Scottish Folds are cats and I'm obsessed with them. Hailey's passions were airplane food and long romantic walks on the beach. Neither of us were capable of being too serious about it. Our registration day was uneventful on the VidCon front. We did go to see the X Games and Awolnation, which I talked about before.
Everything picked up a lot on Day 1 of VidCon. We woke up early (8am) and walked to the convention center. There we were led to the wrong line. What we wanted was to get in line to be let into the main room where we would queue to meet Charlie McDonnell (charlieissocoollike). We were put in line for the Kia Mainstage show. So we waited for 45 minutes before being let in and realizing that we were in the wrong place. It worked out okay because we made our way to the small line for the big room. There we met new friends and eventually got let in. We went right for Charlie and were among some of the first people in line. I bought one of his posters because it was a gift for a friend and had him sign it for her. It was great.
We had to get to a meet up (to wait in line and ensure we would make the cutoff) but we stopped at there merchandise table and I bought a Dan and Phil shirt and Dan's llama hat because I'm dumb but it makes me so happy.
After that we ran to sit in line for John and Hank Green's "meet up". They need to call these things panels instead of meet ups. Anyway, we waited for a while (we ended up being some of the first people in line) and when we were let in, we got front row seats. John and Hank answered questions and talked about Nerdfighteria and TFIOS among many other things. When it was over, Hailey (who had come for John and Hank) went up to the panel and took a blurry selfie with John.
Hailey was about to die and we made our way (as best as we could) down to the Dan and Phil signing. What you must understand is that they are the reason I came to VidCon. I went across the United States for them, as Hailey did for John and Hank. They are important to me. And when we got downstairs, the line went all the way down the wall of the convention center. It's hard to give a good idea of how long the line was but the room is massive. When we got to the end of the line a staff member said, "Sorry, the line's been cut off."
That was almost the end, I almost had a heart attack. Hailey told me later that she saw my face and thought to herself, "Oh shit, I gotta fix this..."
Luckily I wasn't going down without a fight. The line zig zags inside of some chains (like at an amusement park) at a certain point. Dan and Phil's line had a lot of extra people because they're popular. But we went to where the zig zagging begins and explained our predicament to a girl who was extremely understanding. She agreed to let us join her in line. I owe my life to this girl. But we held her spot while she went to get her friends from another signing and bring them to the Dan and Phil one, so I think we're even. Anyway, we waited two hours. The entire time I was telling Hailey about how she has to take candids for me on my phone.
Finally, we were at the front of the line after having people cut in front of us and I got to meet two of my favorite people on the planet.
I'm not even going to write about meeting them in detail. I don't like doing that. And I think the pictures are more than good enough. But they were incredibly nice and they completed my entire year by being so lovely to me. There were professional photographs but mine (as per usual) are missing. We also took a Polaroid and somehow (as per usual) it was horribly overexposed. It might be because of the fact that each light in the ceiling burnt with the strength of a thousand suns. Regardless, I love them. And it was perfect in every way.
After meeting Dan and Phil, I wanted to take a picture with the giant shark they had put in for Shark Week. Hailey kept saying that she didn't want to be in a picture with the shark. Guess who was in the picture with the shark? Hailey.
We also got interviewed by USA Today. They asked me what I liked about Dan and Phil. I said, "Everything."
After all of that, we went to see a Kia Mainstage Show. We went to the bathroom first and when we were in there, Miranda Sings walked by, trying to hide her face. I'm not a fan of hers but after she left Hailey and I started laughing uncontrollably.
The Kia Show was great because there was a British YouTubers panel (it was the best part) and it was absolutely hilarious. And Casper was there, even though he's South African. We were front row for that show because we went in a side entrance and sat on the floor while they did run throughs. No one got mad at us until 5 minutes before they let people in. A lady came over telling us to leave and another came and said, "Let them be, the show's about to start anyway."
Those were the best parts of Day 1 in summary. We hung around for the rest of the day. We had dinner at the food truck area (which was so cool!) and then we went to the concerts for a while. We coincidentally met up with our friends and Hank's performance was great.
On Day 2 we woke up early again to get in line (to get in line) for John and Hank's signing. We waited for a while but it was definitely okay. I took photos of Hailey talking to them for her and John complimented her dress. When I met them, I had them sign my lanyard and John saw that my passion was Matt Bellamy. He said, "Matt Bellamy... Who's Matt Bellamy?" And I told him that he was in Muse. And John said, "He's your Muse?" I laughed and replied, "No, he's in Muse." Hank cut in and said, "Muse! Yes, Muse." And John responded, "Yes, okay Muse!" It was cute and it made me happy.
After meeting John and Hank, we saw that the line for Kingsley was pretty short so we decided to meet him, too. When I went up he asked me where I was from and I told him that I come from Pennsylvania. He was like, "Oh my god?! That's far... Whereabouts?" Very sweet.
Hailey and I had lunch and then we went to the Jacksgap meet up... That might've been the worst idea ever. The line zig zagged and wrapped around in so many different directions. It was insane. Then when we got into the meet up room, anarchy set in. A girl had them sign a mannequin head named Debora and people were screaming and cheering and squealing. It was scary, I truly feared for my life. To put the insanity into perspective, there was a woman standing on a chair in the middle of the room.
Anarchy... After we bailed early on that meet up, we went to the final Kia Mainstage show, which changed my life and outlook completely. I cannot put into words what it felt like to be there, to be a part of it. I'm going to be in a movie. So is Hailey, and everyone else in that crowd. They filmed the opening and closing shots for Vlogumentary (which is supposed to be in theaters). Those shots were of the crowd cheering and crying and going wild. There was a bit that a man did. His name escapes me but it's on the tip of my tongue. He did something called the Human Test, where he read questions out loud and you raised your hand if they applied to you. For example, one question was along the lines of, "Have you ever been in a public place and wanted to throw your arms out as wide as they can go, and scream?" People raised their hands. People threw out their arms and screamed. At the end he closed his computer and said, "Congratulations. You've passed the test. You are human." The Human Test made me cry. So did the trailer for Vlogumentary.
There's probably a video of what I'm going to explain next but I'm going to explain it regardless. WheezyWaiter had a sketch where he accidentally put rat poisoning into John and Hank's coffee. They came onstage drinking it. And John and Hank died. Onstage. WheezyWaiter realized that he had fucked up and he went on a mission to find people to come and sing because he was told that you can revive them with song. So he left the stage and on the video screen, they played a video of his struggle to find people. He went to Shaytards who had all of his children clinging to him. WheezyWaiter told him what was happening and Shay said, "I have too many kids..." Wheezy said, "But it's Hank and John!" And Shay threw Rocktard onto the bed and said, "I didn't like this one anyway!" WheezyWaiter continued his search for help and he ended up getting in a brawl with another guy whose name also escapes me. They end up in a hot tub before WheezyWaiter realized that he had to go.
Then he came back onstage, wearing a bathing suit and talking about how he exactly find people to help. The photos of him standing over John's dead body are incredible out of context. Then the other guy came out and said, "I found people." And he brought out every single YouTuber at the convention. It was awesome because Dan and Phil were in front of me but that's beside the point. Everyone onstage started singing Never Gonna Give You Up to bring John and Hank back to life. Once they were alive again, everyone was dancing and having a good time onstage and it was one of the most beautiful things ever.
We had dinner at the Hilton and walked around more once it got dark. When we were walking, a guy approached us and asked if we liked Bohemian Rhapsody. Once we began talking he told us about this project he's doing for a new YouTube channel of his where he's having people sing lines of songs. He's going to put it all together and add beats and everything. So Hailey and I sang, "I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all" and it was great.
We went to the concert and tried our hardest to stay but after a few bad acts, we bailed and went to sleep.
The next day my alarm didn't go off but I woke up at 9 and jumped out of bed to check the time. This was the Disney day. We got ready (with our VidCon shirts), went to the cafe at the Double Tree, and then went to the Hilton to catch the VidCon shuttle to the park.
We had a lot of trouble finding the shuttle (which was in front of the Marriott instead of the Hilton but once we got on, we didn't have any issues whatsoever. We got to the park and boarded the monorail which took us to one of my favorite parts of the park, Tomorrowland. It was actually my first time at Disneyland (don't worry, I've been to Disney World in Florida) and it was one of the sweetest days ever. We went on Space Mountain first, which is one of my absolute favorite rides. And it's nice looking.
While we were waiting in line, Hailey and I were having heart palpitations because the new Doctor was about to be announced. We were both pleased with the outcome. Also when we were in line, a guy told us when and where the VidCon group photo would be happening so we spread that information for the rest of the day.
We went on It's A Small World which was worth it because it was so cute. I don't know, we went on tons of rides. My favorites were absolutely Space Mountain and Indiana Jones, which we rode twice. I got to "drive" the car the first time and the man next to me kept yelling, "LEARN HOW TO DRIVE!" which made everyone laugh. During one part, we drive through a cavern where the walls were basically made up of skulls and I gestured to the room and said, "My collection" and Hailey and I both laughed hysterically.
The best part was there were some VidCon people who were really cool and they would wave and cheer and yell, "VidCon!" whenever they walked past someone wearing the shirt. It was amazing.
When it came time for the group shot, we gathered in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle, completely blocking the bridge and (probably) creating a serious hazard. People were playing games until it was time for the photo to be taken. At that point, security had came over. We were all cheering and screaming and smiling like idiots. We were chanting, "VidCon, VidCon, VidCon" faster and faster until it fizzled out to nothing but clapping and yelling. It literally unbelievable. I think the guards were supposed to disband us but once they saw how happy everyone was, they couldn't possibly not give into that happiness. One of the workers even ran out of the crowd, made everyone cheer, and then ran back.
The event lasted for quite a while and one of the VidCon people hushed the crowd and had us film a video for John and Hank saying, "GOOD MORNING JOHN AND HANK, IT'S VIDCON!" Which nearly brought me to tears. The thought of that still makes me emotional.
Now you don't understand how big the crowd was. Here are some photos. The first one is from where I was standing (you can see that we attracted another crowd entirely). The second is a panorama from my angle. The third is the one that VidCon posted.
Hailey and I spent the rest of the day going on rides and enjoying the fact that we were having a completely blissful day. There was never any wait that lasted over 1 hour. We weren't arguing. I bought an R2D2 hat after going on Star Tours. She bought a Lady (Lady and the Tramp) Pillow Pet.
We went to a weird futuristic exhibit in Tomorrowland where we saw Stark Industries Iron Man suits. That was something I found extremely exciting.
When it got dark I got an Coca Cola float and she got ice cream and we secured dope spots for the fireworks show, which was pretty. I almost had a heart attack when Dumbo flew over the castle.
While we were waiting for the show to start I turned to Hailey and said, "I don't want to forget what this feels like." That's why I wrote a blog post about VidCon exclusively. I'm making the experience and the feelings I felt everlasting.
At 11 we took the shuttle back to the Hilton where we loitered until my mom came to pick us up and take us to Dana Point.
Now that the storytelling is out of the way, I need to explain why it was so important to me. We teenagers have stereotypes pinned down on us by adults and I learned that it was okay to live up to those stereotypes every once and a while. I realized that being a teenager is acceptable because I lived it. It struck me that I don't have to worry about being an adult. I'll have plenty of time to do that once I am and adult so why should I waste my years as a teenager acting like one? The best example of "being a teenager" is the USA Today interview. There were 4 of us being interviewed and the camera man and interviewer had us look at the camera and yell, "Dan and Phil!" And it didn't upset me. I did it and I wasn't embarrassed. Because I'm allowed to be like that if I want to be. I might as well do so while I can.
I don't remember where I was but I heard someone behind me say, "We are a family of black sheep." And that hit me. I don't know if I've ever heard something that resounded with me quite like that did. The thing about VidCon is exactly that: we are a family of black sheep. We're all here together because of online video, a family. And the black sheep part plays into the convention in a lot of ways. We're not normal. Online video is not normal. People are ridiculed for loving online video. I find that to be ridiculous. Do you know what it means to some people? It means solace and it means a place to be understood. VidCon is the embodiment of that notion.
I'm grateful to have heard someone say those 7 words because they helped me to verbalize the feelings I felt at the convention. VidCon is important because it makes people feel understood. If we're a family of black sheep or a group of misfits, we all get it. People go to VidCon because they get it. A girl that cut in front of me in the Dan and Phil line started crying when she saw them. I smiled at her and said, "Me too" and she said, "You don't understand". That was one of the only times I was upset. Of course I understand. Would I be here if I didn't? It isn't like you know what I've been through or why Dan and Phil became so important to me in the first place. You can't act superior because we're all here for the same reason: we get it. The Human Test was trying to convey a message that goes hand and hand with that: we're all human, we're not alone. We are so singleminded, it's virtually impossible to understand that there are other people who feel the things you feel. I know this because I feel this way often. But I do realize that I'm not alone and that no one is ever alone in anything. Ever.
You can ask what VidCon is. You can try to understand what it means. No one can fathom the importance of the convention without going for a reason. We are a family of black sheep. We've been there. We exist. And we understand.
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