Ok so here is a spoiler … I enjoyed it … I know shocker .. me positive about something … shocker.

 

But let’s rewind and start from the beginning. I didn’t have any intention to attend this event. The guest list was good but I had met most bar 2 or 3 and the location was effort to get to. But my friend said he would drive and the family ticket was reduced to £10. So we packed the car , stole a kid and was on our way.

 

Ok ok there was one pre event negative . .. ok two so let’s get them out of the way .

 

The time table - it is very drawn out. Photos sessions were  throughout the day but the autograph sessions were all short 15-30 mins and not until much later the day. So there was a lot of waiting around.

 

The 2nd one which annoyed me the most was that on the day all the auto and photo prices increased to £50. There was no notice about this online so it was an upset as mean I had to miss a guest photo as I didn’t prebook as I hadn’t been sure I could stay that late and was to play it by ear on the day.

 

So that was frustrating and a negative for me. I heard the autograph sessions were hit and miss busy and a bit unorganised but I don’t know anyone who missed anything so I can’t comment more but no real negatives.

 

I didn’t watch the panels - but the stage and hall looked good .

 

Ok so back to the day itself. We arrived about 10 am and went straight in . The crew were lovely . Gave a child’s wristband to my son and had me write my name and number on it incase he got lost. Which is a nice extra feature hadn’t thought about before.

 

The first thing I noticed was how vast the space was. There were tents for Jedi’s , kids adventures and some dealers. Then we saw our first guest … a dinosaur. They had a few of these thought out the day. A real interactive experience which my son loved.

 

One small negative - I’m trying not to find them honest - due to the size and layout of the event it was easy to miss things as there was limited signage. One vender said that they were told they hadn’t arrived but had been planned. This was a bit frustrating as nearly missed the 2nd vendors hall and did miss the laser tag area.

 

It’s only small teething issues with a new venue but it’s things that can cause negative comments.

 

The big feature that my son enjoyed the most - the gaming tent. Filled with old arcade games and some mega drive consoles. These were the golden era of gaming … no console can beat the mega drive. So we spent most of our time there.

 

The vendors - there were many stalls, a lot sold many varied things. A lot of home made items and less or almost no stalls that sold the generic Funkos etc which was a nice change and good to support the smaller stalls.

 

I only had 2 photo shoots in the end, these were nice , quick and painless. The prints came out nice. The team were very officiant and printed quick.

 

The two guests were Aaron Sanford and the main guest I went for Emily Hampshire. Both were so very lovely.

 

But my highlight was… after years hoping to meet … I finally met actress Kiersten Warren as she was there with her husband. Had a nice chat and selfie. She was best known from being in Independence Day and saved by the bell the College where she was my teen crush… yes I went very shy but she was so sweet.

 

So overall how was the event ? Good … being a Sunday it was always going to be quiet and the size of the venue didn’t help this. There was not much buzz and atmosphere. This maybe different on a Saturday but it was lacking and although a lot of family things to do was a lot of nothing at times.

That’s not a negative as there was far more for families than other events have and was all free which is good for families as events can costs too much as it is.

 

Overall it was a good morning , if prices were cheaper I would have spent more money and stayed longer but our time was good. My son enjoyed the games and activities. They were lucky the weather was good or it could have been a very different review.

 

I would attend again. My son is saying he wants to return which is a good sign.  Few small finding your feet issues but overall they did a good event.

 

But it needs a better name , the name is not easy to remember and sounds like a Comic-Con fan group than an event title.

 

And no I’m not giving a good review because my name was written down on staffs note pads to keep an eye out for me …. I behaved … honest

 

Rating 8/10