Blargh!

[telophase]

This is what has been taking up all my time lately - redoing the website for A-Kon.

This is not a request for critique, because I'm working with some pretty severe limitations in my ability to organize the site (not to mention my ability to ALPHABETIZE THE GUESTS PROPERLY, which I can't) because of the CMS it's running on, many of which have caused me to beat my head against the desk in frustration because IT HURT LESS. (And also because it's already been run through one committee and on Sunday I think it's going to be introduced to another committee, and as they're Official, their requests have to take priority)

Plus, I am not the webmaster. :) I just did the site design. I and a few other people will be going through in the near future and rewriting the text to be more concise, and we have Plans for that banner.


Aaaanyway, just to show you why I've been short of sleep (except for the two days that the Wellbutrin killed before I dropped back down to the lower dose).

Comments

[naitachal666.livejournal.com]

Ahaha, I want to go to A-Kon this year, although it will be a huge undertaking and probably a tiring journey. Mostly, I want to go because the band D is headlining this year >.>. Question, what is A-Kon like, and how bad is Dallas traffic REALLY? I've been to Houston and Austin, and I've been told Dallas traffic at least 4 times worse --_--.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Personally, I consider Houston traffic to be worse than Dallas. The worst part is going through the Mixmaster, which is the spaghetti-like tangle of highways just south of downtown, but if you stay at the hotel or in another hotel downtown, you only have to go through there once when arriving and once when leaving. There's a light rail system in place, so you can go around downtown and other areas without driving.

Parking is much worse than driving. I suggest arriving on Thursday or early Friday morning, staying at the Westin next to the con instead of the con hotel itself, and budgeting for valet parking. It's SO MUCH NICER than trying to find parking yourself.

A far as what A-Kon is like...? It's your typical mass of screaming anime fans. :) It's usually hotter than hell outside and overcrowded inside, long lines for elevators, and escalators that they stop early into the con because they're over capacity. If you're planning on going to panels on the 2nd or 3rd floor, remember that the escalators will be stairs and plan accordingly. Also, if you stay in the con hotel, don't plan on getting back to your room quickly to drop stuff off or pick stuff up in a hurry because if the elevators are bad it can take 20 minutes to get there. (That's another reason I suggest the Westin, as the elevator lines are shorter, but they grow every year.)

There were something over 17K attendees last year, and it'll probably be the same or more this year. Large dealers' room, enormous 2-floor artist alley, gaming, demos, cosplay, etc. :)

If you've got any specific questions, ask away.

[naitachal666.livejournal.com]

Haha, thanks for answering, by the way. You said ask away, so I'm gonna ask, lol.

Okay, that doesn't sound as bad as I was fearing. I've been doing a lot of looking around and planning in the last few hours. I've decided on taking the Amtrak rather than driving, because my car simply uses far too much gas to go on a road-trip :/. I've looked into the light rail for transport around town, and am making a Budget for myself and each friend that wants to go with me.
Do you remember, what the going rate is for the Westin? I'm looking into hotels within 2-3 miles of the convention hotel, and I've got one I can do for $90 bucks a night that is within 2 miles of the convention.

So, that covers travel and hotel, and tickets are currently $40 pre-sale. Just wondering, do you happen know when pre-sale price goes up? Probably not, lol.

Haha, I've got this budgeted out nicely. The most minimum the trip will cost is $170 per person, if all 3 of my friends who want to go agree to go. Because if they aren't decided by the end of 2 months, they can sleep on an air mattress on the hotel floor.

Ah, thanks for telling me the escalators will be shut down. That's some bit of bad news for me, because I have a very bad knee, and a bad leg. :/ Standing around in elevator lines isn't that good for me either >.> But its the better option. Hot weather isn't really and issue, because I'm used to it.

Uh, specific questions....

1.) Okay, have you ever had any problems with crime in the area at the time of the convention?

2.) The 2 story artist alley is mostly stair-access, I'm guessing? :/

3.) Is there anything you think I missed that I should plan for in my budget, besides food/drink and some 'emergency' cash?

Haha. Its 3 AM, so I can't think of any better questions. I've been calculating and looking at the rail sites and stuff for the last few hours, and kind of typing this as I went.

Lool, thanks again, and Good evening/morning/night, or whichever applies best!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I have been informed that the Westin hotel is now the Marriott (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/daldt-dallas-marriott-city-center/). :) Not sure what the going rate is, and once the Sheraton sells out they'll hack out a con rate with the Marriott, but I doubt it'll be less than $90/night, and probably more like $125-130. So if the 2-3 mile hotel is near a light rail line, you're golden unless you want to stay later than the trains run, but you can always call a cab to get back to your hotel in that case, or just put the car into valet at the Marriott.

1) Not any more than usual in a downtown area. There will be your usual street crazies wandering around, most of which are harmless, and I wouldn't wander around outside alone after dark, especially in a revealing costume, but that's sort of normal precautions. And as there are 17K+ people expected, there will be your standard number of people who see, say, a momentarily unattended bag and grab it, or who try to pester girls into coming up to their hotel room, or who try to play grab-ass in the elevators or hallways.

In other words: nothing unusual for a convention like this. :)

Oh: if you leave your car in a downtown lot, don't leave anything in it, as smash-and-grabs can happen. If you put it in valet, lock everything in the trunk.

2) Yeah, mostly. The convention center is connected to the Sheraton by a skyway on the 2nd floor. The dealers' room is on the 2nd floor, as is half the artist alley, and some panel rooms. The other half of the artist alley is on the 1st floor, which is at street level. The 1st floor also hosts the cosplay, the concerts, and other programs like that. The 3rd floor of the convention center hosts other panel rooms and the art show. Gaming is over in the Marriott this year.

The escalators in the convention center will be shut down early Friday, and the escalator in the hotel lobby will also be shut down. The escalator sort of hidden on the west side of the hotel might not be shut down.

You will probably find it easier to get an elevator going down than up, so I'd plan movements around that. Also, the west elevator bank in the hotel tends to have fewer riders than the east elevator bank, although that's not saying a whole lot.

There is a skyway connecting the 2nd floor of the Sheraton (and thus the convention center) to the first floor of the Marriott across the street and the Plaza of the Americas second floor (which is at ground level. Weird, I know). The escalator in the PoA will probably not be shut down. There are fast food shops on the first floor of the PoA.

If you're having a bad leg/knee day and can't do stairs or standing for the elevator, you can hike to the PoA through the skyway (which becomes filled with fan funk by Saturday afternoon) and come out at ground level, then walk back to the Sheraton and convention center.

3) Buying stuff! Lots of stuff in the dealers' room and the artist alley. Probably increase your food budget by 50%, because at some point you'll get sick of the fast food around and want to either take the train to the West End for a restaurant there, or just give up and eat hotel food. Bring a backpack or other carry-able bag, because it'll be too much of a hassle to go back to your hotel or car and offload stuff.

Don't buy everything on Friday, because you'll run out of money and spend the rest of the convention wishing you hadn't bought the stuff, as there's all this NEW stuff that you just saw.

I don't know when the next jump in ticket price will be.

Oh - the line to pick up your pre-reg badge can be hilariously long. Either get there on Thursday, or ghost the con on Friday and pick the tickets up Saturday, or arrange with your friends to trade off waiting in line during the day Friday.

Lines for cosplay and concerts can be long, also. I'd just not bother with trying to get good seats and show up after they let people in (bring binoculars or a camera with a zoom lens if you want to see the stage up close).

[telophase.livejournal.com]

If you pay for a train ticket with a bill larger than exact change, you will get your change over a dollar in dollar coins. So make sure you've got something on you that can hold 17 dollar coins if you have to buy a ticket with a twenty.

Also, there's usually nobody checking tickets on the train, but DO NOT try to ride it without getting a ticket because if they *do* come by and check, it's a $250 fine for not having a ticket.