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The "screw you, got mine." Mind set was DEFINITELY there for the monorail. I had to scream at people coming on that we where full. Not listening.
Thank you for bringing more attention to this Zepla. I was there at Fanfest and while I'm not disabled in any way myself I saw just how bad it was for those. I have a friend who really wants to go and I had to tell her when I got back that unless they fix the things that were wrong, I would not recommend going in any capacity due to how poorly managed this was.
I don't know who needs to read this, but Las Vegas is not in California. It's in Nevada.
I was there and my friend whom I was his +1 was an ADA attendee (walks with a cane). When we were in the line for the battle challenge, we asked a Square staffer (yellow T shirt) if there was expedited access to the challenge for ADA. She said there wasn't but if we needed anything, we should ask and they would accommodate us in anyway possible. An hour later still in line, my friend is tired of this prolong standing and we flag a different Square staffer and ask if there is a chair or stool my friend can have and she rather bluntly says there are no stools anywhere and "we're all standing" Attendees in the battle challenge line on Day 1 were in line were all standing for hours, ADA or otherwise.
Being disabled sucks. I've been disabled all my life. This isn't news. Nobody has ever cared about us. This kind of thing is why I don't go out.
The lines, security, and overall convention management was abysmal. The security was especially concerning. No, I don't think it's likely someone would go in and try to hurt people– but it was a very crowded event and if someone wanted to they definitely could have. People ducked in under the ropes skipping security, they didn't check wristbands, barely checked anyone's bags..
We still had fun watching the keynote & concerts, but everything else was a bummer.
Also this wasn't a huge deal but after the keynote, the staff began opening up the wall between the two "rooms" used for the convention. They made zero effort to let people know to stand out of the way and this is during everyone's mad rush to the food stalls and bathrooms after the keynote had just ended (in rooms way too small for the attendance). My husband and I were walking and came out from behind a pillar and one of the wall panels smacked into my husband. He was OK, but zero apology from the staff. After this, they decided to put up cones and tell people not to walk there.. To top it off, while he was waiting on me to use the restroom, the staff didn't realize he was still nearby and were making fun of "the dumbass that ran into the door" as if it was somehow not their fault for giving zero warning and pushing it into him..
Tbh they need to only do 2 fanfests per expansion. 1 In the end of Oct & 1 in Jan or April. There's not even enough expanson material they cover in 3 fanfests anyway without it being padded out. You're basically going to Las Vegas for a 2min teaser trailer, worse when the teaser trailer isnt that good. lol
What is ADA? I'm not from the US, I wish ppl didnt assumed everyone knows every acronym without context. I'm googling ADA and the best I get is American Dental Association which clearly is not this.
US convention staff really don't care. I went to the D23 Expo in Anaheim a few times and the staff hired by the convention are usually completely inept or unsympathetic while its usually staff hired by the company that are trying their hardest. It really stinks.
Even as non-ADA… day 1 was a NIGHTMARE. I showed up, got through registration easily, then went OUTSIDE in the 110 degree heat for about an hour or so waiting to get in (and of course I arrived at the convention center with no water in my bottle because they told us we could only bring empty bottles into the convention center), we were among the last people to get into the hall right right before the keynote started (which I'm glad for, because being RIGHT THERE for the hype of the trailer reveal was the ONLY good part of Day 1), immediately went into the merch "line" (which was much less of a "line" and more of an amorphous blob of people) right after Phil came onstage with the Xbox announcement and stood there for a couple of hours, only to be given a ticket to come back later in the day. When I got my ticket was ALSO when I found the water bottle filling station, so I managed to get my first drink of the day then. We then chilled in the quiet room for a bit, which was pleasant enough, and then we went down for food… Which again, was just a single huge blob-line of people for every single food stand (Food lines were among the biggest improvements on Day 2 IMO, instead of one giant line to the food stalls, each individual stall got its own line). We later went back to the battle challenge line for our scheduled time… And then were told by staff that reservations meant nothing and we'd have to go to the back of the line, which would take another few hours to get through, so we just ended up going into the merch line so we'd make it for our merch timeslot. We got though that and guess what, merch line was closed for the day so we were told to come back tomorrow. We left shortly after, one of us got the earliest flight out of Vegas they could, and had basically all resigned ourselves to not even bothering returning to fanfest for day 2. The ONLY reason we went back is because one of our group had a picture session with Matt and Murouchi that she really wanted to do, so I went with her and we instantly noticed lines were A LOT better. We jumped in and did the battle challenge, I was able to use my ticket from the day before to get merch, lines for food and stuff were manageable and we did get to enjoy ourselves, and by the end of the primals concert we were all glad we came back.
Overall, what really sucked was there was the whole overall organization of the event- there was TONS of miscommunication between staff to the point where every single staff member would tell us something different, lines were insanely disorganized to the point you couldn't call them lines anymore, vending machines were filled with water but they were broken so you couldn't get any, you couldn't see where the water fountains were due to the crowds, the whole thing was just a mess, and I can only imaging how bad it was for people who couldn't get the proper accommodations they needed. In the end I liked it, but I'm really unsure if I'd ever go to another one again.
I will be very honest, I am not surprised at all. The moment we saw comments on twitter that "keynote starting in 5 minutes and a huge line of people still waiting outside" I knew its gonna be that kind of event. I feel like if during ticket purchase it was noted that ADA people will be accommodated then they should probably ask to get back their money since they saw nothing from the show. And this makes people angry at each other while people should be fully angry only at the organizers…
Vegas not a good place to begin with.
convention organizers are a mess atm because of being understaffed and not having years of experience because of COVID. No excuse for it
Vegas is also a historically poor convention host. If they actually went to a real city that handles its business, these issues get addressed and fixed
I’ve never been to one of these but I am physically disabled. Thank you for making space to highlight some of this stuff
The key thing I noticed was the Square staff was always at odds with the Venue staff. The actual venue staff were very mean, and didn't really care for safety. It felt like they didn't expect this kind of event, let alone the turnout. I witnessed multiple arguments between Square Staff and Venue Staff which goes to show communication just wasn't there.
What a fine example of echo chamber.
This is awful I hope the London venue handles it better 😞
Where are you?
Fanfest sucked whether or not you were disabled. I had more fun going to Area 15 and just bullshitting with FC/Static people I know than going to this. Enjoyed the concerts though, I'd say that was worth the 200 dollar ticket price otherwise if there was ever another Vegas Fanfest I'd go just to be with the people I care about again without going to the actual event
Wow I am suprised by this. If I was Square Enix I would not hire those guys again. Also I would make sure to find out what went wrong and make sure not to repeat it.
no more Las Vegas please. do it in NYC or something.
What I'm hearing is anyone could of attended without a ticket, interesting since they made a big deal about numbers and the lottery etc jus to have it be a free for all on the day. My heart goes out to those with disabilities, you / we are often overlooked and its not fair, you paid for your ticket too and you deserved to have a good time.
On a note that's nothing to do with the fanfest…
Ever notice how the Ancients equate their suped up, truly powerful forms to 'running around robeless' (Or basically in the nude?)
And –
That Godbert Manderville is essentially the strongest thing on the planet, and he's sometimes clothed, but he only seems to fight in that suped up after getting naked?
I think every single person agrees. Never host this mid summer in Vegas again. Too damn hot
I hate to hear how poor security was especially since we had to call the FBI a few months ago because our resident Lamia shout chat menace was threatening to bring guns to Fan Fest. I'm relatively sure that he was taken care of and yet another of his accounts got banned, but his creepy videos are still on YouTube and who's to say he didn't try and show up anyways.
I hope Zepla doesnt attend the London fanfest in protest and stand for all that was affected!
I’m sorry. I left a rather poorly thought out comment on the stream, and it should not have been asked. The ADA peoples needs must be properly addressed in the future.
The weather was “unsafe” lmao
“If you have diabetes or have occasional back pain you qualify for ADA” – really?
I was a non ADA attendee, and I did have a good time but mostly because I was with friends. The line outside in 115 degree weather in direct sun, standing on asphalt, was brutal for anyone. No lines had any sort of order or maintenance which was shocking. I can also confirm that security never checked my bags or anything once & I walked through areas without a metal detector often. The monorail also got completely mobbed afterwards and we were basically trapped in that crowd. Very anxiety inducing. The concerts were beautiful, keynote so hype, and I met so many lovely people but it makes me sad so many had an awful time. I was exhausted by the time it was over. Thanks for calling attention to this.
Their experience is why I’ve been to scared too go to a con of any kind.
🙁
I actually remember for the battle challenge on day 2 , my friend and I asked which line to go in and they told us to go in the ADA line. Neither of us are ADA so we were like "uhhhh are you sure" and then they just had us stand at the front of the line like what lmao what is this.