Dragon Con

[jedimara77]

This past weekend was Dragon Con. It was my second, and overall I enjoyed myself more than last year. I definitely want to go back next year.


Pros:

1. Not missing Friday. Last year left Friday afternoon, so we missed an entire day of DC fun. This year we left after work on Thursday, so we got to Atlanta very late, but it was worth it.

2. Remembering my phone charger so I could call people! :)

3. Having a more well-rounded con. I saw panels from lots of different tracks. I did the huge celebrity panels and the small science panels.

4. It seemed a lot less crowded this year, probably because the Marriott construction was finished and some panels were moved to the Sheraton. For those of you who skipped this year because of the crowds/organization, I thought it really improved this year.

Cons:

1. It's still really hard to coordinate with other con-goers. A lot of times I was by myself, which was fine, but it's still fun to go to panels with other people.

2. Not staying at a hotel. It saved us a bunch of money, but I missed out on late night parties and it would have been nice to just head down to the con in the morning and just go up to the room at night. Also, I think it would have been easier to coordinate with other people if I stayed at a hotel. Next year!

3. I went through the dealer room once, and was unimpressed. Then when I got home I realized that there were lots more booths in the Exhibit Halls. Hmph.

I'll post more of what I did when I have the pocket program in front of me to remind me. :)

Comments

[nic]

2. Not staying at a hotel. It saved us a bunch of money

That's always the dilemma, isn't it! I can rarely justify the expense of the 'Con Hotel' but you do miss out on some of the fun.

[jedimara77.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have minded staying a nearby non-con hotel, but we had to take the train which could take up to an hour depending on how long we had to wait. Plus it stopped running at 12:30 so we couldn't stay for the late-night parties.

[christmasjedi.livejournal.com]

3. Each year I went I saw less and less panels, mainly due to crowds, partly because none of it was really new, just the same old stuff every year. Part of our decision to skip this year was that last year all we did was hang out with friends, most of whom live around us. Why buy plane tickets when we could - and did - do the same thing locally?

I'm glad you go to see panels this year. A lot of them are great and worth it, some even more than once.

4. Thanks for the feedback. I'm really interested in everyone's opinion on this. But did moving stuff to the Sheraton make it harder for you to get to things you wanted to do? How were the lines for the big celeb panels?

--

1. That gets harder every year, with more people and more hotels. It's very frustrating. Text messages help, but the days when you'd just run into your friends every few hours are long gone.

2. Yeah. Staying with Andorus my first year was really great in most ways, but not being able to run back to the room to get or drop something off and having to leave early sucked. That's why we always sprung for a hotel room.

3. Dealer room gets worse every year too. So does the Exhibitor hall, as more dealer room crap takes over. The exhibitor hall used to actually have companies - like Lucasarts, Bioware, Del Rey, Wizards... Last year almost half of it was pirated movies.

[jedimara77.livejournal.com]

4. Thanks for the feedback. I'm really interested in everyone's opinion
on this. But did moving stuff to the Sheraton make it harder for you to
get to things you wanted to do? How were the lines for the big celeb
panels?

It really didn't. It wasn't that far of a walk, and it was nice getting away from crowds.

The only panel with a really long line that I saw was Firefly, but that's always crazy. I'm sure there were other ones, but I didn't notice.