10 Reasons MegaCon Orlando was The Con of My Year

With over 160,000 attendees this year and more guests than you can shake a lightsaber at, MegaCon has cemented its place in the hearts of geeks and fans. I’ve been attending MegaCon since 2002, and as someone who has watched it grow, it has been one heck of a ride. This year was full of reunions, Hollywood guests, and cosplay that was beyond incredible. Let’s get into why MegaCon 2025 was the con of my year.

1. Reunions Abound
  Jude Law and the rest of the cast of the Skeleton Crew, former Superman actors, Lethal Weapon (Mel Gibson and Danny Glover), and Twilight all had heartfelt reunions. The Superman panel was particularly intriguing, with the panel being asked the ever-important “trunks or no trunks” question. Surprisingly enough, most said trunks.
2. Matthew Lillard
  Matthew Lillard is known for being a favorite among his fans for his personality and friendly nature with everyone. In his panel, he talked about how the Shaggy “walk” was created and demonstrated the process for the crowd. A funny part in the panel was when he started to demonstrate, only to see a Shaggy cosplayer leaving the panel. He called him out in his friendly way, “I’M ABOUT TO SHOW YOU HOW TO WALK!” There wasn’t a fan who met him that didn’t leave with a smile and a memory that would last a lifetime.
3. Superman Of My Heart
  I’ve already mentioned the Superman reunion in number 1, but this is more of a personal moment. My husband has an autograph from every actor who has played Superman (live and animated) on TV. This year, Brandon Routh came to MegaCon, and this was his first time meeting a movie screen Superman actor. The wait was worth it because Brandon took a good five minutes with my husband and I was able to tell my own Superman story. Before we left, Brandon came from behind the table and gave me and my husband both tight, loving hugs. We walked away feeling like we could fly.
4. Sooooo Many Panels
  This year, the convention was held at the Orange County Convention Center, North/South side. This is the newer part of the convention center area and MegaCon took up the entire thing. I like this side because it’s more spread out and there’s plenty of natural light. It also means more panels because of the extra space. My husband stuck to the Superman, Cosplay, and Paranormal panels, while I was interested in the theme park track. He learned about the haunted Florida side of things while I dove into the science of theme parks. This is usually a weekend we spend together, but thanks to the variety of panels and tight schedules, it was more of a “let’s meet at dinner and talk about our day” kind of experience (and we loved every minute of it).
5. Cosplay
  There is always incredible cosplay at MegaCon and this year was no exception. Jinx from Arcane was the most popular of the anime costumes. Deadpool and Spider-Man were around with their usual gusto. Thanks to Matthew Lillard being in attendance, I saw quite a few Five-Nights-A-Freddy’s costumes. One Five-Nights-A-Freddy’s I learned, was made by a young boy who has been building costumes for the past three years on his own. Impressive! I made my red carpet debut with my husband as Jedi Belle and Jedi Beast. It was an interesting experience for someone with anxiety and fear of being the center of attention. Definitely something I’ll do again, but maybe next time on a Friday so it’s a little less intense.
6. Artist Alley Brought Their A-Game
  The artists in Artist Alley brought their a-game with keychains (so many keychains), Ita bags, cups, and nails. That’s right, nails. Press on nails were popular this year at the con and I saw at least four or five artists selling their custom designs. One booth sold only press on nails and they were always busy.I bought a “They/Them” pronouns pin and a very niche but oh so funny “Never stop working on yourself” pin of the famous I-4 Eye-sore. The artist told me that people from out of state request that pin all the time, so I guess our little landmark has a following.
7. Dapper Danielle and Friends
  You can’t have a convention in Orlando, Florida, without having some Disney influencers show up to walk you through the most magical place on Earth. Dapper Danielle brought a limited amount of exclusive keychains and pins, and she sold out by Friday. I was lucky to grab her Figment and Clarice keychains on Thursday. Dapper Danielle, along with Disney Dan, Bibbidi Bobbidi Beard, and Live LaughLem hosted a couple of panels over the weekend, talking about how to create Disney-centric content as well as a virtual walkthrough of Hollywood Studios. I was happy to hear that her book, I Love Disney’s Magic Kingdom: 100+ Surprising Facts, Magical Quizzes, Fan-Favorite Trivia, and More about Disney’s Magic Kingdom!, would be released soon.
8. Nice Mix of Vendors
  There was a very nice mix of vendors this year. A vendors that took my money including Whirl and Twirl who raved about their painless headbands. I may have bought a few too many of them. I also nabbed a pair of cargo pants from Offset Shwa I had been eyeing since last year. I hit up my con favorite, The Legging Lass for a new dress and a skirt. My other purchase was from Advanced drink mix. They had an insulated shaker cup and a wide variety of hydration, energizing, and focusing drink mixes. If you bought the cup, you got free refills at the drink station for the entire con. My favorite flavor was sour gummy worm. I’ll be posting a full review of their drink mixes soon! I could easily have spent a lot more money on Ita bags, pins, and more but alas, my bank account said no.
9. Organization Is The Name of the Game
  MegaCon was insanely organized this year. With the exception of Artist Alley being a little chaotic in the layout, it was well set up, and it was easy to find my way around and back to places I wanted to check out later. They maximized the floor space with a good mix of vendors, artists, and food options. Getting your badge and through security was a breeze. Special thanks to the Orange County Sheriff’s office for being there in strong numbers to keep us all safe.
10. Big Names, Big Games
  This year, we had some big names on the floor like Intel, Army, Navy, NASA, Disney, SeaWorld, Hasbro, and Enso rings. For some, this was their first time and they had a hack of a first impression. Intel had a computer building competition where you raced to beat the clock (or opponent) in building a computer the fastest. Army and Intel both had e-sport gaming areas for people to play and compete. It was cool to see this area of fandom represented on the convention floor.

Honorable Mentions

Zen Den
There were two Zen Dens at the con this year. In previous years, we had a quiet room, but it was empty with a few chairs and no real “space,” if you know what I mean. This year, thanks to Guardians MH we had a nice, quiet space complete with fidgets, coloring, and earplugs. They also had free cold water. What told me they knew their stuff was when I saw the lemon juice packets and sour warheads. For those not in the know, sour helps calm anxiety attacks. It shocks your brain back into logic mode or something like that and essentially calms you down.

This space was a favorite of mine. One of the rooms was close to the paranormal section, where my husband was most of the time on the South side and so I would go in there while he was in a panel and chill. The fidgets were free and they enforced the “quiet” rule.The group also had tables on both sides of the convention with free convention mental health kits. Each kit had a fidget, notebook with a pen, a coloring book, and cards with tips on handling your mental health at a convention. I could write an entire post about this group alone (and I just might, so stay tuned to GeekDad).
The Book Nook

The Book Nook needs an honorable mention because it was the first year MegaCon did something like this. It was a special room, off to the side of the main panel room, that was for readers. It had a few vendors selling sprayed edge books, Kindle covers, book dragons, and more. They also had author signings and friendship bracelet activities throughout the con. It was easy to spot with there being a giant “Once Upon A Time…” book display right outside along with a Free Little Library.