Tampa Convention Center — Attraction in Tampa

I visited the convention center for Megacon 2016, and was impressed with the facility. I enjoyed that they have multiple escalators to go between the three floors instead of just stairs, because my out of shape self would have been huffing and puffing by the time the day was over. There is plenty of signage and the ballrooms and the main event hall are all clearly marked with their corresponding number/letter and are easy to locate; I had almost no trouble navigating throughout the center the entire time I was there. There is a plethora of restrooms, also clearly marked, and at least two on each level. The restrooms were clean and well lit, but I did have to wait in line a bit due to the small number of stalls. There is a bar as well as a pizza/sub counter, and a small bistro/cafe type eatery located inside, which was nice because it meant I didn't have to trek through downtown Tampa to find something to eat. The food wasn't AMAZING but it was decent; better than most concession stand type foods. Plenty of nice lounge chairs and couches scattered about, as well as dining tables and chairs. The view from the terrace outside is BEAUTIFUL; it overlooks the bay and is a perfect backdrop for pictures. Definitely one of the more modern feeling convention centers I've been to in a while and I...

Tampa Comic Con here was ridiculous. We expected parking to be far, but once you got to the building, they made you walk ALL the way around, not kidding, to the back and still keep going to the other side of the building. We almost did a full circle, and with two young kids on a hot hot day. Part of it was through a car tunnel. The exhaust fumes were hot and made it hard to breathe. Anyways, we finally make it in through extensive security. We go up the stairs to the main area. Right away we find a men's restroom, and then another, where is the women's? On the bottom floor bc all the others are broken. One food place with a huge line. The other weird food places selling salad? And pretzels?and popcorn? Dang people, I need real food. Just about the Comic Con, it was so lame. All the famous people were hidden behind curtains. Or not even sitting in the autograph area. All the activity rooms were stupid. The kids room was dumb. We did sit in on some voice actors that was cool for 5 minutes but everyone was asking the same question in different ways. Some people dressed up pretty cool. Mostly it was just posing pictures with those people and wandering around with a confusing schedule and a map that didn't make any sense. We will not be...

There for the ibex conference. 3 days. Why not 5 stars? This is a 5 star location and facility. You would think that with such a place, when a conference attendee took a lunch break at the cost of 15 dollars and a HUGE snake shaped line. - 53 people and 20 PLUS minutes... One would be rewarded with an edible meal. 3 hamburgers and fries meals. Cold. Unappetizing. No options. 45 dollars for 3 meals Really. For uncooked French fries and overcooked patties. So the line was huge day 1. Day 2. 5 in line when we strolled by with nary a thought of ever stopping. The other star withheld is because of the customer service ... Or lack thereof. So when a company pays 6000 for a small booth and requests 2 chairs so that people can sit, you ask for 100 dollars ? Per chair? Per day? REALLY? A thousand times no. We ordered sushi delivery to the back stairs and noted many other attendees brought their lunches the next day too. Hate it when a place takes advantage of a captive audience situation. With all that said, the staff, from the man in the guard building out by the water, to the ushers to the screeners were most pleasant. Tampa is a great city. A great city with great food. We did not see that at all in 3...