So I went to DragonCon a couple of weeks ago, in Atlanta, GA. This was my first foray to the largest media con on the East Coast and it was just as overwhelming as I expected. Some thoughts:
The Good
A Green Room par excellence. I mean, really impressive. Plentiful REAL food all day long, not just noshes, but actual meals. Plus, every night there is a private themed party for guests with plenty of drinkies. Played beer pong with a famous artist, the top editor of a major publishing imprint, and a multi-award winning author, among others. Surreal and totally awesome.
The volunteer staff were all very nice and polite, even when absolutely overwhelmed with managing mile-long lines waiting to get into the top panels.
Costumes, costumes, costumes! Unbelievable, incredible, mind-blowing cosplay. The talent on display was simply stunning and that’s not even including the formal masquerade. The parade through Atlanta is truly something to behold.
Stars. Easily the best celebrity petting zoo (aka autograph room) I’ve ever visited. Picture Christine Rose of Heroes sitting across from James Marsters of Buffy/Angel/Torchwood sitting around the corner from my man Malcolm McDowell across the room from Barry “Rocky Horror” Bostwick who was around the corner from Mary McDonnell of Battlestar Galactica. For reals. Of course, the autographs don’t get signed for free — I believe William Shatner expected folks to pony up a couple hundy — but hey, it was free to walk around and look at them and say, “Hey, isn’t that the guy/gal from X? Cool.”
The Not-So-Good
Crowds. This is not the con for claustrophobics. Supposedly they cap attendance at 55K, but unofficial word was that Saturday hit more like 70K. There were many panels and events that we couldn’t get into because of the sheer numbers, which was frustrating and aggravating.
Rocky Horror hosted by Barry Bostwick = Hildy’s idea of the ultimate night. Unfortunately, the concert beforehand was allowed to run ridonkulously long, so after waiting for over an hour and a half, we gave up and went to bed. RH was supposed to start at 1:30 am (and WTF, Con, RH is a MIDNIGHT show!). From what we heard the next day (or rather later the same day) the crowd was finally let in around 3am. That ain’t right, people.
Sprawl. The con is spread across three hotels, so you need a jetpack to get between events and panels that are scheduled closely by time but not by location. And schedule an extra half hour waiting for elevators, especially on Saturday. The hotels are all towering affairs, so unless you’re in Olympic condition and ready to scale a thousand flights of stairs, you’re gonna be waiting. And waiting. And waiting some more.
So, yeah. Interesting experience. Not sure if I want to repeat it next year, though. We’ll see if they invite me again and put me on more than one panel (yes, I did wind up on one at the last minute, with Eric Flint and S.M. Stirling on Alternate History. Yeah, not sure why either, but I was in good company).
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