Post by wwwf70sfan on Aug 14, 2006 15:18:33 GMT -5
I had a really good time at fanfest and have a few thoughts I figured I would share with everyone. I came down to Fanfest solo but made up with a couple of guys down there who I had not previously met in person- Lucas and Howie were really cool and a lot of fun to hang out with- definitely made the weekend more fun.
The hotel was a great choice, the dining room was reasonable.
A little disapointed with the vendors merchandise- TuCold had some great dvds that I bought but I wasn't all that impressed with the other guys- i expected programs, magazines, maybe some loose figures, those giant cards that advertsied the matches (looking for msg matches in particular), maybe some newsletters, etc. I figured that a show of this type would attract those types of things and I expected to spend a fortune- I didn't spend anywhere near what I expected because of the disapointing merchandise (disapointing to me, I'm sure other people found a lot of stuff they liked). There were plenty of dvds and books but it was all stuff that you could get cheaper online, nothing really rare as far as books go. There were plenty of classic figures pretty reasonably priced.
One giant problem I had was a lack of 8x10's to be signed by wrestlers appearing. I assumed Greg would have an 8x10 of every wrestler appearing- He did not. I then assumed that the vendors would have 8x10 of every wrestler appearing. They did not, hence, I had nothing for people to sign, including Sherri, Sharpe, Parker, etc. I was really suprised at that. Sherri was not a last minute addition- no reason not to have 8x10s of her.
I bought the photo opps combo package. The guy working the door was really friendly and a great guy. The photo opps worked relatively smoothly, although I was under the impression that if you bought the combo package, you'd be given priority on the line. I also thought I was told the # on the photo opp ticket was your # in line but there was no rhyme or reason to the line- it was first come, first served. Not a huge deal, since the line moved very smoothly, it would have just been nice to have been told the way it would work.
My only complaints of the photo opps was that those cameras seemed too slow and the talent rarely showed up for the photo opps on time. You can't blame Greg for the talent never showing up on time (I heard they were late a lot bc they stopped to take pictures outside and sign autographs- thats a little annoying when you are sitting there, waiting for them).
It also was annoying the way you had to wait for the pictures themselves and didn't even know where to pick them up half the time- I felt bad constantly badgering the front desk guys (who were also really great), "are the Sherri pictures here yet, are the Volkoff pictures here yet", etc? However, the pictures came out amazingly good, and we were never really in the photo opp room for more than half an hour. I was definitely happy with the photo opp package.
The signatures lines moved a little slower than I would have liked. Fortunately, I was not there for the Bret debacle. Had I not been able to get my stuff signed by Bret, combined with no Billy Graham, it would have definitely put a really bad spin on the weekend. Its hard to control people slipping in an extra item or two- you just have to suck it up. I thought his sytem with the numbering was a great system and worked very well. I guess you have to assume these things will run a little slow- I had heard that Greg has run 1200 people through these lines from one of the helpers- I can't imagine that was accurate. But when I heard it (before the sigs started), I believed it so I thought the lines would move faster.
I would have suggested starting the sigs line at 11 to enable people to get out of there a little earlier on a sunday but the photo opp photos didnt finish printing until after 2 so I guess that would have been a problem unless they could have devised a way to speed up the photo development process.
Re: the cancellations, Greg did the right thing by refunding the photo opps money that had been previously paid for. However, there were 4 no-shows VIP ticket wise and I'm not sure there was any arrangement made to VIP ticket holders to make up for their absences. Its not Greg's fault they didn't show, but any extra concession would have been nice from management (maybe a free t-shirt for everyone or a free 8x10 to have signed, anything would have been nice).
The q and a's, I thought were a little long- I'd limit them to an hour or hour and a half- Its just me but I thought 2 hrs was a little long.
Overall, awesome time and awesome experience. Greg's help was really nice and helpful; the wrestlers were all very courteous and great to be around. Of course, their line of the weekend was "I'll be right back" when approached for pictures or autographs.
The vendor wrestlers were great. The guy running the Zybsko table and the guy running the Roberts/Ahmed table were great to deal with, really nice guys. Buddy Roberts was great to meet, Larry was funny, Ahmed was a pleasure and Valentine was great. I had already met Snuka, Titio and Zukhov so I didn;t pay much attention to their tables. I passed on Stan Lee (still don't know who he is) and Virgil- I hope those guys made enough $$ to cover their vendor tables fees and hotel and travel. Bundy is always great to talk to- I bought his 8x10 with him over Hogan, the "classic" as he calls it.
Ivan Koloff was really nice- says he has a classic figure coming out soon, and then maybe a 2 pack with Nikita. Nikolai was nice as always, so was Patriot, Anvil, Mosca, Sharpe, Parker, Robin Doll (who looked great). They all seemed so happy to be there. Sherri was extra friendly, Bret was the best, really friendly, Abdullah gave a great photo opp picture, Bockwinkel and Heenan, two class acts, Nick let you hold his belt in the photo opp; Superstar signed a great picture of himself in all of his incarnations in each different name, Martel, Rocky and Atlas were great; Hansen was much more friendly then the last convention I saw him at years ago- he was very funny. Midnight Express was great in the photo opp room but especially Jim Cornette, who was my favorite legend of the weekend- he made that photo opp room- just a great guy- what a loss for wwe.
My fellow fanfesters were great also. Everyone seemed to be having fun.
Assuming Greg does not book all the same legends for each of his shows, I would attend another one for sure.
The hotel was a great choice, the dining room was reasonable.
A little disapointed with the vendors merchandise- TuCold had some great dvds that I bought but I wasn't all that impressed with the other guys- i expected programs, magazines, maybe some loose figures, those giant cards that advertsied the matches (looking for msg matches in particular), maybe some newsletters, etc. I figured that a show of this type would attract those types of things and I expected to spend a fortune- I didn't spend anywhere near what I expected because of the disapointing merchandise (disapointing to me, I'm sure other people found a lot of stuff they liked). There were plenty of dvds and books but it was all stuff that you could get cheaper online, nothing really rare as far as books go. There were plenty of classic figures pretty reasonably priced.
One giant problem I had was a lack of 8x10's to be signed by wrestlers appearing. I assumed Greg would have an 8x10 of every wrestler appearing- He did not. I then assumed that the vendors would have 8x10 of every wrestler appearing. They did not, hence, I had nothing for people to sign, including Sherri, Sharpe, Parker, etc. I was really suprised at that. Sherri was not a last minute addition- no reason not to have 8x10s of her.
I bought the photo opps combo package. The guy working the door was really friendly and a great guy. The photo opps worked relatively smoothly, although I was under the impression that if you bought the combo package, you'd be given priority on the line. I also thought I was told the # on the photo opp ticket was your # in line but there was no rhyme or reason to the line- it was first come, first served. Not a huge deal, since the line moved very smoothly, it would have just been nice to have been told the way it would work.
My only complaints of the photo opps was that those cameras seemed too slow and the talent rarely showed up for the photo opps on time. You can't blame Greg for the talent never showing up on time (I heard they were late a lot bc they stopped to take pictures outside and sign autographs- thats a little annoying when you are sitting there, waiting for them).
It also was annoying the way you had to wait for the pictures themselves and didn't even know where to pick them up half the time- I felt bad constantly badgering the front desk guys (who were also really great), "are the Sherri pictures here yet, are the Volkoff pictures here yet", etc? However, the pictures came out amazingly good, and we were never really in the photo opp room for more than half an hour. I was definitely happy with the photo opp package.
The signatures lines moved a little slower than I would have liked. Fortunately, I was not there for the Bret debacle. Had I not been able to get my stuff signed by Bret, combined with no Billy Graham, it would have definitely put a really bad spin on the weekend. Its hard to control people slipping in an extra item or two- you just have to suck it up. I thought his sytem with the numbering was a great system and worked very well. I guess you have to assume these things will run a little slow- I had heard that Greg has run 1200 people through these lines from one of the helpers- I can't imagine that was accurate. But when I heard it (before the sigs started), I believed it so I thought the lines would move faster.
I would have suggested starting the sigs line at 11 to enable people to get out of there a little earlier on a sunday but the photo opp photos didnt finish printing until after 2 so I guess that would have been a problem unless they could have devised a way to speed up the photo development process.
Re: the cancellations, Greg did the right thing by refunding the photo opps money that had been previously paid for. However, there were 4 no-shows VIP ticket wise and I'm not sure there was any arrangement made to VIP ticket holders to make up for their absences. Its not Greg's fault they didn't show, but any extra concession would have been nice from management (maybe a free t-shirt for everyone or a free 8x10 to have signed, anything would have been nice).
The q and a's, I thought were a little long- I'd limit them to an hour or hour and a half- Its just me but I thought 2 hrs was a little long.
Overall, awesome time and awesome experience. Greg's help was really nice and helpful; the wrestlers were all very courteous and great to be around. Of course, their line of the weekend was "I'll be right back" when approached for pictures or autographs.
The vendor wrestlers were great. The guy running the Zybsko table and the guy running the Roberts/Ahmed table were great to deal with, really nice guys. Buddy Roberts was great to meet, Larry was funny, Ahmed was a pleasure and Valentine was great. I had already met Snuka, Titio and Zukhov so I didn;t pay much attention to their tables. I passed on Stan Lee (still don't know who he is) and Virgil- I hope those guys made enough $$ to cover their vendor tables fees and hotel and travel. Bundy is always great to talk to- I bought his 8x10 with him over Hogan, the "classic" as he calls it.
Ivan Koloff was really nice- says he has a classic figure coming out soon, and then maybe a 2 pack with Nikita. Nikolai was nice as always, so was Patriot, Anvil, Mosca, Sharpe, Parker, Robin Doll (who looked great). They all seemed so happy to be there. Sherri was extra friendly, Bret was the best, really friendly, Abdullah gave a great photo opp picture, Bockwinkel and Heenan, two class acts, Nick let you hold his belt in the photo opp; Superstar signed a great picture of himself in all of his incarnations in each different name, Martel, Rocky and Atlas were great; Hansen was much more friendly then the last convention I saw him at years ago- he was very funny. Midnight Express was great in the photo opp room but especially Jim Cornette, who was my favorite legend of the weekend- he made that photo opp room- just a great guy- what a loss for wwe.
My fellow fanfesters were great also. Everyone seemed to be having fun.
Assuming Greg does not book all the same legends for each of his shows, I would attend another one for sure.
