My blog has been on hiatus more often than not for the last several months because I've just had no motivation to write - but I wanted to talk about something that's popped up as Hot News.
This weekend (27th - 29th March 2026) was the much-advertised Barbie Dreamfest in Florida. It advertised celebrity guests like Serena Williams, activities like a life size interactive Dreamhouse; various themed panels about things like dollmaking, Barbie's cultural history; film screenings of some of the animated films. Tickets ranged in price from $72 for a single adult day pass to $450 for the three-day Dream Pass including extra perks like swag bag and priority queue for events.
Reports that have come in from day one of the event have been... well, like this Reddit post for example, titled, "Barbie Dreamfest.... more like Barbie Fyre Fest". Another Reddit post described the experience as "We Got Fyre Fested".
Comments compared it to Willy's Chocolate Experience in approximate quality.
The official Instagram account now has similar comments rolling in.
According to some comments, the advertised "swag bag" for the premium VIP pass was a hairbrush and a hand sanitizer.
Going through pictures of the convention on Instagram and Reddit are kind of sad -- but can I just also say, what did we expect? How many disappointing but highly advertised conventions and experiences are we going to have before we learn?