What you're seeing/hearing at the show...

[OhioLawyerF5]

You gotta love the suburbs! We rented a house in Parma, which is a perfect location for a nice neighborhood and a short and easy 10-15 minute drive to the show.

When we got back tonight after the show, this is what we found.

[jmarascojr]

So it took us an hour from the door of our hotel to the door of the IX Center this morning and it should've been 12 minutes.

We also saw the people getting out and walking. The Convention Center could've definitely had more people out there directing traffic, shame on them.
We went all the way down like we did yesterday ("the back door") and got free parking again.

Walked in at 10am and there were already lines at the bathrooms ha ha ha...
Didn't bother with food or drink all day, those lines were horrendous, BRING SNACKS PEOPLE!!!!

It was definitely interesting seeing some of the youtube influencers in person with people following them... You ruined the hobby I loved, Geoff Wilson, Geoff Wilson...

We decided to leave at 5 after hearing all the nonsense from yesterday... In and out really quick, but there was definitely a good chunk of people leaving.

Good luck to everyone this weekend... I can't fathom more people (or cars) at that place than I saw in the last two days...

If FANATICS was smart, they'd have people walking the floor this weekend and seeing everything that is going wrong in Cleveland and make sure they don't duplicate the mistakes in NYC in a month or so...

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by jmarascojr

If FANATICS was smart, they'd have people walking the floor this weekend and seeing everything that is going wrong in Cleveland and make sure they don't duplicate the mistakes in NYC in a month or so...

They don’t need to. It’s the same story every year. Amateur run convention.

[asujbl]

Originally Posted by OhioLawyerF5

You will be fine. Definitely overblown complaints. We spent the whole day and were comfortable the whole time.

My recommendations for you. It sounds like you have VIP. That will make life easy for your son. There will be no line to get your credentials. Wednesday was a nightmare as everyone was getting them at the same time. We didn't wait Wednesday and went this morning and had zero wait. The VIP lounge is a game changer. It has its own bathrooms so I never had to wait in line. Go down there for restrooms. (Make sure to use the VIP entrance downstairs when you get there, it's the stairs to the left of the main entrance). Go down to the lounge to take a break, use the restrooms, or even grab some concessions with a shorter line.

Yes, the food lines were long this afternoon. But that's expected with these huge crowds. So just be patient. The food selection was great.

My biggest piece of advice is get there the back way, come from the west on Aerospace and avoid 237 like the plague. Zero wait this morning as we came in from the west and used the west gate, even though we had VIP parking. We just drove all the way around the perimeter of the large west lot to the north lot, which is exhibitor lot. Your VIP parking pass is actually an exhibitor pass. So while the VIP lot right outside the main (east) entrance will fill up quickly, you can still find plenty of spots in the north lot. And the west lot for general parking never filled up all day. But it's quite a hike around the building. When leaving the show, go back to the west gate and turn right onto Aerospace. We left about 1/2 hour before closing and there was a long line of people trying to turn left toward 237. Literally no one turning right. So I got right out of the lot and was on my way. There are tons of routes to the main roads from there, so even if you need to head north, you'll still save time. Our Air BnB is east in Parma and we can come straight there on Bagley and shoot up Front to Sheldon west toward Aerospace and easily bypass the traffic on 237. We slipped right past that whole mess.

Good luck and your kid will have a blast. The show is quite an experience. I prefer the show floor this year over chicago last year. I just think they didn't realize just how massive the crowds would be. But the one thing they did was make the aisles wide, so even though outside was nuts, inside you could still move around. It didn't feel any different maneuvering aisles than any other show I go to.

This is great. Appreciate all the information

[AwesomeBrian]

Reading on IG that the airport told the IX people to get people off the highway and that's when they started letting everyone park free. Crazy.

[JPSportshack]

Originally Posted by mrb842

I will say I was at Rosemont last year and while I'm not in cleveland the show floor looks a lot cleaner, brighter lighting and better than Rosemont did last year. I like Rosemont but the rooms they use for the national looks like a dungeon and what they did last year with that middle room and the mountain range of carpet was awful.

I know exactly what you mean about the middle room that had so much yet was probably used as more if a passageway. Chicago was dim in areas but not much more than trade shows it in Vegas. I started a topic soliciting comparisons so I won't get into it here. It certainly sounds like the biggest issues are happening off the show floor. That's encouraging.

[messier2]

Heading out now, good luck guys! ��

[messier2]

Hitting the same traffic!!!!! Mercy!!!

This time I’m earlier, so all good.

[pharmd19]

About 1.4 miles out traffic at a dead stop

On Wednesday I was 0.5 miles out and it took about an hour to get parked so this is not looking good

[bigdog2003]

It sounds like getting there is a cluster. I've heard a lot of people, including my LCS who is up there, complaining about how long it's taking.

[notoriousrmb]

I left my hotel 25 mins ago, staying 5 mins away. Already parked and inside. I realized today there are like 5 different ways to get to the IX. 99% of people go to the main entry, I used Google maps, came in the back and parked immediately.

[seanrs1]

Originally Posted by notoriousrmb

I left my hotel 25 mins ago, staying 5 mins away. Already parked and inside. I realized today there are like 5 different ways to get to the IX. 99% of people go to the main entry, I used Google maps, came in the back and parked immediately.

What route/address did you put in google maps to go that route?

[DaveTaplin]

Originally Posted by messier2

Wow, you have a great memory. Who else remembers that I do the recaps...I don't even remember doing them?! lol

First thing I look to read about the national every year. I genuinely appreciate you doing it.

[messier2]

Psa pickup line is super long!

[bub838]

Came from the west and pulled in immediately, parked and now waiting in a very long line to get in. It’s moving, though. The line of vehicles coming from the east was insane.

[notoriousrmb]

Originally Posted by seanrs1

What route/address did you put in google maps to go that route?

Just the address of the convention center, didn't do anything special. Brought me in from the west, pulled right in and parked. That being said, I was parking at 9am. Go later and things may be different.

[NYBBFAN]

Originally Posted by messier2

Psa pickup line is super long!

I’m standing in the pickup line as I post this. It’s still long AF.

[asujbl]

Talked to a few people today. Said as long as you don’t care about 10:00 it was fine. Just get there between 11-12

[sonnyday]

Originally Posted by asujbl

Talked to a few people today. Said as long as you don’t care about 10:00 it was fine. Just get there between 11-12

We got there at 11:45 today. The back entrance was a breeze to get into, but the parking lot was packed—beyond packed. We had to park on the grass by a runway.

Inside was chaos. We stayed about an hour and a half. I got some rare Pokemon cards for my son and left. At 2:30 a lot of spots in the parking lot were opening up.

I thought Thursday was busy; today topped that! I am taking tomorrow off and heading up Sunday at closing to hopefully score some last-minute deals.

[messier2]

Taking a snack-break now, what a day!

[messier2]

They’re doing white sparkle packs in exchange for no appt redemptions.

[Giroux]

Are the lines and traffic typical? My only National was in AC and I didn't run into either. I wasn't there super early on Saturday and went later on on Sunday though.

[imbluestreak23]

This has been my worst national experience on nearly every level. Only good thing I have to say is the venue is well lit

Everything that has been said x10

[hammerva]

If you want to eliminate about 20% of the crowd, the IX center should follow their rules about the tables at the food is for food and drink only. people setting up like it is damn trade night with cards spread out all over the place. Hell I am sure being were doing streaming from there

[jfan2024]

Originally Posted by imbluestreak23

This has been my worst national experience on nearly every level. Only good thing I have to say is the venue is well lit

Everything that has been said x10

Couldn’t agree more. Pricing is mostly bad at tables, redemption promos are not worth it from manufacturers, parking is rough, ticket pickup and entrance is rough. First bad National I’ve had, only good news is I’m leaving with way more money than I wanted to after selling the wax I brought and all my black boxes. No redemption cases for me this year.