So I ended up going to Smoky Mountain Fan Fest an event I was a bit hesitant to go to after my experience with Smoky Mountain Terror and knowing Fan Fest made another venue change to the Meadowview Conference Resort and Convention Center. Thankfully this year they got someone my wife wanted to see and I really wanted to try out the s’mores with the 7th Doctor from Doctor Who and I definitely have plenty to say about my experiences.

I’ll start by talking about my experience getting in. Since I knew parking was fairly limited after my experience with Terror I decided to leave earlier and got here 30 minutes before general admission was allowed in. This time I was able to get a spot at the venue but there wasn’t many left so parking is a challenge here. Then to get in they had one line for all of general admission whether you were scanning a QR code or buying a pass and the lines did not separate until you got in the building. So it was actually close to 11am when we got inside. They really need more people working the admission, at least at the start of the day, to get people in the door faster. Thankfully our passes did scan this time without any issue.

Next I’ll talk about guests. Smoky Mountain Fan Fest definitely prides itself in having an extensive guest list and this year is no exception. You have several actors from Clerks, Sons of Anarchy, The Walking Dead, Hocus Pocus, Degrassi, of course the 7th Doctor and so many more. It was a huge guest list and this is largely a positive thing for this event as it gives a lot of opportunities to meet people that haven’t been anywhere close to my area. The only real issue was the lines. Some of the autograph lines were in places that were very well managed like Kevin Smith and Ron Pearlman and these lines rarely formed in places in the way of other people. However, other guests like Dante Bosco and Greg Baldwin from Avatar the Last Airbender had lines that got pretty long and were in the way of several nearby vendors which made walking and shopping rather difficult. We were able to get all of the autographs we wanted with little difficulty but you definitely felt the lack of space for some of the areas of the venue.

This leads well into my next topic of vendors. You had quite a lot of incredible vendors at this event including a nice sword vendor, I saw one with a replica of the map from Avatar The Last Airbender, one with a myriad of dice and found the selection as a whole to be a great experience. Also it felt like more vendors were able to take card payments this time around than when we were at Smoky Mountain Terror. So while it’s still an issue that the closest ATM is a few minutes away across the street at the very least if cards can work it lessons the problem a bit. However, as I said earlier when some autograph lines got fairly long it blocked access to some of these vendors. Additionally they used the panel room from Smoky Mountain Terror as additional vendor room space. This was a fantastic idea that did make a positive impact on the space but some of the vendors in this area were so close together that simply shopping at one of their tables ended up blocking foot traffic a bit. So while space is still a problem Fan Fest at least showed considerable effort to lesson it and still has a ways to go but this was a better shopping experience.

Moving onto the panels this was a fun experience. Taking the impressive guest list and featuring panels that represented the franchises that had reunions at this event was very rewarding. Seeing a panel with seven actors from Sons of Anarchy was something I’ve never seen before. Now the panel room here was in a place in the venue that was a bit of a walk from the rest of the convention but the signage was really helpful in finding it. I thought this was another welcomed change from Smoky Mountain Terror because again the added room it created was a massive benefit.

I also want to talk about the special events this convention had. As an add on you can purchase s’mores with the 7th Doctor and this was easily one of the most enjoyable and unique experiences of any convention I’ve been to. I wasn’t sure how it was going to happen but we got a nice spot outside with a legit firepit and just sat in a circle listening to him talk for 45 minutes which felt more like 10 just because we lost track of time. If that isn’t your thing you could also purchase a panel with Kevin Smith. After all of that you had a free to all attendees after party featuring Ming from Comicbookmen as one of the hosts in a 90’s themed event. This is what I like most about Smoky Mountain Fan Fest and I really hope to see them expand on these creative ideas.

So last year I talked about any pros and cons of their venue change and we saw another change this year I’m going to do that again. While last year I saw the change as a positive one this year not so much as the venue made up almost all of the issues I had with the convention. Parking is harder to get a good spot with, there are no ATMs on site and really Smoky Mountain Fan Fest has already outgrown this venue before it even arrived as space was limited. Not as limited as what we saw at Terror but space was quite an issue in several places here.

So as much as I have lamented about my frustrations my experience here was actually a really positive one. Their special events really show why Smoky Mountain Fan Fest is a unique experience and I had one of the most enjoyable moments of any event I’ve been to. With that being said the size of the venue and the lack of ATMs on site presents a very real challenge for Fan Fest. One that they were more prepared for thanks to the struggles with Terror, but still one that they have a ways to go before it’s resolved. I honestly think Smoky Mountain Fan Fest can benefit from having less guests since they can reduce the number and still have a massive list and take more time crafting more experiences like the one I had to make those moments memorable. After all I’ve gotten autographs from guests hundreds upon hundreds of times but I’ve only ever had S’mores with one.