Wow, what a disappointment.
I went expecting to enjoy some awesome Lego sculptures and see what fun things they'd have for people to do. I'm an adult fan of Lego, which means something called Lego Kidsfest sounded like it might be a little young for my tastes, but hey, if it has Lego in the name, Lego must be promoting it (they're very careful with who they let use their name), so it must be good.
Svetlana and I went not expecting to spend too too long there, since we'd heard it was mobbed on Saturday, but I was still interested to see what the venue was like and what kind of things Lego would bring to the table (only having been to one Lego convention before - that one not sponsored by Lego at all).
So, there were a bunch of huge Lego sculptures, like 8' tall batman on a gargoyled ledge, and a giant sized Lego Minifig version of Indiana Jones. There were some great displays from my club and other clubs, and there were a few child themed booths (face painting, make-your-own art).... and then there were a TON of completely random booths for things that were clearly aimed at sucking money out of the parents - replacement windows, Comcast, heating stoves, and even a car dealership with cars parked out back! I was appalled. This was a Lego sponsored event. The booths cost $500 apiece. It was an obvious money-grab by the organizers (who were a company hired by Lego) to make money off the booth vendors, with no thought to the enjoyment of the people who came. It felt like a trade show with some Lego sculptures thrown in.
It was shameful. I felt embarrassed for Lego, and for the clubs who went there, expecting a good Lego-themed event, only to learn they'd been used as a lure just to bring in more guests. A little more about the clubs - NELUG, the club I'm a member of, had a fantastic display that was probably 20 feet long by 15' wide with a huge moonbase, train layout, towns and carnival rides. Next door were club members from Pennsylvannia with a gorgeous train layout, and sprinkled around were club members from as far away as Canada... all bringing their wonderful creations to show off to the kids.... and that part, at least was a success. I hear the crowd around the club tables never thinned to fewer than 3 deep each day.
Now, to be fair, there were Lego Master Builders onsite who the kids could ask questions of... though there were far too many kids and too few builders to possible be able to get everyone's questions in. There were also "free build" tables with tubs of Lego to let kids build their own lego creations, and finally, one wall had several copies of the current Lego video games (Rock Band, Indiana Jones, and Star Wars). The problem is, there were about twice as many vendors as actual Lego displays.
Finally, there was an in-show Lego store, but the selection was beyond pathetic. They only had like 10 different sets from a limited selection of themes. Why even bother?
I hope that if there is another KidsFest, that Lego will lay down much more stringent rules about what is and is not acceptable in a booth, and make the fest about the kids, and not about separating the parents from their wallets.
I went expecting to enjoy some awesome Lego sculptures and see what fun things they'd have for people to do. I'm an adult fan of Lego, which means something called Lego Kidsfest sounded like it might be a little young for my tastes, but hey, if it has Lego in the name, Lego must be promoting it (they're very careful with who they let use their name), so it must be good.
Svetlana and I went not expecting to spend too too long there, since we'd heard it was mobbed on Saturday, but I was still interested to see what the venue was like and what kind of things Lego would bring to the table (only having been to one Lego convention before - that one not sponsored by Lego at all).
So, there were a bunch of huge Lego sculptures, like 8' tall batman on a gargoyled ledge, and a giant sized Lego Minifig version of Indiana Jones. There were some great displays from my club and other clubs, and there were a few child themed booths (face painting, make-your-own art).... and then there were a TON of completely random booths for things that were clearly aimed at sucking money out of the parents - replacement windows, Comcast, heating stoves, and even a car dealership with cars parked out back! I was appalled. This was a Lego sponsored event. The booths cost $500 apiece. It was an obvious money-grab by the organizers (who were a company hired by Lego) to make money off the booth vendors, with no thought to the enjoyment of the people who came. It felt like a trade show with some Lego sculptures thrown in.
It was shameful. I felt embarrassed for Lego, and for the clubs who went there, expecting a good Lego-themed event, only to learn they'd been used as a lure just to bring in more guests. A little more about the clubs - NELUG, the club I'm a member of, had a fantastic display that was probably 20 feet long by 15' wide with a huge moonbase, train layout, towns and carnival rides. Next door were club members from Pennsylvannia with a gorgeous train layout, and sprinkled around were club members from as far away as Canada... all bringing their wonderful creations to show off to the kids.... and that part, at least was a success. I hear the crowd around the club tables never thinned to fewer than 3 deep each day.
Now, to be fair, there were Lego Master Builders onsite who the kids could ask questions of... though there were far too many kids and too few builders to possible be able to get everyone's questions in. There were also "free build" tables with tubs of Lego to let kids build their own lego creations, and finally, one wall had several copies of the current Lego video games (Rock Band, Indiana Jones, and Star Wars). The problem is, there were about twice as many vendors as actual Lego displays.
Finally, there was an in-show Lego store, but the selection was beyond pathetic. They only had like 10 different sets from a limited selection of themes. Why even bother?
I hope that if there is another KidsFest, that Lego will lay down much more stringent rules about what is and is not acceptable in a booth, and make the fest about the kids, and not about separating the parents from their wallets.

