ConCarolinas 2017

ConCarolinas is one of my favorite cons. It's small but has a lot of activities. And a lot of my friends attend which makes it a lot of fun. ConCarolinas was actually Emily's very first con when she was only 8 months old! But this year we did a few new things, including staying overnight at the hotel for the first time.

Emily and I got up early on that Saturday morning and make the trek to Charlotte. We made good time but when we pulled into the hotel, I noticed that there were no parking spots anywhere nearby. I pulled the car up to unload it and made the decision to pay for valet parking. That was a great decision because we left the hotel several times to get food.

The bellhop loaded our stuff onto a cart and took it to our room. It only took a minute for us to get our badges and we got down to the dealer's room just before it opened. We went around the room and Emily exercised great control until she saw Pokemon cards. She had to get some! The only thing I bought was some decals for my new car.

After that, we went back to the room so I could change into my Tightrope Girl costume then hurried down for the costume contest pre-judging. Thankfully I was first to be judged, because both Emily and I were pretty hungry at that time.

I changed again (this became a theme for the day) and we went to get lunch at McDonald's. We had a bit of time, so we went down to the pool for a bit. It was really relaxing and nice to cool down because it was hot out!

After that, I changed in my Princess Leia costume and we went to the gaming area to play D&D. We had a lot of fun, and Emily's character helped us a lot in the combat with her sleep spell! Next year, hopefully we can go down on Friday and play in more D&D games.

Once the game was done, it was time to change back into my Tightrope Girl costume and go down to my friend Mikey's concert. It was great, though I did have to run back up to the room because I had

forgotten my gloves. I had to leave early to get lined up for the contest. Thankfully it was in the same room so I just got Emily settled in a seat in the 3rd row and left my purse and glasses with her.

This was my first costume contest I've ever been in so I was in the novice category. There were some other great costumes there too. I had no idea what I was going to do on stage and I started to feel really nervous.

In the end, I pretended like I was walking a tightrope and then posed in my pose for a moment. It was really fast. Then it was time to go back to the waiting room to wait for everyone else to have their turn on the stage.

Once everyone was done, they had us all come out on stage. We stood there while they read off the winners of the film festival as the judges decided who won. The novice awards were read off first and to my great surprise, I won 3rd place!

The best part of the whole weekend was when they read my name off, a tiny blur in the 3rd row jumped to her feet, her hands thrust in the air as she cheered for her mommy. It was awesome!

The other winners had great costumes too. A Newt Scamander cosplayer won best in show and he deserved it - his costume was really great!

It was about 6:30 pm once we got done with the costume contest so I got changed again. We went and got Cookout for supper. We watched Disney Jr. on TV as we ate and then we headed back to the pool for some night swimming. I was pretty beat by that time so we didn't swim for too long. I let Emily watch some tv while I got things packed up to make things easier in the morning.

The next day we got up and went swimming again for a bit. Then we got everything packed up. I went to the valet / bell hop station to get some help. I figure if I'm paying for valet parking they can come up and get our stuff. 

I knew it may take a while, and so did the guy at the valet station. He told me he would send someone up as soon as possible. Sadly, I had to call down several times before someone came up. It took over an hour. By that time, Emily was convinced that we had to live there now.

We got our car which they did pack up for us, and went to get some lunch. After lunch, we went back inside to do one more spin around the dealer's room. There was a booth that had geek-inspired sweets so I got Emily a Pokemon sucker and a BB-8 cookie.

As we were leaving the dealer's room, I rounded a corner and realized that Emily was gone! I freaked out as I paced the hallway not wanting to go too far away. My friend Mikey happened upon me mid-freak out and he went to the dealer's room to look there. All of a sudden, Emily reappeared! She had gone into the bathroom and had thought I was following her. I had lost her but she didn't know she was lost.

We went and told Mikey that we had found her and then headed out. After stopping at 7-11 for slurpies, we headed on home. It was a very fun weekend (except for the losing Emily part) and I look forward to next year's ConCarolinas!

Disney Trip 2016 - Final Thoughts!

This is the final post of my Disney trip report! To start from the beginning, click here!

The whole reason I started planning this trip was an incentive to recover after I got very sick and had a bunch of seizures. It was a scary time for me and having just the thought of Disney World helped me along. It also helped me get stronger. I spent a lot of this year at the gym, walking and doing weight training. It really paid off because even though I was walking many miles in a day, I wasn't really sore the whole week.

Of course, we also celebrated Emily's birthday since she happened to be born in my favorite month of the year. She got a lot of attention from her birthday button and she loved that!

This trip was a lot of firsts for Emily. First time at Epcot, first time on a roller coaster and first time going to the Halloween party. She enjoyed it all which made me happy!

My favorite part was finally getting to wear my Tightrope Girl costume to the Halloween party. I got a lot of compliments on it, especially from cast members.

Even the hurricane was interesting. It was a little scary but I hoped that Disney would do their best to keep us safe. And they really did and did their best to keep people entertained while the parks were closed.

I also want to give a shout out to my travel agent, Sara Varney at Mouse Fan Travel. This is the 2nd trip she's helped me plan and she's a really good travel agent. She got all of our dining reservations that we wanted and even called us the day before the hurricane was suppose to hit to make sure we were ok. Fabulous customer service right there!

All in all, Disney World still retains its place as my most favorite place in the world! I can't wait to go back hopefully in a few years!

Disney Trip 2016 - Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

This is the 4th post of my Disney trip report! To start from the beginning, click here!

Our day dawned bright and sunny, which made me happy. Today was the day we were going to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and I didn't want it to rain. I've been to the party twice and had good weather, but I had heard horror stories about trying to do the party in torrential rain. In fact, that had happened earlier this Halloween season. This was what Emily was most looking forward to so I wanted it to go well.

But the party wasn't until the evening. We slept in a bit and then headed back over to Ohana for our breakfast with Lilo and Stitch, since this is the only place you can meet Lilo. It took us a while to get seated but we were pretty much in the same spot we were when we had dinner a few nights previously.

The food was very yummy, and we had a chance to eat before the characters arrived at our table. It took them a while to make their way around. Emily was very excited to meet Lilo and Stitch. Mickey and Pluto were also there in their finest Hawaiian attire.

After we had eaten our fill and met all four characters, we headed back to the resort. Emily swam a bit and then we both took a nap. She tried to tell me that she didn't need a nap but I knew she wouldn't make it halfway through the party without some sleep.

I dressed up in my Tightrope Girl costume and Emily put on her Jasmine costume, then we headed off to the bus stop. We had to wait a bit, but then we were on our way. We got into the Magic Kingdom a little before 4 pm and got our wristbands for the party!

We got our picture taken with the Castle behind us, and then used our Fastpass to meet Tinkerbell who was really sweet. We also went to get our special party Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom card.

After watching some of the castle stage show, we went to Fantasyland. We rode on the Teacups, which made me very dizzy, and then went on the Pooh ride.

Then it was time to go to the Haunted Mansion. I had Emily take pictures of me outside of it while I was Tightrope-d up. I got compliments on my costume all night which annoyed Emily a little. She had gotten used to get all the attention!

It was nearing party time but Emily wanted to ride on Dumbo. It's one of her favorite rides and I love the view as we soared way up high. The music tolled while we were in that area of the park to let us know the party had officially begun. The gift shop right by Dumbo was the one that was selling the pins you could only get at the party.

They had several to pick from, but I chose the Hocus Pocus one. It's really awesome! We headed to the hub to get a spot for the parade. We nabbed a really close one that was right in front of the castle. Emily held our place and I went to get us a snack.

Thankfully the weather held out and we got to see the Headless Horseman take his ride in front of the parade. Emily loved the parade even though Dr. Facilier talked to her and freaked her out. I thought it was interesting since he's from one of her favorite Disney movies.

We didn't have to wait too long before the Hocus Pocus stage show started up. Even though I'm pretty short, I could see fine. Sadly, Emily is still a kid and she couldn't see very well. So I had to pick her up. My kid is eight and she's heavy! But I managed to hold her for most of the show (I had to take some breaks), so all that weight training I did paid off in a big way!

There was some time before the fireworks were going to start, so we went to Tomorrowland to have some dinner. When we had entered the park, we had been directed to a treat or trick spot and we got a special bag that already had candy in it. So Emily wanted to check out her loot as well.

After we ate, we had a bit of time left so we went on the Tomorrowland Speedway. Those cars are really hard to get in and out of when wearing a hoop skirt and a corset. Emily is a very poor driver, though she started getting the hang of it. She had a blast being able to drive, though I had to push the pedal because she's too short.

We got back to the hub right as the castle projection show started. It was really awesome, and neither

Emily  nor I had seen it before. Then it was time for Hallowishes, the fireworks show. This is my all-time favorite fireworks show ever, and Emily loved it as well.

I had wanted to ride the Haunted Mansion but Emily said that it would be too scary. So we pretty much hung out in Tomorrowland. We hit some trick or treat spots, a couple of them several times. At one, the cast members gave her several big handfuls of candy because she was wearing her birthday button.

We did pretty much all the rides we wanted to in Tomorrowland. We went on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, which seemed dated to me, but Emily loved it. Partly because she ended up kicking my butt by a large margin.

I wanted to ride the PeopleMover but Emily wasn't too sure. Once we were on it, she loved it! PeopleMover is really really relaxing, and the views of Tomorrowland are really great especially that late at night. We got to see the dance party from up high, which was fun, though Emily didn't want to go and dance with the characters from Monster's Inc.

The last thing we did was the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, which was funny. Emily thought it was much funnier than I did but it was enjoyable. There was about a half hour left of the party at that point but Emily was tired and wanted to go back to the resort.

I was actually surprised at how well she had done because it was well past her bedtime. The party was wonderful, and we didn't get rained on at all. I'm really thankful that I had picked that party because the ones later that week got canceled because of the hurricane.

Up Next - Rest Day!

Dragon Con 2016 - Saturday

This is the second post of my Dragon Con 2016 recap - you can read the previous post here!

We got up bright and early on Saturday to head down to the con. I was going to march in the parade and Todd was going to the Walk of Fame once it opened. I had realized that I completely forgot to bring my parasol for my Tightrope Girl costume, but decided to wear it anyway.

I, sadly, didn't double side tape the ribbon on my left foot as well as my right one. So once I got to the staging area, I was fighting against my stupid ribbon. It didn't stay up for the parade but hopefully it didn't look too dumb.

The parade itself was fine. It was a little different because it was being broadcast on the local CW channel. We got to a point where it said "Keep Walking!" so we did. The Disney

group got pretty spread out.

Once we got done, I headed to the food court to get something to eat. Todd was still in the Walk of Fame, waiting in line to get an autograph. Once he met up with me, we left the con for the day. It was already starting to become way too crowded.

We did what we have done the last few years and headed to a really cool mall that is near to my aunt and uncle's house. We walked around the mall a bit and of course, went into the Disney Store. We got Emily a toy set and some Star Wars pants - both were on clearance. And I got to geek out with the cashier about my upcoming Disney trip.

After that, we went and saw Suicide Squad in IMax. We had both seen it before but there wasn't anything else out that we really wanted to see. It was really good in IMax and it's been a while since I've seen anything in IMax.

From there, we did a little more shopping. There was a store called "Fandom" which was really cool. We got Emily some blind boxes there. And after, we got some food at the mall's food court.

We got back to my aunt and uncle's house pretty early. In fact, no-one was home when we got there. After a while, they came home. My aunt and uncle had taken Emily swimming and my cousin and his daughter had gone too. Emily did a lot of swimming over the course of the weekend.

At 8 pm, we all sat down and watched the parade on TV. Emily really wanted to see me on there. The broadcast of the parade got annoying from the beginning. There was five or six commercial breaks during the one hour broadcast. And if that wasn't bad enough, the same few commercials were shown over and over again.

I did get shown on TV briefly but the rest of the Disney group didn't because of commercials. It was sad because there were some really great costumes in the group. From the Jack costume whose picture is at the beginning of this post, to a whole group of Little Mermaid cosplayers.

Later I read that whole groups didn't make it on the broadcast. Also the live stream started late (and I know the parade didn't start late) and the 8 o'clock broadcast was suppose to show more of the parade. Instead, it was just what they had done earlier in the day.

But it was the first year it was live on the CW so it wasn't going to be perfect. And my kid was geeked out to see me on TV so that was good!

All in all, it was a good Saturday of Dragon Con!

ConCarolinas 2016!

This past Saturday, Emily and I made the trek to Concord, NC to attend ConCarolinas. It was the first time in years that we've gone and both of us were really excited.

I donned my Tightrope Girl costume and Emily in her Kairi costume and we made the two hour trek. Driving in a corset was interesting! We made it a little before 10 am and quickly got our badges. From there, Emily wanted to check out the dealer's room.

I tried to encourage her to look at everything before spending all of her money. She did ok but did end up buying a Beanie Baby Unicorn coin purse almost right away.

We saw my friend, Mikey, and bought one of his coloring books. We mostly wandered around after that until Emily declared she was going to die from hungry. We found that one of the food trucks was set up and we got a couple of hot dogs. We enjoyed our meal on a patio area and got to watch some SCA knights do battle.

After that, it was time for Live Action Hungry, Hungry Hippos. It was an activity for the kids but the parents had to get involved too! Emily thought this was great fun but it was hard for me! I was still in my corset and Emily isn't exactly a lightweight anymore. We did about five rounds until I basically said no more! She got a ring pop as a prize and she was very happy with that.

parents had to get involved too. We had to wheelbarrow the kids to the middle of the floor where the kids had to grab as many balls as they could then we dragged them back to their respective corners.

We did some wandering around after that. She got to spin the wheel at one table and I got to answer a trivia question. I answered it correctly and won Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. Emily practically screamed with joy! She also gathered a lot of candy from the different tables - it was like geeky trick or treating.

After a trek in the blazing heat back to the car, I got changed into my 2nd costume. My Kaylee costume is still very geeky but it's much, much more comfortable to wear. It was nice to not be corseted anymore.

We went to a panel about the lack of Rey toys and female characters in general. I found it interesting but Emily got bored after a bit. She is apparently still a little too young for panels

I wanted to see the costume contest but Emily didn't really. I offered her a compromise - that we could sit in the very back and she could play with her new stuff while I watched the costume contest. She agreed and had fun quietly playing with her Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. There were a lot of amazing costumes to see!

After the judging of the costume contest, we slipped out to get some dinner because now I was hungry. There were several other food trucks but one was wasn't open and the other was just a dessert one. So we opted to get hamburgers and chips. We went to the lounge area inside and had a nice little dinner.

It was getting to be closer to my friend Mikey's concert so we went to the room where it was going to be. We had an hour beforehand so we just stayed and watched the belly dance show that was happening right before the concert.

The belly dance show was very entertaining. The theme was Star War vs. Star Trek so all the dances were inspired from those shows / movies. By the end, Emily was trying to belly dance to the music herself!

After that, it took a few minutes for Mikey to set up and then his show got rolling. Emily, ironically, spent some time coloring in Mikey's coloring book while Mikey was singing. I enjoyed the concert a lot. I've only seen him live once before at the Browncoat Ball in 2014 but sadly I don't remember it because of my seizures. I pretty much sang along the whole concert!

After Mikey was done, we headed out. It was after seven and we had a two hour drive home. The drive home was uneventful and Emily slept most of the way. She says she wants to go the whole weekend next year.

ConCarolinas is a great con! Lots of great people, fun entertainment and lots of geeking out!

Dragon Con 2015 - Saturday

This is the 2nd post in my series of recaps of Dragon Con. You can click to read the posts for Friday and Sunday.

We got up and going early on Saturday morning since I was going to march in the Disney section of the parade. They had to change the parade route and the staging area because of streetcars that were put in downtown. It took me a bit but I found the staging area which actually worked better than the old one.

There were only a few Disney cosplayers when I got there, but they started coming in. We were near the front so I got to see a lot of cool costumes. The parade got started pretty much on time, and it was the long walk. Even though the parade route was only .1 of a mile longer, it felt much longer.

But the best part of being in the Disney group is watching the kids along the parade route get so excited to see their favorite princesses march by. There was also a great Gaston cosplayer who marched next to me who was really hamming it up for the crowd.

Once the parade was over, I went to find Todd who was in the food court. He had gotten a bunch of autographs with little wait because so many people were at the parade. I was near the front of the parade so it wasn't very crowded outside of the parade yet. We headed over to the Hyatt to go to the Artist Alley.

There, I quickly found Peter David's table and finally got to meet him. He's been one of my favorite authors since I was in high school and I've been meaning to get his autograph for the last couple of Dragon Cons but I never make it over to the artist alley. But it finally happened this year!

Todd and I looked around the Artist Alley a bit and peeked in the Art Show. By this time, it was starting to get crowded. We had decided before we even got to GA that we were only going to stay a short time at the con on Saturday. It just gets too crowded.

So we headed out, and I changed out of my costume once we got to the car. From there, we went to a big mall that isn't far from my Aunt and Uncle's house. We shopped a bit - they have a Disney Store and a LEGO store and then went to the movies. We saw The Man from U.N.C.L.E. which was a fun movie.

We got back fairly early to my aunt and uncle's house and turned in early.

Up Next - Dragon Con Sunday

Dragon Con 2015 - Friday

We usually head down to GA to go to Dragon Con fairly early on Thursday but this year we waited until Emily was out of school. Because we didn't get to my aunt and uncle's house until the evening, we didn't go down to the con at all until Friday.

Todd and I got up bright and early Friday morning to head downtown. I wore my Tightrope Girl costume and I actually got asked for my picture before we even got into the Peachtree Center. That was awesome because I rarely get asked for my picture.

Sheraton was our first stop to get our badges. Badge pick-up was a breeze again this year. It took us longer to walk into the building than it did to actually get our badges. I also had to pick up my parade bracelet as well as get the disability sticker on my badge.

Dragon Con offers a variety of disability services. Because of my migraines, I got a sticker on my badge that lets me sit in the disability area and then I get a seat at the end of the row. I didn't end up using it until Sunday, but it really is nice to be able to sit and wait for panels in a chair.

We went to the Peachtree Center after that and got some breakfast. We didn't have any issues getting a seat and the food court is a great place to relax, eat and people watch

From there, we headed off to the Hilton. I had signed up for a massive Disney photoshoot. We were a little early but there were a lot of people there already. I love Disney and it was fun to see everyone's costumes.

Todd wandered away for a bit while we were all herded outside. Because of the uniqueness of my costume, I was only in the big group photo. It took a bit to get everyone posed, and then lots of pictures were taken.

Once the big group picture was taken, Todd had wandered back and we headed over to the Marriott. Even though the Walk of Fame wasn't opening for another hour, we opted to join the line to get in. I found that sitting on the floor in a corset is not very comfortable.

When the doors opened, we walked around the Walk of Fame to see who were there and where everyone would be. I got my picture with the voice of Goofy, Bill Farmer, since I had gotten his autograph the year before. Then we joined the line for the voice of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, Caroll Spinney. 

The line wasn't took long long, but the people who had been in the front took at least 20 minutes to talk to Caroll and have him sign everything under the sun. It got really ridiculous after a while and rather rude because the line just kept growing and growing. It's fine to have a bit of a conversation with the guests, especially an icon like Caroll Spinney. But more than five minutes and you are being very rude to the people behind you.

Finally they left, and the people in front of Todd and I had better sense so it only took us a few minutes to get up to the front. We got an autograph that he signed to both me and Emily, plus I got a picture with him.

It was then time to head over to the Dealer's room. It took us a bit to figure out where it was since they had moved buildings and there was actually a line to get into the building itself. There were two floors of dealer's and the layout was so much better this year.

First stop was the BPAL booth where I got BPAL. I've known the owners for years, so I got a hug from Ted. I also got a hug from Beth and we stood and talked about our kids for a bit. It's a little weird talking about school and kids in the middle of the dealer's room at Dragon Con.

We had been planning on staying later but by this time I was starting to get worn out. Todd noticed and suggested we go back to my aunt and uncle's house in order to save energy for the parade in the morning. I agreed and off we went.

It was a pretty good first day of Dragon Con!

Up Next - Dragon Con Saturday

Dragon Con Goals and Worries

Image: dragoncon.com

Dragon Con is only a couple of weeks away so we are totally in Dragon Con mode. Todd and I have conversations about Dragon Con several times a week, sometimes several times a day. I'm really looking forward to my 8th Dragon Con but I do have some worries.

I've been really sick as of late. Lots of really bad migraines as well as balance issues. I'm planning on getting the disability sticker on my badge so I can sit down in a chair to wait for panels and I am not going to give blood this year.

Hopefully I'll be ok - I might add a sticker to the back of my badge with Todd's contact information, just in case. I'll be spending most of the con with him anyway. I am still looking forward to it a lot.

My main goal for this Dragon Con is to finally meet Peter David. He's been one of my favorite authors since I was in high school, and he's usually at Dragon Con, but I never seem to be able to find him. Probably because the last couple of years we having hit the Artist Alley at all, and I think that's where he usually is. But this year, I will meet him, get his autograph, buy new books!

This year I'm also pretty excited that I actually need to buy dice. Need may be a strong word, but we gave Emily dice from our own collections. After years of playing Hero System games, we have an abundance of  6 sized dice. But we all need some of the others, especially Emily. She has requested pink and multi-colored dice, and she especially needs some more 4 sized dice because that's what she uses most with her Magic Missile spell.

I'm not a panelist at all this year, and that is a good thing I think with my health issues. I'll be stalking the Walk of Fame with Todd. I really hope the Arrow guests and Big Bird will do table pictures. I really want pictures with all of them but I really don't want to use Froggy.

Other than that, I'm only bringing two costumes this year. I'll be the Tightrope Girl on Friday and Saturday and then Blue Jacket Kaylee for Sunday. We will probably leave fairly early on Saturday - maybe even right after the parade. Saturday is so crowded anymore it's hard to move a lot of times. Plus there is a really cool mall not far from my aunt and uncle's house with a Disney Store!

I think taking it easy on Saturday may be the key to making it through this Dragon Con without getting to sick or in too much pain. Hopefully, I'll have a great con, will be able to meet cool celebrities, meet Peter David finally, sniff some BPAL and hang out with 80,000 pretty awesome people!

Dragon Con 2014 - Sunday

Me and Katie Cassidy (Laurel from Arrow)

This is the last post of my Dragon Con recaps - you can click the links to read about Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Sunday I planned on sleeping in but that didn't happen. About 6:30 in the morning, I was woken up by Emily losing her tooth. This was the first tooth she lost normally and not in the dentist's office.

We made sure to find the tooth and I put it in a small box I had been using for safety pins. I was awake at this point so we just hung out in the back bedroom for a bit to let Todd sleep.

Once everyone else was up, I got Emily dressed to go to church and I donned my Tightrope Girl costume again. We got downtown right around the time everything was opening up.

We went to the Walk of Fame first. We got autographs from the one Arrow guest we needed and John Ratzenberger (had him sign a Toy Story poster for Emily since he's the voice of Hamm). Bill Farmer, the voice of Goofy and other Disney characters, wasn't there yet so we headed off to the dealer's room.

At this point in the day, I had a migraine. I didn't really think much of it because of my chronic pain, but we soldiered on. Our first stop was at the BPAL booth. Beth and I talked about loosing teeth because I told her about Emily. It was fun! And I got another bottle of BPAL.

We found an Applejack that Emily requested and I bought some mystery box figures as well. It was time to meet Goofy Bill, so we headed back to the Walk of Fame.

Bill Farmer was awesome! I got his autograph and we talked to him for a bit and he even did the Goofy voice for us. It was one of the best meetings we had all con.

But at this point, my migraine was really bad and I was feeling woozy. We headed to the food court to get some food. Even after eating, I felt horrible. Even though I was suppose to be on a Kaleidoscope panel later that afternoon, I opted to email the track director and head back to my aunt and uncle's house.

It was a sucky way to end the con. I knew I had overdid it but I had hoped I could push through to make it through my last panel. I ended up passing out and sleeping for several hours once we got back. And it kicked off a couple of weeks of illness - I ended up at the doctor's last Friday because I wasn't getting any better and it was the flu.

Next year, I think I may either skip the Geek Girls Run fun run or wait until Sunday to give blood. Either way, despite how it ended, I had a great Dragon Con this year!

Dragon Con 2014 - Saturday

Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/30130379@N07/15122087795

This is the 3rd post of my Dragon Con 2014 recap series. Click the links to read about Thursday and Friday!

Saturday was another early day for us. I donned my newest costume, The Haunted Mansion's Tightrope Girl, and we headed downtown. Usually Todd will walk me to the parade staging area, but he had a panel he wanted to go to so I walked myself.

It was really easy to find the Disney group and I talked to several people as we waited to go. As we started to march, I decided to take off my glasses and slip them in my purse. My eyes are really bad but I could see where I was going. It made the parade a unique experience.

Once I was done with the parade, I donned my glasses again and went to the Kaleidoscope track room because I was on a panel at 11:30. It was the Disney Princesses & Heroes Panel and I had a lot of fun talking Disney with the other panelists and the audience for an hour.

After that, I hustled over to the Sheraton to meet up with Todd. We did a panel on the Paranormal track that showcased psychic fraud. The panelist were Aiden Sinclair, a paranormal magician, and Patrick Doyle, one of the paranormal investigators from the show Ghost Mine. It made for an interesting mix.

Once our panel was over, we went back to the Marriott to get to the food court. And that's where we got stuck. Below is an illustration I made to show the worst traffic jam in Dragon Con.

The big red X is where the jam ends up being. It's a junction to get to a lot of places so tons of people end up there. We were stuck there probably 10 minutes trying to get to the food court. At this point in time, someone brilliant decided to route a line through the hallway that leads to the food court into the Marriott. 

Finally we got out of the jam, grabbed the first two open seats we saw and got some lunch. After a long lunch, we headed back to the Sheraton.

We were planning on doing more panels at the paranormal track later in the day but we fled to the Sheraton to escape some of the madness and crowds.

The first panel we did that after was the ESP one. This was the least interesting panel to me the whole weekend - mostly because I have no ESP abilities. We left a little before the end of the panel to get in line for the next panel.

Next up was the real story behind the Exorcism of Emily Rose which was extremely interesting because it ended up not being a real case of possession but mental illness on the part of the girl and a crazy ass priest who really wanted to exorcism someone.

We left that panel early too so we could get in line for Aiden Sinclair's show. We had gone to his show in 2013 and it was excellent. This  year's show had some similar things but some differences as well. I was picked to participate for his first trick. It was a lot of fun! 

I had a panel right afterwards in the Marriott and the show ended a little late. So Todd and I ran the several blocks in between. The crowds were still heavy even though it was now 8 pm but we didn't run into issues until we got to the big red X from my map above.

This time, two ladies were sitting side by side in wheelchairs. I'm all for people in wheelchairs to be able to come and enjoy the con, but they were in an area that has traffic jams regularly and isn't very wide. They were basically blocking the entire way and going slow.

Todd darted in front of them and almost got ran over. He was annoyed, I was annoyed and the dumb people causing the jam were annoyed and yelled at him. He basically ignored them and we got to my panel in time.

The panel was on Theme Park Travel but it ended up being all about Disney. My fellow panelists and I had a great time talking with a smaller audience about Disney Parks. Todd even offered his two cents in every once in a while.

Once we were done, it was 9:30 pm and had been at the con over 13 hours. It was the longest day we'd ever done (not counting the first couple of years when we stayed at the Marriott before Emily was born). It was a great day but way too long.

Next up - Sunday and the Crud

Dragon Con Schedule and Cosplay!

Image: www.dragoncon.org

I've been lucky enough to be a panelist for several Kaleidoscope Track panels over the last few years. I love being on panels and talking about things I'm passionate about - which has been often been Disney related.

This year, I'm on four panels and I'm very excited about it! Here's my schedule if any of you want to attend!

The Young Nerd Life - Fri, August 29, 7pm – 8pm

A708 Atlanta Marriott Marquis

There are many shows families watch together! Let's discuss those shows & how kids fit into the world of fandom.

Disney Princesses & Heroes Panel - Sat, August 30, 11:30am – 12:30pm

A708 Atlanta Marriott Marquis

Fan led discussion about all of your favorite Disney Princesses and Heroes. 

Theme Park Travel - Sat, August 30, 8:30pm – 9:30pm

A708 Atlanta Marriott Marquis

Share ideas and discuss how to make theme park visits fun for the entire family.

Phineas & Ferb Fan Panel - Sun, August 31, 4pm – 5pm

A601/A602 Atlanta Marriott Marquis

What are you doing today? Discussing what you love about Disney Channels hit show 

I'm also planning on bringing several costumes as well as marching in the parade.

Friday - Kaylee from Firefly

Saturday - Haunted Mansion Tightrope Girl

Sunday - I'm hoping to wear the Tightrope Girl again - but if it's too sweaty and icky, I'll be wearing American McGee's Alice

I'm looking forward to Dragon Con! Hope to see some of you there! I'll be live tweeting through the con as well!

The Haunted Mansion Tightrope Girl

I love the Haunted Mansion. I have since I was a kid. Our first trip to Disney World was when I was nine. I was fascinated by the ride and also a little scared. But once I was done, I wanted to go again. On Main Street there was a shop where I got a book and record of the Haunted Mansion - I loved it and listened to it a lot when we got home.

Even now as an adult the Haunted Mansion is my favorite ride. I also collect Haunted Mansion merchandise - mostly pins. One of the highlights of our last Disney trip was me going to the Halloween party by myself - and riding the Haunted Mansion in the dead of night is a trip.

We had planned on going to a horror con in March and I had been racking my brain for a horror-ish costume to wear when I thought of the Tightrope Girl. If you have never been in the Haunted Mansion, when you first walk in, you are in a large room with pictures. As the pre-show continues, the room stretches revealing horrifying situations that the people in the pictures are in. The Tightrope Girl is balancing over an alligator who wants to eat her.

Because of Todd being laid off in March, we didn't actually get to go to that convention. But I had already started working on the costume. I didn't work on it for a while, but started back up with gusto a while ago to get it finished for Dragon Con.

Yesterday I finished it and I'm pretty pleased with the finished product. I wish I could have made the sleeves poofier, but they are as good as I could get. My mother in law was kind enough to make the cowl for me as well!

If you are going to be at Dragon Con, look for me on Saturday as the Tightrope Girl! I'll be marching in the parade in the Disney section.

Costume Plans of 2014

I love cosplaying but I'm not that great with sewing. But I manage to put together some interesting costumes to wear to the various conventions that I go throughout the year. I have plans to make two, possibly three costumes this year.

The first costume that I'm working on is for a horror convention that we'll be going to next month. I have a hard time figuring out horror related costumes to wear. I have my American McGee Alice costume from last year, but I'm also going to make a Disney's Haunted Mansion Tightrope Girl costume.

I love the Haunted Mansion so I'm not sure why I didn't think to do this costume before. But I'm working on it now. I have the corset and the skirt and I'll be adding on the details. Hopefully I'll be able to finish that in the next couple of weeks.

Then I'll be working on the Kaylee Layer Cake Dress 2.0. I hand sewed 1.0 a few years but I didn't do a great job and it's now falling apart. I've been meaning to remake for awhile now, but with the Browncoat Ball coming to Greenville, SC in October

it's moved up in the queue. I'm hoping to figure out how to use my mom's sewing machine so I can use that instead of hand sewing it. Hopefully that will be finished in time for Dragon Con.

If I finish the Layer Cake Dress, I might start my Ducky MoMo costume. It will actually be me cosplaying as Candance cosplaying as Ducky MoMo. It's going to be complicated but Todd has said he'll help me design it. He's the engineer so I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out.

For now, that's what I'm working on. I'll post pictures on Twitter and Facebook as I put the costumes together!