So, Im going to my first Convention ever. So the Con-noob has two questions.
1.Will the Dealers take Credit/Debit cards? Or do I really like to take “lots of cash” like all my friends have said?
2.Why on earth is the D*C website so … horribly put together?
I wish I could go. I live in Atlanta but while I could probably pay for myself to go, I can’t afford to pay for Dominic as well, plus he’d probably get bored…
Credit cards are good everywhere in the Hucksters’ Room, IME.
What’s your specific beef with the website?
Trying to find specific information … in the context of being a noob to convetions, is a futile exercise, its all scattered.
I’ve never been to DragonCon – it seems a little bit too wacky and fantasy/cosplay-oriented for me (me being more into the comics and action figures side of things). But if it’s anything like the dozens of conventions I’ve been to in Florida and my one year at the San Diego Con, bring a lot of cash. More than you think you’ll need. Most dealers in my experience do NOT take credit cards, and if you end up having to use ATMs at the convention site, a lot of them charge fees for taking out money. Food at convention centers is often mediocre and overpriced, so you may want to leave midday to grab lunch at somewhere decent… stake out the area first, to find out what is close and affordable and grabs your interest.
Bring a backpack for all your purchases and freebies, and pack a couple empty plastic grocery-type bags as well, just in case you pick up more than you can comfortably carry on your back. (Snacks like granola bars or Pop-Tarts would be good to pack too, if you feel your blood sugar dipping.) You might want to bring a little bottle of hand sanitizer to wash “con crud” off your hands, and by all means, wear comfortable shoes! Finally, while this is probably a no-brainer, you’d be surprised how many people don’t think of this: take a nice shower, put on deodorant, and wear some clean clothes. You’ll have many people pushed together in a tight space, it’ll get hot, and everyone will end up sweaty. Trust me, you’ll all be funky by the end of the day! But some of these people are hygienically-challenged to begin with, so clean up extra-nice to offset the “cat piss men.”
Ugh… DragonCon. I SOOooooo want to go. I went every year, then my daughter was born… on Sept. 1st. 
No more Con goodness for me untill she gets old enough to decide she wants to go with. DragonCon is huge… the dealer’s room is nothing short of a ginormous geek shopping mall and most tables will accept credit cards IME. The DragonCon website has been like that for years, I think it’s enertia more than anything at this point. Have fun, I really envy you.
DragonCon is located in a hotel/office complex (several hotels, several office hi-rises) all of them connected via walkways. One of the office complexes has a full-featured food court inside it, very much like what you’d expect at a small mall. And priced like a mall food court. But the court does include a Chick-Fil-A and some other reasonably priced places. On Sunday, many of the food court places are closed, but some remain open IIRC. Saturdays and weekdays they’re open, but Monday and Friday at lunchtime you’ll be competing with a heavy office crowd. There are also some nice restaurants inside the hotels.
I’ll be there though I may be hard to find since I’m on the volunteer staff. However if you see a 6’6" guy wearing a straw cowboy hat with chipping black paint and painted fire on the rolled sides, that would be me. Unless it’s the day I’m wearing my Oakley OverTop sunglasses.
I’ll also be the guy hitting on Kari from Mythbusters.
I’ve only been to Dragon*Con once, but it was great. The hotel restaurants were overpriced, and there wasn’t a lot open other than the food court outside of the hotels on the weekend, so I second the recommendation to bring granola bars. And definitely comfy shoes!
Also, wandering Saturday night through the lobbies with everyone in full costume is definitely a highlight. I saw some of the best costuming I have ever seen anywhere, and only regret that I couldn’t even begin to compete with most of these folks.
If you’ve got a fear of heights, one of the hotels – the Marriott, I believe? anyway, the one we stayed in – has glass elevators going up inside a huge open lobby, so people tend to freak out if they aren’t prepared. So be warned!
And whatever else you do, have fun!
Which begs, who all is going , and is there a plan to meet?
As I was picking up my lunch today in Subway, I noticed that they had a stack of $5/off coupons at the register. I was perusing the list of guests and cursing, yet again, my inability to attend this year. ::::grumble::::
If anyone would be so kind as to snag an autograph from Adam Baldwin for me, I’d be most appreciative. Or you can just snag Adam Baldwin for me. That works just as well. I loves me some Adam Baldwin. 
If I weren’t already planning to get one for me, I’d get one for you too. My mom knits Jayne hats and sells them on ebay, and the proceeds for it paid for our family’s Christmas last year so I feel obliged to hit him up and tell him the story (as well as give him one of mom’s hats though I can imagine how many of those he gets from fans).
The Hyatt has the elevators you’re speaking of I think, but the elevator lines are almost always crazy so I recommend the stairs (though they tend to get sticky and scary by Saturday…)
We were staying on about the 47th floor, so we had to use the elevators to get up to our room. We did okay with it, but I saw people blanch and scream when they realized what they’d have to do.
But yeah, otherwise the stairs are definitely the way to go. In fact, when my daughter was there on a scooter, it was only through the good offices of a Klingon or two that she was able to get aboard elevators that able-bodied people were trying to crowd her out of.
Which Subway, and are all subways doing this ?
I don’t know if all Subways are doing it, but if the Subway in my little hole-in-the-wall town in Northwest Georgia is doing it, I would imagine that most of them are.
ronincyberpunk, that’s an awesome story. Surely that’s worth two autographs, right?
You really do not need a ticket to enjoy what is, in my humble opinion, the very best part of DragonCon, which is all the people hanging around in the hallways Saturday afternoon and evening in full costume. It’s quite a show. And there’s the parade Saturday morning, no ticket needed for that.
It really is quite the spectacle. Last year they had eight Princess Leias posing en masse with various Han Solos, Darth Vaders and whatnot. Plus there’s always the fighting 501st. And the Dawn constestants. And the guy wandering around with a cardboard box mounted on his face with the word “free mammograms” printed atop it, and the killer Goth robots and Storm Trooper Elvis, and the belly dancers, a human Gameboy, plus the usual assortment of catgirls, spidermen and people in incredibly realistic costumes portraying various comic book, TV and movie fantasy characters. Check out the photos on some of the fan sites if you don’t believe me. It’s somethign else.
Grrr. I’d planned to drive up from Tampa Bay for at least 3 days’ worth of DragonCon. However, the last time I attended the 'Con, I was able to enjoy the delightful surprise of turning on the hotel room TV, and seeing news footage of my own neighborhood under several feet of water. I ain’t playing that game again. Thank you so much, Ernesto.
The orcs were what astonished me. Their costumes were just un-frickin’-believable! There was also a Sauron and a Gandalf who looked like they’d just stepped off the boat from Middle Earth. Amazing. (Although orcs with pizza is hilarious!)