TomDent

I wonder if there's a possibility in the future for Otakon to move to a different time of the year so that it's not so close to other major cons; either earlier (late spring/early summer) or later (late fall/early winter). I can see moving to an earlier time of year being a major (nearly impossible) move since it would seriously cut down on prep time for the first year with the new date. I wonder how hard it would be to move toward the end of the year (before winter sets in). Then there's also the hurdle of getting it approved with the WEWCC. I guess I'm just curious whether it would be a feas

Our group got really lucky. Three of us out of a six person group were going to try to book a couple of rooms for the whole group. Myself and one friend were at work (we work together in a factory setting with crappy Wi-Fi and even worse cellphone signal) and we were planning on joining the queue at 11, which is when our lunch break starts, then kind of hide out over the next hour or so at the risk of getting in trouble. Another friend works from home and was ultimately the one who booked the rooms. He was just messing around on the site a little after 10 and noticed he could join the queue, s

I think, at the very least, that this system would have worked fairly well if we just had all the info a good amount of time in advance. All the info they first put out about how it would work differently this year should have went out a lot sooner than the day before. And other important pieces of info, such as don't refresh your page if it said disconnected and that you need to make sure your card's expiration date is acceptable, should have been included from the start. I found out a lot of important info either through unofficial social media posts or just by dumb luck.

Something this big should have been officially announced AT LEAST a week before. And I know that maybe this should have been common sense, but I just saw the note about your credit card needing to have an expiration date of 8/25 or further out. I didn't think to check my card until then and realized that mine expires 7/25.

I keep getting disconnected and have to refresh the page. I went from #670 to #5051. Also I thought the virtual waiting room didn't open until 11, but my friend was just messing around with it and it let him in almost an hour before.

Beacon Hotel and Corporate Quarters Our group stayed here for the first time. We were going to get two rooms at the Marquis Marriott, but we had to change our plans due to budget reasons, so we got two rooms at the Beacon to save some money. Cost: It was about $730 for a room with two double beds and a pull out sofa bed. Amenities: The rooms were a nice size, not cramped at all. The beds were OK (the sofa bed was pretty stiff, as they usually are). There was a mini kitchen with a small (not mini) fridge/freezer, sink with garbage disposal, two burner stovetop, some dishes and c

So far, the BBS has actually been running pretty smoothly for me since the Monday after the convention. This might just be good luck on my part though. I know it's been said that this board will eventually end, so there aren't going to be any fixes to these issues as far as I can see. I started using the Discord channel as a replacement for the BBS, but I just can't get into it. I use Discord for a couple of other things, but I just don't think I'll ever get very comfortable with it as it just doesn't feel as organized as this board. Also, it's just way easier to catch up to discussions in the

That makes sense. I don't have any Funko Pops, but I don't dislike them either. I can see how scalpers can take advantage of them and it's sad for fans who can't afford a more expensive figure to get autographed.

I've seen bans like this at small conventions as well. I've never owned a Funko Pop and have only gotten one autograph at a con before (on a CD), so I never really understood why there are so many problems involving the Funko Pop autographs. Like why Funko Pops specifically and are there problems like this with other items?

I'm incredibly jealous of people who have Amtrak in their area. I live at the VA/TN border where we barely have any public transit at all (like a few of those short busses in a limited area since it's really rural most places here). There's been talk for years of expanding Amtrak through VA down to TN, but at this rate if it ever happens I'll likely be an old man by then. We did get a bus line though called Virginia Breeze that runs from Bristol, VA, where I'm at, all the way to Washington, DC, but it leaves Bristol at 11am every day and takes about 7 1/2 hours to get to DC. I think it leaves

Got mine! I am SOOOO ready for this year!

It also might help if the link to the BBS was in a more prominent spot on the main website instead of under the Help/Contact drop down menu. Might also get more people interested in the BBS if it were promoted on the social media pages and discord. There's probably tons of people who have been attending Otakon for a little while now that don't know this board even exists, so there's no telling if they might prefer this over the other channels. Then again, all this could be wishful thinking on my part. At least it seems to be working fine as of this post.

My friends and I always get there on Thursday so we can spend the day before the con sightseeing in DC (did the same with Baltimore all those years). We also try to eat at different local restaurants, that we can afford, that we don't have back home (though we'll eat cheap when we need to, like at McD's or something). That's about it. We did the same in Baltimore and we'll hopefully get to continue doing these things for many years to come.

Here lately I've been listening to a lot of Yuki Kajiura's work. It would be awesome to have her come to Otakon, maybe doing a concert with See-Saw or something with FictionJunction. Or even just as a guest for a panel or something.

I really wish this board would get popular again. I miss the old days when this was a booming place. Social media pages are a mess (especially Facebook since 90% of my feed now is ads and clickbait). The BBS is so much more organized. Is there something that can be done to increase interest (advertise the BBS more on the social media pages or make it easier to find)?

The Good: As many have said already, the crowd control was great this year. I do kind of miss the camaraderie that came with waiting in long lines and getting to play games while waiting, but it's really nice that things overall were moving at a good pace, especially when waiting outside in that heat. The new attendance record was great to see IMO. Large crowds wear me out, but it's nice to see Otakon growing and I really wasn't expecting it to go up that much this year. It's exciting to see. Even though I didn't get to go to all the guest panels this year, it was great to s

Somehow I managed to get a double bedded room at the Marquis. I was suprised to see it on the list as soon as everything went live since that didn't happen last year. I kept getting all kinds of error messages while booking and thought I'd lost it several times, but it somehow went through. I've even saved my comfirmation email to two different email addresses and screenshot it to my phone, just in case. I did try to book a second room there or at the Renaissance (or anywhere within half a mile of the WEWCC), but by the time I finished booking the Marquis room, everything was gone. We'll have

Comfort Inn Downtown DC/Convention Center We stayed at this place for the first time this year since we couldn't get a room at the host hotels. It was on the (relatively) cheaper end at something like $650 for Thursday thru Sunday. If you don't mind a little stroll, it's about a 10 minute walk to the front entrance to the WEWCC. The location wasn't too bad, but it seemed like all the eateries immediately around were kind of expensive and a lot of those places either opened up later in the day or closed kind of early. Some convenience places nearby, such as a formerly 24 hour CVS, wer

I think it would be pretty cool to bring back some guests from the first few years of Otakon. Not sure how many are still active in the industry or con scene, but it would be a nice throwback. And maybe industry guests from anime that debuted or was super popular in '94.

DEODORANT 😁

Just got mine too! This'll be my first time back since 2019.

I know I asked this question in another thread, but I can't remember the answer or find that post. What is the theme for Otakon 2022?

Just curious, but how many did they say attended otakon? Also what's next year's theme?

I knew the hotels keeping our reservations for next year was a pipe dream, but I'm really glad they're rolling our registrations over to next year. And the automatic hotel cancellations is appreciated as well. That way we don't have to worry about much.

IMO it'd be better to just cancel for this year and put everything into 2021. This would work out better with the theme since the Olympics will be next year. Of course I know that the folks running Otakon have to wait on official decisions from DC, the WEWCC, etc, but hopefully they've already got a solid plan for what seems like the inevitable. Also, assuming it's canceled this year, I hope we get the option to have our registration roll over for next year instead of just getting a refund (and maybe our hotel reservation as well, if that's possible). And maybe they could try a small virtual