Ok, I'm going to say it.. this was one big clusterf*ck.
My Husband and his friends were really excited at coming to this event and even flew in from Washington and New York in order to attend but sadly all left pretty disappointed. The group was initially set to attend PAX in Washington the same weekend, even had hotels booked and tickets purchased but as COD XP doesn't happen as often everyone decided this would be the better option and safe to say we all felt well and truly jipped.
The event spanned 3 days and they boasted having Lazer Tag, paintball and other fun activities yet the execution left a lot to be desired.
Day 1 they announce that the concert would be hosted on the Sunday instead of the Saturday like every other year, my Husbands friends that had flown in from out of state all had flights booked for Sunday so ended up missing what was supposed to be the highlight.
That first day the lines for everything were ridiculously long. We got there as soon as the event opened and waited 2+ hours in the heat for paintball which was held outside in the direct sun. The Lazer tag line ended up being closer to 4 hours long which thankfully I didn't waste my time on (after the Paintball line) because I learned that it only lasted about 7 minutes and the lazers were not working properly.
Day 2 was a lot quieter, probably due to the fact that people realized how lame it was so we were able to do the zip-line. We still waited in line almost 2 hours for 30 seconds of fun but at least I can say that I did it. I was somewhat amused at the staff strapping me into a harness and then announcing ''nope, you're going to have to wear a junior one'' and having to get fitted all over again then being told ''Oh yeah.. anybody under 120lb we also ask were a helmet for protection too''. I felt like a child being bubble wrapped up but at least they were being cautious.
Day 3 was the Championships final and quite entertaining, I don't play COD myself but watching the teams battle it out (US V's England btw) was pretty intense, I wasn't sure who I should be rooting for being British but in a room full of about 70% Americans so I just sat in silence.
The concert this year was Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa which I thought was gong to be the highlight but left pretty much everybody in the crowd pissed off due to it meant to start at 2pm but kept us waiting until 3:10 with lame stalling tactics, Then when Snoop did finally come out he really lacked energy and we ended up leaving after 10 minutes.
Needless to say we have no plans of attending again and Activision are sure to be getting thousands of irate emails. read more