Editor’s note:

This post has been updated to reflect my thoughts on the remainder of the weekend and to clarify previous commentary.

Incorrect or incomplete text has been struck through and additional/corrected/clarifying text has been added in RED BOLD text.

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PREAMBLE:

Well, it’s that time again: time to talk about a pop-culture convention. This time, it’s the 2023 incarnation of the Denver event: Fan Expo Denver.

I believe this is the second or third year since the event was assimilated by the folks at Fan Expo, and while last one I attended was very enjoyable, every year gets evaluated on its own merits.

This is your reminder that I evaluate every event I attend as a FAN FIRST, because it doesn’t matter if there are celebrities I am personally interested in, or panel topics, or any potential interviews I might be able to wrangle; if an event isn’t enjoyable from a general fan perspective, then I have to say so.

By way of background on this one, let me start with some things not related to the event itself.

DAY ONE:

Yesterday (Friday, Day 1), I was supposed to fly from the mothership (Salt Lake City) across the mountains to beautiful Denver. After a 3-hour departure delay due to runway work in Denver (which presumably kept our airplane from leaving Denver for SLC to pick us up), I survived the 45-minute train ride to downtown Denver, and a detoured bus trip to the vicinity of my hotel, plus some walking to finish the trip.

That made for a long day, already.

Headed to the Colorado Convention Center and picked up passes and headed up to the show floor.

Oh, but before that, was able to put some (hopefully) good karma out into the universe by gifting two 3-day passes to folks in the line to buy, since I had two folks I had been bringing along cancel their trip. But they got used, so that’s a plus.

Day One consisted of a brief foray around the floor, as there were no celebrities I had anticipated seeing that day.

Let’s talk about the venue for a minute, shall we?

In previous years, the layout of the vendor/artist/celebrity areas was robust, with a wide variety of artists and craftsman, a spacious food court, and the usual array of celebrities to appeal to nearly every fandom under the sun, and this year was no different, except for one thing:

This year, there is no food court, the food court was moved to the absolute bottom floor of the convention center, which was less convenient, but at least the normal variety of food is, in fact, available, and the remainder of the floor is so tightly packed that it’s nearly impossible to move around. Aisle width feels half as wide as previous years, and it’s wall to wall bodies, making it incredibly uncomfortable.

Apparently, Fan Expo was only able to secure half the normal space for the event, which explains the relocated food court, and the overstuffed vendor floor. Perhaps knowing that limitation should have led a reduction in the number of vendors/groups booked to appear? Just a thought.

And we’re not even talking about autographs and photo ops, yet.

The big draw:

The big draw this weekend is the Saturday-only appearance of Hayden Christensen, aka Anakin Skywalker. He heads a superb line-up that includes a Scream reunion (featuring Neve Campbell, Matthew Lillard, Skeet Ulrich, Jamie Kennedy, and Rose McGown), legendary director Sam Raimi, Charlie Cox and vin ent D’Onofrio, Christopher Lloyd, Chevy Chase, Katee Sackhoff, Giancarlo Esposito, Star Trek: TNG stars Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, and Gates McFadden, CW’s The Flash Danielle Panabaker and Carlos Valdes, and many more.

DAY TWO:

Day Two started with an incredible lack of organization for Christensen’s autograph (which was understandably NOT being done one the main floor, but in a separate ballroom, presumably for better crowd control), with people being told multiple versions of where to line up, when to line up, and how to convert pre-purchased slots to tickets, etc. It was a mess. Once they finally came across a consistent story, they actually started getting people through the line in a fairly efficient matter. I have been told that it took about 40 minutes from the scheduled start time to get around 20 people through, so if they managed to keep that pace up…

The real problem with Christensen’s appearance was his scheduled photo-op. Held in the same area as his autograph, photos were supposed to start at 12:20pm. I can confirm that my scheduled group (group 4), was slated to start at 1pm. We didn’t get in until just after 3pm. That’s a two-hour delay if you’re keeping score at home.

Additional note: Katee Sackhoff ended her time early on Saturday (which happens; we get it), so the ridiculous delay for Hayden’s photo had the unfortunate side-effect of a failure for my wife to get her autograph. Disappointed.

I did manage to grab a couple other autographs, including the great Sam Raimi (which I hope to pair with the incomparable Bruce Campbell’s later in August at Colorado Springs Comic Con), so today hasn’t been a complete disaster, regardless, but honestly, it hasn’t been a great experience, either. This year feels disjointed, disconnected, thrown together, in a way. It’s just not… right.

postscript:

I’ve had no time (or space) to take any video or photos, or pursue any chats with guests, though tomorrow may be better, though the day will end with a trip back to the airport for a (hopefully not delayed) flight home.

I will report on that after I arrive (safely?) at home.

See you on the other side.

Post-postscript:

DAY ONE:

Day three consisted of three relatively sedate and uneventful photo ops and a quick run through the vendor floor before heading out to retrieve our luggage from the hotel for the trek back to the Denver Airport. Like our trip in, our flight back to Salt Lake City was delayed, and we arrived home nearly 2 hours later than scheduled, finally making it to bed at half-past midnight.

Ugh.

*Side note: how can a flight be delayed for late baggage arrival when the flight is already well over an hour late at the time of that announcement as all the passengers are already sitting on the plane? That seems sketch. Looking at you, Southwest.

Look, generally speaking, I didn’t have a great time this weekend. With the unpleasant travel issues, I started in a sour mood, which likely made everything else about the weekend seem worse than it might otherwise.

Maybe.

The bottom line, however, is that personally, I feel less than excited about my experience as a fan this time around. The delays (both travel and event related) and movement issues (or lack thereof, which has resulted in excruciating pain) affected both my available time and mindset for interacting with guests in a professional manner.

Seriously, I knew I was in a foul mood, so I avoided trying to speak to guests for the podcast. I knew that I, not they, would screw that up eight ways from Sunday, and you guys didn’t need to see or hear that, and I didn’t want to give those guests a bad experience at what has traditionally been a good event.

So, while this write-up may seem overly negative, I freely acknowledge the possibility that other folks’ experiences may — and likely DID — vary. I hope they did. I hope I’m the outlier. 

I also hope — expect, really — future incarnations of the event will be as enjoyable as those in previous years.

I have no intention of swearing off Fan Expo events (or any others) in the future.

This one just got away from me. Fast and often.

Hope everyone has enjoyed their holiday weekend, and we’ll be back soon with more movie reviews and event coverage.

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