Celebration 4 - Planning Thread

i am great with the embassy suites...as long as transportation isn't a problem. Breakfast & drinks including ya really can't beat that.

 

There. Was waiting for Kevin to verify.

Just do what he says, and try not to wake up in a bathtub full of ice missing your kidneys, or a bed full of pre-op trannies.

 

LOL - the pre-op tranny thing reminds me of the creepy BK commercial where that ordinary guy wakes up in bed with The King, who feeds him a sandwich. Ewwwwww. If I ever wake up with the King like that, I'll need years of therapy!

There's a ton to do in LA as well. Universal, Disney, Warner Bros, Hollywood Blvd - even family who gets bored will have a ball.

I highly recommend Joe Montegna's Taste Chicago's pepperoni pizza - it's the bomb!

 

Sounds good to me... My only concern was what I had heard about LA driving... I may be driving for this one too... Just have to see what happens

 

Personally, I want to be as close as possible. I don't want to spend all my money on parking!

And over 200.00 for a hotel room, even if it is for four people, is a bit much for me.

Who else wants to spend a bit more time besides the weekend there? I'd love to see some of those more famous places in the area! I've never even seen the Pacific ocean yet

 

I agree, to each its own. I prefer to be close due to all the stuff I have to lug there. Plus going back to the room for a cat nap or if I forget something and have to run back (happened many times at C3) makes it a definite plus. Not to mention I dont want to wait in long lines to get on a shuttle with a bunch of troopers who havent bathed in 2 days. Been there, and it aint fun! And I believe this wont be an easy "hop" on a shuttle type deal. Think about 10s of thousands of people waiting for shuttles. That will certainly suck - heck I dont have the patience to wait for the dang parking shuttle at DIA.

I'll take my chances close to the convention center. I cant believe getting a hotel another 0.5 to 2 miles away makes that much of a difference "thug" wise. I survived downtown cleveland, miami, and DC just fine - this cant be any worse unless a gang war ensues....

 

JoC-i personaly have never beeb to cali. I wouldn't mind staying longer.

I am going to be sentimental for a moment. Part of the thing I loved about C3 was all of us hanging together in the evenings. Sooo just a thought.

Soo I don't care just sort of want to spend time w/ mt friends.

 

Mt beeb 2 cali JoC soo personaly

 

nnay, Thats part of what led me to post what I did.

It would be nice if we stayed at the same place because I remember that stuff more than the Cons themselves. It might also be nice to stay a bit away from the con itself. What I do at night probably wont have much to do with the immediate area surrounding the LA convention center (and even if it did I wouldnt walk) so a rental car or taxi may be required anyway.

Yes, there is a HUUUUGE downside to staying somewhere besides the Figueroa. We dont get to walk.
But why do we want to walk again? Convienience?
Thats it?

Because thats a lot to decide based on locations on a map. We are only assuming we'd even want to walk from the Figueroa. But we dont know that. I just dont want to base the whole hotel decision on something that we're guessing on to begin with.

I discussd this with Jeff and Kim yesterday and I'm kinda torn. Maybe it would be nice to walk. Maybe We wont know that until we get there.
Shuttles add time. Lots of it. Time we wont want to spend.

eeeeggghhhhhhh...


Tough call.

 

your kidding right? $50 a night is too much? you dont get motel6 $19 middle of nowhere prices around a con-center. l.a. is a city, just like denver. you wont find a nice room in denver for less than that. clean sheets and a mint cost money

im torn about staying close or far. close is good cos i dont want to put on armor next to the car in 100 degree wet socal air. it sucks when your feet are killin you and you need to change or grab a bite. food in the room is great if its not 10 miles away. then again i would like to stay in the same hotel as everyone. C3 wouldnt have been much fun if i didnt get to spend time with all the people that went. even people i didnt spend much time with. after thinking about it, i think closer is better. staying a bit further away, if you want to go somewhere away from the con you will need a car, if your close you will still need a car. if your relying on someone for a ride and their late, its not fun. i dont think location really matters on that. not worried about walking. its a block and a half im not going running around a strange city looking for smokes again!


so whats more important? keep the group in one spot close or far? get the best deal on a room and be scattered? i dont know but not having the time and rescorses i had two years ago, im afraid i wont be able to spend the second best vacation of my life with all of the people that made the first so friggin sweet. close or far, lets go together again

 

200.00 is too much for me if I am going to be staying longer to do some other sight seeing...

 

Honestly, I can't imagine that staying at a hotel requiring transportation to get to and from the con as being anything other than a huge, stressful nightmare. I mean, it's one thing to say, ok, there's parking, or ok, it's only a 10 min drive.

But - drive how? With what? With who?

a) we rent a couple of cars for the con, drive into the con and park
b) we individually take taxis to and from the con everyday
c) we rely on these supposed shuttles for transport.

Ok, say we all chip in and rent a few cars. Now, try to picture us coordinating this transportation to and from the con every day. Someone wants to get to the con at a certain time for something. Someone else isn't ready to go on time. People will get irritated with each other, people will be stressed and upset, and suddenly the con won't be so much fun anymore at all.

I loved our Embassy Suites hotel in Indy. But I can't imagine that it would work well for LA. AHPR pointed out that we each kept our own schedule at C3, and that was cool. But unless people are going to take lots of taxis, individually (and how expensive would that end up?), we'd be stuck trying in the car rental senario above. I know there's all this talk about shuttles, but I'm not holding a lot of faith in them being anything terribly useful, and in any event, we don't know what hotels they'll go to. Embassy is far enough away that I don't think they'd be in on shuttles.

*shrug* Maybe I'm overestimating the potential issues. I'm going with the SFFF down to ComiCon this year, and the hotel the group chose for that is going to require the rental car route. I guess that will give me a chance to see what it'll be like.

I'm not even taking costumers and others with similar constraints into account on this. Considering only the aspects of the senarios above, I can only picture a huge headache. My vote has to go for a place within walking distance of the con, just for the sake of sanity, fewer frayed tempers and less stress.

 

Yeah, that happened a few times at C3 and we were walking. It would happen anywhere that we werent sharing a hotel with the convention.
Thats why I suggest we dont do that.
Driving or walking, I think it's best to make your own plans.


I'm surprised by which assumptions people are willing to make and which ones they arent.
Yes, having to use transportation would suck. But IMO, so would walking. (I dont remember everyone LOVING it last time.) And walking how far? "A block and a half". Yeah, can I get that in feet? Yards?
'Cause blocks vary. Especially city blocks in LA.
And, is that to the door, or the edge of the parking lot? Near the entrance or on the backside?

My point is this:
Anyway you look at it, we're going to have to work to have fun at this. Moving between hotel and Con will NOT BE LIKE C3. Different hotel, different convention center, different city, .... the list goes on.
Yeah, walking was pretty cool.
Last time.
I think we should let it go. To base this decision only on the location of the hotel when we know nothing about the area....

I think thats a bad idea.

And if noone else agrees, then thats the last I'll (try to) say about it.

Because that appears to be the way we're going.

So.....




Viva La Figueroa!!!

 

My assumptions -- Rachel and I have a great place to crash the whole time we're there, and yeah, it's 45 minutes away but we had more fun hanging out with everyone we don't ever get to see than we did standing in line to do anything.

For us, C4 is just an excuse to pull the Ninjas back together in one city again. There's even talk about the possibility of everyone relocating to Austin, TX in the next 5 years so we can all work for video game companies. As far as we're concerned, C4 is the secondary objective. I think Rachel's already made arrangements to go to Disneywhatever while we're there. It was going to be Dragon*Con this year, or C4 next year.

Really -- C4 is going to be C3 version 2.0. Nothing new to see, no new guests, no new merchandise...

UNLESS...you want to count buying all that same C3 merchandise all over again, but with a big "30TH ANNIVERSARY...SUCKER!!!! " sticker on it.

There'll be so much to see and do around L.A. -- why worry about getting to the con every single day?

 

Actually, I checked the weather reports for the last few years -- this time of year in L.A. the temperatures range in the 60s to 70s. They'll still be moist, you'll probably still have a hard time keeping your clothes dry, but it won't be unbearable. And any time spent outdoors at night -- we'll probably need light jackets, and there's a teeny chance for light sprinkles.

So ummmm, don't bring anything that you don't mind if it gets wet.

 

I don't care where we stay, near or far, as long as we stay togather. Hanging out with the group after hours is one of the best parts of the con. Besides, think of how friggen sweet it would be to see a gang of geeks in SW costumes crusing around on a bunch of these:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4698058

I personally went UBER DORK and got one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vento-Triton-R4-Scooter_W0QQitemZ7244052818QQcategoryZ2904QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Dude. Carbon fiber dashboard???

Yer gonna have to fight me in the last 15 seconds of bidding. I am *so* down with getting a scooter.

 

yeah. and shipping to pueblo is only $700. well worth it.

 

You won't have to fight me, I already have my DORK ride!

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/e1jnky1980/album?.dir=/d7e8re2&.src=ph

 

...



Words. Fail. Me.

 

I just had the strangest feeling of deja vu.

How much was it?

How fast does it go?

With each picture I click on, Rachel says, "NO! NO!" But something inside me says "YES! YES!"

 

OK...

I need a Vento Phantom R4i in Digital Green with 4-stroke air-cooled 150cc engine with sport tuned suspension and ABS disc brakes.

And then I need to live in a city where I won't get shot just for riding one.

 

I agree with everyone else about the whole "lets stay in the same place" idea...I also agree that on paper this already looks like a logistical nightmare.

Maybe during one of the next meetings we can all sit down and discuss what we are looking for in our C4 experience? Its a little difficult to sift through all of the chatter to see who has similar interests...let me dig further.

I would also like to make a real trip of it and see the area. I have been to los angeles before, so I know how friggin huge and sprawling it is. I would love to go to disneyland again, take the girl. Venice Beach and Santa Monica are cool...no desire to visit Hollywood...ever...again...etc.

Also thinking of taking the train. Straight shot from Denver to LA...tons of fun.


So...when you all decide on the con hotel, let me know...have to break the news to Grammie about staying downtown slowly.

 

And if you think I'm joking about the color, you should see what color I painted the computer room.

That would be so awesome riding my little digital green scooter out to the range with my AR-15 slung over my back and a Glock on each hip...

Vrooom vrooom!

 

AHPR - don't get me wrong. I am totally nervous and unhappy about the idea of choosing an unknown hotel as well. The area could be bad (probably is), the hotel could be crappy for all that they show nice pictures... *shrug* I don't like this either. I'm basically torn between what I think are two bad ideas. How do we know which one will lead to the most stress?

What do people think of the Holiday Inn? I think I've only been to one once or twice before, and I don't remeber much about it one way or the other. (I'd thought that the bad hotel I'd fled in SD was a Holiday Inn, but I looked back at my records and it was a Comfort Inn.) Are Holiday Inns generally decent? Sure, I'm sure they're not as upscale and fancy as someplace like Embassy or a Marriot - but would it be a decent place to stay, maybe a compromise between distance and choosing an unknown hotel?