what is going on in here on this day

Oh my god I’m back again with my 25th dragon con recap.
It’s been over a week so I’m probably going to struggle to remember everything at this point LOL
Also work has been full on NUTS since I came back and I hate it.

Monday last week we both worked half days and hit the road around 1.

Everything we needed to squeeze into the car.

The car loaded up!

Trip to Atlanta was uneventful.

Pulled into the Marriott right around 8.

Nobody was at check in. The person at the counter asked if we needed an accessible room and we said no, we just wanted a room with bathtub. They said no king rooms had a bathtub, did we want a queen? And I said no, no big deal then, just a king with a shower is fine. So they get us checked in for our Mon-Wed reservation, and she links up our Thurs-Mon reservation to it too. All seems good until we get to the room.

And it’s a wheelchair accessible room. With a doorbell, no extra furniture, NO CLOSET and no counter space in the bathroom. Yes it had one of those wardrobe things the Marriott has – but it was half the normal size. Nowhere near the amount of space I needed to hang everything, and absolutely not long enough – it was about maybe 3 feet of hanging room, fine for a business traveler with a couple of shirts to hang but not for a costumer who needed to hang up 16 costumes, many of them floor length.

We sat on the bed trying to figure out what to do – Chase did not want to go back down and ask to switch rooms. So we were googling garment racks, considering going to buy a garment rack the next day so I could hang everything on that. It was walking into the bathroom and seeing that there was no counter space – the space to set things around the sink was maybe 2 inches on either side – that broke me and I insisted we had to go ask for a different room. Besides the fact the room did not work for what I needed it for – we also just didn’t need to take a wheelchair accessible room from someone in a wheelchair?

So back down to the desk to ask nicely to switch rooms. The manager acted like we were angry customers asking for the moon, it was kind of off-putting. We told him the room just didn’t work for us, there was no closet, and we didn’t need to take a wheelchair accessible room. He “upgraded us” for our troubles to a city view room. But would not let us stay in for the Wed-Mon portion of our stay. He said we’d have to come back down Wednesday, check out, check back in and possibly move again. We said OK, whatever we needed to do, and as we walked off we heard him telling the other employee that we were mad about our room. Ew.

But, while we were down at the desk, another hotel guest walked up – it was Paris Jackson?! Apparently she was playing a show in town the next night and staying there. Pretty cool.

So we bundled everything back up and moved to our new room on the 36th floor, and of course since he made it seem like we’d have to move rooms Wednesday, I did not unpack. Chase then had some anxiety about being up so high and didn’t sleep great.

Tuesday we got up and got dressed and went out for a day out in Atlanta.

We picked out a breakfast spot that sounded fun – and as soon as we got there we realized we ate here like 2 years ago LOL

Ran around to various places we wanted to check out. Chase got lots of coffee to bring home.

Stumbled upon the Mood Fabrics showroom. It’s not the same as going to buy fabric off bolts, but it is a nice thing to be able to touch the fabric before ordering. They had a Loooot of samples!

We ran out basic errands, picking up food for the room, and a couple of extra reusable bags to carry it all in if we had to change rooms the next day.

Came back and took a nap, got changed and headed out for our dinner reservations. We ate a place called Forza Storico:

It was soooo good. Then we had to run more errands for stuff we forgot earlier LOL.

Sidebar here: I think I mentioned in previous blog posts about me trying those Vizz eyedrops to improve up-close sight. I tried them for the first time Tuesday. They irritated my eyes like CRAZY – my eyes were so red I looked like I’d been crying for days. But holy shit they WORKED?! I did not need my glasses all day. It was fantastic. The effect lasted about 10 hours for me that day. I used them every day the rest of the week to varying degrees of length of effect – a couple of days I don’t think I got the full drop in my eye, so like Thursday they were already wearing off after about 7 hours. Sat and Sun I made Chase help me with them and used a piece of paper to hold my lower lid open and both of those days it worked much better. And the irritation from the initial drop got better every day – by Sunday they weren’t bothering me at all anymore. The only “issue” I had while using them was that I couldn’t see quite as well in dim situations – and coming in from the bright Hilton steps to the darker inside was a bigger adjustment than usual. But that was it, and since it was usually worn off by evening, I really wasn’t in that many dim situations. I am pissed that the pharmacy didn’t tell me they needed to be refrigerated if I wasn’t going to use them within 30 days, so now I’ve 18 more vials to try to use up in the next 3 weeks – I wasn’t planning to use these every single day, only on the weekends. So some may get tossed out, but I know better for my refill now.

Anyway. Yall are here for Dragon Con, not vacation pics and eyedrop news.

Wednesday morning Chase went down to deal with the room at 7am, so if we had to change we’d be able to get a bell cart quickly. Thankfully the person working the counter that morning was a GEM who kept us in the same room (despite it being an expensive upgrade), so I could finally unpack!

All the shoes

You expect me to cram all this into a 1ft x 4ft wardrobe space? LOL (Chase said it was more like 2ft wide but I don’t think it was that big LOL)

Went to lunch at Saints + Council with friends, then back to work on Chase’s armor.

We tested out the shoulder rigging and he finished the lighting in his helmet.

Then we wandered around a bit and checked out the Hilton decorations.

I liked the big blue postcard photo-op the Hilton had set up.

This was Wednesday night?!

I put on Rogue for the night and we got drinks at Trader Vic’s, hung out with folks, it was a chill night. That night I wore Rogue I wore it with my heeled boots. Chase had to replace one of my heel caps Sunday before we left so they’d be wearable. Guess what happened Wednesday night? The other heel cap came off and was lost somewhere in the marriott or hilton. Glad I brought a back up pair.

These folks across from us kept adding funny stuff to their door all week.

Thursday we got up early, I got into Rizzo, and we headed on down to the Courtland Grand to get our badges by 8:30. Outside segment was very short, we were inside within 15 minutes, all together we waited about 45 minutes to get our badges.

I finally wisened up and removed my last name from my badge after we bought them. And updated my location. Nobody said it had to be a real location.

Apparently us going to get badges early was the right move – the line got to be about a 3 hour wait later, with people passing out in the heat outside. Not good.

I get why Dragon Con doesn’t mail badges beforehand. But I really hope they brainstorm some better ideas to prevent this from happening again.

We had a quick breakfast in the Hilton – very mid, did not go back for that again – and then headed out for the Muppets shoot.

This was fun but it was SO HOT. In the direct sun, wearing a fleece bomber jacket LOL

I had to shower after that, I was so sweaty.

Decided to put on T’Lyn because I’d seen several other Lower Decks costumers around and was hoping to get pics with some of them. Did I ever see them again? Nope.

Wore that around for a while – we walked around for a bit, went over to see what was happening at the Hyatt, etc. After a while I got WAY too hot in T’Lyn so I decided to get out of it – and had to take ANOTHER shower because I was so overheated.

Put on disneybound Leia and I think this was the FASTEST I’ve ever done these buns? And it shows, I had a loose piece hanging out of one of them LOL

Went to dinner in that – Big Kahuna, where they played Billie Jean 3 times in a row.

Went out to the Hilton patio to check out the Stranger Things photoshoot. Then decided it was time to put on a “real” costume (not that T’Lyn wasn’t, but something more complicated I guess LOL) and went and got into the Padme/Taylor Swift mashup suit, since it was bunny hutch night and that kinda fit the vibes.

I’m still not happy with the way this suit fits but the lace-up back did make it a little more comfortable. The problem this night was the wig – I did not get the front comb set and pinned in right, and within a half hour it was trying to pull backwards and pulling my real hair REALLY bad. It was so uncomfortable – and honestly nobody seemed to care about the costume anyway? – that I just went and got out of it and put on Scully after about an hour.

Scully got MORE attention that the Padme/Taylor outfit LOL. I had also found a bunch of the little glow in the dark aliens from my birthday in 2019 so I had those in my pocket and I handed them out to anybody who complimented my costume, so that was fun. Also nice to be able to just wear my real glasses since by this point, the eye drops were way worn off.

Catherine got in around 11, so once they were on site, we went back up the room and I gathered up her drinks and snacks we’d gotten for her during our errand-running on Tuesday and took them up to her. She was on the 43rd floor? I think. It was in a different elevator bank than us (on 36), so I had to go down to 10 and switch banks to go up to her room. I decided I’d just skip that and go down the stairs on the way back and it was… creepy. It had motion-activated lights in there and some of them did not pop on LOL

Friday morning and it’s finally Padme time!

My first time having it all on together!

Wore it to the Women of Star Wars shoot, where I got insanely sweaty.

But we did occasionally have a nice breeze and had so much fun trading stickers with folks.
I was shocked I was the only picnic at the shoot. I thought for sure they’d be a few others. I had wanted to do a mini picnic shoot!

Had to chase down these costumes for a photo – dad introduced me to Angine de Poitrine earlier this year.

Switched to Rogue – now with my black combat boots instead of the heels – to get lunch in the food court, then head over to Hardy Ivy for the Project Hail Mary shoot.

The shoot was crazy – I don’t think anybody could have predicted it would be too big for this location!
(Not as bad as Dungeon Crawler Carl tho – I saw video of that shoot – it was CRAZY!!)

Next we walked on over to AmericasMart and hit the dealer’s room/artist alley. I got the Leia print from Joe Corroney I’ve been eyeing for years. I want to take all of my Leia/Padme art down and reorganize it sometime this fall, and that’s going to be a new centerpiece.

Kinda breezed through all of the other floors. Got a dole whip.

Rogue pic for posterity

Changed into our Space Mutiny costumes!

So my Doctor Lady boots… are my old Morrigan boots from 2003. And they were used before that – I’m pretty sure they are vintage 80s/early 90s maybe? They definitely weren’t new when I bought them on ebay in 2003. But they are real leather, so I thought, they’ll be fine. I got them out Sunday before we left only to discover the heel caps had dry rotted off, and I was left with weird little post nubbins sticking out of each heel. It was Sunday night and I had to just kinda figure out a quick solution – I glued some eva foam on both and a piece of leather over that. I knew it probably wouldn’t hold, but I just needed to get through the weekend. This night, they were both smashed to nothing and hanging on by a thread by the time I got back to the room, so I was going to have to come up with something else to re-wear them.

Anyway, went to dinner in these Friday night – tried the Hyatt restaurant for the first time ever, it was a taco buffet. Weird. Had dinner with Cath and Courtney which was nice, because it was a great spot for people watching and quiet so we could talk (we usually have dinner at the Hilton restaurant, but since they started karaoke in there, it’s not quiet anymore.)

After dinner Chase and I wandered around for a bit, but the only folks who “got” our costumes were friends which was a little disappointing. Called it an early night.

And then had a little menty b in the hotel room and cried. Why? I don’t really know. I think it was just a lot of everything from the summer, and this being our last dragon con for a while, and old lady hormonal shit. Kind of a bummer end to the day.

Saturday I got up and girded my loins and got into Belle. I wore her around the Marriott for a bit before the crowds got thick. Chase took some photos of me on the stairs with the real camera so I have “new” versions to compare with the old 2005 photos of my first version.

After about an hour and a half my back was done with these heavy skirts (the stays DID help but it’s still heavy), so headed out and changed.

What did I change into? Into Rogue of course! I literally wore this four times over the weekend – it was so comfortable and the wig was easy to put on and people seemed to really like it!

We went and had lunch at Flaky Not Flaky – their deconstructed cheeseburger thing was good! Checked out the art show in the Hyatt, then the costume exhibit in the Hilton.

I put on wedding Leia after that.

I had to use my root spray to make the front of my hair match the wig – I HATE using that stuff, I think it looks weird on and it always mats up my hair and makes it feel like straw. But my hair was TOO red to match the wig right now.

And then guess what I did? I WENT TO A PANEL! I think this was my 2nd time attending a panel in my 25 years of dragon con LOL. It was an Every Day Fashion Star Wars panel and I knew all of the presenters and it was a great discussion.

After that I got out of wedding Leia – it was just WAY too crowded for it AND I forgot my fan and I was to the point of bursting into flames.

Great pic of the back tho

After a full on shower – make-up off, root spray washed out of my hair, hair dried, EVERYTHING… it was time for Morticia. I was going to have to redo my makeup for this anyway so not a big deal.

I’m soooo happy with how she turned out.

I added a thin layer of white foundation over the top of my regular foundation. Had a BITCH of a time with the red lipstick. The lipliner did not want to stick to my lips in places?? Saturday Dragon Con problems.

And then, once we were downstairs – my left lash got stuck to my hair and came off. Had to go back up to reapply it. Fun.

It was too crowded for this costume. I think if I could’ve found a spot to park myself for a while it would’ve been ok, but I had to keep the train up off the floor (I built in 4 hand loops for walking) pretty much all the time. I should’ve worn this earlier in the day or like, Thursday or something. Oh well. I’m stoked with the pics we got and can’t wait to get Chase’s.

We found a spot to sit in the Hilton for a bit, and Cath came over and for some reason didn’t believe that I’d already been this much taller than her?? LOL

Decided we were done for the night around 11-ish. I couldn’t change into anything else anyway because I would’ve had to redo my makeup from the ground up. So we caught an elevator on ML. We were in the very back of the car. People kept stopping the door and crowding in, and the elevator started acting weird – beeping, bouncing, closing the doors reallll slow… then just sitting there without moving with the doors closed. It bounced a few more times then finally started going up. We stopped on 10, where a few people got out and a scooter got in – and a bunch of people behind the scooter forced their way on too, laughing that they were going to get in no matter what, and everybody already in the car started yelling at them to stop because the elevator was already acting weird, so some of them got off. It did the same thing again, beeping, bouncing, slow door close, then just sitting there before moving. Chase already has had anxiety about the elevators so he told me, “we’re getting off at the next stop I don’t care where it is.”

We stopped at 33, 3 floors below us. We got off, and there a crowd of folks already on that floor waiting for an elevator. I didn’t want to stand there waiting for another car, but I also could not do stairs in Morticia. The dress is too tight around my legs to be able to do stairs. One step is fine – 3 flights? No way. Especially in 4 inch heels and having to hold up all of the train. I came up with an idea and told Chase let’s go to the stairs. We got over there and I said, “I have a silly idea, but go with me – unzip my dress” LOL

Yep I just took my dress off. I was totally covered underneath it – bra, corset, bike shorts, opaque tights. And like Jess said – we’ve worn less purposefully at Dragon Con before LOL. Once the dress was off, I slung it over my shoulder and walked up the 3 flights without a problem.

I then had to put it BACK on because we hadn’t take my pics/video in the little balcony area yet and that was not fun considering how sweaty I was, but we managed.

So that was a new one for me – taking my costume off to go up the stairs at Dragon Con in my underwear.

Sunday morning got up and got into Diane for the David Lynch shoot. I’ve wanted to go to that for years but it’s always Sunday morning when I like to wear big costumes before the crowds get bad. But I made time for this year and I’m glad I did – it was fun!

We had a quick lunch from the Marriott hot dog/pizza stand and then went up to get Chase into his WoW armor. (I put on Rogue – AGAIN)

Thankfully our rigging fixes in the hotel room worked. It all held up fine.

And it looked great! He was very popular. I had fun just kinda hanging back and watching him get a ton of attention.

He managed it for about 2 hours before deciding to get out of it.

He’s got some fixes to do and I want to remake all of the fabric parts since they were so last minute. But he was so happy with how it turned out that he does want to wear it again, maybe to a local con. That made me happy that he was so happy with it.

After that we got into Space Mutiny again. My fix for the boots? I put some sticky back velcro on the heels. It worked fine and was grippy enough that I wouldn’t fall on non-carpeted surfaces LOL

Also this may be one of my fav elevator pics I’ve taken at Dragon Con.

We went over to the hilton to get ice cream (mine was awful. Chase’s was good.) and this time wearing these we got recognized a LOT! We had so many people stop us and recognize the costumes this time. It was so fun, and made up for the bummer Friday night.

After that I got into my half-assed Mrs Roper costume.

It’s just my disneybound Padme with a belt I already had and Kevin’s Napoleon Dynamite wig. The Napoleon Dynamite wig was in BAD shape LOL If I wear this again I HAVE to replace it.

Roper Romp was fun.

After that we had dinner at the Hilton restaurant, despite the karaoke. It was just the 2 of us so we didn’t have to talk LOL. I took my wig off and asked Chase if my hair looked ok. He said yes, and then later he took a pic of me and my giant thing of nachos and I realized my hair looked AWFUL LOL So I put the wig back on.

Went up and got back into Scully for the night. Found a good people watching spot in the Hilton for a while. Chase got ice cream again. We wandered around for a bit and said bye to friends we could find. Called it a night at midnight. We’d already mostly packed earlier in the day so we finished that up.

We got up at 5:30, called for carts, and were on the road a bit after 6. Our bellhop who helped us out was amazing and got a good tip.

I slept, edited a video for IG/tiktok, we listened to more of our audiobook of Dungeon Crawler Carl (and I finished reading my physical copy last night finally) and we were home by noon. Luna was happy to see us.

Purchases, swag and other stuff we brought home.

We ran out to Lowe’s (they finally have halloween out!) and the grocery for the week. Then doordashed dinner.

Haven’t unpacked yet – I’ll deal with that this weekend. Also gotta get the upstairs cleaned – my sewing room is a disaster of course, and my costume closet basically exploded all over Kevin’s room and my old work office. I’m excited to get my old work office area cleaned up – I’m getting rid of my desk, and the bed in there and we are going to turn into a crafting/activity room either of us can use as a space for projects.

Anyway, that’s my Dragoncon 2026 recap and I’ll have another post with Chase’s pics up soon, and I’ll start working on the portfolio/project pages later this week.

And my last note… we are not going to Dragon next year. Yeah it kills me a bit to say that. We are doing Celebration and considering something else later in the year. I’ve been promising Chase for years we would take a break from Dragon Con and now here it is. I really thought I’d be grieving it hard over the weekend, but I’m really not. The lead up to con was so busy trying to finish everything it was frustrating, and it was SO hot at con this year, and SO over-crowded, plus I’m so glad to not have to immediately dip into the anxiety of the hotel Hunger Games coming in a few weeks.
(That being said, if anybody has a legacy room they don’t want anymore…hit me up)

So yeah, this feels like the end of an era. I’m not saying we’ll never come back, and I’m sure I’ll start feeling FOMO as it gets closer next year, but I’m also glad to let it go and not put myself through the ringer for another summer.