MegaCon 2016 – Orlando’s Premier Con Experience

Woah is the first word that comes to mind after a crazy weekend at MegaCon 2016 in Orlando, FL. Picture 100,000+ people from all walks to life coming together for one huge event – that’s MegaCon. We all gathered at the Orange County Convention Center rocking our nerdy tee’s and full on cosplay and spent the day checking out the celebrity talent, the kick ass artwork, and all the panels and special events you could want. The best part is, the event is perfect for kids and adults of all ages and is something everyone can enjoy.

MegaCon 2016 Review

So I have a secret to admit: this was my first Con EVER! I, a Con newb, decided to hit one of, if not the largest Con in the Southeast as my very first Con experience – and it was AWESOME! I will admit, getting in and out of this event can be a bit overwhelming and the traffic is madness, but it’s all totally worth it. MegaCon 2016 ran from Thursday May 26 – Sunday, May 29. I went both on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was definitely the busiest, but the most fun day to go. That’s where you really get to see and experience all that a Con is about.

So this was just a small portion of MegaCon 2016. There were aisles upon aisles of the art, cool homemade goods, and lots of hard to find merchandise. The Artist Alley was definitely my favorite area to hang out. I did get to see some of my favorite shops and meet the artists which was a fun experience. I even helped a friend purchase a bunch of art for her new house. It’s absolutely amazing to see the things people can create – I clearly need to up my art skills STAT.

I loved seeing all of the comic artists here. I realize plenty of people get into the cosplay, art, panels, and other Con stuff, but it is a COMIC Con, right? There were so many brilliant comic creators there – some had some pretty long lines, too. It was definitely cool seeing them sharing their art with all of us. As a more recent comic lover, I really appreciated seeing so many comic artists present.

It was hard to not spend all of my money here. I don’t even know where to begin in explaining all of the awesome. There were SO MANY THINGS that I wanted to buy – bows, fandom inspired tea, shirts, art, the list goes on. One of my favorite things I saw were these hats from The Blonde Swan Hat Boutique. They’re like steampunk, renaissance, and fandom love all rolled into a fabulous looking hat.

I also fell in love with the goodies at Tea and Absinthe. This was like the most perfect looking shop of all time. They had the coolest mugs and all of the fandom tea you could ever want. They also have their own adorable creation – Labbits. A Labbit is an mustash-sporting bunny aka the cutest thing ever. Let’s just say if there was ever a tea shop meant for The Fairytale Traveler, this one is it.

One of the coolest parts of hitting up a Con is seeing all of the people in cosplay. I can’t even imagine how long it takes some of these people to put their looks together, but everyone does such an amazing job and really gets into character.

This little Carl was so good! When I asked him to give me his best look, he just whipped his gun out of the holster like it was no big deal.

I also got to see plenty of home-built droids. I need one of these in my house ASAP. Who wouldn’t want to hear the beeping and booping of their own R2 unit?

The celebrity talent was on point for MegaCon 2016. They had William Shatner, Kevin Smith, John Cusack, Billie Piper, Christopher Lloyd, Hayley Attwell, John Barrowman, and, in true comic con fashion, Stan Lee. As some of you may have heard, this is Stan Lee’s last year doing Cons. I mean, he’s in his 90’s, so I certainly don’t blame him for wanting to slow things down. Even though I wasn’t able to attend all of the panels, catching glimpses of all of these superstars definitely brought out the squeeing fangirl in me.

In probably one of the most unique events, there was a real life MegaCon wedding. The couple met at a Con years ago and decided this would be the perfect venue for the wedding. It started with a marching squadron of Stormtroopers, followed by the bride being walked down the aisle by Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson from Daredevil). They were dressed as Rogue and Gambit from X-men and the ceremony was officiated by none other than the Cobra Commander himself. It was truly a wonderful, geeky site to be seen.

I honestly had THE BEST TIME EVER at MegaCon 2016! I thought everything was well run, there was so much to do, and now, there’s even more. MegaCon has announced their first ever event in Tampa. I’m legit beyond excited for this because as you can see from the poster, David Tennant with be there. I hear the sighs of fangirls swooning everywhere over that one. MegaCon Tampa will be held on October 28-30, 2016 at the Tampa Convention Center. Let’s just say I’m already planning what I’m going to wear because this is an event not to be missed.