One of the most magical times of the
year is almost upon us, the occurrence of Dragon Con! I can't speak
for most people, but this convention is the highlight of my year, and
I save up for the entire year to head to Atlanta over the Labor Day
weekend and have a ton of fun with other geeks, nerds, gamers, and
dorks. I've been attending Dragon Con since 2008, and I've picked up
a few tricks and tips over that time. The convention can be
overwhelming to new people, and even those that are regulars can find
themselves nonplused as the crowds grow bigger with every year. To
offer some help, I humbly offer this Dragon Con Survival Guide.
The first order of business is
preparation. My brother and I go to Dragon Con together, and we spent
our formative years spending long summer vacations with our dad as we
travelled across America in a pickup truck pulling a fifteen foot
trailer. We were normally on the road by 7am, so preparation has
become ingrained in our being. First off, bring all the normal
necessities, such as clothing (include extra), toiletries, money for
buying goodies, a notebook, pens, and some general medicine (aspirin,
bandages, etc) in case of emergencies. Also do not forget to bring
your blue Dragon Con card to show that you've already bought a
membership. I would also bring a backpack, a large book to put
autographed pictures in (to protect them), an umbrella, and a
raincoat. If you have room in your vehicle, bring a cooler chest or
two with some food. There are plenty of places to eat around Dragon
Con, but you can save quite a bit of money if you bring some fixings
for sandwiches, as well as some snacks and drinks. My brother and I
bring two large cooler chests with about three cases of soda, bottled
water, lots of snacks, food, and paper plates and towels. We refill
the cooler chests with ice taken from the ice machines found in every
hotel.
Checking In
Our next part of our Dragon Con
Survival Guide is checking in once you reach Atlanta. I always
recommend getting to town on Thursday before the con officially
starts. I would recommend showing up at around 2pm or so. Some hotels
will allow you to check in at that time, but others may make you wait
to around 3pm. Either way, you can almost guarantee yourself a
parking spot at the hotel if you show up early. It can be quite
miserable to be forced to find a parking garage blocks away to store
your car rather than at the hotel. Showing up earlier also helps to
beat the frantic rush of con goers later in the evening and on
Friday. A quick note on checking out: if you're in one of the host
hotels, expect an hour to get a porter up to your room on Monday as
it will be crazy due to everybody leaving at the same time.
Another benefit of getting to Atlanta
on Thursday is that you can pick up your con badges that day and not
miss any of the convention. Dragon Con has done a great job of moving
you through the line quickly. When we first attended, the wait time
was three to four hours, but now it can be done in about fifteen to
twenty minutes. Once you have your badge, make sure you grab the
glossy convention book AND the convention schedule booklet. They may
be in separate locations (as happened to my brother last year!). My
brother and I first look at the schedule that day as we consider it
part of the fun anticipating what the events are, but if you wish to
do otherwise, you can look them up early on the Dragon Con website or
by using their app.
I would also recommend walking around a
bit on Thursday to get a layout of the hotels. There are skyways that
connect a few of the hotels and the mall where the food court is
located. It's quite handy to know about all the various paths that
you can take to reach a destination.
Dragon Con App
If you have a smart phone, you need to
download the Dragon Con app and use it. It has the full schedule
included, but the main benefit is that notices will be sent out in
the morning of any changes or cancellations. Always check the app to
see if your panel is still going on. You can also pick up paper
copies of any changes at the host hotels. The app also contains all
the maps of the various hotels and their interiors. I would also
download an easy to use map, such as the one below, to give you a
quick overview of the overall area where the con is held. With the
convention encompassing five hotels, it can become somewhat
confusing.
Planning
Our next bit in our Dragon Con Survival
Guide is planning. There are literally hundreds of panels with fun
things to do the entire weekend. Many shows and actors will have
multiple panels. Make a plan of which panels you're interested in
seeing. Of critical importance is to have some backup panels ready in
case one particular panel is full and you cannot get in. Make sure
that those panels are in the same hotel or in an adjacent one. Also
make sure you give yourself time to relax during the day. It's best
to pace yourself so you don't burn yourself out. You can ignore this
advice if you're young and have tons of stamina. As I'm 45 and fat, I
can't party all day and night without suffering some serious
consequences.
The Convention
Now our Dragon Con Survival Guide
switches to having fun at the convention itself. The first thing to
remember is to wear comfortable shoes. You will be walking...a lot.
The five hotels are spread out a bit. I would carry an umbrella and a
rain coat (I use a poncho) as it can begin raining quite suddenly.
Keep yourself hydrated as Atlanta in summer is extremely hot and
humid. I grew up in south Florida, so I'm used to this climate. For
those of you who are not, I would recommend a hat to keep the sun off
and carry a bottle of water. All of the panel rooms have water
coolers in them, so you can refill your bottle.
Some panels will be incredibly crowded.
If your panel is a hot trend currently, you may want to consider
getting in line right after the earlier panel begins. All the panels
at Dragon Con last and hour with a half-hour break in-between so the
volunteers can clear the room. If you show up at the last minute,
wait until those in line are funneled in before you head in. Unless
the volunteer at the door tells you that the room is definitely full
and, therefore, closed, then stick around. I've had volunteers tell
me that the room was most likely full and I would not get in. This
happened last year at the Robocop panel, so I went to another panel
instead. My brother walked in five minutes after the panel started,
and the room was only half full. Needless to say, my rage was great.
When planning your panels, give
yourself time to travel from one panel to another. Getting from one
hotel to another can take any where from five to twenty minutes,
depending upon the distance and the crowds. The skyways can be a
great way to travel between hotels, but they can become insanely
clogged as well, especially between the Marriott and the Hyatt. Check
out the crowd before you commit. Some times it can be quicker to
descend down to street level and just cross the street. Most hotels
have a good layout, such as the Marriot, Sheraton, and Hyatt. The
worst hotel is the Westin, which I think was designed by Satan. The
layout of that particular hotel is abysmal, with elevators that don't
run all the way down to the lobby, forcing you to take the
stairs/escalator in addition to using the elevators. The area to form
a line for panels is tiny, so expect a line for a popular panel to
snake up the circular stairs for a few levels.
Elevators deserve their own paragraph
in our Dragon Con Survival Guide. Taking an elevator is always an
adventure. If you're just going up or down a single floor, use the
stairs or escalator to ease congestion. There are plenty of people
with disabilities that need to use the elevator. If you do take the
elevator, always add ten minutes to your travel time just to be safe.
It does not matter if the elevator is going up or down, if there is
space for you to squeeze in, then GET IN THE ELEVATOR. While the ride
may be longer if the elevator is going in the opposite direction, it
beats waiting with the throngs of humanity that are all fighting like
Mad Max to get onto them. Elevators are always crowded, so if you
ever come across one that's empty or a half-full, thank your lucky
stars. As for using the escalators, give yourself some space between
yourself and the next person. There's always a stupid idiot who stops
as soon as they step off and start looking around, which can cause
some serious accidents as a whole escalator full of people are either
coming up or down on them. Last year, I had to yell loudly at a few
people to get them moving. Protect yourself going up and down them,
especially at night when it gets more crowded and more cosplayers are
out, increasing the number of people rubbernecking.
On Saturday morning, there's the
official Dragon Con parade. This parade is a great spectacle and well
worth watching. If you plan on watching it, get there early (at least
an hour early) to have any chance of getting a decent spot. About
half the locals of Atlanta show up to watch the parade, so the entire
parade route will be completely packed at least thirty minutes before
the parade even begins. If you're trying to get to a panel instead of
watching the parade, you'll need to make a wide detour to escape the
crowds. DO NOT try to use the subterranean transit system at that
time as it will be insanely packed. Also note that the area in front
of the Marriott will likely be closed off if that's where the parade
ends (it did last year). That means that you would have to walk all
the way around the hotel and come in through the rear entrance.
As for autographs, allow yourself
twenty to thirty minutes minimum to get an autograph. The amount that
people charge has risen every year. Last year the average was around
$40, and I expect that to go up this year. I always recommend leaving
a panel time open every day to walk through the autograph room.
Actors will sometimes be away at panels or attending some other event
or photo shoot, so multiple passes through the autograph room (called
the Walk of Fame) may be necessary to snag your intended autographs.
The dealers' room is now in Americas Mart, which gets very crowded. I
carry a book in my backpack to store my autographed pictures, and I
then transfer those to another book I keep in my hotel room to
protect them and keep them straight and undamaged. My brother puts
his in a binder of page protectors. If you plan on buying artwork,
you may want to carry a tube to put them in.
Lastly, make sure you have your badge
at all times. You will need it to get into the panels, and you'll
need it to enter the host hotels in the evening. In the past, a lot
of locals or people visiting the area (but staying at other hotels)
would crash the convention to drink, party, and make fun of the
Dragon Con attendees. You have to remember that Labor Day weekend has
a Nascar race, several college football games, and God knows what
else going on, so there are a ton of non-Dragon Con people in town.
The hotels do a good job of keeping those rowdies out, which greatly
eases congestion. I would point out that the Atrium level in the
Marriott will always be packed, especially in the evenings. There are
plenty of cosplayers at Dragon Con, but they really come out at
night. That's the best time to snap some pictures (after asking
permission) and seeing the incredible variety of costumes that people
have created.
My last bit of advice in my Dragon Con
Survival Guide is to have fun. There are hundreds of panels covering
a wide variety of topics, such as sci-fi, fantasy, literature,
steampunk, puppets, post-apocalypse, American Sci-Fi Classics (my
personal favorite), and lots more. Strike up a conversation with
those you're next to and make some new friends. There are small
concerts during the day and major ones at night. I always recommend
catching the main costume contest on Friday night, but there are a
number of other ones as well during the convention. If you're up to
it, there are plenty of balls and parties going on as well. Just
remember to pace yourself.
Finally, I would add being polite to
your fellow attendees and the stars attending Dragon Con. I've
written a comprehensive guide to convention etiquette Part One and Part Two as well as
a more detailed guide on convention planning. I hope that this
Dragon Con Survival Guide helps you out and makes the convention a
little bit easier to attend. Hope to see you there!
Jeff Francis has been a lifelong geek,
be it for toys, comics, games, Star Trek, D&D, classic horror, or
Doctor Who. He once owned a game shop for over a decade and has been
an online gaming journalist for over seven years by the moniker of
Jeffprime. You can visit his personal website at Starbasegeek.com to
read more of his mad ramblings.
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