My Friday

[one of vicky's bfs]

I only attended the Friday with Vicky (that's her username on here) and so will tell you about our experience of the day, in particular mine as a newbie and a disabled attendee.

We had looked at the plans and so knew which entrance we would likely need, got there and asked security (some were SIA licenced), they told us we were in the correct queue. Got chatting to a few other attendees who were really friendly (hi if you remember helping stand me up!). Some blue shirts came out and were issuing the Gold bands and directed told us where to collect the 'Helping Hand' slip. Then in we went! Couldn't find any lifts but as I'm on crutches, I slowly went up the stairs.

Guests, VQ ticket for Christopher Lloyd which was confusing to find at the start, even some of the blue crew were confused, but we got there. Picked up Vicky's Diamond MJ Fox bits and Gold bag. Then we met some of the guests around the prop shoot end, some had a small queue, some none! Kristian Nairn does speak more than one word, Finn Jones is just mad about getting naked and Daniel Portman rides horses well and so had to learn how to ride in a clumsy manner for Pod. Then Keisha Castle-Hughes was lovely, I haven't seen all of the latest season but knew she's a Sand Snake, also found out who she played in Walking Dead, it was alongside Emily Kinney who I broke the news to her that Emily wasn't coming, I then confused her with Jessica Henwick regarding Star Wars and she told me that even though her and Ms Henwick are good friends, Ms Henwick won't let on about the new film. Met a few other people as well, Julian Glover who was really nice and thinks he'd give sage advice and Ray Park who was just so chatty to everyone. We met others, but those spring to mind.

Prop shoots, we got the Clock, Delorean and Powerloader. Clock was ok, but I was wearing a dark blue top and so it didn't come out correctly. Delorean was good (only had 32205 on the clock as well, so barely run in), it is however very low getting in but photographer and Vicky helped me in and out and so if you have a physical disability ask first please. Powerloader was fine but it was not weight bearing at all and very flimsy, so it was hard getting a good shot I think. Photographers was both very good, with the Clock one he suggested come back today and stand in front of the white Clock face so that it would be much better, but I'm at home today.

Crew, excellent and it didn't matter what colour their shirt was, they tried to help but if the blues couldn't solve it, they got a red straight away (or as good as). If it was talking about the suitability of the prop shoot for me, or helping me stand up (again!), giving directions to the best of their knowledge, they did it. We had a small problem with a photo shoot for Vicky (I didn't have any shoots), which I'll touch on later, but organiser's desk solved it within moments. So if someone from Showmasters reads this (or even a crew member), please pass on my thanks to them, they were all fab. I won't name names as to who really stood out, mainly because I'll miss someone and they'll feel bad about it. Sadly though, some of the crew were starting to get abuse towards the end of the day, could attendees please remember they are volunteers and do not deserve that.

Venue, could have been better (you'd have known there would be bad bits). The lifts on the side of the cafe near the main signing area went out of action early on. Not too bad you'd think, but Olympia staff were actually debating in front of us whether to call an engineer in at the weekend or not due to cost, not a care in the world for me, the lady in a wheelchair nearby, other attendees or Showmasters, please could this be raised as an issue. The central staircase which Showmasters, I believe, spent a lot of money on was out bounds to people going down. In future, just have a sign on it saying 'keep left' please like the Underground does. Also some clearer signage to each Photo Shoot Area, like the arrows towards the central staircase would help so much and were probably the main questions being asked of crew all day and signs from the entrance to the lifts please.

Photo Shoots, next year could there either be a 5 minute break between shoots or have a crew member walk down and say 'if you are queuing for Guest A stay on my left, if you want Guest B straight after, please stay on my right'. This was an issue for Vicky when she went for a shoot that was very short in time (10 minutes I think?) and so attendees were then queuing for the next guest, so Vicky assumed everyone was for her guest and that guest was really popular. It was only when she got to the front that she told 'tough, missed it' by a crew because it had gone onto the next guest. Luckily organiser's desk sorted it for her, but having that crew member go down the queue and split it means it should never happen again.

Being a disabled attendee, you know something, it didn't matter to a guest, crew or attendee. Everyone was brilliant. There was space to move about, having crutches makes me wider than my skinny body looks like. Plus I was slow and couldn't carry things easily, no-one cared, not a single person that I took a few moments longer moving away from a guests desk or took ages on the stairs. So much so that I'll probably attend more than just the one day next year thanks to some ideas from another attendee over my hands hurting, even though I had gloves on. If you are disabled, please chat to Showmasters and see what they can do for you.

Food after, we went to Pizza Express on site, we won't next year due to complete lack of service which meant our trains getting home were very late, I got home at almost midnight yet I only live near Gatwick. They wouldn't accept my booking of a table because they had a busy day, kinda why I booked! I would not recommend them on that basis, however food was good I suppose.

Overall, I really enjoyed my day and would like to thank Showmasters, crew, guests and attendees for being great people.

I look forward to seeing how other people's Friday, and even weekends, went. Oh and thanks for sticking to reading this thread until the end

[Firecracker]

 

Photo Shoots, next year could there either be a 5 minute break between shoots or have a crew member walk down and say 'if you are queuing for Guest A stay on my left, if you want Guest B straight after, please stay on my right'. This was an issue for Vicky when she went for a shoot that was very short in time (10 minutes I think?) and so attendees were then queuing for the next guest, so Vicky assumed everyone was for her guest and that guest was really popular. It was only when she got to the front that she told 'tough, missed it' by a crew because it had gone onto the next guest. Luckily organiser's desk sorted it for her, but having that crew member go down the queue and split it means it should never happen again.

 

 

 

Glad you had a positive time! I did overall, too.

 

Two comments to reply -

 

1) the staircase was up and down at the start and end, but staff made it up only when things got really busy. Given there were few staff (or none around), I'm genuinely amazed at how well the crowd just automatically self-policed into an up and down, and QUEUED to start going up or down! I used it a few times before finding the corner stairs (which I'd thought were closed off, but those were the stairs down), and I didn't see anyone push in.

 

2) There are usually 5 min breaks at least between photos. And there are usually two blue shirts going up and down the queue shouting out what type tickets/batch numbers they are up to, and checking everyone is in the right queue. They turn away anyone who's joined too early (or on time for one shoot but the previous one is overrunning). And people usually check with the people in front of them when joining the end of a queue. But if Vicky has a problem again, it's worth just asking a blue shirt if the queue there is her queue or she should come back - they'll happily explain.

 

Really glad you had a good time, and the extra help you needed. I saw a few people in chairs or on crutches, and I've the utmost respect - my feet can be tired and I've no disability, so the sheer effort and endurance people have if they do have a disability... hats off.

 

Tangentially - I saw a guy in a wheelchair, I don't know his name or handle here, though I've seen him at other events including DSTL. I think he usually has a hat, and has some kind of mask/tube over his face. Yesterday, his chair was made up in cosplay, with what looked like a jousting type thing over the chair, and "Galavan" on the back - I wanted to say it looked really good, but he was in a stream of people trying to get somewhere, so I couldn't get this attention . If he sees it here - nice job!