MegaCon Orlando took place this past weekend in Orlando, Florida, at the Orange County Convention Center. This convention is a staple to Florida, drawing heavy crowds from not only the state, but from all over the country.
The guests for the convention included big names like Zachary Levi, Stephen Amell and David Tennant, the entire Back to the Future cast (Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Tom Wilson and James Tolkan), the cast of Boy Meets World (Ben Savage, Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong and Will Friedle), the cast of Smallville (Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk), Lynda Carter, John Barrowman, Kiefer Sutherland, Sean Astin, Mark Sheppard, Tyler Hoechlin, and many more.
We normally attend all four days, but were ultimately only able to attend Saturday and Sunday this year. Saturday was as you’d expect it, the busiest day of the convention. However, we arrived early and the way Fan Expo sets up the conventions makes it a really smooth transition for those entering the con. There’s multiple ticket booths, which help ease the flow of traffic. There’s many crew members about, readily available to answer any questions. They have a new system this year, where it requires you to activate your badge, and then you’re scanned in and out of the con when you enter and leave. This new process is still really seamless, as even on a busy Saturday there were hardly any lines.
When you enter the con, you enter through the show floor, which features vendor areas, artist alley, tattoo alley, celebrity autographs and celebrity photo-ops. Each are labelled with huge drop signs hanging from the ceiling, so it’s easy to find your way around. They also have an app, through Fan Guru!, which displays a list of events for the day as well as a map.
My first stop is always to venture through the vendor area and artist alley. There are so many amazing items being sold. I love to purchase pieces of art every year, which include art of characters from Disney, Supernatural, Lucifer, Marvel, DC, and much, much more. It’s really interesting to see how each artist differs and how they interpret the different characters.
The first panel of Saturday we attended was Lea Thompson and James Tolkan from Back to the Future. The two discussed many memories from filming, and were very sweet in interacting with the audience; Lea asked every single person’s name who was asking questions, and the two of them together were fun.
In between panels, we decided to get a poster of Smallville for Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum to sign. Welling’s line was quite long, but it was entertaining to watch him interact with fans. He never sat behind the table where the celebrities are supposed to sit; he stood in front of the table, taking time to talk to each fan, making jokes, and genuinely seeming to have fun. When it was our turn, we debated what color to have him sign the poster in, and he couldn’t have been nicer to interact with.
After we met Welling, we hopped next to him to Michael Rosenbaum’s line. Michael had just arrived back to his table, so his line was a little shorter, but was growing by the minute. If you’re a reader of our site, you know we love Michael’s podcast. One of the cool things he was doing was selling sweatbands that said Inside of You, promoting his podcast. He was just as nice to everyone around him. He was making a lot of jokes, and you could tell how much the fans meeting him were excited to see him. He was beyond gracious to us, even recognizing the site and saying how much he loved it. Rosenbaum exceeded all expectations of meeting him, and if you haven’t yet, make sure to check out his podcast and subscribe!
After meeting Welling and Rosenbaum, we ventured back to the panel rooms, making our way to the John Barrowman panel. The panel was being held in what was the “main theater”, and even an hour beforehand, the line wrapped around parts of the convention center. Once we were let into the room, we were able to grab a good seat next to the side — so if you ever see a line that big, don’t be deceived! The rooms are huge and you’re still guaranteed to get a great seat, no matter where you sit. As for Barrowman? He absolutely floored me. He’s so charismatic, entertaining, and was one of the panels that you’d absolutely regret missing. He told so many great stories that had the audience laughing for minutes afterwards, and was so quick with his wit with audience members that were interacting with him.
After Barrowman’s panel, the convention was winding down for the day. We took one more lap around the showroom, and headed out for the day, ready to come back for day two!
On Sunday, we arrived bright and early again and the crowds were noticeably lighter, but still busy. On one of our trips back through the showroom Sunday morning, we found the Ripley’s Believe it or Not! booth. They had some amazing props, including items from Star Wars and the hoverboard from Back to the Future 2. We circled around the showroom some more, before going to the main theater for the panels for the day, which included panels for Stephen Amell, Smallville, and Zachary Levi. The lines were long, with people lining up hours before the panel began.
We chose to line up early for Smallville, and switching places between us in line, were able to pop in a bit to see Stephen Amell. He talked about Arrow and its final season, as well as other endeavors such as wrestling. After Amell’s panel, it was time for Smallville‘s panel with Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum and Kristin Kreuk. The three of them had such a great dynamic at the panel, and you could tell they were all truly friends and were at ease with each other. Rosenbaum told some fun stories, and fart jokes, while Welling and Kreuk added some fun tidbits about working together. Rosenbaum also went into the crowd a few times, riffing on a child that seemed bored, and then for the last question, giving fans a few hugs. It was great to see these three back together, and it was one of my favorite panels of the weekend.
After Smallville came Zachary Levi. Levi talked about Shazam!, and of course did the famous Flynn Rider smolder from Tangled. He was engaging, and charismatic, and an overall joy to watch. After these panels, it was again close to the end of the day, which meant the end of the convention altogether. We perused the showroom once more, picking up a few more pieces of art before we said goodbye to this year’s MegaCon.
Whether you go one day, two days, or all four, MegaCon is worth every single penny. Between the incredible vendors and artists you can see, to the panels, autographs, and photo ops. Fan Expo knows how to run a convention smoothly and it shows. We’ll see you again next year, MegaCon!
