Magfest 2025
When I heard how much fun Magfest was in 2024, I decided I had to go back in 2025. The last Magfest I went to was the first one after Covid. Why did I stop going for a while? Nothing against the convention, but back then, the opportunity for cosplay photography was limited as it was not a cosplay centric convention. As the acronym states, it’s a music and gaming convention. The cosplay community attended in lower numbers as Magfest takes place at the Gaylord Resort Hotel in Oxon Hill, MD which is the same place as Katsucon. Attendees of Katsucon know how extremely busy it can get, so Magfest being a few weeks prior to Katsucon allows the opportunity to get great photos. Magfest is also very photographer friendly by allowing light stands and even mini photobooth set ups that make for great night time photography.
One of the toughest part about Magfest is landing lodging at the Gaylord. If you buy an early bird, you have the chance to get into a queue on a specific day and hour through an email link that Magfest will send you. The problem is that there are limited rooms at the Gaylord. When you join the randomized queue, if you are not less than number 800, there is a good chance you will not get a room. My number was somewhere in the 7000s. Since it’s randomized, I get it. The problem was that after the last room sells out, those in the line are not informed, so you wind up waiting over an hour just to see that rooms sold out. It was frustrating, but thankfully, one of my best friends had a room across the street. The rooms selling out is a reason why many will get refundable back up rooms almost a year out as insurance, just in case they cannot get a Gaylord room. Being at the host hotel at a convention makes the experience so much better.
For the convention itself, it pretty much goes on 24 hour hours. From small bands to a large rave, if you love all types of music, this convention is for you. It is even better if you love games. The gaming section that is open 24 hours takes up a large amount of space. From arcades, pinball, LAN set up to PC games, one could spend all 4 days at the con playing games and it will not be enough time. The merchandise is also open 24 hours, however, not all merchants will have enough staff to cover all of those hours. Personally, I do not know who is buying merchandise at 3AM, but I was told that inebriated attendees will buy anything.
My routines at the convention was pretty much similar to other cons. I do not stay up too late in order to get up early enough to work out. I am usually at the convention scene by 8AM and taking photos until 6PM. That’s when I’ll take a break to eat and recoup as I enjoy evening shooting with the lights and color lights that my fellow photographer friends will set up. I will take photos until 10PM. This process repeats daily other than Sunday. Surprisingly, Sunday was pretty sparse for cosplay which is understandable. It is nice that Magfest had water stations set up. I would snack through the day and the hotel I stayed at had a good unlimited breakfast. I basically ate enough to get through my 6PM light dinner and then a bigger meal super late via delivery service. Hence why I made sure I worked out each morning. I also logged in over 10k steps a day.
So after coming back to Magfest, it has become one of my favorite cons. I have been telling others who are fearful of Katsu, to attend Magfest instead. It is not super crowded and you can navigate through the hotel with ease. It’s enough people to be able to absorb what is going on and the con has an overall chill aura and feel. I’ll definitely buy another early bird badge and try my luck with the hotel room queue lottery.
