Hrrrm. And now I can't even remember which hotel we had reservations at. Definitely a good sign.  

Ah, found it on my email. The Renaissance Atlanta Downtown Hotel. So I guess we're OK. It looks like it would be walking distance from the various conference hotels, < 1 mile. But is downtown Atlanta safe to walk around at night? (Assuming I am accompanied by a big strong guy, and would not walk alone, that is.)

The area around the Con is really pretty safe during the Con. I have stayed at the Days Inn with two fifteen year olds and we never had a problem walking back and forth. (except for panhandlers) I was always with the girls and we were approached once, but he backed off when I went all mama-bear on his scrawny ass.

Any takes on how long the lines will be for Jim's things...? From the DragonCon site, it sounded like the actors' panels will be the worst. From that, I'm optimistically hoping the lines won't be so bad for author's panels? I'm really thinking of hitting just JB's panels, and Brandon Sanderson's. Ok.....maybe James Marsters' too, cause...yum.  And then hang out in the hotel pool and tour Atlanta.  I think I could survive crowds for that long.

Jim's panels will probably have some of the smaller lines, but I'm sure he will also be in a smaller room. As I posted earlier, I hope he gets a larger room this year. Marsters' panels will be fairly big, but he usually gets one of the larger rooms and it's not a real problem like it was a few years back. I would suggest the Buffy Horror Picture Show and Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog, but you do have to line up early for those. Last year they had two showings of each one. Since Whedon track is rumored to be at the Westin this year, I have no idea what the rooms will be like. You might also consider the Dragon*Con at the Georgia Aquarium on Saturday night for an additional $17. My current screen saver is a great shot of Sleeping Beauty and two of her fairy godmothers in front of one of the fish tanks. Just check the schedule to make sure there isn't anything else going on you would rather do.

I don't know if Jim will be at the authors table, but there is one where authors sit for awhile and sign autographs and talk to the peeps...free. The schedule for that will probably be posted in the Daily Dragon. (Sanderson may do that as well)

Actually rooms will be harder to come by now because two of the satellite hotels have been sold to Georgia State University and anyone planning to stay there are SOL. They are now university housing. This will be my 10th year attending. My best piece of advice is plan ahead.

Download the schedule asap and sort out what you want to see accordingly. Plan on standing in line to the bigger panels for at least an hour. If you really want to see someone like, Adam Savage, leave the hour to hour and a half prior to the start of his panel free for standing in line. Otherwise you probably won't get in.

Hubby and I print the schedule as soon as it's available and then color highlight three things for every time period. We also block out time for food. (We have eaten breakfast and dinner in line, otherwise we wouldn't have seen Nimoy, Shatner and Savage last year)

Lines will be long so patience and preplanning is a must. Jim drew a fairly large crowd last time and it was SRO. Hopefully he will get a larger room this year.

D*C clears rooms between panels and starts lining up once the next panel starts. Except for panels at the Hyatt in Centennial ll and lll. They have been known to line up two panels in advance because they can stick the lines outside and wrap them around the hotel.

D*C also puts out a daily newsletter called the Daily Dragon that lists any schedule or room changes. I think they are also on twitter so you can get updated electronically.

That's all I can think of for now, if I can think of any other tips, I'll let y'all know.

Leslie

I am not allowed to bring Mouse to a meeting and have him relieve himself on the stone dogs.