The Holiday Suckers

[Andara Bledin]

LOL I always called that 'zen gaming', when you're so tired or distracted that your brain stops getting in the way. It's amazing!

Yup. I sometimes call it being "in the zen."

I've had some interesting experiences with our convention starting up while another one was winding down.

There was the one time we had a gaming convention going at the same time as the hotel was filled with a whole host of Japanese teenagers, all in their school uniforms. And, yes, the girls had sailor fuku.

Then there was the time when Further Confusion (the big west-coast furry con) started up the day after the eBay gathering shut down. Some of the FC early arrivals had some tales about how snobby and downright rude the eBay people were. And it was the eBay con staff that was rude, not the regular attendees.

^-.-^

[Kusanagi]

I got a couple.

First off, I've been to Comic-Con the last seven years and it's AMAZING to see how that convention has grown. The convention center can't hold it anymore. It went from taking up half the center, to the full center, before spilling out into the local hotels.

This year they actually had to shut down walk-up registration. On Saturday, the building had an estimated 145,000 people in it and it only has an official capacity of 100,000. The fire marshal shut down anyone who was trying to register for almost the entire day.

This might be the last year they have it in San Diego - there's an uproar because the fire marshal doesn't want it in his city any more (Not to mention someone brought up the thought of a terrorist attack at one of these things, thank you post 9/11 fearmongering) and the city itself wants and loves the revenue as it's the biggest event that happens there save of when we host the Superbowl every few decades.

They might move it to Long Beach or Anaheim (Anaheim is smaller than the San Diego con center, so no chance of that happening) or someplace in Arizona that has the size, but no hotels for 8 miles.

But anyway, when I'm at a con the hotel room is there for catching a few hours of sleep, changing clothes, and showering. I went to a smaller con called Animagic which is out in the middle of nowhere at a hotel that has the layout of an apartment complex.

Great hotel, we stayed at the one next door, within walking distance. We were there for the 4 days of the con, and on the last day I had the hotel manager walk up to me.

"You know, when I saw your group and other people like you come up here with all your wierd outfits and wigs and swords and stuff, I honestly thought I was in for a world of trouble. Every night I have to deal with complaints, and if I don't call the police it has been a good night. The four days you were here along with your friends, I have not had a single complaint and the hotel has been the most peaceful it's ever been in as long as I can remember. You folks are welcome to stay with us any time you like."

He let me keep the room key as a souvenier.

Most con-goers are polite, unless you happen to be the room that the party gets thrown in.

[Sliceanddice]

They might move it to Long Beach or Anaheim (Anaheim is smaller than the San Diego con center, so no chance of that happening) or someplace in Arizona that has the size, but no hotels for 8 miles

hmmmm they must not be looking in Tempe or Tucsan....
Because it they did theire are plenty of venues that are close eoungh to hotels that might be able to handle a large mass (because they are the college towns with sports teams so they have large conventi centers and stuff and in tempe seeing how its a very um... compacted you could most likely find a bucxh of little plces to spread it out in.

But dont look in phoenix or Mesa.... i wouldn't go to phoenix after dark if you paid me and Mesa is too small though they do have a lrge conventi area next to a hotel.

[JustADude]

LOL I always called that 'zen gaming', when you're so tired or distracted that your brain stops getting in the way. It's amazing!

There's an eastern school of philosophy, which I don't think is actually Zen, that says to truly master a task you must first learn its steps, then forget them.

Translated out of Mystic talk, it means you haven't gotten something down cold until you do it without thinking, like walking and breathing.

[Rapscallion]

This reminds me of when I was at a EuroGencon many moons ago (I played Star Fleet Battles - tabletop board game with Star Trek ships duking it out). It was at an off-season (read abandoned) Butlins camp (oh, it was frightful!).

I was getting a late-night snack of chips from the on-site chippy and was chatting to the workers, when I asked how our lot were behaving.

"Perfectly well," was the reply. "Not a single word spoken out of place."

"Really?" I asked, feeling somewhat surprised.

"Not like those bastards last week."

"?"

"Ballroom dancers," I was told. "The lot last week were really snobby."

Rapscallion

[auntiem]

This isn't a con per se, but it is a big annual event. Viva Las Vegas - the 4 day Rockabilly ball. It is held at one off-strip hotel and spills over to its sister hotels. Before you had to have key cards to get up to the rooms, I remember seeing a shattered blackjack table in the hall the next morning when I went up to a friends room and thinking "darn, I knew I shouldn't have gone back to my hotel". They had to re-organize how they did the car show because a few years ago a couple of the car clubs got into a huge fight - so bad that when they opened the car show the next morning there was still blood on the pavement. The event has gotten much larger since then and better organized/controled so things like that don't happen as much anymore (plus we are all 10 yrs older and lots of folks bring their little kids now too).
As for the hotel staff, I'm sure the maids hate it with a white hot passion, because most of the year the hotel's patrons are mostly elderly and not sleeping it off in the rooms until their shift is almost over. The bartenders I think like it - I think as a group the people at this event are great tippers.
Everyone is dressed rockabilly/vintage and in the first few years, everyone staying there wasn't attending the event so the looks on the faces of the unsuspecting hotel guests were entertaining. I've seen and had a few wonderful conversations with older ladies about the clothes - I had one lady stop me and tell me she had sewn a dress just like the one I was wearing so we checked the tag, but it wasn't the same one - but the same pattern was used so she got a kick out of that.
My favorite overheard conversation is still this one:
RG: Rockabilly girl with full sleeve tatoos
EL: Sweet elderly lady
EL: (voice of concern) "that looks like it hurt"
RG: "naw, it was licked on by kittens"
EL: the lady laughed so hard - she was still laughing when she left the bathroom

[cinema guy]

This reminds me of when I was at a EuroGencon many moons ago. It was at an off-season (read abandoned) Butlins camp (oh, it was frightful!).

Rapscallion

And so, so cold.

A friend of mine was told by one of the Butlins' staff, "You guys are the only people I've seen really enjoy themselves without getting drunk."

[Andara Bledin]

They might move it to Long Beach or Anaheim (Anaheim is smaller than the San Diego con center, so no chance of that happening) or someplace in Arizona that has the size, but no hotels for 8 miles.

But anyway, when I'm at a con the hotel room is there for catching a few hours of sleep, changing clothes, and showering. I went to a smaller con called Animagic which is out in the middle of nowhere at a hotel that has the layout of an apartment complex.

Great hotel, we stayed at the one next door, within walking distance. We were there for the 4 days of the con, and on the last day I had the hotel manager walk up to me.

Long Beach? I'm not sure Long Beach (the whole city) would be big enough for Comic Con. And I can guarantee that everybody who lives in the downtown area would despise another tourist event. They all already hate the Grand Prix.

Animagic! That was the con I was talking about that Nekojin's mom lives near. We went for the first couple of years and dropped by for the 4th (I think it was). Nekojin used to go to Revell's shop before moving. If you really want to see some heavy cosplay, Animagic is your con.

I can totally understand the guy at the hotel you stayed at commenting on how nice it was while you were there. That's kind of a seedy area, all along the tracks there. It used to be worse before they basically eminent domained the other side to put in the MetroLink tracks.

^-.-^

[Kogarashi]

The staff at the Sheraton where Animazement is held could take or leave us. Some of them royally hate us. Some of them love us and want to see all the pretty costumes. Some of them just think of it as part of the job.

AnimeBoston '07 guests had problems with the same hotel chain, apparently. Most of the staff seemed downright hostile towards the AB attendees, despite it being one of the biggest cons Sheraton and its adjacent convention center hosts.

First off, I've been to Comic-Con the last seven years and it's AMAZING to see how that convention has grown. They might move it to Long Beach or Anaheim (Anaheim is smaller than the San Diego con center, so no chance of that happening) or someplace in Arizona that has the size, but no hotels for 8 miles.

Wow, and I thought Anime Expo was big when I went (in the Anaheim Convention Center). Just goes to show how unenlightened I am. Never been to Comic-Con or Dragon Con, sadly.

I went to Otakon once, Anime Expo twice, and AnimeBoston this past spring. For Otakon, friends and I stayed in a hotel a few blocks away. AX, we stayed in one of the adjacent hotels, which was nice, if expensive. For AB, I have a friend who lives in Nashua, NH, so we commuted (45 min. to Alewife Station, then about 30 min. on the T to the convention center). While it was tiring, especially with a baby and all my art table supplies in tow, it was much easier on my wallet. $9 a day sure beats $20+ a day (which was how our rooms at AX broke down after we split the costs amongst everyone).

Don't know if I'll be going to Connecticon this year. I need to see if they have art-selling venues. And I'll probably end up commuting from New Haven if I do go.

[Rapscallion]

And so, so cold.

Not to me, it wasn't.

Thing is, it was much closer to the gulf stream than anywhere else I'd been in the UK, and despite it howling a gale and horizontal rain, I was quite comfortable walking around at night in shorts, T-shirt, and being stared at by people with so many clothes they couldn't put their arms down by their sides.

ROFLarious.

Rapscallion

[Kusanagi]

Did you go before or after Revell turned into a giant asshole?

[cinema guy]

Thing is, it was much closer to the gulf stream than anywhere else I'd been in the UK,

Was this at Minehead, or Camber Sands?

I want to a few at at Camber Sands in consecutive Novembers in the 90s. Some wag had T-Shirts made up with 'Cryo-Gen Con' on them. The TSR organiser had to ask, 'What does Cryo mean?'

[Rapscallion]

It was in Rye, so neither (I think).

It was still bloody warm compared to my normal climate.

Rapscallion

[Tigress]

AnimeBoston '07 guests had problems with the same hotel chain, apparently. Most of the staff seemed downright hostile towards the AB attendees, despite it being one of the biggest cons Sheraton and its adjacent convention center hosts.

The Sheraton staff wasn't too thrilled with us last year. Most of it was because an article about Animazement was in that Saturday's paper and we got a lot of people trying to crash the con, sneaking in through the exits without paying and causing a lot of trouble. Oh... and somehow, participants of the "unofficial" yaoi fan panel managed to break the hot tub, costing the con $10,000.

This year was a lot better because they hired sheriff's deputies to patrol the convention center, had Durham City Police doing regular sweeps outside, locked all but the main entrance doors on the outside (you could get out via the back doors, but you couldn't get back in), and wouldn't let you go past the lobby without a badge. As long as you weren't making a complete ass of yourself or being destructive, they pretty much let you do whatever.

[Mark Healey]

Waaa!!! I can't go to comiccon

I LIVE in San Diego an I can't go. I work Friday through Tuesday and anybody who could possibly cover for me is going. I get to go Thursday but all the cool events are on Saturday and the deals are on Sunday.

It's insane. All the hotels from Oceanside to the border are filled. Last year the fire department had to stop people from entering because the venue got too crowded.

There have been rumors of it moving to another city but I don't know where it could go.