SoxFest .... What did you REALLY think?

[Hangar18]

I know some of us may have talked about it amongst ourselves, but Sox And The City wants to know ..........what did you really think of it?

Personally, I didn't like it. We didnt have that wide-open vibe like that at the Hyatt Regency. It made it seem way smaller than it really was, and it affected the vibe. I know when I first walk into a facility hosting SoxFest, you can't help but immediately get hit with that "buzz". It was completely missing this year. Having the Festival in a smaller venue like the Hilton meant that the actual fest would have to be held on several different floors.
At previous SoxFests, I would at some point have bumped into every single person I know. This year, I was lucky to have seen 10 people.

The elevators were like CTA buses. You heard about them, but never saw them. There were escalators, but a couple of them broke. People resorted to the stairs (which were clearly not meant to be used) Lines for seminars/autograph lines criss-crossed each other so much, that you had no idea who/where you were waiting. The hotel bar didnt look or feel like a hotel bar, but more like Union Station waiting area. Thumbs down.

I was glad to be there, don't get me wrong ................ SoxFest to me is Spring Training for SoxFans and a great chance for me to do some Sox shopping. I just wished they picked a venue that was truly suited to handle a big crowd, and more importantly, the SPACE to do so efficiently

[ChiSoxGirl]

Seeing as I've been to every SoxFest since 1993, I'll sound off on this.

I have to say that overall, the vibe was more positive this year for me than last year because last year's overcrowding made the actual Fest not nearly as fun as I remember it being in years past. As for the inaugural year at The Palmer House, there were positives and negatives.

I liked how the Opening Festivities were optional, allowing those who wanted to line up for the 4:45 and later autograph signings to do so. Because of this, I was as close to the front as possible for the Opening Festivities.
There was a lot more room to spread out for the Opening Festivities than in years past, due to what seemed like a bigger room.
The AWESOME deals were at Chicago Sports & Gifts. World Series Champions hooded sweatshirts that retailed for $50-60 were going for $10, the gray dugout jacket that retails for $125 was on sale for $60, authentic home white pinstripe jerseys with names & World Series or World Series Champions patches on them were going for $125, and World Series Champions car window flags were a measly dollar!
The proximity of Miller's Pub was perfect for hanging out afterwards. We headed there around 9 on Saturday night and surprisingly enough, there were plenty of seats at the bar and we only had to wait a few minutes for a table for the people in our group who ordered dinner.
While The Big Downtown (our Friday night hangout) isn't the Atrium Bar, it was decent and quiet enough to have conversations.

But alas, there were negatives.
A friend of mine and his friend arrived around 6:30p on Friday and wanted to check their coats. I had to ask four different people if a Coat Check existed and got four different answers- one told me no, one told me yes, one told me they didn't know, and the last one finally pointed me in the right direction after ten minutes.
My room was on the 21st floor, and if you've never been to the Palmer House, certain elevators are allocated for rooms on certain floors. Naturally, floors 18-23 had three elevators, whereas all the other floors had four. I needed to go up to my room to drop something off on Friday around 6p and waited at least ten minutes for an elevator, and when I got in, Moose Skowron was inside complaining about how his card key for the Suites wasn't working!
In my opinion, there was poor signage throughout the SoxFest area. Yes, the levels were labeled well and all, but each of those signs had a lot of fine print on them and just seemed very confusing to me. There looked to be a lot of people wandering aimlessly, trying to find their way around.
I had no idea where Level 6 was until Saturday afternoon when I overheard someone saying you had to take the elevator up there! Each of the floors below the sixth had escalators or stairs between them, yet the sixth floor seemed almost hidden to me. There were no signs directing me to Level 6.
Despite the controlled crowd numbers, you still had the people who slept downstairs. On Saturday night, some of us hung out in the Lobby by the bar well into the night and I saw the first person in line for Sunday morning at 12:45a! No matter how small the crowds, people like this will always exist.
Guest Representatives seemed to say one thing regarding the distribution of wristbands, yet did another. Case in point. Around 9:15 on Saturday morning while getting in line for Konerko, someone asked when wristbands for the Ventura/Guillen session at 2p would be handed out; we were told "noon or 12:30p." My plan was to get Konerko's autograph and then get my wristband for Robin & Ozzie immediately afterwards. Apparently, people started a wristband line at 9:30a for Ventura & Guillen, which is fine I guess, but what bothered me is the Guest Representative who told me they'd be issued around noon started issuing them almost immediately after the line started forming, negating his "noon or 12:30p" comment earlier. Consequently, these wristbands were gone by 10:15a... for a 2p autograph session. I was really upset because I went there that weekend to see Robin; he's my all-time favorite player.
This is minor, but the seminar room was like a meat locker! Brrrrr!

[Domeshot17]

I liked it 100 times better then last years. If we keep winning, it will never be like years past where you could pretty much get anyone to sign whenever you wanted. to get in their line.

I had fun, me and the fiancee decided to start together for MOST of the weekend, split up for a few guys on the last day. without cheating the system but once (which was a flaw by the staff, gave kate's mom 2 buehlre wrist bands, why I don't know). We got almost everyone to sign. I think you have to have a plan. Get to a line, get your stuff signed, GET TO YOUR NEXT LINE, get a wristband, then chill out.

I hate getting in line early, but alas, we were in line by 3 or 4 every morning, which sucked because I would have liked to go out drinking. I think next year we might take it easier on autographs next year and have more fun. This year was kind of crazy trying to get guys like Buehrle who you know won't be there next year most likely.

[Iwritecode]

I didn't like the fact that they doubled the cost to get in and many people, including me, could no longer afford to go.

[Palehose13]

I like the location of the Palmer House better than the Hilton. I like that it was less crowded. It was spread out, but was easy to get to things. I wasn't feeling 100% this year so I didn't party like I have in the past, but I did enjoy myself and wouldn't mind it being there again.