Well, there are so many things to talk about...
Let's start with the artwork in the lobby - especially at night the large banners, the flying dragon and the mirror ball created an amazing atmosphere. The artists (and technicians) which were involved creating all this stuff cannot be praised enough.
The hotel staff was very friendly and helpful all the time. The hotel room was clean and the bed was comfortable.
This year I had mixed experiences with the security team, some of them being very friendly and helpful, but in some cases inadequate rude. I already sent a PM to the person which was involved and will not spread any details here.
Again I enjoyed the friendly atmosphere. Didn't have any bad experience with one of the other furs. I loved to hang around with my friends and also talking to "new" people.
Unfortunately, one of my favorite events was a big disappointment this year - the fursuit parade at friday.
After the group photo being made, nobody gave instructions what to do next, resulting in a huge pile of fursuiters just standing around in the lobby. After a while, somebody announced that the rain just stopped and the parade would start outside. Well, it did, but with VERY bad timing, because all the poor fursuiters experienced the worst rainstorm of the whole day without any chance to escape. After returning to the hotel, most fursuiters just vanished to their hotel rooms trying to dry their suits.
I am aware of the fact, that the EF staff is not able to influence the weather, but you didn't have to be a weather expert to see, that it would NOT stop raining. A simple view out of the window showed a very dark cloud coming towards our location.
At last year's fursuit parade the fursuiters were walking around in the hotel first and then started the parade through the city. If this procedure would have been repeated this year, the outside parade would have taken place in perfect sunshine.
About the dances...
The mix of music styles being played was ok, with some very nice highlights. For example, I loved Kenai for playing the original version of "What is love" instead of some crappy remix and that "Big bad wolf" song was cool
Aouuuuuu!!!!
Unfortunately what made both dances less fun compared to last year for me was the partially bad (or non-existent) lighting. The lighting rig was capable of some really cool effects (loved the spots at the side of the stage), but the LJ used them rarely, instead left the whole dancefloor in complete darkness for minutes.
It's ok to have dimmed lighting during a slow, romantic song, but during fast paced tracks, the lighting should support the party atmosphere with appropriate effects. Come on guys, EF is a furry party, not a gothic funeral!
Another downside was the loudness - at past EFs I never had problems with the loudness, it was always very enjoyable without earplugs, but at this years BBF dance it was just hurting my ears at some point.
So my wishes for the next dances would be - spend more energy for light and less for the amplifier.
Overall, EF17 was a very nice experience again with only a few things to complain about and I want to thank everybody who helped making this possible. See ya all again at EF18 hopefully
Edit:
Forgot something I want to add now - last year I liked Kenai and djem working together as DJs. They were a dream team at the mixing table. They rocked the house while looking very cute with their fursuit heads. I hoped, it would be repeated this year and was missing it somehow.
