Anime Boston 2012 and Pax East 2012

[Domino369]

O.o

I'm actually a bit surprised that there have been no threads as far as planning this goes. With both conventions in the same city on the same weekend, it's going to get hectic and stuff is going to fill up fast (PAX East has already sold out of 3 day passes for instance).

While I do have the option to room with someone who lives...one street outside of Boston (and one street away from a green track station), I'd much rather do what we did last year with the hotel because A: Playing League with ya'll on that 32? inch screen was sick, as was watching the last two episodes of Madoka the night before the convention. B: Being near the action is almost always 100x better than being away from it. C: It was just fun hanging around in a group, especially as the convention died down.

So I've already gotten my passes for both (PAX was expensive without the 3-day T_T), the main thing is the hotel and the bus, as I'll be stopping in NY to say hi to people I seriously seriously miss the Wednesday and Thursday before (at about 11 am I think). Doing the plane ticket like that also cut my costs down by 50 dollars for some reason. Anyways, hotel and bus I need to know which one, but for the hotel specifically, I need to know how much to pay (bar the pass that I already have) and for how many days. I'll be paying when I get to New York and I think the hotels work by paying 'after' the convention, but don't quote me on that.

This would also help others going this year, as splitting the costs of a hotel is so ideal it's not even funny. I also don't know who's in charge of organizing this year, so that would be nice for everyone to know as well.

And again, taking the same bus as ya'll would be nice.

www.animeboston.com/
east.paxsite.com/

Both were crazy last year. A LOT better than Anime Central was.

[pluffei]

As co-president I approve of this thread. Although I won't be going to either, I can attempt to help you guys send emails and stuff to ... persuade some discounts out of the conventions. If anything, planning to go as a large group will at least get you the group discount, so feel free to use this thread as a means of basic communication.

A tip: Last year someone decided to organize this, so find some organizers/leaders or forcefully designate some (preferably people who are actually going to the respective con) to keep track (but not decide for you of course) of who's going and who stays in which rooms, etc etc.

PS: If you're paying as a group the eboard can help you store the money. You can trust us not to run away 'cause... well, you see most of us every week.

Hopefully I didn't write anything crazy here. But have fun you guys who are going! Also remember to bring those IDs for the 18+ panels, if you plan on going to them (I forgot mine last year... -_-''')

[dominus]

"This year, our official hotel, the Sheraton Boston Hotel, is offering a "Social Block". Room gatherings are permitted only within rooms that are part of the Social Block. This does NOT mean that you'll have free reign to make as much noise as you want without repercussion if you are in a room in the Social Block. What it does mean is that there will be less chance that you'll disturb other hotel guests. If the hotel receives enough complaints about a particular room, you may be asked to leave the hotel, whether part of the Social Block or not. The Code of Conduct applies to all rooms.

This sounds pretty enticing. There's quiet floors on the same hotel so we could stay in one spot too. Looks like 289 a night for four people. If we get the same people as last year I'm thinking we get two rooms on the social block. I can cover one for the weekend, then get everyone else to chip in for another and maybe get adjacent rooms in the fun block. It sounds like we can sneak in some extra people at night, and just stuff them into a closet/drawer if anybody comes to check on the room. We should plan this ASAP, I'll contact some people.

[Domino369]

So about $216.75 each (not sure about taxes but it sounds like 'with') assuming each person pays for their stay, but we'll probably be looking at a lower (maybe even a lot lower) overall cost if everyone pitches to pay for the hotel as a group and the fact that we do sneak people into rooms, especially if you're willing to pay for a whole one like you said (WOW). It'd be around $123.85 for the second if the other 7 people pitch in for another room in the social block, $96.33 if we sneak a person into each room, etc. Those numbers are based on the other people paying (ie excluding Chad since he'll be paying a crapload more anyways), and are totals, not per night. It's also sounds like we won't be getting a neighbor who complains about us talking at like 11pm like last year XD

Also, my plans changed a little and I'll be hitting New York from March 31st to April 5th because my spring break conveniently falls on that week. Ultimately doesn't change too much in regards to this trip, unless some people want to do a more expensive route of leaving on Wednesday, but I will be able to get the money to the person paying for the hotel a few days earlier. Hurray?

[Laevatein]

I hear all the double bed rooms are taken, so you might wanna act fast. I might be joining up with you guys again, as it'll probably be another experience.

How are we going to get there? I was thinking the Greyhound bus, since ordering round tickets in advance will cost us $28, which is only about $10 more than the bus we took last year.

[Domino369]

I'll be taking a bus with you guys but only one way. I'm flying out of Logan on the 8th. Ultimately for me, it doesn't matter if it's Greyhound or Lucky☆Star, my laptop doesn't last long enough for me to really take advantage of the (poor) wifi, though we could get lucky and get a bus with outlets, and subsequently play, with my wirelessly synced up ps3 controllers, the oodles of ps2/wii/n64/anything not xbox or PS3 including stuff I get from Comiket. :3 I could give a list of what I have just so I know what to bring since I do port everything to a terabyte external.

ANYWAYS, I'll look up the buses and post the options I find in the morning. The hotel situation I can't handle though, I don't have credit. I'll talk to Chzrm about it tomorrow and whatnot, but it really needs to get done. We have 10 weeks and they're already filling up, though this is moreso to do with the fact that there's going to be two conventions in the same city x.x Note that this statement doesn't mean we have things figured out, it won't be until we for sure have the rooms booked that we can celebrate that. This holds true even moreso for within the club.

Umm, it'd probably be good to know how many people are going, or more to the point, how many rooms we'll need (like women probably won't be sleeping in the same room as men *sadly*). I'm about to drop $192 for the entire plane trip. I'm horridly horridly excited about this and am checking Pax's and AB's websites constantly. I'm...so tired...so yeah, I'll get to what I said tomorrow and report back.

[Domino369]

So...Sheraton indeed doesn't have and double's left, it's all King's and their occupancy is 3 (though we had 4 legit and a 5th snuck in last year). We're looking at $249 a night, totaling $854 for Apr 5-8 with taxes. That'd come out to...$122-$94 if Chad gets one room and the others pay for another (4-5 people per room respectively). If we get another room, which may very well be the case considering how many people go usually, we're looking at $155-$122 per person. These are totals.

The Marriot, the hotel we stayed in last year, has the most flexible availabilities. They have both doubles and King's, and their prices seem to go off an occupancy base (quadruple, triple, etc). Single occupancy is $229/night, double occupancy is $259/night, triple occupancy is $279/night, and quadruple occupancy is $299/night. It's a more expensive route, but it looks like we'll have more room and slightly less worry about the rules. The limit is still 4 people, 3 for King's, but whatever.

The Colonnade...they have rooms for Apr 5-6 but nothing else so we're definitely not doing that one.

For those going to Pax East, it's a bit different. Since no hotel is connected to the Boston Convention Center like they are to Hynes Convention Center, it'll be a bit of a walk to a possible T-line trip. It ranges from 1.5-4.0mi away, which isn't that bad. The price ranges are a lot more reasonable, with prices on their site being $129/night, $159/night, $169/night, and $242/night. Distance-wise from Anime Boston, you'd have to take the T-line.

Buses, Greyhound is the only one I could find times for. Seems pretty flexible, but if we all want to be on the same bus, we probably want to get that taken care of ASAP. i346.photobucket.com/albums/p411/Domino36963/GreyhoundBusTimes2012.png Other times not listed would mean leaving in the morning, or hitting Boston at midnight or later. The return bus is about as lenient with times, so it's up to you guys when you want to go home. Keep in mind that you'll be carrying your bags and whatnot if you don't check them in or if we don't figure out a watch system of some sort (like someone sticks around the lobby to watch people's bags).

All checkouts are at 12pm, all checkins are at 4pm bar the Sheraton, which is at 3pm. So yeah, lets decide on a time to go, and for everyone but me, a time to return and get the bus stuff sorted out. Someone will have to put down a deposit to confirm reservation, it seems to equal the first day only, though I'm not sure whether it's just for one room or if you'd have to pay for the first day of all of the ones we're getting.

[dominus]

The Marriot kind of pissed me off last year, so I think I'm gonna go ahead and book the Sheraton for a couple rooms now. Here's how it breaks down.


Grand total: $1140 for 2 rooms for 2 nights
Chad $570
Paul $150
Remaining total: $420 to be split amongst the remaining six (Assuming we cram 4 people to a room)

Normally it'd be about $150 per person for the weekend, but I wanted to create some leeway for people who might not otherwise be able to go by covering one of the rooms myself. You do still have to cover your weekend pass, travel and food expenses regardless, so keep that in mind. A weekend pass online is $50, a Greyhound/Chinatown bus will probably run you something like that as well for a round-trip.

Expressed interest:
Nick
Jeffrey
Jack
Luis
Laev
Domino (I've forgotten who's who on here, my apologies)

Possibly but have not spoken with:

Paul's brother
Frank

Which would put us already at 9 people. The earlier you can give me a commitment, the better.

Probably rooming on their own but still awesome people:

Mike Chelsea Raf Vivian
Zack Rachel


This is just my understanding of the overall situation so far. There's still Fei, Aaron, Chang, Mike Liang, I'm sure I'm forgetting others sorry ;_;

If you run into any of these people, figure out what the hell they're doing! I think I'll be driving up there, but I think it might be in your best interests to coordinate taking the same bus up there and back. If someone could step up and be that Designated Bus Person I think that would help a lot of our logistics. I think the easiest way would be to get a signup sheet going at a club meeting.


These two rooms are for the social block at the Sheraton . In other words, expect things to be awesome and crazy. If you want a quiet night's sleep, I think you should coordinate with some of the other people. There ARE at least 20 of us going by my count, so there should be other rooms.

[dominus]

Room is officially booked, I put in a request for adjoining rooms and they'll get back to me within 48 hours. Should also note: These rooms only have one king-sized bed. At least one person in each room is sleeping on a chair or the floor. To make it up to you I'm gonna get our room some sick-as-heck internet.

[Domino369]

I'm David Storme ;_;

Anyways though, $420 is very generous to be split up among however many people, so thanks to that in advance. I might also consider heading up with Paul or someone to get there early since check-in is at 3pm, I really want my badge if it doesn't get mailed (which I believe Anime Boston doesn't do), and other goodies that happen pre-Pax and pre-AB. I believe there was a Chris on the club's Facebook, so I'll repost this there just so that more people know there's a definite plan for probably the biggest expenditure, the hotel.

I'm also curious if anyone is going to be going to both Pax and AB? I'm still doing that crazy idea, plus it'd be nice to travel in a group back and forth.

Also, I hate yet love getting excited XD

[Laevatein]

Hey Chad, it's Greg. I think we may definitely need that third room, since apparently, Zack can't get one. Additionally, I'm bringing someone, and Nick's also apparently on board.

[Laevatein]

Okay, I'm looking at these Greyhound roundtrip tickets: leaving 5:30 PM on Thursday, arriving close to 10 PM, and for the return trip, I was thinking 2 PM on Sunday? We'll get back around 6:30 PM. Currently, the price for these tickets are sitting at $30, and I don't think they'll climb until next month, so we have some time to decide, but based on what we did last year, this is probably the most optimal set up.

[Domino369]

Hmm, Greg noticed something rather huge with the mistake of 2 days instead of 3. The prices I'm seeing are much different than what we have. 2 rooms for 2 nights is indeed ~$1140, but for 3 I'm seeing ~$1710. All the math trickled down amounts to $989.88 to be split among 6 people (so $164.98 instead of ~$70 ea.), but that's only two rooms. 3 rooms, which seems to be the sweet spot right now, would put us at $2564.82 - $570 (Chad) = $1994.82 / 11 = ~$181.35 ea. 4 rooms will probably be the end result since we still expect more people. So yeah, unless we somehow got the group discount or someone wants to put in more than what they would have to, which I have no idea how to see or calculate, we're all going to have to pay a bit more, including you Paul!

That said, still beats getting a hotel on your own and paying ~$800+ total.

[dominus]

3 days? I'm only staying Friday and Saturday night, what other day are you talking about? If Zack is getting a -third- room for the Social Block tell him he needs to get commitments for the money to cover it before we can talk about it. We don't even have the first two covered yet, and like I had listed I'm pretty sure those are already going to be full.

[Domino369]

Thursday night, tis the day we'll be arriving in Boston. If you aren't staying that night, I'll figure out a total for those who are but I think my post is right as far as that goes...yeah it's right XD ~$162.86 if Paul wants to pay higher than 150 and he's staying Thursday night too, otherwise $164.98.