MegaCon Orlando took over the Orange County Convention Center this past weekend, filling its North/South complex with a massive lineup of celebrities, various panels, and an expansive vendor floor.
The show, which is arguably Florida’s biggest pop culture convention, was held this year from Thursday, February 6 through Sunday, February 10. We were on-hand at the event as press to take in all that the convention had to offer.
Here are some highlights from the weekend:
Entry/Parking
In years past, MegaCon had grown so big that it simply ran out of room for parking; thus introducing pre-paid parking a few years ago. The pre-paid parking sold out fast, but they did have it listed on their website where to find day-of parking. So, on Friday, I set out to one of the lots at Pointe Orlando. The line was small to get into the garage, and parking was easy there. Right outside of the garage, they had a shuttle which took you right to the front of the re-entry point. At the end of the day, where the shuttle dropped you off, there were plenty ready and waiting to take you back to the garage. It was really efficient.
On Saturday, we used the pre-paid parking lot in West, which was, again, a short line and had a shuttle ready and waiting to take you to the front of the North/South concourse. I appreciated how easy it was to park and take the shuttle, and it’s something MegaCon has really perfected over the last few years.
Entry was also a breeze as well. Everything was well spaced out for the various ticket brackets to pick up or enter the show, and we never had more than a few minutes to wait through security.
Vendor Floor/Artist Alley
As to be expected, a big draw is their vendor floor and artist alley. This year, it felt like the aisles were wider, but still were packed with various vendors and artists; something that was appreciated. However, I feel like it was really hard to find anything here; there were no booth numbers, and you had to hope to remember where to find something you had seen previously. It felt a little confusing to find your way around and not as easy to navigate where each thing was. I would love to see a way to navigate around the area better since MegaCon has one of the best vendor areas/artist alleys of any convention around.
The cellphone reception was also horrible, and you couldn’t get any texts or calls in anywhere on the floor until you hit the North or South upper areas where the panel rooms were, and I know a lot of vendors were having problems with processing card payments due to the internet issue as well.
It’s also worth noting that the food court was vastly improved this year. So many choices and a LOT of tables that made being able to take a mid-day break really easy and not too time-consuming.
Photo Ops / Autograph Areas
In years past, I felt like the autograph areas were much bigger. It might be due to the increased amount of guests, but there used to be a row against the wall, and then farther across from them was another row of celebrities. Now, there were at least three rows holding various talent, and the space between them was smaller, making it really hard to navigate through that area on Saturday. I feel like they would be better off separating the autographs to another floor/area entirely, or if there were a more detailed map with names of the talent and where they were set up specifically, which would cut down a lot of the confusion.
Everyone we encountered on the ground there was lovely. It was worth noting that talent like Jared Padalecki, Matt Smith, Bryce Dallas Howard, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Lilard, Skeet Ulrich, Ella Purnell, Brandon Routh, Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Tyler Hoechlin, Grant Gustin Andy Serkis, the cast of Twilight, and the cast of Cobra Kai, all had steady long lines all weekend. It was fun to see the reactions of fans after they came from talking to their favorite celebrity, a giant smile often being the tell-tale sign of a great interaction.
Panels
The panel line-up was stacked this year, and they had two big theaters running. It was a little disappointing (but understood for crowd control) to have bigger names up against each other so you’d have to choose only one to see, but it was still a lot of fun. For most of the bigger panels, if you didn’t have VIP, that meant lining up quite a bit ahead of time. For example, for the cast of Twilight, we got in line forty minutes before the start and there were already at least 100 people ahead of us, and many more lined the halls after us. Once the panel started to fill in the room, we had a decent seat off to the side with a great view; and the room filled out completely with people before it began.
The energy in the rooms was palpable; although the lighting on the stage left a lot to be desired and it was hard to see the talent sometimes because it was so dark. The panels were a lot of fun, though. I really liked that before the panel started, MegaCon had screens set up on the side that showed various movie trailers – keeping audiences engaged before the start of the panel. The talent was engaging, and seemingly happy to be there.
One thing that was a bit different was in some of the panels, they no longer allowed for lines to ask questions; instead, the moderator read off some fan-submitted questions that were pre-screened. While on one hand I completely understand, because I’ve sat through my fair share of questions that were full of personal details, and non-questions, I do think it takes away a bit from the experience. It was still a great atmosphere and energy, and hearing stories that maybe haven’t been shared as widely before.
Cosplay
The cosplay at this show is unmatched. Fans always know to go to MegaCon to showcase some of their best costumes, and they didn’t disappoint this year. There were so many creative costumes, a lot of Wicked (which I loved!), and my favorite might have just been a giant Eevee roaming the vendor floor mid-day Saturday while putting a smile on everyone’s face.
Overall, MegaCon Orlando continues to be a force of nature for Central Florida; it’s a great place to meet some of your favorite celebrities, enjoy shopping, and take in the atmosphere of a wonderful place of nerdiness.
MegaCon Orlando will return in 2026 from March 19-22.
