So, for those thinking they can just park nearby and not have to get away with paying $20, you will be in bad luck as there is no longer any free parking in the area unless you go 1+ miles away from the Con. For those who don't cosplay, it's not too much of a big deal as you can hoof it from the Medical Center Light Rail/Ride the DART bus, but for those who do, you're looking at a mandatory hotel stay, which can be pricey.
Registration was decent this year, although even on Day 0 there was a 2hr minimum wait while onsite had usually only 5 peeps in line. Kinda frustrating although it didn't get anywhere near the 6-8hr waits from last year. There were a lot of folks bummed out though that Artist's Alley was closed off to only those with badges, as a lot of folks usually hit up Cons for just hanging out and could care less about panels. As always though, if you wanted to go to a panel, you usually had to be lined up well beforehand. I only made it to one panel this year because of that.
Oh, I will make sure to reserve a special place in Purgatory/Gran Pulse for the wonderful folks who thought it was great to smoke in the stairwells, therefore tripping off the alarms at 2:30am. Thanks a bunch.
Overall, it was better than last year, although I can't wait for A-Kon to outgrow the Anatole so it can go back downtown and just consume all of the hotels. I would say they need to invest in a shuttle service with DART specifically for the Con, but as A-Kon is For-Profit, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
