I took some time this afternoon to stop by the Braves Winter FanFest and check out the goings-on. Right away I could tell this was going to be a much bigger production than they have ever put on in the past, and it sure was (see picture 1 above). There were a ton of interactive games, even some with Braves players pitching to fans. On one side of the exhibit hall there were a bunch of baseball card and memorabilia dealers with a strong focus on current and former Braves players (see picture 3 below). And of course there was plenty of food and beer to be bought (see picture 2).
The other thing there was plenty of were lines - really, really long lines for autographs. Don't go to FanFest expecting to get in and out of there with an autograph in an hour or two. Each of the two lines for autographs stretched from one end of the exhibit hall to almost three-quarters of the way to the other side (see picture 4 below), and that was before you had to get into a series of back and forth lines to get up to the autograph table (see picture 5). I asked people who were just about to go into the back and forth lines how long they had been waiting and the answer was anywhere from two and half hours to three hours (with the expectation that it would take at least another hour to get up to the autograph table). That's bloody ridiculous - I don't care whose autograph you're trying to get.
The real rock stars were the folks with a Premium Pass who could pretty much just walk right up to the front of the line through their own special line (see picture 6).
Overall I'm not sure this would be worth $15 or even $10. Kids seemed to be having fun with the interactive games and many people were enjoying the memorabilia stands, but there were some unhappy people in the autograph lines. There seemed to be enough dealers and exhibiters there that they could have made the FanFest free or less expensive. I say either lower the price for admission or move the thing back to Turner Field next year.
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