Dragon Con

From Wikiavian

Note: If some of this information seems out-of-date, it probably is. Much of this was copy/pasted from last year's emails, and the general advice still applies. If something is obviously out-of-date (a date is wrong or the information is contradicted by Josh's more recent email(s)), feel free to fix it. There's a lot of stuff here.

Contents 1 Getting your pass 1.1 Get your pass early 1.2 Actually getting your pass 2 Room advice/information 2.1 Room assignments 2.2 Check-in and keys 2.3 Overnight guests 2.4 Linens n' Things 2.5 Bedding 2.6 Roll-away bed 2.7 Food 2.8 Luggage 2.9 Payment 2.10 Star Trek 2.11 Crowds 2.12 Check-out 3 General con advice 3.1 Take MARTA 3.2 Parking 3.3 Get the lay of the land 3.4 Get in line early 3.5 D*CTV 3.6 Plan ahead 3.7 Shop on Friday 3.8 Budget your cash 3.9 Hentai Panels 3.10 Homework

[edit] Getting your pass

[edit] Get your pass early

Trust me, the last thing you'll want to do at the start of the convention is wait in line for your pass. The ticket office is open from 4:00 - 10:00 pm on Thursday, August 28, which is the day before the Con begins. I highly recommend going down there during that time to get your pass. This is especially important for those of you who didn't pre-register, since the line for at-the-door passes is usually much longer than the pre-registration line. Hillary and Andrew plan on picking up passes as close to 4 pm as possible and have 3 extra spaces in the car if you would like to go. Others may also be willing to arrange a trip so you don't have to wait in line alone. (Related link)

[edit] Actually getting your pass

Those of you buying your passes at the door won't need anything more than a method of payment and a photo ID. Those of you who pre-registered earlier this year and will be picking up your passes should have as many of the following as possible:

1. Your DragonCon confirmation card. You should have received a lime green postcard in the mail a few weeks ago that confirms your registration. If you don't have it/can't find it, though, that's okay. Those things tend to get lost in the mail really easily.
2. Your PayPal receipt. If you pre-registered, you paid through PayPal and should have received a receipt. (Look for a message in your e-mail with the subject "Receipt for your Payment to Dragon*Con" from service@paypal.com.) If you can't find it in your e-mail, then you can log onto the PayPal system and print up another one.
3. Two forms of photo ID. I remember that they sometimes ask for at least one form of photo ID, and they may or may not ask for two if you're missing both items 1 and 2. Either way, I like to have both, just to be safe. (Your BuzzCard counts as one.)

If you're missing some of these things, that's okay. Everything on this list is actually much more than you'll need, but I like to have it all with me just in case there's a problem. At the bare minimum, you should have either 1 or 2 and one of 3.

[edit] Room advice/information

I've reserved two rooms at the Hyatt, which I've asked to be as close to each other (and to the ground floor) as possible. I'm also limiting occupancy to six people per room, which, based on last year's rate, fees and taxes, comes out to $90 a person. I know that's a little more expensive than last year, but I promise that the convenience of having a room nearby makes it all worthwhile. The hotel has confirmed that the rooms will be adjoining, and they're doing our best to put us on the lowest floor possible.  They tentatively have us on the sixth floor, which is a nice change from the 20th floor last year.

[edit] Room assignments

• Room ???
  • Joshua
  • Aaron
  • Emily
  • Ejok
  •  ???
  •  ???
• Room ???
  • Andrew
  • Hillary
  • Brent Rowswell
  • Tiffany Rowswell
  •  ???
  •  ???

• Other interested people:
  • Morgan Daniel

[edit] Check-in and keys

Josh will be arriving around noon or 1:00 Friday and has asked for an early check-in, but the hotel can't make any promises.  Worst case scenario, the room won't be ready until 3:00, so if you're arriving beforehand, you may have to either hang on to your luggage or leave it at the front desk.  (I believe they'll let you do this.) It's also set it up so that each of you can go to the front desk and request your own key, so you won't have to go through Josh to get into the room.  If you arrive early and the desk tells you the room isn't ready or that they don't have your name, then it means Josh hasn't checked in yet and am somewhere else in the Con.  Just hang tight and try again in an hour or two.  If you need to talk to Josh, you can call him on his cell phone (the number was provided via email).

[edit] Overnight guests

If you run into friends at the Con who would like to stay in the rooms one or more nights, that's okay, but only under the following conditions:

1. They must be sober during their stay,
2. You must first seek approval from ALL other guests in the room
3. They must pay you $30 a night up front (cash or check), which you will then turn over to me.
4. Also, the maximum occupancy of your room must never exceed six people.

[edit] Linens n' Things

Hotel toiletries are small and really aren't meant to be shared among 4 people. That said, it's recommended that everybody bring their own bathroom supplies, including towels, washrags, soap and shampoo.

[edit] Bedding

Each room comes with two double beds. Anyone else needs to bring his/her own bedding supplies, including sheets, pillows, sleeping bags or whatever they need to be comfortable. Hillary and Andrew will provide a larger air mattress that sleeps two if there are any additional guests that need a place to sleep. Josh also has two air mattresses that sleep one each, which he may or may not be bringing.

[edit] Roll-away bed

The hotel cannot provide a roll-away or hide-a-bed due to fire code regulations. The two existing beds and available air mattresses will sleep six per room, exactly what we're shooting for.

[edit] Food

Everybody is on their own for food. To keep costs down, I'd recommend packing in at least some of your own food. I don't know yet whether the room comes with a mini-fridge, but I'll ask and get back to you. Regardless, though, I recommend minimizing the number of perishables that you bring. (Common items such as juice, milk and fruit are available in the food court, anyway.) Hillary and Andrew will have a small cooler with limited space for additional perishables, but try to keep things small in size and number.

The Consuite is in its usual location on the second floor of the Hyatt, and provides free soft drinks, coffee, tea, and snacks 24-hours-a-day throughout the Con. One cannot live on Consuite food alone, but it certainly serves as a supplement to a healthy Con diet.

[edit] Luggage

There's going to be a lot of people in each room, so please keep your luggage small. I'd recommend no more than a backpack/large purse and a duffel bag/small suitcase per person, plus anything extra for your costumes.

[edit] Payment

The final cost of the room is $30 a night for three nights. That comes down to $90.00 a person for the weekend. Josh will need your money (cash, check, money order, etc.) NO LATER THAN Sunday, August 24. He won't take any IOUs or track you down for payment after the fact. Also, please be aware that this cost does not include extras such as room service, pay-per-view movies, the mini-bar or those little $2.50 bottles of water they leave everywhere. Additionally, any damage to the room that incurs charges is the responsibility of the person who did the damage. Josh will come after you for the money, so just work toward not breaking anything, ok?

I said in a previous e-mail that I'd take either cash or personal checks for the hotel room, but I think I'd prefer a check if you can swing it. My bank's located in Texas, and it's hard to make cash deposits into my account from Atlanta. However, if writing a check is more difficult for you for whatever reason, then I still don't mind cash.

[edit] Star Trek

There's been a lot of discussion about trying to throw an actual Star Trek party at the Con, but I think I'm going to avoid that because there will simply be too many distractions to make a party viable. (Besides, past experience tells me that we'll all be too tired at the end of the day to stay up that late.) However, I will have all of my DVDs available in the room for you along with a laptop to play them. (We may or may not be able to hook the laptop up to the TV depending on the ports available.)

[edit] Crowds

Finally, please remember that several people will be sharing a room designed for 3-4--including only one bathroom--so everybody will have to be patient with one another, take turns and keep their showers short. It's going to be crowded, and people will be coming and going all day, but I think we'll be comfortable enough. Furthermore, it's important to keep the noise level down so that we don't disturb our neighbors or get in trouble with the hotel. That means no horseplay, no roughhousing, no yelling, no loud music, no swordfights, and no anime re-enactments. Thanks.

[edit] Check-out

I'll double-check the time, but I believe we have to be checked out by noon on Monday. I suggest that everybody be packed up and out of the room before you begin your Monday convention routine. However, you won't have to lug your stuff around all day: the hotel has a place where you can store your luggage until the Con's over (ask at the front desk for details).

[edit] General con advice

[edit] Take MARTA

Parking's expensive, crowded and fills up fast. Take the Trolley to the Midtown Station and ride the Southbound train three stops to the Peachtree Center Station. (A one-way ticket costs about $2.25.) Take the escalator up to the street level, and you'll find yourself only two blocks from the Con. Just follow the Storm Troopers the rest of the way.

Andrew will most likely be driving to the con on Friday mid-morning/afternoon, so you may be able to hitch a ride with him, especially if you bribe him. MARTA will be cheaper, though.

[edit] Parking

If you absolutely must drive, parking is both expensive and at a premium. The hotel parking fills up long before we plan on checking in and is more expensive than other options. Surface lots with honor boxes further from the event are cheaper, but not as secure. Andrew and Hillary have found that the best place to park in the way of convenience, price and security is the Peachtree Center deck, located next to the Hilton on the corner of Courtland and Harris streets (Google Street view: 224 Courtland). The price in previous years has been posted as $10 daily without in-and-out privileges, but if you don't move your car for the entire weekend, they will usually only charge $10 or $20 for the weekend. The parking deck has a skywalk from the deck to Peachtree Center Mall, which connects the Hyatt and Marriott hotels.

[edit] Get the lay of the land

DragonCon's held in three four of Atlanta's biggest and grandest hotels: the Hyatt, the Marriott Marquis, the Hilton, and the Sheraton. The Hilton's okay, but the Hyatt and Marriott (which hold most of the main attractions) are as confusing as hell. If you're fairly new to the Con, I suggest making a trip down there sometime between now and the Con to tour the hotels and get a feel for their layout. This will be Josh's seventh eighth year attending, and he still finds new rooms each year that he didn't know existed.

[edit] Get in line early

Fundamental Con Theorem #1: The popularity of the panel is directly proportional to the amount of time you should spend in line. For regular discussion panels with no major celebrities, you're okay to arrive 10 - 15 minutes early and still find a good seat. For panels and Q&A's with small-time celebrities (ex. That Guy Who Got Shot That Time In That Star Trek Episode), plan to get in line 20 - 30 minutes early. For anything starring major celebrities (ex. Kevin Sorbo, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Shanks, the Phelps twins, etc.), get in line at least an hour early if you want a good seat. For some of the key attractions--such as the Klingon Beauty Pageant--you may want to get in line even earlier.

[edit] D*CTV

As a corollary to "Get in Line Early," the Con has rolled out live broadcasts and taped delays of some of the more popular panels that you may not be able to get into. The pocket program includes a schedule of all of the panels and events that will be broadcast over the Con's channel (Ch. 41 in the Hyatt). So, if you REALLY wanted to get into see the DS9 Reunion or Meet the Stars of Harry Potter and it's full, you can still catch it on TV up in the room (or perhaps the Consuite) and probably have a better view.

[edit] Plan ahead

Download the schedule early and plan out your Con. Although the complete schedule of all Con activities are available to you when you first get your pass, the DragonCon website (http://www.dragoncon.org) usually has a PDF available a few days ahead of time. Print it out and plan which activities you want to attend and where they are. If you do this and get the lay of the land, you'll find your Con experience a lot more streamlined. The PDF of the pocket program is available here: http://publications.dragoncon.org/pdfs/2008DC-PocketProgram-Combined-web.pdf.

When it comes to planning out your personal schedule, you can either highlight the panels that interest you in the pocket program itself, or you can set up an Excel file or similar. Either way, it's a good idea to have second and even third choices for panels you want to attend. In most cases, there will be multiple ones you find interesting happening at the same time, and if your first choice fills up (or worse, is canceled), it's nice to have a plan B. Likewise, with as spread out as the Con is now, you might not feel like hoofing it from a panel in the Sheraton to a panel at the Hyatt more than once or twice once you get there (especially if you're like Hillary and wearing 3" heels for half the weekend).

[edit] Shop on Friday

Most of the shopping is clustered into the Exhibit Hall and the Dealer's Room, both in the Marriott. The best stuff goes fast, so check these places out early before it's all gone. Besides, most of the good panels happen on Saturday and Sunday, anyway.

[edit] Budget your cash

I recommend everybody make a budget for the weekend, since there are a lot of ways to spend money. For events like these, I like to pull some money from the ATM at the beginning and use that as my entire budget. When it's gone, it's gone. Also, I recommend that everybody pay for everything in cash (with the possible exceptions of your pass and the room). Most vendors prefer it over checks or credit cards, and you'll find your purchases a lot easier to make if you use it.

[edit] Hentai Panels

Attend Jess' Late-Night Hentai Panels. Most of the panels at the Con happen from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm, but many of us have a mutual friend named Jess who usually runs a couple of special 18-and-over-only hentai panels that start at 11:30 pm and can go on for awhile. The whole thing is really a lot more comedic than erotic, so go for the laughs, not the libido. Everybody's very relaxed and uninhibited, so it's a hell of a lot of fun and a great way to decompress. Check the Dragon*Con schedule once it is posted for details.

[edit] Homework

Don't bring it. You won't do it. I promise.