Advice on Attendance

[Eternal Squall]

An idea has been poking at me for about a month or so. I have been back and forth, attempting to decide yea or nay. Should I attend Anime Expo this year? Upon first review, I got real excited, started planning out travel, devised a scheme to ensure maximum intake.... then I dwelled on the fact, all those funds needed sure could boost my gallery instead.....

IF I do decide to go, I am more likely to fly into LA the (early)morning of, and depart in the same (later)evening. I do not necessarily want to experience the whole con, my goal would be Merchandise purchasing and meeting a few of you guys. So just a 1 day attendance is what I had been planning.

Soooo....I would like to know if anyone has done what I might do? Bad idea? Do I need more than one day? Tell me how the experience was....good or bad. I am on the fence, will not take much to sway me one way or the other......

Also, any pointers on general do's/don'ts....like should I rent a car or take a cab? Will the traffic drive me crazy? Will the citizens of LA drive me crazy? Long lines getting in? When does the con open its doors?(surprisingly cant find that on their website) Should I stay away because I have more enemies then allies?

Thanks ahead for any input given.

[zerospace]

Somehow your post is here twice... I picked this one to reply to.

Given the usual lines just to pick up badges, i'd say you're nuts for trying to do a single day . There's always the traffic from LAX to the convention center, and then of course, getting back to the airport -- you won't have time for much at all in between. I don't think they have any super-late departing flights, either -- as most flights land by midnight/1am local time. If you do decide to try the one-day-whirlwind, don't go on the first day of the con -- that's when the lines are the worst. They take forever to open the exhibit hall, and it's absolutely packed to the max because EVERYONE wants in there. If you are going to try a single day, go on the second to last day or the last day -- fewer crowds to get into the exhibit hall, and probably next to no line for badges.

AX is fun, but they aren't particularly well organized when it comes to a lot of stuff. A single day would be a bit too much, IMHO, but perhaps someone else disagrees.

EDIT: I should note that I'm lucky enough to live in northern California, so when I go to AX, the hubby and I normally drive there. However, last year, we picked up a couple of friends at LAX, with whom we shared a hotel room.

[theultimatebrucelee]

Last time I attended was in 2010, so info wise this might be out of date, or not. If you want to attempt one day schedule I agree with zerospace, go for the second to last day to avoid crowd at entrance, thats what I did in 2010. And If your goal is just going to the vendor hall then half a day or so should be enough. last I remember there isn't that many cel vendors in there, most of them are fan arts, figurines, games, dvd, and clothes/cosplay. The only disadvantage I can see, if there is one is that the best stuff might be already picked up by other people on day one, but hours and hours waiting to get in would be the trade off.

[cutiebunny]

Last year, even though I had a regular attendee pass, I waited in line about an hour and a half on Day 0. AX has gone largely electronic now, so you just show the code attached to your print out either on your smartphone or print out, they scan it, and they give you a badge.

However, you may be able to obtain a last minute 'Premier pass'. Even though they've been sold out since July, a couple of them do go for sale about a week or two prior to the con date. I had a roommate last year who was able to buy one 2 weeks before the con started despite them being long sold out. They're about twice the price as a 4 day regular attendee pass and come with a concert ticket, so this may or may not appeal to you depending on the day you go. But the nice thing with the Premier Pass is that you have your own registration line, so you won't spend hours in line.

If you're able to spend more time at the con but want to save on cash, there's a 'Room Sharing' Thread on the AX boards. You might find someone you can just crash with for a night or two.

[zerospace]

Last time I attended was in 2010, so info wise this might be out of date, or not. If you want to attempt one day schedule I agree with zerospace, go for the second to last day to avoid crowd at entrance, thats what I did in 2010. And If your goal is just going to the vendor hall then half a day or so should be enough. last I remember there isn't that many cel vendors in there, most of them are fan arts, figurines, games, dvd, and clothes/cosplay. The only disadvantage I can see, if there is one is that the best stuff might be already picked up by other people on day one, but hours and hours waiting to get in would be the trade off.

You're brave. A half a day in the vendor hall could be a bit much on the first day, given that last year, there was barely room enough to move or breathe that day (and the crowd I waited in just to get IN to the vendor room was unbelievable in its own right). I think I spent a few hours just getting through the entire place and fighting through immense crowds. Add a couple of flights and some vague attempt at meeting fellow cel collectors to a single day, and you're in for a helluva crazy day.

As far as cels go, yeah -- don't have too high of expectations there. Midori, Anime Link, and Anime Ed are the main dealers that usually go, and then sometimes you'll find odds and ends cels elsewhere. I think one time I managed to snag an awesome cel at an equally awesome price from Link, but lately it's been so-so on finding anything really interesting that you haven't seen 100 times before. None of the attending dealers really have much of what I collect most, anyways (at least not the past couple of times I've gone). The best year for me with cels was 2007. Other than that, most of the stuff sold is plush, figures, models, cosplay, etc -- the majority of which is sold at higher prices than available online (though you sometimes get the chance to see or buy something that isn't widely available yet, or sometimes, rare items).

And while cutiebunny is correct that AX has certainly gotten more tech-savvy with time, I don't quite consider having to stand in a line AT THE CON to walk up to a computer and scan a barcode to get my badge to be very technologically advanced, nor "electronic" . Electronic means NO PAPER, period. Better than the current system would be my badge kit mailed to me after an online registration (sparing you the hassle of standing in line with 25,000 other attendees), or even better than that, a unique QR code that you can print out for yourself that's scanned for admittance to any part of the con. Heck, give me a badge I can carry on my smartphone! That's electronic.

The crowd is still massive and in a cramped space which means lots of lines and general disorganization (because really, how is the AX staff going to control all of that? Yeah, they can't, really.) . I swore the line was worse early in the morning on day 1 last year than day 0 for badge pickups, but that was just my perception -- I didn't stand in it, thankfully. Obviously if you're doing the 1-day thing, you won't be there for the day 0 pickup, for which earlier arrival is definitely better. Last year I only spent about an hour in line on day 0, but we arrived pretty early in the afternoon.

The crowds dwindle by the last 2 days, though (although if your hopes are to pick up rare or hard-to-find items, those may be gone by those last couple of days).

So basically, IMHO, a single day at AX is almost a waste of time and money (between the cost of airfare, the cost of attending, and the fun of spending most of your time fighting your way through crowds just to see anything -- and all in a single day? Eeeeek! Better you than me.) . IMO, you are far better off going for the whole experience of it over at least a couple of days (autographs, panels, concerts, new anime showings, cosplay, hanging out with friends, etc), because otherwise, it's a lot of overpriced stuff all crammed into a single room and WAY too many people (some seriously smelly in those cosplay outfits, too) to be comfortable. The past couple of times my hubby and I have gone, we've largely gone for the fun of hanging out with our friends, whom we only get to see at places like AX, and maybe to buy a few fun things just because we're there.

Just my two yen, tho. Obviously others disagree .

[Keropi]

Yeah, the lines to get into the panels form early. If you can't get into line very early or have a premier fan pass you have to plan attending panels in stages.

Without a premier pass I might get into line an hour early for a 11:00 AM panel and barely make it in. If the panel goes until 12 PM then without a premier pass, it's already too late to attend the 12PM to 1 PM panels because it takes 15 minutes just to squash through the crowds to the other room. Then I get in line an hour early for a 2 PM panel and then find out that the room is already full and I should have gotten into line 75-90 minutes early. So I've wasted one hour trying to get into a room that I wasn't able to get into. Then I've also wasted my time that I could have spent waiting in another line for a panel that started at 2:30 PM or 2:45 PM that I could have gotten into. The Premier Fan Pass makes it a lot easier.

You can't discount the amount of time you use up just walking through the crowd. Walking through the dealer's room takes forever to complete on the first day too. I have to hold my anger in as I'm getting crushed by the crowd.

[Eternal Squall]

Thank you all for the advice!

The first day of the expo was going to be the cheapest airfare, and the final day was the most expensive, so go figure. I won't be attending this year, but I will attempt the one day fare..... hopefully next year! We just had a convention down here in Texas, A-Kon. I made an appearance, so I got some "conventioning" out of my system for now..... odd thing, I went on the last day, and it was crowded...or so it seemed to me.