Event
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CHILLing at the Queen Mary in Long Beach
In early January, I had the opportunity to attend CHILL, a winter event housed on the grounds of Long Beach’s Queen Mary.The event was ok. I say ok for a variety of reasons.
- There were a lot of children around. (A good event to take your children to, but a subpar event to attend if you don’t have children and/or aren’t a child yourself. It’s almost safe to say that even those that are children at heart would rather be elsewhere than at this event.)
- Lines, lines and more lines. The lines were ridiculous.
- No ice sculptures. I heard ice sculptures were on display at previous events. What a bummer…
- A bit expensive. The admission ticket, even with the discount I managed to obtain was expensive. I obviously didn’t get my money’s worth from this event. Food was of course also on the expensive side.
Now that I’ve mentioned the negatives, allow me to share some positives of the event.The “actresses/models” were well picked. I loved Alice simply because she was so cute and had on a smile the whole time. (Not sure how anyone can wear a smile on their face for so long, but “Alice” was able to.) The white Queen was also great in that she was very Queen-like, if that makes any sense. lol
Minus the long line, I found the “Alice in Wonderland” maze at CHILL enjoyable. While I wasn’t thrilled with the “doors” area of the maze (fyi: it was a bit too childish for my taste), I appreciated the illuminations and decor.
CHILL offered two 4D movies inside the Queen Mary which I enjoyed greatly. One thing I didn’t like about the movies, however was how the seat would poke my back as a part of the 4D experience. (The poking effect was truly unnecessary and actually quite annoying.)
A nice touch to the CHILL event was Michael Jackson’s swing from Neverland Ranch.
It was nice seeing the famous swing in person. It wasn’t that nice riding it however. (This was a personal thing since I haven’t been on a swing in ages and felt a little awkward after riding it. Fortunately, I didn’t throw up or anything. lol Considering the fact that I used to be obsessed with the swings ride offered at Knott’s Berry Farm when I was a kid/tween, I found this part of me amusing. I suppose we change as we get older.)There were a few other attractions made available at the event such as snow at selected timeframes, gingerbread house making workshops, an ice skating rink, Mrs. Claus storytelling and ice tubing. I can’t say much about the above mentioned attractions simply because I missed out on all of them. The ice skating attraction as well as the gingerbread house making workshop weren’t included in the CHILL admission ticket and the ice tubing attraction was more of a slide(s) than a tube.
The CHILL admission ticket did include access to the Queen Mary and I found that to be nice. What wasn’t so nice was how the Queen Mary was holding some type of so-called VIP/reserved event which prevented visitors from exploring the ship as freely as they could have. Another annoying thing about the Queen Mary was how their Princess Diana exhibition was closed and the male employee manning the area wasn’t nice whatsoever when he said the area was off limits. Eh.
The highlight of my Queen Mary visit would probably have to be my visit to the ship’s isolation ward. I didn’t hang out there long and it wasn’t so much because I found it spooky, but more so because the person (fyi: I was with a girl; not some hot guy. lol) that was with me didn’t want to miss out on the snow that would be sprinkling down on CHILL’s grounds. Interestingly enough, we missed out on the snow sprinkles by the time we figured out how to get out of the ship.
We decided to pay the isolation ward a visit again only to find it inaccessible since the door to leading to the ward was locked up already. This was strange. Strange because it wasn’t even close to Queen Mary’s closing time yet. I admit that this was a bit spooky. And it got spookier when I had the nerve to google the isolation ward only to learn that the ward is supposedly haunted. (Eep!)
Honestly, all I remember seeing of the ward was the color green (and white). I didn’t even get a glimpse of the rooms showcased in the ward. Come to think of it, there was a doorway available for you to go into and I found this to be a bit strange, since the rest of the Queen Mary allowed you to view rooms solely through a window. I’m not sure if this was how the ward’s display area was supposed to be, but if the ward is indeed haunted, I’m glad I didn’t step through that doorway to “experience” the ward. I guess I should be grateful that the other person with me decided we should seek “snow” instead. Heh
Well, I suppose this sums my experience at Queen Mary’s CHILL. If you want my honest opinion on whether I’d attend such an event again in the future, I’ll have to say no as once was more than enough for me. -
One Piece Cinema Kabuki screening
On Black Friday, I somehow found out about a free screening event for One Piece Super Kabuki II. The screening took place yesterday and I of course attended! Attendees ranged from One Piece fans, Kabuki enthusiasts to neither of the two. I will be honest and say that I had never read One Piece (manga). But despite this, I was still able to understand and follow the Kabuki cinema screening. I think the introduction prior to the start of the screening was helpful. That, along with whatever I looked up on One Piece prior to my attending the screening at TCL Chinese 6 Theatres. -
The otome side to Anime Expo 2015
Since my interest in attending Anime Expo came about from playing otome games, allow me to begin this post with Voltage related photos from Anime Expo 2015. The Voltage booth was based off the otome game, My Forged Wedding/My Forged Wedding Party. The booth was super girly and very cute. There was also a chapel where you can take a photo(s) with models, who I guess were supposed to be characters from My Forged Wedding Party. I know Las Vegas receives a lot of hype, but seriously now, where else can you get “married” with two guys in one day? Move over Vegas, because what happens in AX, stays in AX. (I hope that didn’t come off too lame… LOL) -
Anime Expo, a first timer’s experience
Believe it or not, but Anime Expo 2015 was the first Anime Expo I’ve ever attended. I believe I never cared enough to attend until 2014. Strangely enough, it wasn’t because of some revived interest in anime that made me want to attend in 2014; it was the otome games. I kid you not. But by the time I had found out that Voltage would be showing up at Anime Expo 2014, Anime Expo 2014 had already ended. (I believe I found out on the last day of Anime Expo 2014 or something…) -
Anime Expo Registration
I will be honest and say that I was a bit turned off with the registration process for Anime Expo 2015.
I didn’t have a problem with Anime Expo using Eventbrite to process registration/ticketing, but what I did feel iffy towards was how they asked registrants for their date of birth.
I don’t understand why Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) made it mandatory for registrants to divulge their date of births in order to purchase a ticket(s) to Anime Expo. Was it really necessary? If you need to know my age, just ask for my age. If you just need to know if I’m older than 18 (or 21), just ask me a yes or no question. I don’t need Eventbrite and/or whatever companies to know too much about me. Who knows what companies these days do with customers’ additional information. (FYI: If you aren’t already aware, an example would be the ugly possibility of said company selling customers’ DOB and so on. The risk is there and it’s somewhat exploitative if you ask me.)
In addition to one’s date of birth, registrants were required to identify their gender. Do you really need to know if someone is male or female? If you want my honest opinion, the date of birth and gender part of the registration form should have been made optional.
Since I wanted to see if this was some standard, I chose to check out Comic Con‘s registration page. Guess what? Comic Con’s registration page did not require registrants’ date of births nor did they require registrants to identify their gender. This was the case, despite the fact that they also were using Eventbrite to process registrants.
Another thing that turned me off slightly was how there was a period of time where people were not made aware of beforehand that there would be some processing fee on top of the registration fee. For example, if you registered prior to July 1st, the fee was $39 with an additional processing fee, which led to a total cost of $42 (estimated). FYI: This was the amount I paid for a one day ticket. Apparently, this was a concern one registrant voiced to AX over twitter and since I encountered this twitter remark before purchasing, I fortunately learned that there would be an additional processing fee that I’d have to pay by the time I decided to purchase my ticket. Interestingly enough, by the time I actually purchased my ticket, AX had already fixed their website (or their Eventbrite account) so that prospective registrants would be aware of the processing fee as well as the cost of the processing fee. I suppose I at least give them props for that.
I don’t expect people to agree with me on how I felt with the registration process to Anime Expo 2015, but I think it’s safe to say that I wouldn’t be surprised if I were to encounter registrants who felt the same way when registering or now sort of feel the same way after reading this post of mine.