Rhode Island Comic Con 2019 delivers
Fans lined up for blocks to get into Rhode Island Comic Con per usual and this year certainly didn`t disappoint. It all kicked off on Thursday evening at the Cinemas at Providence Place Mall with a special viewing of A Nightmare on Elm street. What`s better than watching a horror classic on Halloween night you ask? Watching the movie with Freddy himself Robert Englund is the correct answer and that`s exactly the opportunity that fans had!
Doors opened at 3:00pm on Friday to the masses and they filled in quickly. To our surprise, there was no ribbon cutting ceremony for the first time in many years. Day one ran from 3:00pm-9:00pm and fans had the opportunity to attend some great Q&A panels, visit the KIDS ZONE upstairs on the 5th floor of the Convention Center as well as meet their favorite celebrities.
This year featured some great groups of talent including cast members from National Lampoon`s Christmas Vacation such as Chevy Chase, Beverly D`Angelo, Dana Barron and Anthony Michael Hall. Also featured through out the weekend were members of the Family Matters cast including Jaleel White, Kellie Williams, Darius McCrary and Shawn Harrison. Several cast members from the hit Netflix show Stranger Things were also on hand. Any Star Trek fans out there?! Star Trek fans were treated to the presence of William Shatner, George Takei and Nichelle Nichols among others.
Lines for the celebrities ran smoothly and it was great to witness fans meeting their idols in person for the first time. The celebs were spread out this year to avoid too much congestion and it seemed to work out great. There were dozens of celebs on the 5th floor of the Rhode Island Convention Center and that`s where a lot of the focus was this year. There was also a smaller celeb area on the 3rd floor of the Rhode Island Convention Center which featured another 30 celebrities or so. The arena floor of the Dunkin Donuts Center was also filled with some of the major celebs that were in attendance.
Cosplay is always such a huge deal at these events and fans certainly didn`t disappoint this year. Fans came from all over the world, dressed as their favorite characters. There were merchandise vendors from all over the United States, giving fans tons of options in the way of weekend purchases and those looking to complete or start their collections! Day two (Saturday) ran from 10:00am-7:00pm with doors opening at 9:00am for VIP`s. Saturday is always the busiest day and boy was the crowd out in full force.
The Dunkin Donuts Center is where fans enter and as they walk in, they can continue straight into the Dunk or head right, to the Rhode Island Convention Center. Both venues are completely filled top to bottom with events for Rhode Island Comic Con. This was the 8th annual Rhode Island Comic Con and it just seems to get bigger and better each year. The Omni Hotel was also filled with Q&A Panels and After parties in their ballrooms as well.
Jaleel White who was widely known as Steve Urkel on Family Matters said that he had never been so warmly received at a Comic Con like he was this past weekend at Rhode Island Comic Con. The fans were certainly thrilled to meet Jaleel and that showed through out his non stop line on Saturday.
There was a great wrestling presence this year including guests such as Lex Luger, Cowboy Bob Orton Jr, Demolition (Ax & Smash), Kurt Angle, Mick Foley, The GLOW girls, Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner, Jon Moxley, D Von Dudley, Spike Dudley, Renee Young and Victoria.
All Axxess Entertainment caught up with The Hardcore Legend Mick Foley himself and Mick said his second match ever took place at the Dunkin Donuts Center (Then Providence Civic Center) and he remembered it fondly.
Rhode Island Comic Con is an escape from the world and all it`s issues. It`s an opportunity for fans to put aside their problems just for a weekend and live life to the fullest. Everyone deserves a vacation every once and a great while and this is the perfect place to do it if your a fan of pop culture in any way.
It was great to see the actors who played all of the Bounty Hunters in the Empire Strikes Back. They all made the trip from England to be in Providence for this event.
The Celebrities themselves were just as excited to reunite and see each other as the fans were to see them.
Rhode Island Comic Con returns November 6th-8th 2020 and for all the up to date information on the event and to purchase tickets, visit www.ricomiccon.com
See you all next year!
All Axxess Entertainment
