I stopped by on Saturday the 23rd for the first year of Anime California. It was hosted at the Hyatt Regency near Disneyland so I figured if it didn't go well I could always just walk into the 'Happiest Place on Earth' to rectify the day haha.
For a first year con, it was ok. It was small ( which I am not holding as a negative here ) so if you wanted to have some fun you pretty much needed friends to make sure you had a good time. I went in pretty much knowing that and I did meet up with some friends for pictures so I had a pretty decent time!
I did hear from people that there were bad incidents or that staff was bad. Mostly the Hyatt staff from what I was hearing. Speaking ONLY from my experience that day, I didn't really have any issues with anyone. I spent most of my time outside shooting though, so I don't know what was going on inside where there could have been some issues ( and where most were reported being ).
The only thing that came up for me was the wait for a badge. I went in for a Press badge and the printer broke down when it was my turn to get a badge. It took almost half an hour for me to get the badge but I did get it. I understand that these kind of things happen though so I don't fault Anime California or anyone else for what happened. In fact the person helping me went into full panic mode and did his best to get my badge situation taken care of as well as everyone else that was in line. He just had a string of bad luck happen to him trying to get everything working haha but I was very happy with his effort =]
Would I visit next year? Probably. As long as I have some good friends to visit I'm good. Although they may want to consider a different location based on the reports of the staff behavior.
Here are a few images taken from that day!
Courtoon as Ariel
Courtoon as Ariel
Moon Farron Cosplay and Miss Macross Cosplay as Lili from Tekken and Mika from Killer is Dead