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Every year I travel to LA for Gallifrey One, a fantastic fan-run Doctor Who convention, but now that I live in Connecticut I wanted to try the Long Island Who convention. There are several ways to get to the convention site, but I decided to drive to Bridgeport, take the ferry across the sound to Port Jefferson, NY with a short drive to the hotel. Most relaxing way to travel, I haven't taken a car ferry since I lived in Seattle over 20 years ago. Definitely recommend it.
As for the convention itself, it was more fun than I'd anticipated. At a new convention, where I don't know the venue or have any friends there, I usually have some social anxiety but it wasn't too bad this time. In the 5 minutes it took to walk in the hotel, check in, get my room key and find the elevator I'd already passed Katy Manning and Paul McGann. As a small convention (I think around 500 people) the guest list was small and so were the meeting rooms. Katy Manning and Frazer Hines were charming, frequent guests at US DW cons but their panels didn't feel stale & they were seemed really happy to be there. Paul McGann and Sacha Dhawan were the highlights, though. At one point Paul took a deep dive into his love of silent film, a passion I share.
There were some great fan-run panels on British TV in 2023, collecting screen used props, and several other topics. I think the main downside was the size of the convention space, which seemed cramped. If they could negotiate the use of at least one other meeting room it would help things flow a bit better. I may add this to my list of annual conventions, but as it's an August con, there may be conflicts with my long-standing attendance at WorldCons.
As for the convention itself, it was more fun than I'd anticipated. At a new convention, where I don't know the venue or have any friends there, I usually have some social anxiety but it wasn't too bad this time. In the 5 minutes it took to walk in the hotel, check in, get my room key and find the elevator I'd already passed Katy Manning and Paul McGann. As a small convention (I think around 500 people) the guest list was small and so were the meeting rooms. Katy Manning and Frazer Hines were charming, frequent guests at US DW cons but their panels didn't feel stale & they were seemed really happy to be there. Paul McGann and Sacha Dhawan were the highlights, though. At one point Paul took a deep dive into his love of silent film, a passion I share.
There were some great fan-run panels on British TV in 2023, collecting screen used props, and several other topics. I think the main downside was the size of the convention space, which seemed cramped. If they could negotiate the use of at least one other meeting room it would help things flow a bit better. I may add this to my list of annual conventions, but as it's an August con, there may be conflicts with my long-standing attendance at WorldCons.
