansas City could do a much better job marking their garages and where you can park as the easiest lots were always full.

The final improvement needed PCKC can control a bit better.  These celebrities are on such tight schedules, keeping to them can be a challenge. However, when the schedule says a guest will start signing signatures first thing in the morning at 10am, get them to their booths at 10am.  Very few celebrities were at their booths on time.  Many were as much as 45 min to an hour late.  If they were signing all day that would not be so bad even if inconvenient, but when they are there for an hour and then have to leave for a photo shoot, being late means less signatures.  Maintaining schedules could really use some improvement.

Those are my only complaints.  Now, on to the positives….

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