i know it sounds a little nutty, but the general hospital fan club weekend has become one of my favorite annual events. you know i’ve been watching this show since the early 80s and at this rate, i’m pretty sure i’ll never stop. maybe it’s cheesy and predictable and silly, but i don’t care. heh.
anyway, that’s fair warning for you to either keep reading or skip this post entirely. it’s okay, it won’t hurt my feelings!
the weekend kicked off with a gathering where anyone who’s appeared on the show (past or present) was invited to join and mingle with fans. and it was the first time we got to meet chris mckenna, the new “jack brennan.” he’s super friendly and seemed to enjoy chatting with us.
the scarola twins are the adorable actresses who play “avery corinthos.”
nathanyael grey played “mason gatlin,” who was part of roger howarth’s last storyline.
darin toonder was the maniacal “doctor montague.” he may have been a creep on the show, but he couldn’t be friendlier and so happy to be there.
cari shayne was part of the 90s teen scene, playing “karen wexler” who was scotty baldwin’s daughter and eventually married jagger cates. i loved that storyline so much, and it was really nice to meet her and learn about what she’s been up to since she left the show.
dominic zamprogna (“dante falconeri”) stopped by with his daughters to say hi to everyone and promised to spend much more time with us the next day at the main cast event (and at his own late-night event). he’s always so nice and chatted with us and took photos.
josh kelly (“cody bell”) and chloe lanier (“nelle benson”) also made a quick appearance on their way out for an evening together. they’re such a cute couple.
since i’ve been coming to these things, i’ve made a handful of friends and we always have a great time catching up and hanging out. we caught adam huss (“nikolas cassadine”) at the end of the evening and got him to take a photo with our whole group.
in addition to the main cast event, i attended a few of the private events hosted by a handful of cast members. the first one was with rick hearst (“ric lansing”) and rebecca herbst (“elizabeth baldwin”).
check out my sweet suite, just a few floors above the ballrooms where the events were being held:
and the portable espresso machine came in clutch, saving me from having to make a coffee run before starting my day:
at the merch boutique, i picked up the perfect souvenir - and realized it would be the best thing to have the cast members autograph during the meet & greets.
the event had a great turnout from the cast, as it usually does. i always marvel at how long this fan club has been operating - more than 40 years!
jonathan jackson is the original “lucky spencer.” he and his band had performed the night before at their own event, during which he unfortunately tweaked the crap out of his back. it was obvious how much pain he was in, but he stayed to meet fans for as long as he could stand it.
the announcement of kelly thiebaud’s return to the show had just been released, so it was awesome to meet her and share our theories of how her character (who’d died onscreen!) would return to the canvas. she giggled and told us to “just wait and see!”
lydia look is “selina wu,” and she was as delightful as ever. she remembered me from previous years, and she gave me a big hug before we posed for this photo.
i’d met kristina vaganos (“molly lansing-davis”) a few months prior, at that clothing sale in silver lake with her onscreen sister kate mansi (“kristina corinthos”). i stopped by to say hello to her and told her i’d see her again at their private event the next morning.
i met up with chris mckenna again, who liked my WSB t-shirt and happily signed my fan.
adrian anchondo plays “marco rios.” he liked my fan too, and i told him i was happy to see more filipino representation on the show.
this is jacqueline grace lopez, who plays marco’s sister “blaze.” she’s not actively on the show right now, but the door is always open for her to come back. she’s also part filipino and she also remembered me from last year. i love her, she’s such a sweetheart.
alexa havins is the new “lulu spencer.” i’d heard that she was a little nervous about meeting us because she took over the role from another actress, so i made sure to tell her that i really liked her in the role and hoped she was feeling the love from other fans too.
rory gibson is also new to the show, and also a recast from an actor who’d been in the role for a long time. as with alexa, he’d expressed a little trepidation about how he’d be received by the fans. although from the length of the line to meet him, i’m pretty sure he got over that fairly quickly. he’s given the character of “michael corinthos” a really interesting personality makeover, in the best way. “dark michael” is really fun to watch.
cynthia watros (“nina reeves”) is always so sweet.
i managed to catch chloe lanier for a quick selfie, and she was more than happy to oblige despite being on her way out again with josh kelly.
by this time, the main cast event was pretty much over and the smaller ballrooms were being prepped for more private events. after i took that photo with chloe, i turned towards the staircase and saw a familiar face coming in. evan hover played “dex heller” until last december when his character was killed off, and a lot of us were so sad to lose him. and when he saw me, he called out my name and waved me over to say hello and ask if i was attending the event hosted by maurice benard (“sonny corinthos”). i hadn’t planned on it, but i knew a bunch of my buddies were going so i decided to skip the nap i was going to take and headed on into the room.
next up was the event hosted by cynthia watros and maura west (“ava jerome”). it was really nice to see that the friendship they have onscreen is reflected in real life as well.
dominic zamprogna’s late night event was a fun way to close out the long day of fangirling. he’s a really laid back, down-to-earth kinda guy and we had fun asking questions about the show, character interactions, his fellow cast members.
my last event was on sunday morning - the one with kristen vaganos and kate mansi. they, too, have a very close and sweet relationship outside of the show. it was fun to hear them banter back and forth, both about the show and real life. kate recognized me from the clothing sale, and i told her how amused i was at having her on my venmo transactions list.
as i was making my final exit from the convention floor, i caught a glimpse of another familiar face and went to check it out. this is daniel goddard, who plays “professor dalton.”
with a new wristband for every event i attended, this is what my arm looked like by the end of the weekend:
and that’s a wrap on GHFCW 2025!
