So as someone who has went to Smoky Mountain Fan Fest every year since it’s inception it was only a matter of time before I found myself at one of their affiliated conventions. Smoky Mountain has started diversifying it’s events and as of this year they have three with a Horror themed event being one of them. I’ve had great luck so far with the original convention which is moving again to the same venue that Terror took place in. So I came here for day one of the convention with two questions in mind. Will Smoky Mountain Terror be as enjoyable as Fan Fest and will this new venue be a great place to hold these events.

First I’ll talk about the tickets which is something I don’t normally talk about but here was something I really liked. Where the conventions did a deal where you can purchase a set of weekend passes for all three Smoky Mountain events for $75 you can buy perks normally found in VIP passes for extra fees like line skip passes and VIP panels. This is great because it means getting the trio package doesn’t automatically lock you out of these very nice perks and it makes for a nice incentive to attend all three events and be able to splurge on extras to help make the most of them; however, this also leads to the first of multiple issues. When my wife and I attempted to use the pass to gain entry the person who was at registration had no idea what this pass was and it also wouldn’t scan. While the trio pass is a brilliant idea it doesn’t work if you can’t use it.

After that we made it to the vendors and it was very crowded. We struggled to be able to walk around and shop because most of the area was used for lines for the guests all around the room. When we finally managed to get a good look around there weren’t really that many vendors to shop at. I didn’t do a count but to me it felt like there may have been more guests than vendors. I actually didn’t get a good enough look to explain this to my usual level of detail but I do recall seeing items like stained glass images of Hocus Pocus characters, Dice lamps and a slew of T Shirt vendors plus they had the return of the wolves we got to take photos with back at Fan Fest 2022. In the end I ended up buying some art from one of the cosplay guests which I was very happy with but also part of the reason I was able to shop there comfortably was because that row of vendors had a nice break from the crowd.

The guest list was incredibly impressive. They had about six actors from the Twilight Series, multiple actors from Lost, Vikings, Halloween and so many more. It was easily one of the most impressive collections of Horror themed guests anywhere near my area; however, we came across a number of problems getting autographs and heard of other problems from people getting photos. As for autographs my wife bought an autograph ticket in advance online, but what we didn’t know was you couldn’t redeem the QR code in the autograph line itself like you can with other conventions that offer this. Instead we ended up going to the front of the line to find out we needed to leave the vendor floor and get a ticket for that autograph. So we left, got the ticket and by the time we got back the actor in question had to leave for a photo op.

At that point we figured an hour or so wait and we’ll just chill in the meantime, but somehow we ended up waiting for about four or five hours because the photo op took longer than expected. I heard from people there were concerns of the printers not printing the photos and a line stretching fairly far and not moving at all. I heard a lot of people complain about this process and honestly it just made me relieved I didn’t want a photo myself. It was long enough that the actors came back for the few minutes they had between then and their panel and apologized profusely for the wait. Meeting these incredible people is a lot of fun but if they spend about half of the day in photo ops it drastically increases the difficulty of seeing them.

As for the panels they had some great panels in what looked to be a pretty nice panel room. Due to us waiting for my wife to get the autograph, which was the main reason we were there, we wound up not going to a full panel but I did end up going and listening in on bits and pieces of other panels throughout the day. The panels were definitely the best part of the event. I just wish we weren’t busy waiting in lines to really spend more time at them. Where they had an impressive line up of guests the panels featuring all of the actors in the massive franchises they were in was a site to behold.

I think this is also an event that needs to do some kind of cosplay weapons check. Horror themed cosplays feature some of the most weapon centric costumes I’ve seen and in one instance there was a cosplayer with a weapon that shot real flames. At first I thought they might have been fake but you could definitely feel the heat from it as you got closer to the cosplayer. While thankfully the individual stayed away from the crowd while the flames were out that still presents a very real safety concern even in the most careful of hands.

The venue itself also presented it’s own concerns. This year was at the Meadowview Conference Center in Kingsport, TN and while it was smaller than what was needed for the number of people there were a few additional problems. The parking was very limited which resulted in my wife and I parking near a bank across the street, per the instructions of someone directing traffic. The venue also caused issues with credit card purchases as most guests and vendors were only able to accept cash in a venue with no ATMs. Granted there is the bank we parked at which had one but definitely get what you need from it before entering the convention as it’s a few minutes of walking to get there. The venue itself also was rather humid which made for a bit of discomfort walking around. Where Smoky Mountain Fan Fest is also moving to this venue these concerns present enough of a problem that I’m having second thoughts attending this year and like I said before I haven’t missed a year yet.

Overall while Smoky Mountain Terror presented one of the most impressive rosters of horror themed guests I’ve seen; however, it was incredibly challenging to see these individuals. It’s an event that primarily had a lot of guests and the lines for those guests were so all encompassing that it left little room for anything else. There was limited space and limited time to see the guests as the lines were long and the guests spent half of the day at photo ops. The venue also wasn’t equipped for the crowd that came here nor was it equipped for those who wanted to pay in card, or cash. If Smoky Mountain Terror wants to focus on creating an event that people primarily go to in order to meet talented celebrities that is an approach with the potential to succeed but it needs to resolve the obstacles that got in the way this year and possibly find yet another new home for their events.