StarFest 2017

April 21^st-23^rd

I waited awhile to do my review of this con because of how bad of a taste it left in my mouth. I have been going to Star Fest for most of my life and this was the worst time I have had there. I was only able to make it on Saturday, but that was enough to give me a taste of the con for this year.

Hotel: Denver Marriott DTC

I have been to many conventions at this hotel including when NDK used to be here.  Past issues with this hotel have included lack of food options nearby and bad parking options. They just completed a huge remodel and things are worse. The parking is now blocked off and you have to pay for parking in the hotel lot which in the past you didn’t. It used to be that if you got there early you were rewarded with free parking… not any more. Also they have limited their handicap parking. THIS IS MY ISSUE! I go to most cons with my mother who has physical disabilities. With the current parking set up we were forced to park across the street, fight traffic, and pay more than what the hotel charges for their lot. When I went to management of the hotel to make a formal complaint about this disregard of people with disabilities he pushed my concerns aside like they weren’t important and said that it is just how things are. This showed how little this hotel cared about disabled people. THIS HOTEL IS DOES NOT CARE. Also in the remodel they lost a lot of parking spaces to “landscaping”. I decided to also talk to some staff members of the con. At check in I noticed that 2 of the staff members were older and also had disabilities. When I talked to them about it they said that they agreed to it was not good and that someone should make so noise to get things changed.

So besides how this hotel cares and treats its guests there are other things wrong as well. They wasted a lot of public space on useless modern art. Then there is the colors of the hotel. Most hotels are welcoming colors but this hotel is now black and grey. It is dreary and standoffish just like its staff. The also got rid of one of my favorite aspects of the hotel which was the balconies in the atrium. I used to love seeing how people would decorate their rooms and it used to be a big deal to try and get one of those rooms. This is now dead…

The restaurant…we got there around 8am for breakfast. Most of the tables were empty and we were put on a wait list because they were behind in serving even the few tables that had guests. Then once we were seated we had to wait 45 minutes after we ordered just to get basic breakfast food. When we asked the waitress about it she seemed to be very sorry that the kitchen was taking so long. I can’t imagine how much worse this got during the day unless they kicked their kitchen staff in the rear to get them moving or brought in more staff.

Overall this hotel alone will kill this convention if they stay with it. I understand that they are currently under contract, but this convention needs to get out of there asap.

The Convention:

I was able to make it to 3 full panels. I try to average 3 to 4 panels a day to get my money’s worth. I was a little said when I say the schedule since there were a lot of blank spaces on it. I’m not sure if people are not volunteering to run panels or what, but that was a letdown. The con had also gave specific groups their own rooms, but many of them didn’t have any panels going on later in the evening. This is a waste of space. If groups have rooms they should be required to have panels from 10am to 9pm (at the least) so that there is stuff for people to do. The Hale Appleman panel was good and he seemed very down to Earth. As we were leaving his panel we actually got behind him as he was going somewhere and it was great when he stopped to take a pic of a cosplayer like everyone else was doing.

Then there was the comic con. This was located across the street in another hotel because the first hotel did not have enough room for it (another reason to move to a different hotel). I liked how this one had a coloring area for the kids.

This convention also has a sticker scavenger hunt. Just because some of them are linked to specific events it would take going more than one day to get all of them.

The model room was great as always. I really liked the make and take models that they had this year. They were little and took almost no time to put together. The staff in here were really friendly and one guy was willing to spend a good chunk of time helping my mother put hers together.

Also it was interesting to see the demographics of this convention. Compared to most cons the age of people attending seemed to be older people at least 40+ by appearance. There were younger people there, but they mostly seemed to be family members to the older people, like my mom and I. I was also aware of many people with disabilities and this was the first con where I also saw several blind people. This is something that the con should take into account.

Overall, the con was very lack luster. I am now to a point where after seeing this con deteriorate to its current state that I don’t think it is even worth going to. They used to be able to get at least one major guest, but not anymore. The hotel is to a point where no convention should use them.  My suggestion to con goers is to skip this con. I remember a time where this was the largest con in Denver, but we have choices now! There are some many other conventions now in Colorado that if you need to pick and choose base on income or other factors, go elsewhere. Other cons you will get more bang for your buck and just have a much better overall experience. I know that I will not personally be going back to this con until they change venues.