Okay, okay, I know what you guys are thinking: “WOW Tiffany, another convention?!”… And yes, I know the last convention I went to was literally two months ago… BUT either way, last weekend, I attended the Walker Stalker convention in Atlanta, Georgia alongside my best friend, Jessica! I know, I know, I’ve been before but that simply made it so much better (it also made Walker Stalker the first convention I’ve ever been to twice)! The anticipation this time was simply so much more intense as leading up to the event, I kept on debating whether or not it would be better than the year before… Would it be different? Would I get bored? Hundreds of questions raced through my head! Some things at least I knew for sure, like that this time we would only attend Saturday and Sunday, not the opening on Friday. We did this in contrast to last year as there truly wasn’t anything in particular that either of us wanted to attend that day. So, let’s start, let me take you on my trip, step by step!
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(Be sure to check out last year’s post about Walker Stalker HERE for a more in-depth explanation of what the convention really encompasses.)
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It all started when my friend and I got onto a plane in London on Friday night, heading straight to Atlanta! As coincidental as it may sound, we somehow ended up on the same flight and seated in the same row as David Morrissey (who plays the Governor in The Walking Dead)!! Once we had arrived, we went straight to our hotel and enjoyed a good night’s rest to prepare for the craziness that awaited us!
Once awake the next day, everything became so much more intense! First things first, I chose my outfit for the day – something casual yet chic, altered to the fact that I wanted to be comfortable enough to not die in the long queues, stretchy enough for me to be able to run for food and openings and finally, cute enough for me to take memorable photos all day long! In other words, I opted for black high-rise Abercrombie & Fitch jeans, paired with a white Brandy Melville rose top, black converse, and a leather jacket. I also kept a light grey jacket in my backpack in case I got too hot in the ever so lightly claustrophobic room!
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Once the fashion decisions were made, the bags were packed and the hotel room was locked, Jessica and I headed downstairs and into an uber destined for the Congress Center – where we redeemed our tickets, cast photos and obtained the entrance wristbands to the convention! To quickly explain this system: when you buy a picture slot online, they send you an electronic code via email which you can later use to obtain a physical ticket and eventually use to get the picture taken! So anyways, back to the story, once we arrived at the actual convention itself, we immediately headed to the incredible merchandise booths where, as you can imagine, we went crazy! From stickers to T-shirts, my favorite thing that I bought has to have been the Funko Pop of one of the first Walkers you see on The Walking Dead TV show. Lucky for me, I found this particularly rare item and it wasn’t even overpriced!!! After this mini-shopping excursion, we headed into the main room where, along the way, we saw the set from Will’s Buyers house from Stranger Things and Dale’s RV from The Walking Dead. This I should add surprised me as it was new to the convention and hadn’t been there the year before…
After this small set tour, my best friend and I headed to our first autograph signing appointment with Austin Amelio (Dwight in The Walking Dead) who was really nice and with whom I spoke fondly about Switzerland! After this, we moved on swiftly to the photo booths where we met Micheal Cudlitz (Abraham in TWD), Jon Bernthal (Shane in TWD) and Josh McDermitt (Eugene TWD). Although all three actors were really nice to talk to, I was most significantly excited to meet Jon as unlike the others, he wasn’t there the year before. As expected, Jon turned out to be very funny, out-going and totally a bad-ass (hence why I smirked in our photos together hehe). After meeting the three stars, Jessica and I then went to have lunch and got ready for all of our upcoming photos. These included shots with Alanna Masterson (Tara), followed by Tom Payne (Jesus), the Lost Cast, Lennie James (Morgan) and Norman Reedus (Daryl)! As you can obviously imagine, all of these photos were super fun to take and every single one of the actors we met were outrageously nice, especially Alanna who was giving candy out! After all this, we moved onto our final picture appointment of the day, with Austin (again) who amazingly remembered us from last year as the Switzerland girls! And then, to top things off, we ended our day with meeting David Morrissey, who was very kind and who thoroughly laughed with us about our previous meeting the day before on the plane! Once that was over, we were practically lying on the floor, after a full day of running around for appointments, we were simply dead tired! This resulted in us taking an uber back to our hotel, ordering takeout and going STRAIGHT to bed!
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Moving onto Sunday, I would like you all to keep in mind that we had to leave to the airport straight after the convention to go back to Europe on time – meaning that our day would be (unbelievably) more stressful than the day before! As you can all guess, it was an immensely tiring day but nevertheless, it ended up being much better than the year before! It started out with me laying in bed, drinking coffee while choosing Jessica’s outfit and then my own: an Abercrombie & Fitch striped black and white top paired with high-waisted Topshop jeans and Jimmy Choo booties. Leaving the hotel an hour later, I grabbed my Chanel red lipstick which both Jessica and I then applied in the uber to add a little touch of color to our otherwise monotone looks.
When we finally arrived at the convention center, cold as ever (funnily enough Atlanta was much warmer this time last year), we met Nestor Carbonell who plays the role of Alex Romero in Bates Motel. Looking back at our meeting now, I can honestly say without a shadow of a doubt that he was the nicest actor either of us had met so far! Unlike some of the actors we met, he truly engaged himself into our conversation and was honestly interested and even asked us questions! This interest he had in us honestly came through in the photos (which you will see below) as you can clearly see how happy we all were to have actually gotten along! After this, Jessica and I got a bite to eat and then walked over to get photos taken with Melissa McBride (Carol in TWD) and Tom Payne (Jesus in TWD). The photo with Melissa went smoothly but boy, oh boy, the photo was Tom was a disaster! Basically, the camera stopped working so we resulted in talking about London and how my brother is studying there… Anyways they sent to get the camera fixed but when it came back, it still didn’t work (Tom argued that this was due to our badass poses) and well about 20 minutes later, they connected something and we were finally able to get our shot! After this, Jessica and I headed over to get some autographs from Alanna Masterson, who took loads of selfies with us, Chandler Riggs, who we were first in line for and finally Ross Marquand who was fascinated about Switzerland! Moving on, we then went to have lunch and then rushed to buy three posters for my bedroom: one from American Horror Story’s Coven, another from Ghostbusters and finally one from IT.
And now finally, we arrive at my favorite part of this tremendous weekend: more picture-takings to end a fabulous day. Starting with Chandler Riggs and then quickly moving on to the Bates Motel duo, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Norman Reedus, I was in heaven. From meeting Nestor for the 4th time this weekend to hugging Jeffrey twice, this part of our weekend definitely exceeded our wildest dreams! The best part of all was ending with Norman, as you all know, I’m one of his biggest fans so seeing him last really ended my weekend in the best way possible! Waving goodbye to him as we walked out the big doors, Jessica turned around to me and said: “Don’t worry, we’ll see him next year!”.
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Much LOVE,
Tiffany Lea Xx
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Let me know down in the comments section whether or not you have ever met any of the actors listed above? If not, do you want to meet them? Have you ever been to a WalkerStalker convention?
Looks like so much fun, the photos are great too! xo