This review is for #3 from March 7 — 9, 2014 Hours of operation: 10 am to 6 pm Friday through Sunday. Evening entertainment was an extra ticket, otherwise you had to leave the park. Panels ran 45 minutes to give members a little time to get from one building to another. Panels ran from 11 am til 5:45 pm. Highlights: The Venue. Old Tucson Studios is a historical old west town used in TV and film westerns. There are tours, gunfights, roping and whip demonstrations, stagecoach and mini train rides, a small shooting gallery and a few more theme things to do, many at an additional cost. The Venue is almost a 30 minute drive from any of the hotels near the airport. A day pass to the park is $ 17 and this came with the con’s membership. The Steam Powered Giraffe concert, great performance and music. Tea Dueling Finals, very entertaining and funny. Meeting new people and seeing all the costumes. The vast majority of members to the event were in costume. Learning a few helpful bits of information from panelist. Loop Rawlins, Wild West Performer, amazing work with lassos, revolvers and whips. The Thursday evening mixer at the main hotel with the Tesla coil and Faraday cage. There was not that much mixing unless you already knew someone, but watching the coil demonstration and people in the Faraday with the bolts of electricity dancing on the cage was cool. Low points: How the Venue was used for panels and other presentations. There were problems with not having enough seating for some panels and presentations. Although some were repeated, this did not relieve all the problems. They need a better balance of available space with how popular any given panel or presentation needs so that members are not turned away, as I, and others were a few times. The other issue I saw was having to wait too long in lines for the evening entertainment, which was an additional ticket cost. This is why I give this event 4 out of 5 stars. There is room for improvement. For the curious, my package, airfare from Portland Oregon, 4 nights hotel, and rental car, ran me around $ 750. Add on another $ 100 for food and a few beers. I arrived a day early, Thursday so there was extra costs for hotel, food and car rental. My weekend membership was $ 59 and I spend around $ 235 with the dealer for costume items. The evening entertainment tickets were $ 41 for the two evenings. Over all, I enjoyed myself, and thank the Owners, BOD, volunteers and guests. I will give attending next year’s con some very serious consideration.
Christine A.
Classificação do local: 4 Cerritos, CA
Not bad for the first year of a convention. Holding an Old West steampunk con(YES! YES! YES! This has NOT been explored enough) at Old Tucson Studios was genius. It was insanely fun walking around a dusty, ghost town set-up full of people dressed as cowboys and folk from the Victorian era. Some of which were outfitted, head to toe, in steampunk wear. Walking around in this authentic-looking area in costume was more sensory-intensive than a Renaissance faire. For one thing, you’re already in what was the Old West, and another, Old Tucson Studios was still playing their normal entertainment, including stunt shows. You could be idling around in your top hat and brass goggles and some guy could come flying off a building, while«Billy the Kid» starts shooting at him. We took a gamble making the trek for this out-of-state(for us), first-time con, and really I’ve got no regrets. It’s fun getting to tell people you’ve been electrocuted by a lycanthropic shock prod. Looking forward to next year.
