S.Dang

sven72383 is correct. Room nights reflect the amount of rooms total that the hotel is willing to provide over the course of Otakon (Peak nights + shoulder nights). Because life never goes as planned, some hotels are willing to juggle a few room nights from shoulder over to peak (or vice versa) - or even move a sunday night room and extend it into a Monday night room.

good to hear!

I keep forgetting about the hampton inn. I'll see what I can do to negotiate rates for you.

I created a troubleshooting guide for hotels here: /viewtopic.php?t=13115" target="_blank">http://board.otakon.com/viewtopic.php?t=13115 This is coupled with updated hotel info here: /viewtopic.php?t=13110" target="_blank">http://board.otakon.com/viewtopic.php?t=13110 I'll continue to field questions via pm or on these threads as much as possible, and port major questions over to the troubles guide.

First, I'm sorry that the hotels situation is the factor that might drive you away from attending Otakon in the future. We did have a fairly low rate at the Holiday Inn Express at the Stadiums, and it even offered a free shuttle to and from the BCC. But very few people actually used it. To the point where it is not worth contracting blocks at that hotel this year. As for the hotels before announcement, that was the plan. You have two factors here: 1) Hotels have varying policies about when to open reservations. 2) The contracts are in place (although unsigned), the rooms blocked ou

So like, if anyone knows those folks, and knows names, please feel free to contact me. PM me or use the contacts page and drop down to something. Any messages concerning me will eventually get to me. I don't want to say "rat out your buddies" .... but rat out your buddies. 'Cuz seriously, I want Otakon to stay in Baltimore for many years to come.

If they said they would call you back, I'll hold them to that. I'll call up the Days Inn sales folks and follow up with what they're doing over there (among other things to talk about tomorrow). Hyatt does have a block (very small). Rates are: Single $259 / Double $284 / Triple $309 / Quad $334 Indeed there are two blocks there, make sure you state that you are reserving inside the "Attendee" block, method of reservation is "individual call in." I do not know when they will open up reservations for August 2008. The other block is reserved through me, and you need to be on a speci

Holiday Inn is a flat 189 per night. Rooms available thurs - sun. I'm not sure when they'll start reservations.

I sent the compiled info to Andy yesterday. Expect an update to the website soonish. *Update* Signed the contract with the Days Inn this afternoon. I'm not sure if I'm able to negotiate a price lower than 199/night for you guys. The important thing is that the contract is signed, and the block is now open to you folks. I'll keep trying to lower that 199 rate to something a bit more reasonable as an addendum to the contract. Some 200 rooms on peak are being negotiated over at the Sheraton City Center, however their prices have gone up a bit too (comes with the renovations and n

Eep! Totally missed that part. That's what i get for speed reading responses. What kind of problems?

I am waiting on exactly 2 contracts (Days Inn and Sheraton City Center formerly Wyndham). Everything else is set to go. Actually guys, the cheapest hotel you'll get is the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore, and it isn't *that* bad of a walk to the BCC (not much further than say, the Baltimore Arena). It is right next to the Sheraton City Center (connected by skywalk to Sheraton's Restaurant "Shula's"). Prices for the Holiday Inn and the Days Inn skyrocketed this year. Shame, but what can ya do?

"Thursday thru Monday $1,432.00" I paid that much for my suite at the Sheraton (well, 1500+change). My sales rep promised me the contract in my inbox today, but failed to deliver. At this point, we're playing phone tag and email tag. Expect updates soon!

That is mostly our fault, as we basically reserved what they were willing to give as staff block. That's why it was "sold out." I'm handling that a bit differently this year, and trying to hand over the majority of the days inn for you folks.

well, there's already 100+ rooms in the block that you guys can't touch until my signature is on the paper. I'm just trying to increase that number for y'all. Buuuuuut, looks like y'all don't want the sweeter deal. Oh well.

Hey folks, I been doing back and forth emails with the Days Inn. We're going to try to open a few more room blocks at the lowest rate possible (it should be lower than 179$). But until then, you gotta keep that weekend as free as possible. So stop booking there for a few days yet.

"something very doubtful because of the expense and the pathetic level of support for non-Miyazaki anime in theatres" Reading Jim's quote, I can certainly see Tascar's interpretation. HOWEVER, knowing Jim, he is most likely refering to the Industry side of "support" and how the mainstream media is unwilling to take the chance to advertise and fully support anime films. And short term advertising only works for some titles. Like seriously, who heard knew that the 3rd Bourne movie was coming out tomorrow before Monday of this week? "The hard truth is that if you want more availa

I'll get back to you on that guy. I wasn't immediately tied to the dance incidents as there was another incident involving BCPD I had to take care of. ^^

You are correct sir! We do have that right, and we exercise our ability to remove folks (however much it pains us to). However, only the Con Chair and his designated folks can actually boot people from the con (IE revoke membership and ban). Staff members will not ask for your badge, so don't get scammed! The breathalyzer thing... um.. totally not worth it. I would rather Otakon staff use the "Visibly Intoxicated Person" test.

Pre-reg will open when it is ready. Keep your eye on the website, subsribe to the RSS for insta-updates (well, as close to instant as humanly possible anyways). Masquerade rules and such will be up when they're ready. Mike or Edwin will be around to answer your question shortly.

While dance lobby seems unused, the space is shared with the autograph lines. If anyone was there for Yoshiki-san's autograph... place was packed. It was the best we could make of a bad scheduling situation (3 popular autograph sessions one right after the other, and an event on the stage). Even if things were perfect for that lobby (no autographs, no event conflicts), you still have a problem of where to place spectators. BCC tells us we have have to maintain 10-15 feet clearance from the walls. I hate to be a wet blanket so early in your planning phase!

I think that is a neat idea. Location is always an issue. When it comes down to a panel or workshop room, coordinators do not want to take out 1 or more hours to remove chairs and set up the "board." Not to mention another hour or so to put back the chairs (factor that in with the costs of union labor). Open areas like the lobbies have their own problems with traffic flow. The event will have problems retianing its audience unless things are constantly moving, and the entertainment value is high (this is true for any 1+ hour event). I'm not saying that it can't be done.

Question 1: Go ahead and register the Miwako costume. Just make sure you bring your reference pic. Question 2: Unfortunately, original costumes are not allowed in a contest based on east asian stuff (anime, manga, culture, videogames..).

Hm. Trickey question. If you would like to take a shot in the dark, I recommend bringing a pic of both references for judging purposes. In my opinion, stylistic departures from the original costume should be "OK," as long as you are still recognized as your intended character. That's just my opinion. I'll try to get the guy in charge of the hall costume contest to respond to ya! Hope that helps,

Rules for the Costume Contest (I never figured out why it was called "Hall Costume Contest") will be up when they are ready. Please keep an eye on our website www.otakon.com for updates. Instead of hitting refresh every 5 minutes, you can use our rss feed! Pre-reg for the Costume Contest will open after the rules are posted. Hope that helps!

1/ Pre-reg is currently open. Go Register! The benefit this year is that there is only one discounted rate. Even though you'll pre-reg in April, you'll get the same exact discount as a pre-reg in February. 2/ Masquerade info will be up relatively soon. Use this to keep up to date with Otakon news. 3/ The slots filled up rather quickly if i recall correctly. Within a week. Overflow slots filled up a bit slower (by a day or so more i think). Keep an eye out on the RSS for up to date info when it is available though. 4/ I would believe so. Again, I urge you to refer to t