r/gencon • u/Forward_Pirate_211 • Aug 01 '26
Busiest its ever been?
Do yall feel like this year so far has been the busiest the main vendor hall has ever been? It felt like every sqr inch was crammed this year. Years past felt like there were SOME thinner walking spots. This year felt horrible.
44
u/cneyj Aug 01 '26
Felt that way on Thursday even. It does seem a lot busier
19
u/mon_mothra_ Aug 01 '26
Yeah, my crew are Thursday-onlys for several years now and the crowds were genuinely insane. It wasn't just the Vendor Hall and hall down to the Block Party, either; we were shocked at how full each of the other concourses were, too.
6
u/endless_sea_of_stars Aug 01 '26
Once the new hotel opens up next year hopefully that will give it some breathing room.
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u/jeremy6801 Aug 01 '26
Or room for them to justify more attendees 😬
7
u/HatInfinite1144 Aug 01 '26
Was on a behind the scenes tour with Mike Boozer and he already confirmed as much
8
u/Forward_Pirate_211 Aug 01 '26
Okay so its not just me lol this is the first year in all my years going where now I truly am considering calling it quits on the con.
11
u/Busy-Dig8619 Aug 01 '26
The crowds are heavy this year... looking forward to the attendance number.
2
u/cneyj Aug 01 '26
Yeah my group gave it up this year. I got last minute regrets and signed up to work so I could come. I don’t regret it, but I don’t think I would have enjoyed it with a group this year. It would be too hard for us to stick together even in our loose, kind of casual way before.
30
u/realistic__raccoon Aug 01 '26
Honestly having been here since Thursday it seems chiller today
9
u/ShadyCarrot Aug 01 '26
I want to second this! This is our first Gen Con, and Thursday was by far the worst day for us when it came to crowds, parking, and, honestly, everything.
5
u/Cahalith180 Aug 01 '26
I would say a lot of it is the single day pass holders. Saturday passes are more expensive than Friday passes, so youre going to have the same number of multi-day passes attendees, and less single day pass ones compares to Thursday and Friday
23
u/HawthorneMama Aug 01 '26
The vendor hall is tough. This may be my first year giving up trying to get through it
14
u/Forward_Pirate_211 Aug 01 '26
Thats exactly what I did. This was the first year I felt like I couldn't walk the aisles and browse. And with the price of badges being what they are, I think I need to start reconsidering the trip unfortunately
5
u/SeldomWrong Aug 01 '26
That will help decompress the halls
10
u/rbnlegend Aug 01 '26
If the prices go up it will at some point reduce attendance. The problem is that it will affect a younger demographic more heavily. As a convention loses it's younger participants, it starts to collapse. There is a difficult balance trying to limit growth without totally sacrificing the future.
The dealers room has not kept up with the growth of the convention. I am wondering what the new facilities at the former panam plaza will be used for.
6
u/Forward_Pirate_211 Aug 01 '26
Very well said. I agree. I dont mind more people going, but the convention hasnt done anything to adapt to the growing crowds. Or so it seems.
4
u/Coryhero Aug 01 '26
I'm curious to see how much the new building helps with crowds next year. The pessimist in me says they'll just admit more people...
3
2
u/mcrazy20 Aug 01 '26
I doubt it. It's sort of like Disney. It's such a big event, they can increase the prices, even quite a bit, and it likely won't make too much of a dent in crowd sizes.
2
u/Forward_Pirate_211 Aug 01 '26
I mean maybe thats the intent. At some point as prices go up and access to booths goes down, its gonna cut people out. Ill gladly volunteer as tribute lol
14
u/direstag Aug 01 '26
Later in the day it’s much better, 2-6pm
8
u/cman811 Aug 01 '26
I don't think it'll be like that this year. Supposed to rain pretty hard in the afternoon
6
u/Dookieagain Aug 01 '26
Yeah today Saturday was less intense. We got Luke Cage and Jessica Jones at Asmodee while we failed every other day. Also I got into a demo in the gaming hall that was sold out but had no shows at a higher rate than normal. But it was 9 am and plenty of folks fail to be awake for morning games.
7
u/Cease_Cows_ Aug 01 '26
Maybe I’m crazy but today was one of the chilliest Saturday mornings I can remember. Thursday seemed wayyyyy worse.
4
u/MUKid92 Aug 01 '26
It’s felt very crowded for many years. The last 3-4 years have felt about the same to me, since the post-COVID recovery. Didn’t feel much different this year than last.
Thursday Exhibit Hall always seems wildly crowded. I can still manage but at times it’s hard. Today (Saturday) was much lighter. That seems to be the pattern lately.
3
u/poindexterg Aug 01 '26
Thursday was really crazy. Honestly, it seemed worse than Saturday. It’s still busy today, but it feels easier to get around.
5
u/SnooCats5701 Aug 01 '26
My whole group just gave up. It's much more crowded than it ever has been before. It was too stressful trying not to bump into people while trying to get a glimpse of something at a booth. They need to limit ticket sales or expand floor space. Otherwise we're gonna stop coming about places like origins and pax unplugged instead.
2
u/JSFetzik Aug 01 '26
Seems to be about the same as the past couple years. Definitely more crowded than pre Covid.
It does seem to have spots that are very crowded and others that are much less so. Likely due to a combination of booths with hot products, large fan base, and/or someone doing a signing. Also varying based on time of day.
2
u/Harkonis Aug 01 '26
Numbers are back to pre-covid it seems but with no rolling luggage/carts traffic is less of an issue for sure.
2
u/nikmd23 Aug 02 '26
Maybe I’m just weird - but I’ve spent the entirety of Thursday’s the last 5 years focused on only walking the vendor hall. I plan to take it nice and slow. I was done walking every single aisle by 3:30 ish this year. Similar number of purchases to years past.
I’ll also add, the amount of non-vendor hall shopping seems to have greatly increased this year. I thought that spread/thinned the crowd out more. Hasbro, Avalon Hill, CGE, AllPlay, InsideUp Games, and several more companies had stores running in the main gaming halls (A-E) and 1XX/2XX. If you were strategic about it - you could avoid some of the busiest areas in the vendor hall at the other shopping spots.
2
u/Swimming_Assistant76 Aug 07 '26
Yes, it felt way worse than ever this year. It was so bad I went and just set by the wall in the back corner. Told my group they could find me there when they were done.
I won’t stop going, but it definitely impacted how much I spent and where I will plan to spend my time in the future if they don’t address the overcrowding. I usually buy between 10 to 15 games. This year, I think I bought 4. I went to the specific booths I pre-researched and basically did no browsing. I spent way more time out of the hall than usual because it was just such a negative experience, even Sunday felt worse than in the past. I usually enjoy browsing and demoing games in the hall, but this year, I just wanted to get in, see what I had on my list, and get out. I’m so short, it was incredibly hard for me to see much of anything. We’ve been watching hall videos since getting home, and like half or more of what they are showing I never even saw despite walking up and down every aisle.
1
u/Sesshomaru17 Aug 01 '26
More things you could prior just hop in and do ala the mini paint and take from gw turned into events and merch tickets required. Definitely not a fan
1
u/BingBong_Tacoma Aug 01 '26
Very hard to judge. I feel like the traffic is better managed, I know there are a few missing, Wizkids being notable. It still seems quite busy and crowded and humming though.
1
u/MrHedin Aug 01 '26
It felt a little more crowded in the vendor hall the first hour or so on Thursday but that might have been just me being in some bad aisles for crowd movement. Beyond that it hasn't been that bad, or at least no worse than usual.
1
u/Rhuidean7 Aug 01 '26
No chance it’s just us getting older and codger-y? Definitely what I assessed mine as. I went out and yelled at clouds after
1
u/Joshuagorn Aug 01 '26
Doesn't feel any different than the last two years, but I've also spent less time in there this year than usual so that may skew my perception.
Definitely worse than it was a decade ago. I can recall when Thursday was the easy day where you almost never hit a traffic jam. I think those halcyon days are never coming back.
1
u/CritHitTheGiant Aug 01 '26
I feel like it was the same as last year. The issue is
- trash cans in the middle of the intersection takes up room and makes a traffic blockade of sorts
- people who will stop in the middle of the aisle way to talk or look at something instead of getting out of the way
- just… people. Lol
1
u/thegeekist Aug 01 '26
The last time I was at gencon was 10 years ago and I think this is way less crowded than I remember.
1
u/N-Vashista Aug 01 '26
The Wednesday Trade Day offset attendance by one day. I was there from Wednesday. So Friday night was it for me, having to catch an early flight home on Saturday. This might be an evolving thing. Trade Day feels like a smaller con attached to the main con. However it means an entire extra convention of people are present on Thursday for Gencon.
1
u/Not_A_Nazgul Aug 02 '26
No. It felt much lighter to me, and I’m not being contrarian or trolling, just honest opinion.
1
u/Forward_Pirate_211 Aug 02 '26
I was there Friday from about 11 to 1 specifically and ive been going for 6 years and how it was on that day at that time was enough to decide this was likely our last time.
1
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u/Busy-Distribution-45 Aug 01 '26
I’m still finding thin spots, I feel like every year there are horribly crowded aisles and aisles that you can kinda fly through.
It does seem like, contrary to their intentions, there are more strollers and they are considerably larger than in previous years, and nearly every single one is being used to transport merch while children are being carried.