Destination Star Trek 3 London

[roseake]

As I'm from the UK, the only Star Trek convention I've heard of is this big guy. And despite the ridiculous prices, I'd love to go.

However, after doing some research I'm getting a lot of negativity about this particular con. According to the official Facebook page 'Destination Star Trek London was a rip off. Give us our money back' the event is badly organised and there is hardly anything to do without paying for a talk or something.

They say the trading stalls are minimal and expensive, the queues are crazy and the staff are awful.

I've been to conventions at the ExCeL before and it's been fine, but I've never been to this particular convention, nor do I know anyone who has.

So has anyone else been? What did you think? Am I reading too much into a bunch of guys from Reddit ranting on Facebook?

 

[DMG]

I'm in the UK as well and went to the first one back in 2012. Some people hated it and had a terrible experience. Others loved it and were singing its praises. I can only give you my experience, which was somewhere in the middle. Negatives: it was expensive (around £30 just to get in for the day, or £50 for the weekend), busy, some aspects were not terribly well organised (queuing for tickets to the free stage talks was one that I recall - my wife and I gave up after queuing for an hour on the Saturday morning and basically wrote off seeing any talks that day). Positives: terrific guest list (around 40 guests including all 5 series captains), efficient photoshoots, good selection of merchandise stalls (yes, some were ridiculously overpriced, but there was choice). Can't say that I had any problems with any of the staff (most of whom are volunteers and very helpful).

I also attended DSTL2 in Frankfurt earlier this year, which proved that the organisers had learned from some mistakes (in particular they'd dumped the requirement for tickets to the free talks, so you could just roll up first-come-first-served). DSTL3 looks to be better organised than either of the previous cons: the timetable for the entire weekend is up already, they've booked a number of 'new' guests alongside those who've been before (something that was key to get me to attend again), and they're trying some different things this time: a TWOK screening with Nick Meyer Q&A, getting James Darren over to sing at one of the parties, booking Nimoy for a Skype talk.

Long story short: it'll be expensive, but still much cheaper than flying out to the States and going to a Trek con there. Go on the Friday if you can - Fri was much quieter last time. I'm certainly going again!

 

[Dac]

So I wrote out an epic poem full of joy and woe, but then I accidentally swiped back and lost it all. Great.

Here's what I wrote boiled down to Pro/Con:

PRO: Had fun at the first nights party.

CON: The second nights party was dire. Standing in a hall with 1000 other drunk fans watching Avery Brooks play Jazz was weird. Chase Masterson was great. Dominic Keating was awful.

PRO: Great guest selection! Managed to complete my collection of Captain's autographs.

CON: Had to buy photos seperate from Autographs. This halved the amount of autos I had planned to get by eating up my budget.

PRO: ....

CON: Everything was exceptionally expensive. I paid for the £300 "Gold" Ticket (Now Commander) and it afforded me the chance to be treated as a human being. That was about it.

CON: There were about 4 vendor stalls in the hall. That was literally it. The German vendor that overpriced everything (£85 for an unboxed FC Playmates Phaser toy? Ha), the other Vendor that had a fair amount opposite from it, and then way out to the right of the hall behind the main stage there was Forbidden Planet and another vendor.

CON: The food/drink selection in the convention center was terrible. Absolutely nothing nearby, not even a McDonalds.

CON: The "stunt" show never happened. The Bridge photo was crap. The "Museum" was interesting but could be completely seen in under 5 minutes.

PRO: The Star Trek Starships guys were pretty cool.

CON: Absolutely no attempt to decorate and theme the convention. 2 halls down the emergency services were having a convention, and were more dynamic with their branding and theming than a science fiction show from the 60s that had primary coloured sets. At least try to make the place feel like Star Trek.

PRO: Queueing for autographs and photoshoots was well organised.

CON: Queueing for "free" talk tickets was impossible. All you could do was wait near the entrance in overflow and hope to get in near the back.

So yeah. I had some fun there, but a lot of it was made by me and my friends. The convention itself while not exactly a shambles could certainly be handled much much MUCH better. I'll be going on the Sunday to DSTL2(3) as I've been lucky to get a ticket from a friend, but unless I win the lottery between now and then I won't be bothering to get any of the big tickets because it was simply not worth the money. Nowhere near worth it.

 

[Danlav05]

I've never been to a Star Trek con before despite being a lifelong fan so I jumped at a chance to go to this.

I've been to the Excel before for the Doctor Who 50th and it's a good venue. I'm kind of shocked at myself because I've been going to WhoCons for 15 years but never once Trek.

I booked right away and got all the tickets however Patrick Stewart was confirmed months later so I emailed about modifying my Order. Yes you can go back and order more different thing but i wanted bits taken off. They asked me to ring up so I did and the lady suggested starting a new order then after that call again and cancel this one. I did do however after checking online I discovered only certain talks/photos were removed! This is basically what I was asking for in the first place.

I was left hundreds of pounds out of pocket because of this so I had to get on the phone a third time and make sure they cancelled and refunded the old order as agreed in the first place.

Despite this kerfuffle I am determined to enjoy my day at the Excel meeting my favourite stars (screen legends!) and immersing myself in Star Trek!