TL;DR: I'm going to my regularly scheduled convention during Memorial Day weekend, and I genuinely forgot that planning everything out ahead of time is pretty much mandatory.
I've been procrastinating a bit and didn't buy the pass until a few days ago, but because of that, I have to juggle some things because while I am not personally cosplaying, which I'll get to later in this post as to why, I still need to generally plan out everything I want to do that weekend: when it comes to parties, hanging out with friends, going to panels, all that sort of stuff.
I already know I want autographs from three people, so I need to bring cash and a notebook to get those autographs, but I need to figure out if I want to get them all on the same day or different days. I also need to figure out what panels are worth doing on specific days, what events I want to go to, overall conventions have something for everyone, and there's so much for me that I need to figure out what I want to do so I don't get overwhelmed.
Back to not cosplaying, it's because my plan was to go as this Obito, and I can't get the contacts in time so I don't want to cosplay an incomplete character. There's just a lot for me to do for the next two weeks in terms of scheduling things out with friends and whatnot, that I actually have to time manage at the convention to make sure I get everything I want out of it.
The big thing is realizing how large businesses have taken over the convention scene. If it says Comic Con it is owned by the same people as PAX and E3.
For the Pacific Northwest I would recommend the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show in Tacoma. 400+ arcade games set free to play and lots of people talking about pinball.
The Portland Retro Gaming Expo is awesome. They tend to have 200 arcade games, a large console gaming area, other areas to game in, contests, shows and everything else. Run by locals and a ton of fun to attend.
Speaking of retro gaming, I can verify that the Houston Arcade Expo is run by good people.
I've been there the past two years, and had a great time each year. They never pressured me about masks or shots, either.
I would absolutely go again this October, but I can't due to family obligations.
So to thank them, I'm giving my endorsement here--if you're in the Houston area in October, check them out!
Honest answer? The convention center in Portland has the rights to every convention in Oregon. No other building is allowed to replace or challenge it. This is why some Oregon conventions are held in Vancouver Washington.
Momocon (the one I'm going to), is one of the only ones that's still run independently, as I looked into this ages ago and the LLC is owned by a man named Christopher Stuckey.