August 16, 2023

FFXIV Fan Festival 2023: Day 0

What at first felt like a slow crawl changed in the blink of an eye, and Final Fantasy’s 2023 Fan Festival was upon us. I will be completely honest, if you’ve heard at least a little bit about how this con was a train wreck, my recap will echo those same sentiments. A small PSA that it might not be the most fun read.

I woke up bright and early on a crisp morning to head to my flight. Since it was a short trip, and Vegas was experiencing an extreme heat wave (or just their usual summers, I don’t know!) I made sure to pack everything I possibly could need while keeping it to the necessities. With my new suitcase, I was able to easily make sure the weight was manageable for carry-on and that my clothes were comfortable.

It was my first time fully using the lightrail to the airport, so I was all sorts of nervous. I went earlier than my normal two-hour buffer but it ended up being really calm and nice. It was a quiet, sunny morning and I was able to relax and watch the scenery pass by. I highly recommend if you’re local and don’t have a ton of luggage!!

As far as TSA goes, it went surprisingly fast and I got in with no trouble. I already saw lots of fanfest goers at my gate but, as always, I was too shy to make conversation… Unfortunately, the easy breezy vibes ended here lol. The flight was extremely hot and I honestly felt like I was going to pass out. I tried to drink as much water as possible, and kept asking the flight attendant distributing drinks for just plain ice. I was already stressed about the heat, and my flight over didn’t help.

As soon as we deplaned, I met up with my FC mate Louhi who was flying in at the same time!! Because of the heat, I decided to change my clothes to prepare for the outside. Or at least I thought I was prepared. We made our merry way to the pickup garage to meet up with Priscilla, who had driven in. As soon as the doors opened to the outside, the heat was the most oppressive, insanely dense heat I’ve ever felt in my life.… The both of us looked at each other and worried about the weekend ahead of us. What did we just fly into….

With the sweet sweet relief of Priscilla’s car AC, the three of us waited until Aulsair and Tara’s flight came in so that we could all drive over to our respective hotels.

Our base for the weekend! So spacious and similar to our room in Moab but rather outdated (no USB outlets, for example).

We then headed over to meet up with Goubah, and I got to see my art on a t-shirt!! I could not express just how genuinely touched I was that Goubah would want his commission on a t-shirt to wear at Fanfest. I tried hard not to cry a little lol!

Goubah also gave us masks !!!!!! He 3D printed them and painted them all himself. I could not get over what a cool gift this was, and I really really wished I had prepared something too….

We rested in the hotel a tiny bit before heading to the con. We had initially planned to take the monorail to and from the con, but to our dismay the maps do not accurately show distances between places. What seemed like an easy in and out turned out to be across three casinos and lots of outside walking in between. By the time we actually got to one end of the monorail, we were so exhausted and hot and, once again, dreading the actual con. This was just the trial run !!! At this point there were lots of FF goers milling about, and people made very fun side conversation. I could really feel everyone’s excitement so I tried to push through the heat!

I was so so pleasantly surprised to see that the MONORAIL ITSELF was fully decked out in FFXIV advertisements. I felt like I was in Disneyland lol!! And of course everyone made the critically-acclaimed MMO pitch jokes nonstop haha.

While on the ride over, we discussed whether or not the Convention Center stop or the Westgate stop would be closer, as Tara had read that there’s a shortcut at Westgate. Someone else on the monorail said the con center exit was the best and I will tell you right now with my full chest. IT WAS NOT. We ended up having to walk from the South halls all the way to the North halls in direct sunlight and gusts. I got sand in my eyes and it was hard to see and my dress was flying up everywhere (thank god I wore shorts lmao). I know that person meant to be helpful, but I was so ready to turn around and create an incident, I was so mad lol! Lesson learned…

After finally getting inside, we discovered the Pre-registration line was INSANELY LONG, like, spanning hallways and hallways and hallways. But at least it was moving fast, and pick-up was well-organized and efficient. I was so paranoid about losing the wristbands, so I didn’t even check out the goodie bag until we got back to the hotel. The whole day I really thought long and hard about whether I should be applying for disability due to my vasovagal syncope. The older I get, the more triggers I understand to avoid, but just knowing doesn’t prevent me from being put in situations that expose me to them. Conventions, concerts, even running errands or going to the mall triggers my risk of fainting, and I can’t stand for long periods of time. I already had my reservations about how poorly the security restrictions were made in regards to attendees with disabilities, and I could have sworn they restricted mobility scooters and canes and only allowed wheelchairs initially, but looking back I don’t see that anymore…? So I just put that on a shelf in the back of my mind for later. I regret that now… There were just SO many people packed together and it stressed me out and it didn’t get better. The sheer lack of logistic planning and crowd control made a lot of the con miserable…. but I digress.

To satiate our curiosity, we went to find the Westgate station and discovered the way over was almost entirely indoors and air-conditioned. The pockets of outside that you had to walk were negligible enough, so we decided to utilize the Westgate stop during the weekend.

A poor shot of the “sphere” that was recently completed in LV. Everyone was making Ozma and Dalamud jokes on the monorail lol!

After picking up our things we rested back at the hotel and checked out the bags!!

the goods… secured.

my pull, which I immediately gave to Priscilla because I don’t play or collect these. LOL

Once it was time to head out we started our trek over to Caesar’s palace. Yes I was crying and beaming “can we get an uber/lyft” to everyone to no avail.

The walk was…. terrible…….. I feel like a broken record at this point BUT! BUT! YES it was so worth it. The food and friends were amazing!! I tried a bunch of things and had so much fun hanging out with everyone and chatting over the different foods we were eating. It was so incredibly heartwarming to experience, IRL, the same coziness and fun we have online.