Overview

We were selected for the first time to sell at Metrocon in Tampa, Florida. This blog covers our experiences with travel, setup, expenses for the event and opinions about the event itself.

Applications, Payments & Planning

I applied for Metrocon on December 15, 2024

Accepted on February 1, 2025 and paid for it the same day. I don't like to wait for hotel blocks, so I booked my room as soon as I was accepted and paid. I tried to make sure we had some extra time to explore the local area.

I guess artists and exhibitors just get the same list, but I received information about some links, booth location and more on May 15, 2025. I didn't check closely about how their refund window works, but it closed May 1, so I guess it is nice to know that they did work with people for refunds if it was necessary up to a certain point.

June 28 they sent us a packet about things

Exhibit hall email sent out July 21 - so like the week of.

Florida recommends you register for state tax 7-10 days in advance which I did not do. I registered very late since I kept putting it off so we'll see how quickly they grant me permission online. I didn't register until July 22. Oops.

As of July 30, 2025, they had still not approved my application. I don't remember when they finally approved my application, but I got something in the mail and eventually paid my taxes in August for the July event. I would like to note that even if you register you also have to make another account for some reason. You need that user ID from the snail mail, then you make the account and you can pay. This stuff changes all the time I assume, so just make sure not to take this information as how it will always be. This is simply how it was when I was dealing with it. They had me set up to pay Quarterly, much like my Pennsylvania account. 

Before the Event & Setup

Driving from Minnesota is an insanely long trip. I hated our rental but my favorite thing lately is to see how much stuff we can stuff into hidden places. I would never recommend buying a Chevrolet Equinox, but it was cool they had this space. It allowed me to bring more plush and two pillows + towels for the beach. We never did go to the beach sadly, but the towel was nice to clean up coffee spilled on the way home haha.



We actually ended up getting a hotel pretty late and last minute in St Louis by the airport on the way down. Since we had points, we just cashed those in and slept. We got up pretty early and made our way down to Tampa. Our check-in for that hotel was Wednesday, but we got there really late in the evening still. Not that it mattered when we checked in, but it's a very long drive. My husband was coming off getting sick after Kitsune Kon, so stopping was also in our best interest.

We made sure to have Thursday free for Busch Gardens. I had originally wanted to do setup on Friday morning. We stayed at some weird Hampton Inn/Home 2 combination hotel. Not sure what that whole thing is about. Before I realized that every hotel in Tampa seems to have a Starbucks in it, I was extremely excited about having one attached to ours. 



Since setup was early and our daughter was still asleep, we headed over to load-in. It opened at 10am, but they seemed to have people loading in earlier than that. So the loading dock was easy to get to on Franklin, but the GPS took us to the opposite side from where the loading dock actually was. It was easy to do a u-turn near the drop off area and get back over to it. The main street that went through the convention center was one way.



The security guy at the loading dock was sweet. He said "whoa you're here from California? You must be exhausted!" Our rental vehicle had plates from California. We did have a long drive but not THAT long of a drive. He then warned us to watch out for big trucks. I filled out the tag and he directed us to park next to the cop car on the ramp. We were supposed to just load-in and go park somewhere else, but there really was not anyone there. We didn't bring the wagon, so it was nice we were so close to the door to walk inside.



The table only came with two badges, so had to buy a third. It was $70 and thankfully they did give us a receipt. I was getting pretty annoyed by all the events that just don't give us proof of what we're paying for. I like tracking everything. They were also having some card reader issues. I had intended on asking about whatever their donation thing was but was ready to get my stuff set up so I never did. I did like that they had signs up front so you had an idea of where we were in the hall vs where your booth would be located.




I know we got to pick our own tables at the time, but I completely forgot by the time the event rolled around. It's interesting since the event used to be first come, first serve (FCFS). They still seem to do applications in a way that allows you to select where you want to be. So it's a juried event where you get to pick your spot. Either way, I had selected A701. The numbers were just written on the tables. That was unusual, but it worked I guess.



I really loved my location. It was directly in front of the doors. I don't think I fully realized how great my spot was until later, but I snapped photos because I was like whoa how great is this?! I had space around my booth, but I do feel like anyone that had a photo stand or backdrop did not have enough space behind them. People could also buy two tables at this event, so a lot of people did.





We set up the basic part of my booth, covered everything up and headed out. Also, Inkwell was at the event - except he wasn't. My husband did go try and talk to them later in the weekend only to learn it was a proxy. We did get to chat with her for quite a bit before the event opened on I think Saturday or Sunday. I forget at this point. Either way, this event does allow both booth sharing and proxies.



We spent the rest of the day at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay until it started pouring down rain. It's like an expensive Six Flags with a zoo. Maybe I am being too harsh, but we did have fun. You may as well rent a locker as well. There wasn't anywhere you could really put things you were bringing. I think it was like $12 for the whole day basically. You just had to change your locker every 2 hours or something.

We got back so late from the park due to the rain, we just went back to the hotel and decided we'd walk somewhere from there. We walked down the road to Maloney's Local Irish Pub. I don't think the place was ready for everyone to be there on a Thursday. It seemed like it was just the one bartender and one guy cooking food. Everything took forever, but there were a lot of people there. The food was okay, but not somewhere I would go to eat if it wasn't just there and easy to walk to either way. Typical bar food. Either way I was happy they were open late enough for us to eat.



We also decided to look for the pool. We could see that it existed somewhere, but it wasn't clear what floor it was on. We went on a let's go to random floors kinda journey at the hotel to find it. If you stay where we did, it's floor 6. 

The Event Itself

Friday we woke up early enough to get some coffee downstairs before heading out. Also met a super cute golden retriever puppy with one of the lightest coats I had seen. Even got to pet him! So cute. I love this Starbucks. It even had a board with photos of dogs all around it! Even driving to the convention center, so many people were outside walking their puppers. I could happily live in Tampa I think. EVEN SAW A CORGI PUPPY!



We got to the convention center pretty early. The discord for Metrocon had people reminding everyone that parking was limited and that you wanted to get there with enough time to park. We arrived before 8am. There were already a few cosplayers outside. The exhibit hall didn't open until 11am for VIP, so I am not even sure what was going on before that. Maybe people arriving early to stand in line for badges.

While we were waiting to get inside, I noticed a sign that said the very next weekend was Tampa Bay Comic Con. I am not sure why these events are back to back, but that seems like a bad idea to me.





Once inside we just kinda set our stuff down and walked around. We ended up helping someone who seemed to be a helper and not the artist get some stand setup. It kept falling down and I felt pretty bad for her. It did not look very stable. Artist alley didn't feel huge at least. We've been at enough events where we felt drown out that this felt decently sized for the amount of attendees. I also finally got to meet Kino! She was also at Momocon, but was sooo busy we never did get to say hi. She's so nice so please check her out!



We went back and finished setting up the booth. Since we'd put it together and done the hooks on Thursday, we just had to fill everything up. I also took like a ton of photos of my booth for some reason this time. I won't bore you with all of them, but here are a few at least.



Metrocon had unisex bathrooms inside the vendor hall but outside of it bathrooms were gendered. Noting it since some people like to have that information mainly. There was also a water fountain outside the doors in front of us, so it was convenient to keep the water bottles filled the whole weekend.

We still had some time before the doors opened, so we ordered coffee (yes, again) online and walked over to the Embassy Suites to pick it up at that Starbucks. The Embassy Suites was conveniently attached to the convention center with a walkway, but there were some areas under construction. It's unclear how much it did or did not inconvenience anyone who stayed there, but in the future I would prefer to stay at this hotel over where we did stay. I actually really liked the hotel we were at, but I liked the riverwalk that much more. The hotel was literally in the perfect spot near all the walking distance restaurants you could possibly want. 

I most definitely did not walk down the stairs and start to walk right back up the other side. *cough* The Starbucks at that location was extremely busy, so the ordering online worked out quite nicely. Our order was ready so quickly that we just had to grab it from the counter and head back across the street. I also liked that there were food trucks right outside the event so you did not have to eat at the convention center unless you wanted to. Snapped some photos on the way back over, and it was pretty busy for a Friday! There were also two news stations at the event, maybe more but we saw two for sure. The one we found the news video for was 10 Tampa Bay, but we did not see the video until Saturday evening after we were back at the hotel.





We never figured out where any car meets would be in Tampa, which is odd. I guess maybe most of them happen earlier in the summer then die off as it gets hot. A cop came and stood by our table before the doors opened and he did ask the cop about where to check. I guess usually the police get hired to watch meets but there hadn't been many lately, so he wasn't in the know. He did mention Hyde Park but we never went by it in the end. At some point Kenny also turned around and asked the guy behind us if he could have one of the chairs. He was soloing the event but had purchased two tables, and thus had four chairs. He kindly allowed us to have one so we could all be seated if we wanted to.

We didn't have any sales in the first hour, but got lots of compliments. It was a very busy convention center. I think even this early into the event, all three of us were pretty sold on both the con itself and the location. When we did finally have our first sale, it was Bliss! I really never know when or where my Panic Puffs will be popular. 

Friday was a day full of meeting people! I finally got to meet Juli (who I have know online through a former mutual friend for like 15 years), one of her friends and a fellow artist she was also friends with that was also selling at the event, Nekomata Co. Funny enough, we chatted after the event and didn't realize we had also just met at Metro until later. Also got to meet one of my super cool customers, Jo, who made me some corgi rugs of my designs one year as a gift. Another customer, whose name slips my mind atm, bought from me at Momocon but was at Metrocon this year helping with modded cars in the back of the exhibit hall. Apparently they were there from North Carolina.

There was also Attic Door Media, who is apparently local to Metrocon and had sold at Supercon the previous weekend down in Miami. They stopped by to chat and buy some more enamel pins. We gabbed a bit about events, backerkit and Metrocon itself. They are wonderful, so please check them out! I do hope they get into the event next year. They liked to attend the event anyways, but I guess they were waitlisted. I did notice that on the news the event was bragging about how many artists were in attendance from around the globe. So perhaps that is why so few locals were there, but there were definitely locals that were pulled off the waitlist. I know Clara Kay, who I had not had the pleasure of seeing since Momocon 2024, was there because she was pulled off the waitlist.

I woke up Saturday morning to two online orders. Emailed them to apologize that they would be delayed. Unlike Friday where we just rolled into the parking garage and quickly paid, the pay station actually had a line on Saturday morning. We were there around 7am or so.

I will say the morning was pretty interesting after opening. People came in from standing in line to stand in line inside instead. I was nosey about it, so I walked over to ask what was going on. Apparently a company called Bang Zoom was holding auditions for people who wanted to try and be voice actors. I had no idea this was a thing, but the line was extremely long. I know some people were frustrated as well after the whole ordeal.



As far as sales went, Saturday was really good for me. I know I said we weren't going to buy anything but the crazy Sonic shirt we had seen we did eventually go over and purchase for the girls.



Sunday I woke up feeling sick. I finally caught whatever my husband had just recovered from at Kitsune Kon. Thankfully it was a pretty short day. I just took Mucinex and ibuprofen then powered through the day.

Ate at Jotoro after the event, which was okay but not nearly as good as the people who reviewed it would have made us believe. It was good enough to try, but it wasn't good enough to make us want to eat there again when we go back to Tampa.

We had originally planned to leave on Sunday immediately after the event, but it's a 24 hour drive so we went back to the hotel and took a nap before leaving. I really am just over renting vehicles because we have to return them in such a timely manner. We had enough time to get home, but it was not the best. Apparently there was a storm while we were driving as well, so when we arrived home, we discovered a tree had fallen in our yard.



When we picked up our corgis, they told us they aren't allowed back at Muddy Paws in Andover anymore. I guess they have slowly gotten more aggressive over the two years they have been going there. They need lots of activity in general and I don't think that location really gave them much to do. Every time we dropped them off or picked them up, they just had dogs standing around in a room. 

What Worked & What Did Not

People stressed over the parking situation. We got there early enough each day it didn't impact us, but I heard from others that they were paying $45 to park on the street. We paid $15-$20 depending on the day to park. There was also like a big deal concert with a BTS guy going on at the same time as this, so hotels and parking were just a mess the whole weekend.



There was a ton of news coverage for the event. My booth made it into the 10 Tampa Bay video online.

No cockroaches/palmetto bugs. Like, I'm from Florida so this was weird. I mean it was great, honestly, but weird. Maybe it was the time of year and all the heat advisories, but this was a nice bonus. There were a ton of spiders though, so my daughter was not enjoying that aspect.

So many people were sick and coughing. I am unsure if I just caught what my husband recovered from the previous con or I got something at Metrocon, but I did get sick as did so many others. I know people in discord were sarcastically thanking whoever brought them the con crud.

Conclusion

I love everything about Tampa and Metrocon was such a fun event. I won't be applying for 2026 even though I desperately want to. I will try again maybe in 2027. We shall see if things work out so I can. Either way, this is a really fun event and I recommend it!

The Details (TLDR)