I found it busier than last year, Thursday was surprisingly busy. But I had a blast. I went to the John Byrne signing, it went really well, despite me picking up the Artist Edition, and then joining the signing queue to be told the queue was at capacity and to come back 3 hours later (having to carry the heavy book around for the rest of the day) But the staff were nice about it, so it was no big deal. The later John Byrne signing started 15 minutes early to deal with the long line, but it moved quickly and was well organised by IDW. John Byrne himself was very pleasant and chatty, and there was no issue with what extra items were signed (I had 2 book dust jackets, 2 of his Marvel comics, and one history of Marvel book), there was no extra charge for the extra 5 items by the way
I also won the lottery to meet Warren Ellis on Friday evening. That was restricted to one item per person, which was a surprising, but not unwelcome as it kept the line moving quickly and I was in a hurry to get back to Artist Alley before it closed. Warren Ellis was very charming, and really took his time with every person