OTAKON 2011 - July 29-31, Baltimore MD

[Live-Free-Or-Pie]

Otakon
http://www.otakon.com/
Baltimore Convention Center (Close to Oriole Park at Camden Yards)
One West Pratt Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
July 29-30, 2011

This is a HUGE con (~29,000 in attendance for 2010). I went last year for a day, stayed late and loved every minute of it. It would be awesome to get a BRB.u meetup here.

Registration
Otakon doesn't do single day passes, it only sells multi-day "memberships" and those are non-refundable
- $65 for a pass if you pre-register online before June 6
- $75 for a pass if you pre-register online before June 16
- $75 for a pass at the door (Roommate and I walked in Saturday Morning last year, 15 minute wait)

Hotels
There are a ton of hotels around it and the going rate for rooms is around $160 per-night at the con rate. Go here to get the con rate: http://www.otakon.com/hotels.asp

EDIT: A bunch of the con-block rooms are already sold out

Activities
There are late-night panels and a ton of stuff going on, check the website for details

Getting There
Directions to the convention center: http://www.bccenter.org/index.php?target=60
If you're flying in, the nearest airport is BWI. Light rail will get you to the convention center, otherwise it's a 15 minute drive. (I'll be driving in.)

If you are interested, please post in this thread. The sooner we can prepare, the better.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Potential crash-zone apartments:
- At0m (Lutherville, MD - 20 min drive from the North)
- Live-Free-Or-Pie (Silver Spring, MD - 45 min drive from the south)

Interest List:
Live-Free-Or-Pie
Evil Cheese
at0m
Caffeine

[CaffeinePowered]

Hotels
There are a ton of hotels around it and the going rate for rooms is around $160 per-night at the con rate. Go here to get the con rate: http://www.otakon.com/hotels.asp

NOTE: I have a source that might be able to get us cheaper rooms in Baltimore, so hold off for right now on getting a room, and let me know if you're interested in going soon so that I can include you. (Watch this space for updates)

If you are interested, please post in this thread. The sooner we can prepare, the better.

Interested...but why stay anywhere else other than the main con hotel :/

[ZargonX]

I'm actually going to miss it this year. Going out to the west coast for a trip at the same time. So, of course, this will be the year the rest of brb.u shows up :p

[Live-Free-Or-Pie]

[quote author=Live-Free-Or-Pie link=topic=5663.msg207793#msg207793 date=1306461247]
Hotels
There are a ton of hotels around it and the going rate for rooms is around $160 per-night at the con rate. Go here to get the con rate: http://www.otakon.com/hotels.asp

NOTE: I have a source that might be able to get us cheaper rooms in Baltimore, so hold off for right now on getting a room, and let me know if you're interested in going soon so that I can include you. (Watch this space for updates)

If you are interested, please post in this thread. The sooner we can prepare, the better.

Interested...but why stay anywhere else other than the main con hotel :/
[/quote]

The main con is at the convention center, there are a few hotels connected to it, but those are pricey IIRC. There are a bunch of other sanely-priced hotels within stumbling distance.

[Live-Free-Or-Pie]

Bad post edited out here, disregard this post

[kaese]

15 minutes definitely sounds better than the 6+ hours at ACEN. I plan on attending Otakon sometime in the future, I'm just not sure when. I definitely can not this year as I will be in Canada or NY at the time.

And an unrelated question, has anyone been to the large cons on the west coast (AX, ALA, Fanime, Comic Con, etc.) and can tell me if they would be worth the travel and effort? I'm trying to decide which coast I want to travel to more.

[Eightball]

15 minutes definitely sounds better than the 6+ hours at ACEN. I plan on attending Otakon sometime in the future, I'm just not sure when. I definitely can not this year as I will be in Canada or NY at the time.

And an unrelated question, has anyone been to the large cons on the west coast (AX, ALA, Fanime, Comic Con, etc.) and can tell me if they would be worth the travel and effort? I'm trying to decide which coast I want to travel to more.

Girlfriend is going to Fanime tomorrow, I'll let you know what she thinks :v

[Versus]

i'm going to fanime but not until saturday morning

i went to fanime last year and i think it's overall a better con than acen

edit: plus the walk from the two attached hotels isn't like 4 minutes each way through a tube

[Evil Cheese]

I'd be up for it. I know some other non-BRBU people who will probably be going as well.

[at0m]

Holy fuck wat.

For those unwilling to do a hotel, I live in a 2-bedroom apartment up in Lutherville with enough room for like 10 people to crash, although it's not within walking distance of Light Rail. I just found out about this nonsense so I have no idea what I'm doing.

Also, if you update the top post, make sure you post a reply so those of us who don't religiously check dead threads can catch the update for the hotel room

[CaffeinePowered]

We can has a hotel room?

[Live-Free-Or-Pie]

Unfortunately, hotel source fell thorough. Too short of a notice. I have an apartment in Silver Spring (45 min drive) with crash space and and a car, so I'll put that as an option if anyone wants to travel.

[Neptune]

My wife works in the Ota-cafe every year and is the self-appointed Karaoke Nazi.  Please say "hi" to her because I'm sure she might recognize a few of your voices.

[Evil Cheese]

Who's up for actually getting a hotel room? I don't mind sharing a room with a bunch of people if it means a cheaper rate. I'll happily sleep on the floor, although prior notice would be nice so that I can try to acquire and air mattress.

[CaffeinePowered]

Who's up for actually getting a hotel room? I don't mind sharing a room with a bunch of people if it means a cheaper rate. I'll happily sleep on the floor, although prior notice would be nice so that I can try to acquire and air mattress.

Pie said there weren't any left

[Live-Free-Or-Pie]

[quote author=Evil Cheese link=topic=5663.msg209519#msg209519 date=1307572402]
Who's up for actually getting a hotel room? I don't mind sharing a room with a bunch of people if it means a cheaper rate. I'll happily sleep on the floor, although prior notice would be nice so that I can try to acquire and air mattress.

Pie said there weren't any left
[/quote]

Yeah the rest of the rooms left are a little pricey, I'm exploring some options but it's looking like I'm gonna be driving up.