Thursday Night activities

[DarkCat 0]

I've been going on thursdays since 2003. It was more necessary to be in the line back then. Now you can wait till an hour before the doors open for pick up and still get in and out, in no time at all. The staff have it down.

So last year I tried to do some interviews and such with my video cam. It's up on youtube under "otaku underground"

After picking up badges and materials, I pour over the schedule and plan what I really want to see with my friends. We get pizza or Chinese.

I never thought of going down and back on Thursday, not sure if that would be any cheaper with gas, even from Camp Hill, PA. It's worth having the hotel room taken care of.

Funny, I still haven't been to the sushi place in all the years I've went and it's been there.

[SilverMiko 48]

Hahaha I have to be that organized actually.

I leave with like 7 other people from CT I'm friends with, we all take a van/ two follow in a car so due to traffic and them kidnapping and holding me hostage at NY Comic Con at 5 am I was like "then we're leaving at 5 am for otakon." It's a 6-7 hour drive usually on a good day.

My Thursdays, I'm not even kidding, have gone the EXACT same since I've been staffing so it's pretty easy for me to follow a routine schedule.

I'm honestly pretty addled-brained often which is why I tend to be hyperorganzed for Thursday. It's usually the only day of the con I can control for the most-part. Usually from 3pm Thursday until Sunday night I'm at the whim of my Section Chief.

Basically, if I don't have an organized plan for the day it ALL GOES TO CHAOS. And I don't like to spend half the day frustrated and then report in to staff in a pissy/frazzled mood. I like to be happy and as least frazzled the weekend as possible.

[ithilienne 2]

/topic please

[JeuneFille 0]

This is the first year that I'm actually going to be around on Thursday afternoon. (04',05',06' I arrived Friday and felt really rushed...and in 05' I didn't get to pick up my badge until Friday around 8pm). My group will be taking a 2 1/2 hour car ride from Pa, so after checking into our hotel we're definately going to need to unpack and rest a bit. We also plan on doing some sightseeing...basically going to visit Edgar A. Poe's memorial, then grabbing some dinner and heading over to pick up our badges. Late Thursday night, however, is still open. Sleeping would probably be best. Though I'm doubting any of us are going to sleep...(I'm usually way too excited to...my bestest (Otakon newbie) is already in "Omg Otakon-mode" and we're 11 days and counting). Needless to say, I'm super excited and I can't wait

Edited July 27, 2008 by JeuneFille

[Champagon 0]

"Omg Otakon-mode" and we're 11 days and counting). Needless to say, I'm super excited and I can't wait

[Miko Kudou 0]

Well, usually I fly in from Cleveland and land about 12 - 1ish pm, grab lunch possibly before leaving the BWI. Then wait FOR EVER for the shuttle to arrive to haul my otaku arse to the hotel of choice that year (usually depends on who I'm crashing w/). So I get to said hotel by like 3 or 4, then wait (suprisingly not very long) for my friends (and the person in charge of hotel there) to show up, they come in from PA. Then we usually just hang and catch up on stuff, till like 5 or 6 then we either go grab something to eat during 5 to 6 or take it to the pre reg line and eat it there. Then after that depending on what time it is we'll go back to the hotel and chill or just walk around the inner harbor for a bit then go back and chill before "going to bed" That NEVER works like it should.

But yea, that's what I do Thursday. I also like talking to ppl who I don't know in line and make more friends! Heck, even last year I met 2 ppl from Cleveland area going to Baltimore for Otakon as well even before the flight from Cleveland. How cool is that?

[Akira 0]

Thursday night should be PARTY NIGHT

Where are all the hotel parties?!

[RavenNinja 19]

My friends and I are going to watch a bunch of movies and stuff Thursday night. The only thing we know we're watching is The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but each of us have a mobile video library in some form so we'll have tons to get us amped for working/partying it up/enjoying ourselves at the con.

As for the OMG Otakon mode, I've been in that for a while now; getting all the finishing touches on my cosplay, checking out all the stuff that'll be going on, planning essential supplies to bring, and much more. This has been my focus all summer long and it's the closest I'm getting to a vacation. I'm making the absolute most of it.

[dotmanual 0]

This is my first time going to Otakon! I'll be there Tursday all day and I'd like to meet up with some people to get a feel for the area and meet some new folk! Contact me and we'll make plans!

E-Mail: cjgoley[at]gmail[dot]com

AIM: The Misled Youth

Facebook: Click Here

I look forward to hearing from you all and making new friends!

[Fist of the North Star 0]

Actually if anyone is staying at Days Inn and whats to do something let me know. My groups always tend to enjoy having a party, watching movies, playing munchkin or something random all through the wee hours of thursday/friday night/morning.

[nero 0]

Thursday night should be PARTY NIGHT

Where are all the hotel parties?!

[Samiki 0]

I can't get drunk and miss showing up at 8 am for the start of the con because of a hangover! Partying is not my Thursday night activity! (I really try not to get too drunk at all during Otakon - there's too much other fun stuff to do.)

[ithilienne 2]

I can't get drunk and miss showing up at 8 am for the start of the con because of a hangover!

You're in luck, then - the doors don't open until 8:30am.

[Duelistbluerose 0]

Thursday night should be PARTY NIGHT

Where are all the hotel parties?!

I don't know how some people are able to pull that off. I always go to sleep by 11 so I can get up early on Fri.

[unlocked2886 0]

I like to drink too sometimes, but I dont do it to the point were I'm turning silly

[Shineigami02 0]

Thursday from a TCG's point of view:

Wake up early, take shower, get dressed, finish my packing, call Pedro to see what's happening on his end, then call Frank & make sure he connects up with Pedro. I'll either be making my way to his house or he'll pick me up on the way to I-295. We'll take that down to the Delaware Memorial Bridges, get on I-95 & cruise on down to good ole Baltimore. We plan on arriving in the Inner Harbor by 1pm at the latest.

Once we find a place to park, we'll check into the hotel, drag our stuff up to the room & relax for a bit. About 2:30 wherever I may be, I'll be making my way to the Security entrance of the BCC to wait with my fellow TCG's for a Staff member to come & escort us all to Gofer Ops. Once we get orientated, we'll make our way over to Pre-Registration, find a Staff member to work with for the duration of the evening & help set-up.

Once the doors open I'll most likely be sitting at one of the booths putting stickers on badges or clipping lanyards to badge holders waiting to meet some of the many interesting people who come to Otakon.

By 11pm my shift at Pre-Registration shall be over for the night. Time to grab something to eat, meet Frank for a pint of ale at the Wharf Rat, then we'll head back to the hotel room to look over the schedule & crash for the night. The other 2 will most likely be out clubbing in Fells Point till 2-3am. You can certainly tell the difference between the 2 Otakon veterans & the 2 newbies in my group, that's for sure...

Edited July 31, 2008 by Shineigami02

[nanagrl 0]

Thursday for me...

1) I get in usually between the times of 2:30 - 4 *depends on how late we left that morning which is usually 10 am*

2) Check into our hotel

3) Unpack my clothes *LOLITA YEAH !* and put it in the closet

4) If it's too early to line up, Me and my pal watch something on our portable DVD players

5) Then go to convention center ~~~

6) After getting badges and such, we usually hop right on over to our favorite irish pub/grill restraunt right across from the convention center, look and drool over the schedule and program book and also find our favorite pre-con cosplayers *we sometimes make a list of the best and worst like E! does with celebrities at the Oscars*

7) Just get back to the hotel and drool some more *with a highlighter* over the schedule.

8) Shower.Attempt to sleep *my mom is usually watching Larry King at this point*

THEN OTAKON YAHOOO

[MissV 0]

Thursday night should be PARTY NIGHT

Where are all the hotel parties?!

[luvpocky 0]

I'm thinking mebbe we could have a poker tournament on Thursday nite. Heck we all have some overpriced item we're just dying to buy in the dealer's room. This way, at least one of us has the cash to actually buy it

[coolerninjathanu 0]

Im hoping after we arrive we could go to the BCC and get our badges. Then go to a resturant because we havent been to the hard rock cafe before. That would be cool to go to. after well go to the hotel and hangout there and watch movies and read manga. and meet up with some friends from another hotel. That is going to be an awesome nite. Cant wait.

[Aresef 113]

Tropic Thunder sounds cool, but weren't there rumblings on here ages ago about trying to get something off the ground with Geppi's Entertainment Museum for Thursday?

[Zsinj 0]

In years past, we have always gotten into Baltimore at about 1-3pm Thursday, checked into the formerly-Wyndham, and then got into line. After we got our badges, we usually found something to eat and then went back to our hotel room to do some pre-con warmups watching a few anime DVDs we brought. Usually we would go to bed at about 10-11, so that we could "save up" hours of sleep for the nights to come.

This year is my first year on Otakon staff, so I imagine Thursday will be much different. I'm not entirely sure if I"m supposed to disclose my schedule, but let's just say that I'll be up and at the Arena on 6am Thursday this year. I expect to spend about 12-16 hours in the Arena on Thursday with some fellow staffers I know from other cons (notably Anime Boston.) It's fun to work with the same group a few times a year putting up a big show

I imagine after we're done doing our super-secret Arena work there will be some sort of pre-craziness dinner/party thing somewhere. After all, we all only hang out two weekends out of the year

[tstidm1 0]

My Thursday night will be:

-Get out of work at Noon to be in Baltimore by 2 PM.

-Get into hotel and grab something to eat while Gofer Orientation is going on.

-Get to the BCC by 3 PM for Orientation.

-After Orientation, go to station and work until 10:30 or 11 PM.

-Get some dinner and crash into bed for probably an 8 AM shift on Friday.

[Nan 0]

Thursday:

6:30am: Alarm that I will try to get up to so that I can try to keep on top of my homework for school which I won't do the rest of the weekend

10am: Wake my driver for Otakon and check on the other two who are riding with us to make sure that they actually wake up and get into the city to meet us

11am: Start Driving

1:30ish: Be told I can't check into the hotel until three and make sure that they got all the rooms right for my anime club before the other 30 people show up

5:30pm: Check on people who aren't there, make sure my other club officer has the keys, grab dinner, and off to Gofer Orientation

8:45pm: Get phone class because something has gone wrong while my phone was off during orientation even though everything should have gone smoothly.

Goal: Go to bed early since sleep won't happen for much more the weekend

[MissV 0]

Tropic Thunder sounds cool, but weren't there rumblings on here ages ago about trying to get something off the ground with Geppi's Entertainment Museum for Thursday?

[MikeAwesome 0]

Tropic Thunder sounds cool, but weren't there rumblings on here ages ago about trying to get something off the ground with Geppi's Entertainment Museum for Thursday?

That would be awesome if Otakon did something in conjunction with them. I know they usually offer 10% off if you show them your Otakon pass. The only thing is, they don't have anything that has to do with Japanese pop culture...Everything in there is American pop culture.

Edited August 4, 2008 by MikeAwesome

[Duelistbluerose 0]

there's a really cool human body museum in the inner harbor that i'm interested in. you get to see what it looks like inside a human body - cool stuff

[MederuKabuto 0]

haha...my Thursday this year involves an inordinate amount of travel time.

I plan on leaving from my workplace at either noon or 12:30 and taking the DC Metro to Greenbelt. In theory, I get to Greenbelt in time to catch the first B30 shuttle to BWI. From BWI, I will try to take the Light Rail to Camden Yard, and then walk from there to the con center. Once again, in theory I arrive at BCC around 3pm. At which point I plan on hanging around in line until I find my hotel-mates and check in with them.

[Mezi 7]

My Thursday usually involves:

- last minute packing (I'm such a procrastinator)

- piling into the car to make a break for Baltimore (about an hour and a half to two hours for me)

- depending on arrival time, either making a break for the prereg pick-up while Mom drives around the block, or dropping stuff off and walking to the BCC for it. This year, since I'm riding with someone other than Mom and we've both got gofer orientation, we're going to drop stuff off early.

- heading back to hotel to either check in/finally unload, or to crash down in the hotel room.

- we might have food in here somewhere. Some years it's little consistent bits (Chex Mix, for example), or an actual meal.

Usually the rest of the night's spent finishing cosplay bits (told you I'm a procrastinator). My favorite year of Otakon involved sewing machines and con-goers gathering in the lobby with a stereo while we worked. We shared snacks, juice, music and sewing equipments (someone always forgets their thread, lol), and stayed put until the hotel staff chased us away around 2. This year's probably going to just be crashing in the room with my laptop and staking out two extra bits of floor-space for my friends arriving the next day.

[MissV 0]

They are really missing the boat on not having an Anime section in the museum, or even having a exhibit that say runs for a couple weeks around the same time as Otakon. Yet just from walking around in the Dealer's Room, a majority of the dealers get there stuff from Diamond (the parent company to Geppi's Entertainment Museum) anyway.

If anyone wants to visit the museum, they close at 6 and a run through of the museum takes about 2 hours.

[flaming_alchemist 0]

I like to wander the Inner Harbor with everyone who is in our room. We typically don't have a set plan or anything, but that makes it an adventure. Last year, we arrived to the hotel, threw our stuff in the room, took advantage of the "reception" snacks, went for a swim, put ourselves back together, and (by this time it was around 7:pm-ish) got our badges. We then gawked at some cosplayers, which I took photos of, and we made our way to Easy Wok (RIP ) for dinner.

It beat the hell out of the two years before when for 2005 I was alone for my first Otakon and didn't find a Thursday night room until pre-reg line (but those people were funny and their group was awesome - one of them turned me on to Peelander Z) and 2006 when we made the mistake of booking at Tremont Plaze (try rolling your six-month pregnant wife back and forth in a wheelchair on THAT route). Last year we were organized and even more so this year.

I'm very excited to hang with our group Thursday night, just the nine of us...

[Shineigami02 0]

there's a really cool human body museum in the inner harbor that i'm interested in. you get to see what it looks like inside a human body - cool stuff

That would be Bodyworlds 2. It's taking place at the Maryland Science Center this summer. I know b/c me & my group may be going to that Sunday after the con if we can.

[Duelistbluerose 0]

there's a really cool human body museum in the inner harbor that i'm interested in. you get to see what it looks like inside a human body - cool stuff

That would be Bodyworlds 2. It's taking place at the Maryland Science Center this summer. I know b/c me & my group may be going to that Sunday after the con if we can.

[ChibiNeko 0]

I don't know if this was said already but, If anyone is looking for something to do on Thursday the Baltimore Museum of Industry is having a promotion going on Thursday only. Its free admission from 5-8pm. Its something fun to see in Baltimore without having to pay a lot of money out of pocket (Like you would if you did just the Aquariam.)

[khandosha 0]

So I guess its those 4 so far

- Edo Sushi meeting thing around 7:30ish

- Otakon Guest and industry reception? (sometime in the evening)

- Human body museum in the inner harbor that i'm interested in. you get to see what it looks like inside a human body - cool stuff

(What time does that go until?)

- & " Baltimore Museum of Industry is having a promotion going on Thursday only. Its free admission from 5-8pm. Its something fun to see in Baltimore without having to pay a lot of money out of pocket (Like you would if you did just the Aquariam.)"

Any other stuff precon stuff for this XV? Like Anime showings in rooms, other gathering, RPGers etc

PS Theres also something called Virgin Mobile Festival going on that weekend if you like DJ's and recording artists.

cool

[Samiki 0]

I can't get drunk and miss showing up at 8 am for the start of the con because of a hangover!

You're in luck, then - the doors don't open until 8:30am.

Edited August 6, 2008 by Samiki

[MissV 0]

PS Theres also something called Virgin Mobile Festival going on that weekend if you like DJ's and recording artists.

cool

[ahreshef 0]

So I guess its those 4 so far

- Edo Sushi meeting thing around 7:30ish

- Otakon Guest and industry reception? (sometime in the evening)

- Human body museum in the inner harbor that i'm interested in. you get to see what it looks like inside a human body - cool stuff

(What time does that go until?)

- & " Baltimore Museum of Industry is having a promotion going on Thursday only. Its free admission from 5-8pm. Its something fun to see in Baltimore without having to pay a lot of money out of pocket (Like you would if you did just the Aquariam.)"

Any other stuff precon stuff for this XV? Like Anime showings in rooms, other gathering, RPGers etc

PS Theres also something called Virgin Mobile Festival going on that weekend if you like DJ's and recording artists.

cool

Don't forget the Tropic Thunder screening, passes can be won on Thursday in the pre reg line.

Edited August 6, 2008 by ahreshef

[Dragoonon 0]

>>

So I guess its those 4 so far

- Edo Sushi meeting thing around 7:30ish

- Otakon Guest and industry reception? (sometime in the evening) who knows where haha

- Human body museum in the inner harbor that i'm interested in. you get to see what it looks like inside a human body - cool stuff

(What time does that go until?)

- & " Baltimore Museum of Industry is having a promotion going on Thursday only. Its free admission from 5-8pm. Its something fun to see in Baltimore without having to pay a lot of money out of pocket (Like you would if you did just the Aquariam.)"

Any other stuff precon stuff for this XV? Like Anime showings in rooms, other gathering, RPGers etc

>> PS Theres also something called Virgin Mobile Festival going on that weekend if you like DJ's and recording artists.

cool

[ahreshef 0]

>>

Is the preview for Thurs night too?.

Yes the preview is Thursday night at 8:30. Please see the link below for more details.

http://www.otakon.com/promo_tropic.asp

[ithilienne 2]

The Virgin Mobile Festival is at Pimlico (the race track), about 8 miles (right around 20 minutes) from the convention center.

More info about the festival can be found at its website, http://www.virginmobilefestival.com

[Champagon 0]

Edo Sushi is at 4p.m. Thursday, Thats tomorrow! /index.php?showtopic=14804&st=50">here is the thread

[unlocked2886 0]

Confirmed: I'll be working at the castle. Hopefully I'll make some nice money. If not... then, at least before seating begins I get to stand about with a large battle-axe.