50 Days of Dragon Con Day 18

Good God, what is that smell?

There is a room in the Hilton that is often misunderstood.  This room is in the basement and is often filled with 40 year-old virgins.  The room that I speak of is the game room.  This room gets such a bad rap and I am going to try and dispell some of it here.  The room is rather large and filled with tables for gaming.  The game room is open 24-7 through out the con.  The room is kept quite chilly and that is for one reason and one reason alone....it stinks.


The people who go into this room often are not seen again until after con.  Many of them do not leave to shower, eat or sleep.  There are piles upon piles of empty pizza boxes strewn across all areas of the room.  Trash cans are continually full and the poor Hilton staff always looks a little scared down there.  People say that the smell comes from the gamers never leaving and never bathing.  While that might indeed be true, it is not completely accurate.  They keep this room pretty cool to help with the smell but we should not blame the gamers entirely.

The basement of the Hilton also houses Trader Vic's a restaurant that has a Mai Tai that will put you on your bum pretty quickly.  For some reason their exhaust seems to blast straight into the gaming room.  It is TERRIBLE.  I have been in this room before the con has even begun, and it smells really badly.  REALLY BADLY.  So, while some of the stink might be a gamer or two, the very large part of it is the restaurant.  Please be kind to the gamers and stop in and play Munchkin, Cards Against Humanity or whatever is your pleasure.  It is great fun especially if you do not feel like sleeping.

p.s Gaming has become so popular they have had to break it out into several different categories of gaming and they have spread out so they are not in the basement any longer.

Photo courtesy of Dragoncon.org

50 Days of Dragon Con Day 26

Walk of Fame

The Walk of Fame is where all of the celebrities are grouped together to have a booth where you can take some pictures with them (depending on the celebrity) have a chat and have them sign a picture they have there or some of your memorabilia.  This is a great place to ask questions and take a short moment to get to know your favorite celebrities on a more personal basis.

Over the last few years the Walk of Fame has gone through several changes.   When I first started attending con the walk of fame was located in two ballrooms in the Hilton.  The space while very well organized was pretty cramped.  They have now moved to one of the ballrooms on the Marquis level of the Marriott.  I am kind of sad this is where the WoF was moved to.  I miss being able to drop in and shop instead of having to build it into my schedule of events.  I This ballroom used to house some of the vendors which have since moved elsewhere.  More on the vendors later.  The new space is quite a bit larger than the previous space in the Hilton.  While it was very organized in the Hilton, with the larger space the organization and flow have become even better.  From all appearances it looks like they can get even more celebrities in here than previous years. 

In the Walk of Fame I got to have a discussion with Eddie McClintock of Warehouse 13 fame about twerking and the evils that are plaguing our kids these days.  It was quite amusing, let me tell you.  I have also observed many other celebrities having a good time with the con goers.  My Mom got to chat with Ernest Borgnine before he passed away.  She had a lovely chat for quite awhile with him.  I have watched con goers in tears while stuttering to try and talk to the celebrities.  I have seen celebrities dancing with, and genuinely enjoying the fans.  John Barrowman takes my breath away.  He is truly kind, attentive and funny to all who come to his table.  How he has that much energy is amazing to me.  WOO HOO Captain Jack.  Every celebrity is different and every time you go to see them, the experience is different.  Have a good time and let the celebrity have a good time too.

If you have a favorite celebrity and they come to con I HIGHLY recommend stopping in to say hello.

Walk of Fame in the Marriott.  Things might change this year, don't know yet.

50 Days of Dragon Con Day 27

The Host Hotels

Every year we the con goers completely take over 5 host hotels.  The Sheraton, Westin, Hyatt Regency, Marriott Marquis and Hilton.  The hotels are all AMAZING to the onslaught of us the gaggle of nerds.  Dragon Con has a contract with the hotels that on their internal TV station they run Dragon Con TV.  Dragon Con TV is run 24 hours a day throughout the con.  Lots of random skits and the morning info show.   They even do parodies of current music.  Pretty cool when you are in your room getting ready in the morning and have it on in the background. 

Considering there are 40,000 plus con attendees plus staff, and guests that puts us over 50,000 people.  Not everyone stays in the host hotels, but they are FULL.  The hotels also have contracts with other folks to allow for other non con attendees to be there as well.  With all of us, the staff at all of the hotels is absolutely stellar.  I have never had a bad staff experience.  Some are meeh but never a BAD one.  The hotels even design their room keys especially for Dragon Con.  Pretty neat.  The Hilton even has some of their staff dress up as a greeting committee.  They provide snacks and water while you are in the registration line.

For all of the trouble we may cause and all of the chaos that comes with us, I think the host hotels do a fantabulous job.  The Hyatt has even sent an email this year that lets their guests register for the con next year at their registration in a couple of weeks.  WOO HOO.  Last year the Hilton did something of the similar.  I hope they do it again.
To all of the staff of the hotels, thank you for making us feel so welcome.

The voucher for a room for the 2015 con

50 Days of Dragon Con Day 30

Lost...At A Con

Have you ever had to pee so bad you thought your eyeballs were floating?  Of course you have.  We all have.  One Thursday before con, I was doing some recognisance.  I was still a newbie then.  In fact I think this was my second or third year at con.  I was wandering around and got myself lost below ground somewhere in the Hyatt.  It was the maze that is the in between spot between the Hyatt proper and the International Tower.  UGG if you have ever been there, you know what I am talking about.  There are several floors and all of them are confusing.  They all look similar.  I was looking for a bathroom and I kept seeing signs to go here and there but I could not find the bathroom to save my life.  Finally I found my way to the Hyatt proper and their wonderful bathroom.  YAY.

While I am on the subject of con bathrooms, the Marriott is the bomb-diggety.  They have gorgeous bathrooms that are all individual and they have people in there cleaning almost all of the time.  I have never been to a Marriott bathroom that has been out of toilet paper or paper towels.  They are such the poo.  This is not to say that the Hyatt, Hilton, Sheraton and Westin are bad, just they are not as cool as the Marriott.  If you have a need to make #1 or #2 and it is not a rush situation,  recommend making a stop in the Marriott.