By my big convention standards, Spooky Empire is a mini-con. It doesn’t have enough to fill every hour of a schedule, and for a $50 Saturday ticket I think that’s just about right. The Internet seems a bit dry when it comes to people’s personal experiences with the convention, so I think I’ll briefly share my experience as a Florida local.
We bought our tickets just a few days in advance. It was $50 then, but it would be $65 at the door. Hidden costs included parking which can run you up to $38 if you park at the hotel, but we chose the recommended off-site parking listed on the convention travel information page for $20 that included an official hotel shuttle chartered by the convention. You can walk from the off-site parking to the DoubleTree which hosted the convention this summer, but it’s a 15 minute walk in the Florida heat. If we got rained out, it would have been even more unreasonable. Let’s say that the lack of dedicated convention parking speaks both to the relatively small size and to the added friction actually getting situated.
In past years, lines and entering the convention have been chaotic. This year was quite smooth by comparison. The general admission line had enough staff to help with ticketing, and once the doors opened at 11AM, everyone should have wrists bands applied and could freely walk through the doors, chewing through the line in just a few minutes. We were impressed with the quantity and selection of vendors who clearly had time to prepare their booths before the crowd could enter.
Spooky Empire is a vendor market with a few events scattered throughout the day. I feel that the reason you come is for the guest panels, which this summer featured the venerable Brad Dourif who voiced Chucky from the original Child’s Play film in 1988 as well as his daughter who now works in the industry as well.
Overall, Spooky Empire was a fun little horror event. I know it’s one of the largest of its kind with several thousand attendees, but by my standards coming from the ComicCon and DEFCON crowd, it felt positively puny. With that said, everyone we met had a great attitude, and convention felt orderly and in good spirits. We might consider attending again in the future. I would recommend this convention to die-hard horror fans, those who have a specific interest in a panel, locals, or those who have interest in spending part of their trip at other Orlando attractions such as the world-famous theme parks.
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