Now that Dragon*Con 2009 is part of the history books...

[thedrunkenjedi.livejournal.com]

...as a follow-up to a previous post from a few weeks back, "Has Dragon*Con become too big for its own good?".

There was no real consensus-one way or another-but we left off promising to revisit the question after the *Con.

So, again, now that D*C '09 is a thing of the past, what is opinion of all who attended '09-and at least one additional year for comparison? I'll chime in with my take on things once a few responses come through.

Comments

[rosewalker.livejournal.com]

I don't know... but I think it has gotten too big for me. I still had a good time but it definitely didn't feel like a vacation as it has in years past. But I'm probably just getting old & crotchety. *waves cane* "You kids! Get out of my hamster tunnel!"

[muerandah.livejournal.com]

I didn't think it was as crowded as years past. I mean we actually were in all 4 hotels over the weekend. I don't think we waited more than 5 minutes for an elevator.

[charismaryllis.livejournal.com]

it's way big. bigger than the last couple years.

i don't think it's yet too big for its own good though; i was still able to get around ok and got into just about everything i tried to get into.

but it's definitely big...

[deborak]

This was my eighth year. I actually thought the hotel spaces were emptier of wall-to-wall people than at past D*Cs. Big disclaimer, though: I am not interested in celebrity panels so I was nowhere near those line horrors. I had a great time and didn't have any problem doing what I wanted to do.

Pre-Reg pickup continues to be a black mark for many attendees. There has got to be a better way.

[docrailgun.livejournal.com]

I personally had one of the best Dragoncons yet. Things being spread out helped move people out of the Hyatt and onto the streets. The main problem I saw was the Sheraton and the street crossing... too many people going across there.

[noelleleithe.livejournal.com]

It's definitely getting bigger each year (this was my third), but it's less crowded in most areas because of the way things have been shifted around. Some areas are better than others, though. The International Level was insane Saturday morning, between the parade folks and the photo shoot lines and the dealer's room. Froggy's needs to be in the Hilton.

Having said that, I think adding Thursday programming and another hotel are becoming necessary.

[noelleleithe.livejournal.com]

Oh, the street crossing is a good point. I know guest transportation had trouble turning at the corner because of the steady stream of pedestrians and no crowd control. There needs to be a cop posted there like between the Marriott and Hyatt, at least.

[geneticlemon.livejournal.com]

Yikes, I think you were lucky. My friends and I were in the Marriott and we waited up to 20 or 30 minutes for elevators, and we didn't have the option of taking the stairs since we were on the 23rd floor. We tried taking the stairs down once, but it took us half an hour anyways.

[vitawash24.livejournal.com]

That was something I noticed, too. None of the hellish elevator waits of the past, and while there were obviously some crazy times like around the Patrick Stewart panels, most of the time I thought the crowd felt more manageable than other years. (With the exception of pre-registration. Oy.)

[fnordx.livejournal.com]

I'm friends with someone who was working at Froggy's. They didn't choose that space, they were assigned it.

Although I agree that it could have been set up much better in the space they had.

[ornerybitch.livejournal.com]

I think I'm still digesting my con experience. I first attended DragonCon in 1998 with my parents and it was certainly much smaller then. Then there was a 9 year gap before I started going again. I certainly remember it being much smaller back then. Sometimes the larger crowds can get to me. Even so, so long as I have a quiet room to come back to, or a quiet hiding spot staked out as I did this year, I have a lot of fun. For me a lot of the advantage of DragonCon comes from the fact it's so big. There's always something to do and there's always a wide variety of stuff to do.

Also, I think because the things I go see are generally not as crowded, I avoid a lot of what would make it too big for me. If I need to line up more than an hour ahead of time, I'm not doing it. It definitely gets busier every year, but this year it felt more spread out. Part of that is probably because a lot of parties moved to the Marriott and the Hyatt was easier to move around in. If the art show ever gets as insane as the dealer rooms I might start thinking it's too much.

I haven't hit the point where I've sworn off going, but I can easily see why other people might be bothered with the size of the convention. I think if they can manage to spread the crowds out better, and hopefully take over more nearby hotels, I won't grow sick of it. If it keeps growing every year and nothing is done to better manage the crowds and spread the insanity out, then I'll have to call it quits.

[fnordx.livejournal.com]

I think the con is fine, the only thing I can think of is that they need to add another space for some of the HUGE panels for the huge stars. Something like what they previously used for the Masq. when it was off-site.

Since all of those panels are shown tape-delayed on DCTV anyway, that shouldn't be too much of a problem with the TV, but they'd need busses between both locations. Still, I think it's something that should maybe be considered.

[geneticlemon.livejournal.com]

It felt a lot more crowded this year than in years past, but I think that's because the Marriott's become "the spot" like the Hyatt used to be, and my group was staying at the Marriott.

This was the worst year for me in terms of getting my badge. My friends and I ended up waiting for almost 3 hours, and we were exhausted. Last year, I think I waited about an hour, which wasn't so bad. I don't know what went wrong there ...

The smaller panels were nice, but I avoided the celeb panels like the plague this year. I just watched everything on D*CTV and it was just fine.

[muerandah.livejournal.com]

We always stay at the Hyatt on the 20th floor. We've really never had a problem. I guess we've just always been lucky.

[thepeopleseason.livejournal.com]

Tenth year attending (probably sixth on staff). Each year it's getting bigger, but I think the way things were shuffled around (such as gaming and WoF to the Hilton and big event performances to the Sheraton) helped to alleviate a lot of the overcrowdedness of the con. This year is also something of a fluke, because of the Perfect Storm of Trek guests.

But even with the Patrick Stewart line, I didn't think it was as bad as the first year James Marsters showed up.

[crazchica.livejournal.com]

7th year of D*C, 1st on Staff.

I spent most of my time in a track room, but I thought it was much less crowded than usual this year. I rarely waited for an elevator (my longest two waits were Saturday evening and Monday during check-out), and even wandering around the Marriott on Sunday night wasn't a problem. I think how the major panels have been shifted around to all hotels instead of just one or two has been a huge help. Adding the Sheraton and more to the Hilton has been great.

Now, I didn't go through the apparent hell that registration was, nor did I try to get into any major panels, so my opinion may be biased.

Course, nothing can be as bad as that D*C a couple years ago where the Fire Marshal kept shutting down the Hyatt and kicking people out. That was a bad year.

[muerandah.livejournal.com]

We've Ticketmasterd before, and done the Pre-Reg thing. This year we did onsite (CASH baby) from the moment we walked up to the Sheraton till we were sitting at their bar (with our pretty badges) was maybe 30 minutes. I will say though, they gotta get a better handle on which direction to wrap the line around outside at the Sheraton.

[neovenom.livejournal.com]

Doesn't quite feel too big for me yet, but I've never been to anything bigger like SDCC. As long as they keep the events spread between 4 hotels, it's fine. Part of the experience I look forward to is the very fact that I'm surrounded by tens of thousands of fellow geeks around me, who for the most party are friendly and welcoming.

If the growth keeps going at this rate though, something's gonna have to give, whether that's capping memberships, increasing rates, adding more space. But I feel it should be fine for another few years.

[feuervogel]

I thought the crowd flow was a lot better this year than last year, and way better than 2 years ago (the year half the Marriott was closed for renovations).

Also: http://web.dragoncontv.com/videos/316/

[wildflowerz.livejournal.com]

It's too big for me. :( I'd gladly pay double if they put a cap on the number of people who can come. But that will never happen, so there's no use talking about it. :-P

I got into everything I wanted to get into this year. In fact, I've always gotten into everything I've wanted to and this was my...10th year, I think. And I don't do the long lines way ahead of time. I rarely stand in the lines at all, actually. :)

It's annoying to have to walk so far from one thing to the next with it spread out at 4 hotels, but I MUCH prefer it to the massive CF that used to be at the Hyatt. I was barely in the Hyatt at all this year. I kinda think that putting the "all the time stuff" at the Sheraton might be a better option. Stuff like the dealer rooms and gaming. But I'm not sure they have the space for it there, so that might not be a good option.

I'd love to have a decent-quality option to see any panels I missed after the Con online. They could even charge a small fee for it. They're recording them anyway. Of course, I've no idea if that would be hard to do.

[ornerybitch.livejournal.com]

Yeah I saw that video. The crowds were better this year, but I still ended up stuck in a few places going nowhere. Usually in the Marriott somewhere, especially around the Cruxshadows table. Worst possible place to stick them because it was right by the escalators. Obnoxiously loud music blaring and a photoshoot of the fairies blocking the way. Pretty much anything was better than the whole closing the doors of the Hyatt crap that happened, but there were areas that definitely needed better planning in terms of crowding.

I was, however, pleasantly surprised by how much easier the Hyatt was this year. That's where we've stayed for the last three years because the Marriott filled up too quickly...then this year everything moved over and I could get to where I was going.

[phantomminuet.livejournal.com]

This is my fourth year, and the overall crowds seemed a little more manageable this year than the past two years. That said, registration was still dreadful. I checked in on Thursday evening, thinking to get ahead of the crowd and be able to attend the Shatner/Nimoy session the next morning, and it was a three hour slog in a very warm room with a crowd of slightly sour smelling geeks who don't understand the concept of personal space. Also, whoever was knocking those balloon balls around the room apparently hadn't heard anything about swine flu and keeping your damn hands washed.

I stayed at the Hilton, where the elevators are generally less problematic, but they were a lot worse this year. The Dealer's Room is still a nightmare to navigate, and the ingress and egress at the back of the Hyatt is such a pain in the ass that I willingly walk around the outside of the hotel to avoid it.

The thing I noticed this year was how crowded the late-night panels were, which is something of a change from previous years. And several of the Sci Fi Lit and Alternate History sessions were way too big for the space allocated. I heard the same thing about sessions on the Space and Science tracks.

OTOH I love the wide variety of tracks, and I would hate to lose any of the many options, simply because of crowded sessions.

[sargent.livejournal.com]

It's a bumper that's actually informative!

Except for the fit and following extrapolation. That's a third-order polynomial, which only kinda fits.

[sonata-ix.livejournal.com]

6th year here and it felt great to me. The last few years felt pretty horrid but with everything being more spread out and DCTV broadcasting the big stuff, I didn't have to deal with any horrible crowding beyond Froggy's. Of course, there was the usual stuff like too many people wanting to be in the dealers room at once, but that's generally a problem at any con with a decent crowd.

The Marriott did seem pretty full in the evenings, but something about the layout or design makes it feel much less stifling than the Hyatt. This is my 2nd year staying at the Marriott and the elevators were even better than last year. We were on the 28th floor and even Monday morning with our suitcases we only had to wait a few minutes.

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed it but I'd say it's gotten unmanageably big. between the concerns of lines, the fact that tickets for sub events are being sold now (shades of SDCC) and the fact that I wish I were Jamie freaking Madrox to hit all the panels I want to hit.

If Dragon*Con operated on a 36 hour day for 4 days, it'd be less crazy.

I'll still come anyway.