A-Kon26 Aftermath and Pictures!

So A-kon26 has come and gone, and I am exhausted.  This year was fairly good in terms of crowd control and lines.

Me (Bulma) and Girl Trunks

The first thing I noticed was that for registration, there is now only one line whether you are pre-reg or on-site, this year they only had one line for everyone.
QR codes where on everyone's receipts so they could check in faster, in theory.   The regular member badges were made of a paper material and were placed inside plastic badge holders, lanyards were provided by Crunchyroll. The badges that were made of a more durable plastic were the volunteer badges, so it was very obvious to tell the difference between a volunteer and a regular attendee.
However, there was no distinction on badges if yours was a pre-reg or an on-site.
The group I was with was able to get badges on Thursday morning in less than an hour, Saturday seemed to have been the most crowded of the days with a line that expanded well past the area they had designated as the line area.

Thursday was fairly busier than in the past, it seems now that A-Kon Thursday has become Day 0 and more activities, including the introduction ceremony are now taking place on Thursday.   The Masquerade put together by Mu Epsilon Kappa is also on Thursday night at 8pm. with dance lessons at 4pm before the dance.

Live Instagram at Dance

Friday was probably the best day in terms of breathing room and activities.  There were a lot of people yes, but the crowds were not awful.  Panel lines were fine as long as you got there at least 30-40 minutes before your panel was scheduled then getting in line was fine and most made it inside.  The dealers room lines are awful right before they open but give it a couple hours and there is no line to the dealers room anymore its just a constant flow of people in and out.
Food was available throughout the convention with food trucks and meal spots that the hotel had made possible, including burgers in the courtyard.
I went to the dance on Friday night where I discovered they were live Instagraming with #Akon26.  So I started uploading to Instagram pictures from the dance and some that were already on my phone. It only took about 2-3 minutes to see your picture on the screen.

Saturday was the most crowded day in the entire convention. I even overheard some people later on saying that they got anxiety and panic attacks due to the high number of people and the hall being so crowded.   However on Saturday I started seeing a better way of getting people to wait in line for their panel.  The crowd control people were handing out tickets to people guaranteeing them a spot inside instead of having them take up space in a line. I think that is a genius idea. Come early, get your ticket and wait out of the way.
On Saturday I tried looking for the infamous KonSuite, the suite that has free food for con-goers.  The very well hiddlen Kon-Suite may I add. Since the convention moved to the Hilton Anatole, the Suite had always been in the Atrium on a high floor, this year it wasn't there are I couldn't find it anywhere. Saturday I turned to Facebook and found out that it was in the Tower on the 15th floor of the Anatole.
I didn't get to go to the dance on Saturday because I fell in a hole and sprained my ankle. But at least I found out that the first-aid staff is absolutely superb!

Eks-D Para Para group performing

Sunday, the last day of the con.  Everyone rushing to the dealers room for any last minute deals, people packing, and every elevator is full of people trying to check out.  I went to a couple of things. Made it to the KonSuite, a DBZ Game panel, and did some Para Para with the Eks-D Para Para group.

A-Kon26 was pretty good. I look forward to another great convention next year!

Below is a gallery of pics from this year!