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lionkingcmslMore on the trip and Megaplex.
Fri 3/11/05 - Travel Day: I left at around 10a for Megaplex. The car seemed to be running fine, but I noticed that the miss was back, though not quite as bad. It was a joy to drive a car that was quiet in the exhaust department. I only had to drive ~800 miles to fix that problem. Anyway it was time well spent with my bro.
On the way down I saw more and more bikers and trailers with bikes on them. What surprised me was the amount of bikers headed away from Daytona on some of the back roads.
I got to the Megaplex hotel at about 2p or so. A quick note to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
camstone and the_gneech, I was wearing the super special, limited edition, The Watering Hole golf shirt and someone from the con said they loved it. ;=3
I checked into the room I would be sharing withsmrgol_t_kirin and tonyringtail. On the way over, and while I was at the hotel I tried calling Smrgol to see where he was. I knew there was a possibility that they would head over to a local amusement park, not one of the big ones, and do some fursuiting and go-cart driving. For the record the lion loves go-carts and mini Indy racers. ;=3 Getting no answer I then asked rasvar where the event was being held.
After getting confuzzled and driving the length of International Drive, I stumbled upon the place after stopping at a local McDonald's, to grab a burger, and asking where the local go-cart track was. I was no more than 2 blocks from it. :=3
It was nice to get into the place for half price and driving the go-carts. A note of warning however, the "bumper boats" there are not your standard bumper boats. These have a "Squirt" feature I had not seen. Being the only adult with 3 kids I got drenched. :=/ Now, if I'm prepared to get wet (i.e. having swim trunks, or shorts, on and a towel handy) I'll take as much as I can dish out. However this time I was not ready and had my cell phone in my pants pocket. I had to call a halt to them squirting me. 3 on 1 is not fun.
Smrgol ended up riding back to the hotel with me and we saw a model railroad exhibit, which will play a part on Monday. After we arrived I met up withjugularjaguar. He told me that he had the perfect place for us to have dinner. A good friend, Nebulous, showed up and we headed out, Smrgol, Nebulous, and myself, in my car to catch up with JJ. Smrgol was getting antsy as he wanted to see unclekage's Story Hour, but it was not to be, as dinner would run late. Despite JJ's best try at losing the rest of the group, I stayed right behind him. Quick note to those who have this lion following them, it is very hard for you to lose me. ;=3 Dinner was at a railroad themed restaurant, which was tastefully done, though I was jokingly disappointed that they didn't give discounts to real locomotive engineers. I did find out later that they are thinking about giving discount to railroad employees though. ;=3
Smrgol and I also talked to the manager about the G-Scale train they had running above the buffet section. Leave it to the Kirin and the lion to talk railroading at the drop of an engineer's cap. :=3
Dinner was good, though some said some of the items were a bit dry. You have to expect that in an "all you can eat" buffet style place though.
We headed back to the hotel and wound down.
Saturday, 3/12/05 - Megaplex!: Morning came and it was a relief not to have to rush anywhere. My roommates and I decided to get breakfast and we headed over to the hotel's "Deli". I had a sandwich there on Friday and knew the prices were reasonable. This was a shock, as most hotel restaurants are priced into the stratosphere. Apparently this Sheraton's food places are priced for the family in mind, as they are comparable to what you would see normally.
After breakfast I decided to register for the day. I only got a one-day pass as I would be leaving, with Smrgol, early on Sunday. It is still amazing to me how many furs know me, that I don't know. It was , "Hey! You're lion King. The one that runs that meet with the train!" This happened again and again, and me without any name badges on, as I forgot mine when I left home. The day was spent wandering around. The fursuit mini-golf was fun to watch as the regular guests came up to have their pictures taken with the suiters.
One of the panels I wanted to get to was the puppetteering lecture. The host was "Sweetums" who works for Disney and was a great instructor. Smrgol and I were the only two that actually brought puppets in and when he saw us later he would ask if we were practicing. ;=3
BTW, the large Folkmanis tiger I have, Shere Conrad, was a big hit. Also, my, heretofore-unnamed, ferret puppet was named by an English woman and her daughter. They decided that his name should be "Fred the Ferret", so now it is. ;=3
The next two panels were in direct conflict, the CARE presentation and the fur-suit building panel. I opted for the CARE presentation as I had heard that they might bring a Florida panther in.
CARE is a great group and the presentation was well done. They did indeed bring a panther in, and I learned something, they are not cougars! They are smaller cousins of the cougar. A cougar/puma/mountain lion/cat-a-mount/etc. can get into the 100 lb range, but a FL panther will only get to 60 lbs and are physically smaller. The cub they had weighed 30lbs was playful. It kept its claws in when being petted and around strangers. It was also the cub's first time out in such a large venue, so it was doubly amazing that the cub was so well behaved.
Of course I had to have my picture taken with a panther, so I paid my $5 and sat down behind it. I was lucky in that they were going to move the photo session to the main ballroom, so I got more time with it. I asked if I could pet her. I was told yes, and the best part was the cub was on its back and I got to rub its tummy. The cub purred and I had a big grin on my face. There were two contented cats in that room then. :=3
After that was the charity auction withunclekage as auctioneer. While I could not afford anything, I figured I sit in and watch. I also got to heckle, good naturedly, Uncle Kage and jbadger.
The next thing I wanted to see was the "Mascot Games". I saw Rasvar getting a camera ready and I asked if he needed help. I explained that I was a tech in theater and was experienced. He said he needed help with the camera's cord. I agreed to be his "gaffer" and it gave me a chance to help out with the con. It was funny at one point in that Rasvar had swung the camera a full 360 on its tripod, thereby encircling the cord around the tripod. I said, with much laughter, "Rasvar! Now look what you did!" He also laughed and with me ducking below the camera's FOV, we got everything untangled.
The games were fun and kudos go out to "Battleshipcuddlewhumpis"(?sp) on winning the limbo event. Getting those 'roo ears through without touching was amazing.
After the games Smrgol and I helped Kuddle Pup and Yappy Fox assemble the puppet stage. This was an exercise in a 3D jigsaw puzzle, with Smrgol and I having no idea of how it was supposed to look. We got it assembled about 15 minutes before the "Gong Show" was supposed to start in the same room we were setting up.
The rest of the night was spent just lounging around with me sitting in one of the couches, in the lobby, with my tiger puppet. A few people did quick looks and thought he was real. One to the point of saying, "Yikes! I thought he was real and I only had one drink!" I guess that is a compliment on my puppeteer skills. ;=3
I also chatted with some regular guests who had question about the con. I explained, in very generic terms, what it was about. They also asked about the tails, I had my lion tail on, and the fursuiters. I explained what the tails stood for and what the suiters were doing. I also told them to make no mistake, that those suits were hot and it takes a lot out of you to do it. They were impressed and went away, I believe, with a favorable impression with furs.
So ends Saturday
Next up: Sunday and Monday
Fri 3/11/05 - Travel Day: I left at around 10a for Megaplex. The car seemed to be running fine, but I noticed that the miss was back, though not quite as bad. It was a joy to drive a car that was quiet in the exhaust department. I only had to drive ~800 miles to fix that problem. Anyway it was time well spent with my bro.
On the way down I saw more and more bikers and trailers with bikes on them. What surprised me was the amount of bikers headed away from Daytona on some of the back roads.
I got to the Megaplex hotel at about 2p or so. A quick note to
camstone and the_gneech, I was wearing the super special, limited edition, The Watering Hole golf shirt and someone from the con said they loved it. ;=3I checked into the room I would be sharing with
smrgol_t_kirin and tonyringtail. On the way over, and while I was at the hotel I tried calling Smrgol to see where he was. I knew there was a possibility that they would head over to a local amusement park, not one of the big ones, and do some fursuiting and go-cart driving. For the record the lion loves go-carts and mini Indy racers. ;=3 Getting no answer I then asked rasvar where the event was being held.After getting confuzzled and driving the length of International Drive, I stumbled upon the place after stopping at a local McDonald's, to grab a burger, and asking where the local go-cart track was. I was no more than 2 blocks from it. :=3
It was nice to get into the place for half price and driving the go-carts. A note of warning however, the "bumper boats" there are not your standard bumper boats. These have a "Squirt" feature I had not seen. Being the only adult with 3 kids I got drenched. :=/ Now, if I'm prepared to get wet (i.e. having swim trunks, or shorts, on and a towel handy) I'll take as much as I can dish out. However this time I was not ready and had my cell phone in my pants pocket. I had to call a halt to them squirting me. 3 on 1 is not fun.
Smrgol ended up riding back to the hotel with me and we saw a model railroad exhibit, which will play a part on Monday. After we arrived I met up with
jugularjaguar. He told me that he had the perfect place for us to have dinner. A good friend, Nebulous, showed up and we headed out, Smrgol, Nebulous, and myself, in my car to catch up with JJ. Smrgol was getting antsy as he wanted to see unclekage's Story Hour, but it was not to be, as dinner would run late. Despite JJ's best try at losing the rest of the group, I stayed right behind him. Quick note to those who have this lion following them, it is very hard for you to lose me. ;=3 Dinner was at a railroad themed restaurant, which was tastefully done, though I was jokingly disappointed that they didn't give discounts to real locomotive engineers. I did find out later that they are thinking about giving discount to railroad employees though. ;=3Smrgol and I also talked to the manager about the G-Scale train they had running above the buffet section. Leave it to the Kirin and the lion to talk railroading at the drop of an engineer's cap. :=3
Dinner was good, though some said some of the items were a bit dry. You have to expect that in an "all you can eat" buffet style place though.
We headed back to the hotel and wound down.
Saturday, 3/12/05 - Megaplex!: Morning came and it was a relief not to have to rush anywhere. My roommates and I decided to get breakfast and we headed over to the hotel's "Deli". I had a sandwich there on Friday and knew the prices were reasonable. This was a shock, as most hotel restaurants are priced into the stratosphere. Apparently this Sheraton's food places are priced for the family in mind, as they are comparable to what you would see normally.
After breakfast I decided to register for the day. I only got a one-day pass as I would be leaving, with Smrgol, early on Sunday. It is still amazing to me how many furs know me, that I don't know. It was , "Hey! You're lion King. The one that runs that meet with the train!" This happened again and again, and me without any name badges on, as I forgot mine when I left home. The day was spent wandering around. The fursuit mini-golf was fun to watch as the regular guests came up to have their pictures taken with the suiters.
One of the panels I wanted to get to was the puppetteering lecture. The host was "Sweetums" who works for Disney and was a great instructor. Smrgol and I were the only two that actually brought puppets in and when he saw us later he would ask if we were practicing. ;=3
BTW, the large Folkmanis tiger I have, Shere Conrad, was a big hit. Also, my, heretofore-unnamed, ferret puppet was named by an English woman and her daughter. They decided that his name should be "Fred the Ferret", so now it is. ;=3
The next two panels were in direct conflict, the CARE presentation and the fur-suit building panel. I opted for the CARE presentation as I had heard that they might bring a Florida panther in.
CARE is a great group and the presentation was well done. They did indeed bring a panther in, and I learned something, they are not cougars! They are smaller cousins of the cougar. A cougar/puma/mountain lion/cat-a-mount/etc. can get into the 100 lb range, but a FL panther will only get to 60 lbs and are physically smaller. The cub they had weighed 30lbs was playful. It kept its claws in when being petted and around strangers. It was also the cub's first time out in such a large venue, so it was doubly amazing that the cub was so well behaved.
Of course I had to have my picture taken with a panther, so I paid my $5 and sat down behind it. I was lucky in that they were going to move the photo session to the main ballroom, so I got more time with it. I asked if I could pet her. I was told yes, and the best part was the cub was on its back and I got to rub its tummy. The cub purred and I had a big grin on my face. There were two contented cats in that room then. :=3
After that was the charity auction with
unclekage as auctioneer. While I could not afford anything, I figured I sit in and watch. I also got to heckle, good naturedly, Uncle Kage and jbadger.The next thing I wanted to see was the "Mascot Games". I saw Rasvar getting a camera ready and I asked if he needed help. I explained that I was a tech in theater and was experienced. He said he needed help with the camera's cord. I agreed to be his "gaffer" and it gave me a chance to help out with the con. It was funny at one point in that Rasvar had swung the camera a full 360 on its tripod, thereby encircling the cord around the tripod. I said, with much laughter, "Rasvar! Now look what you did!" He also laughed and with me ducking below the camera's FOV, we got everything untangled.
The games were fun and kudos go out to "Battleshipcuddlewhumpis"(?sp) on winning the limbo event. Getting those 'roo ears through without touching was amazing.
After the games Smrgol and I helped Kuddle Pup and Yappy Fox assemble the puppet stage. This was an exercise in a 3D jigsaw puzzle, with Smrgol and I having no idea of how it was supposed to look. We got it assembled about 15 minutes before the "Gong Show" was supposed to start in the same room we were setting up.
The rest of the night was spent just lounging around with me sitting in one of the couches, in the lobby, with my tiger puppet. A few people did quick looks and thought he was real. One to the point of saying, "Yikes! I thought he was real and I only had one drink!" I guess that is a compliment on my puppeteer skills. ;=3
I also chatted with some regular guests who had question about the con. I explained, in very generic terms, what it was about. They also asked about the tails, I had my lion tail on, and the fursuiters. I explained what the tails stood for and what the suiters were doing. I also told them to make no mistake, that those suits were hot and it takes a lot out of you to do it. They were impressed and went away, I believe, with a favorable impression with furs.
So ends Saturday
Next up: Sunday and Monday
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-03-19 03:57 pm (UTC)-TG
no subject
Date: 2005-03-19 05:28 pm (UTC)Lizard Rat out.
"My birthday suit IS my fursuit!" in Albany NY
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Date: 2005-03-20 01:33 am (UTC)