I'm on several Dragon*Con Facebook groups and there was a discussion about where to possibly get a hotel room at this late hour. Well, someone make a comment that was pretty much that they didn't see any point in going to Dragon*Con if you aren't at one of the host or overflow hotels.
To this point, I highly disagree! We don't stay at a hotel at all, and it works out well for us.
My first two years of Dragon*Con I stayed in the Marriott Marquis with several friends. It was nice to be able to go back to my room and veg / watch D*TV, but it was very expensive. Not to mention, the last year I was in a host hotel, I was 8 months pregnant. So the next year, we had the Emily factor.
Ever since Emily was born, we've stayed offsite. We have some lovely relatives in Roswell that let us stay and they watch Emily while Todd & I are geeking it up at the con. I was a little nervous the first year about taking MARTA in, but it works out so well because MARTA has a stop that is literally right at the con. It worked out so well.
This will be our 3rd year staying offsite and taking MARTA in. It makes Dragon*Con very affordable since we only live 3 hours away, so we only need to get our badges (which we pre-regged months ago), get MARTA passes (which is really cheap) and pay for gas to get down to GA. It makes our weekend really inexpensive, and leaves money free for autographs and other goodies.
Yes, I'd love to be able to afford to stay at a host hotel (we were talking about it, and we decided that we would want to try to stay at the Westin), but this is a great alternative when Emily is small. Our relatives love her and often there are other kids around for her to play with.
What is your opinion on room and board for Dragon*Con?
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My rule of thumb with Dragon*Con accomodations is pick two: affordable, comfortable, and convenient.
ReplyDeleteHaving your own room in a host hotel is comfortable and convenient, but not affordable.
Roomsharing in a host hotel is affordable and convenient, but not comfortable.
Staying offsite is affordable and comfortable, but not convenient.
Since half the reason we go to D*C is to see friends we only get to see once a year, we choose to roomshare with those friends and a couple of other friendly geeks.
For us, staying offsite is the best option right now. It's not too inconvenient for us.
ReplyDeleteI'm hesitate to room share again. Todd snores, loudly, and this make our rooms a bit unhappy the last year we were at a host hotel.