[Otakon 2019: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly]

Hello Everyone. Just to mention our party attended when Otakon moved from Baltimore to DC. Prior like most everyone we were attending In Baltimore. We were not able to attend last year. So this year we were all curious to see how things were going.

The GOOD:

First some shout outs to Steve who produces those great where to eat videos. This is as I always have said a must see for any Otakon attendee. A special thank you to Steve for giving us insight on how the Thursday Pre reg lines work, since we were picking up our badges this way this year. 

Also shout out to Becky who also gave us some great insight into wait times through her experience last year. Thanks again Becky!

With that being said I want you to know that we had no wait time to pick up pre reg badges on Thursday at 3PM. I was totally amazed and pretty please Otakon always make sure it stays this way forever. Thank you. 

Next the BRADIO concert. I mean nothing short of HISTORY was made with this Fantastic concert offered at Otakon. If you were there you know what I mean.  I must admit I did help Otakon Ops with line control during the que. This is actually something within my field I have done for years and it was my pleasure to help. Otakon ops personally thanked me for the effort and that was nice of them to take the time to do that I thought. Also congrats to the events manager for this event. I told her personally but the event ran very smooth. The initial escalator cutoffs on the second floor however were sort of new volunteers and were a little unsure of how to manage but some quick twitter sends to ops evidently fixed that. 

The Marriott tunnel is cut off with one volunteer checking badges first. What a great great idea. Next the only thing left is the security bag check. This cuts out a lot of time. Please keep that going. Thank you.

Also Otakon volunteers. Nice job! Very helpful ,professional, polite, and  enthusiastic. Well done and well appreciated! 

 

The ALMOST GOOD ( Yes I do not say BAD because nothing is BAD when your at Otakon. Its a happy place  )

This no outside food thing. Well obviously we need the addition of hydration stations since the enforcement because the water fountains near the rest rooms are really not enough. Also some people who have restricted diets really need options to bring certain small food issues in. Hopefully Otakon can resolve the issue next year in some way with the venue. 

Funimation autograph limits for Fruit Basket voice actors. Now this is nothing that Otakon can really control one way or another I guess, but the reason we wanted to go to Otakon this year was to autograph with one of the voice actors. To find out that Funimation so close to the convention changed the autograph session to only 50 people and then only if you preorder the dvd for a then only  chance to be one of the 50 selected leaves me at a loss for words. This autograph opportunity was going to be the reason and highlight of the entire convention. Since it wasn't able to happen we were extremely disappointed. I already reviewed this with Otakon and also a Board member so whatever Otakon can do in the future to control how autograph opportunities should remain uniform throughout the convention would be appreciated. 

The Ugly

Hey everyone. Otakon is a happy place. Nothing Ugly here 

 

 

[I Have Not Received My Badge In the Mail!]

Just wanted to provide an update about how things worked out since I never received my badge in the mail. When I arrived in Baltimore the first thing I did was walk over to Badge Services with my paperwork and followed the Otakon Comptrollers instructions to the letter. I have to tell you that I was treated so nice by security and the Otakon staff I wanted to cry. I was ushered in to Pratt street direct to Badge Services with no line, no wait. It only took minutes to submit my paperwork and receive my replacement badge. Would you believe I was ready before the other two in my party who had their badges mailed? Lol. We were in the dealers room right away and an hour early. The earliest ever. Although I wished I would have received my badge from the USPS and not have gone through a lot of aggravation, the Otakon team took care of me in the end and we had a fantastic time.

[I Have Not Received My Badge In the Mail!]

Hi Maydog, sorry we haven't gotten this resolved yet. This case is somewhat more complicated than normal. I will forward it on up the chain to try to get a response for you asap.

Thank you Sam, and to all Members in this forum who were so concerned and helpful on my behalf.

I just got back from meeting with USPS Investigator who has concluded that my badge and Lanyard unfortunately and most likely fell out while being sorted on the line in PA. USPS in Warendale Linda made a good effort on my behalf to try to find it. The USPS investigator was very motivated to try to help me also. He provided me with supporting documents that Otakon would need.

In addition the Otakon team also worked very hard to resolve the issue for me because they understood would it meant to me and my family who are coming to attend. This is the last thing they wanted to see happen.

I want to personally thank Otakon Team Elizabeth C, Rea K, Sam Wein, and Comptroller Matt S.

Who took the issue seriously on my behalf and provided a detailed path on how I now can resolve the issue once I come to a Otakon.

With that being said and although I do not have my badge yet, I am fully confident in the Otakon team to resolve the issue when I arrive at the Conventio.

This is another prime example of why we look forward to our trip to a Otakon every year.

The concern and response from all of the Otakon team members involved who go out of their way to make sure members such as me and my family can attend with little issue and total enjoyment in mind.

Thank you all...

Thank you....

Thank you.

[I Have Not Received My Badge In the Mail!]

Hi Maydog, sorry we haven't gotten this resolved yet. This case is somewhat more complicated than normal. I will forward it on up the chain to try to get a response for you asap.

Thank you Sam, and to all Members in this forum who were so concerned and helpful on my behalf.

I just got back from meeting with USPS Investigator who has concluded that my badge and Lanyard unfortunately and most likely fell out while being sorted on the line in PA. USPS in Warendale Linda made a good effort on my behalf to try to find it. The USPS investigator was very motivated to try to help me also. He provided me with supporting documents that Otakon would need.

In addition the Otakon team also worked very hard to resolve the issue for me because they understood would it meant to me and my family who are coming to attend. This is the last thing they wanted to see happen.

I want to personally thank Otakon Team Elizabeth C, Rea K, Sam Wein, and Comptroller Matt S.

Who took the issue seriously on my behalf and provided a detailed path on how I now can resolve the issue once I come to a Otakon.

With that being said and although I do not have my badge yet, I am fully confident in the Otakon team to resolve the issue when I arrive at the Conventio.

This is another prime example of why we look forward to our trip to a Otakon every year.

The concern and response from all of the Otakon team members involved who go out of their way to make sure members such as me and my family can attend with little issue and total enjoyment in mind.

Thank you all...

Thank you....

Thank you.

[I Have Not Received My Badge In the Mail!]

Thank you so much for your concern. Since one badge and one lanyard was taken i can only think that it was stolen. I think it may be a postal worker because usps was the only one with physical contact. There were no usps scans indicating the priority envelope was damaged, in addition it was delayed a couple of days at their sorting center with no further scans until it suddenly arrived in my city . I am feeling absolutley horrible about this as any victim of this sort of thing would I guess. I already spoke to my mail carrier and called the post office who opened a case and postal inspectors will contact me next week. They said thid is very serious. I emailed the help area at otakon Outlining all the details and pictures of everything and i received a reply back that the issue was being forwarded to otakon registration troubleshooting team. That's the last I heard so far. I'm hoping that the stolen badge can be deactivated and a replacement sent to me quickly, i want to enter with my family who now have their badges . The other two in the mailing that was actually in the envelope. I never expected anything like this. This would completely ruin everything for us. I hope Otakon can help me. I'm a little panicky because it's so close to the Con start date. Please everyone continue to help with your postings and advice because it's really helping and I appreciate it. But still think is is unbelievable. Like a bad dream because we plan all year to go to Otakon.

What should I do now. Haven't heard back form the registration people about my badge. Don't know what to do now. Maybe I'm just being impatient but only a couple of days before the Convention. Very upset.

[I Have Not Received My Badge In the Mail!]

Thank you so much for your concern. Since one badge and one lanyard was taken i can only think that it was stolen. I think it may be a postal worker because usps was the only one with physical contact. There were no usps scans indicating the priority envelope was damaged, in addition it was delayed a couple of days at their sorting center with no further scans until it suddenly arrived in my city . I am feeling absolutley horrible about this as any victim of this sort of thing would I guess. I already spoke to my mail carrier and called the post office who opened a case and postal inspectors will contact me next week. They said thid is very serious. I emailed the help area at otakon Outlining all the details and pictures of everything and i received a reply back that the issue was being forwarded to otakon registration troubleshooting team. That's the last I heard so far. I'm hoping that the stolen badge can be deactivated and a replacement sent to me quickly, i want to enter with my family who now have their badges . The other two in the mailing that was actually in the envelope. I never expected anything like this. This would completely ruin everything for us. I hope Otakon can help me. I'm a little panicky because it's so close to the Con start date. Please everyone continue to help with your postings and advice because it's really helping and I appreciate it. But still think is is unbelievable. Like a bad dream because we plan all year to go to Otakon.

[I Have Not Received My Badge In the Mail!]

I just received my priority package which was delayed from July 6 for some reason. The priority envelope was inside another resealed and when I opened it and the priority mail envelope inside was torn. One badge and one lanyard are missing. The other two and 3 matsuri discounts were still there. I contacted the post office and also sent an email to Otakon giving all the details,including pictures. What's going to happen? I don't have a badge someone took it.

Omg! I hope they figure something out. Someone did say that if for some weird reason u don't get it badge, print out the receipt for that badge and take it with u to otakon. And I steadying waiting in the pre reg line, there should be another place for u to go in for mailing questions or something, but if worse comes to worse, they can help u there if not sooner.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[I Have Not Received My Badge In the Mail!]

I just received my priority package which was delayed from July 6 for some reason. The priority envelope was inside another resealed and when I opened it and the priority mail envelope inside was torn. One badge and one lanyard are missing. The other two and 3 matsuri discounts were still there. I contacted the post office and also sent an email to Otakon giving all the details,including pictures. What's going to happen? I don't have a badge someone took it.