Transcript
[0:00] Music.
[0:28] This is the unique heat.
Hey, 50 days of dragon the podcast it starts and then restarts and starts again, According to her last text that I got this morning She is about 70% human so so we always suspected she was at least 50% human so I guess that's progress.
[1:13] But do you know keeper in your thoughts as far as being sick? She's gotta lost her voice which, Sort of important for what we do here so we need that part anyway.
[1:31] And it's always, Huge participant in in the 50 days family if you will. And always brings a lots and lots of good information even when she's not on the podcast.
And that is the wonderful, But i will do my best today. Well, no one is, no one is in. Thank God for that. So anyway.
[2:07] But number one being an eternal member of Dr. Again, I know we go over this pretty much every time you're on but when did you become an eternal at Dragon, Well my first year as an attendee was 2003 and my first year as an eternal, So 2003 this year's 2023 kind of anniversary going on but I Did not learn about the eternal membership like that that it.
It even existed because it was not really a thing back then it was kind of like in the fine print of, Like the printed, Like publicized. I don't think they really still do publicize it. It's a lifetime pass. It's what it is. But I learned about it in 2005 and bought it in 2006.
So, I am definitely paid off by now. Yeah, you are.
I in a gentleman.
[3:15] For a membership for an internal membership right now, So and and what that does in as, A membership over here. Sorry.
Normal people would call a ticket but it is actually membership for various reasons. Cuz they are, you know, whatever, There's I'm sure there's various reasons why they call that memberships as opposed to tickets but but you do buy your tickets through Grow Ticks and you can get the eternal membership through Protex, Yeah and they will still, But let's be honest let's be honest it grows me included you gotta add that extra five on there if you're spending the 4500 you're probably the $five isn't what the problem is. But problem.
Yeah, probably not. I have heard of people buying it for kids. Like they're like, oh, I don't think I'd get value out of it at my age but I'm going to buy it for my kid.
Yeah. So.
[4:35] So that's, Yeah, it may or may not. Last time I checked, they hadn't published that there was going to be another pricing case. I'm not sure. So, don't take my word for it as yeah. So, there may or may not be.
Yeah, I know they have a schedule for that stuff. Sure about that. So it may have already hits last bump. When we're 50 days out, so but But yeah so it it's it's a it's a cool thing and you, Okay I'm just looking at the website right now And yeah it just says current 5 day membership price is 175 that's for the full weekend because the single day pass the single day memberships don't go on sale until August 1 and so we don't have prices for that yet, So yeah the current membership price is 175 plus that $five grotex fee.
[5:38] The regular membership which as we just discussed you can look up the price chart On the official dragon con website under membership in the navigation and see what the current cost is and what it will be in the future the eternal membership can and does Go up at any time and the last few price increases have been by $500 each. So, if it any point, you're like, hey, I want to buy it.
Just buy it because if you wait until next week or next month or next year by then the price could have increased some there's been years that go by with no price increase, And then, sometimes boom, price increase out of nowhere. Right. So, so that's a difference.
There is there are a bunch of unofficial eternal membership gatherings which I haven't finalized for this year but you can get an idea of what of the unofficial gatherings we do on the webs the fan unofficial website that I made Which is.
[6:41] And you can look and see what we've done in the past. So, for example, we have a Wednesday night dinner, Non eternals are welcome the Wednesday night dinner it is a great chance to meet other eternals and get different perscut perspectives about it so if you're thinking of buying it but, You want to talk to some eternals before you do the Wednesday our annual Wednesday night dinner is a good.
[7:16] We've done photo ops together with Brian Humphrey, That that is that's very cool and it's Yeah, it's sort of it's own little click if you will. Not a mean girl's type click but it's not real. I mean, well, there is one thing.
There is one thing that Dragon Con oh we have a separate, We have we pick up our badges in the Marriott not the Sheraton slash Courtland Gran so our badge pickup is extremely short because there's not very many eternals, And.
[8:02] But I'm not going to talk about the location. Yeah. If you're internal member, it's it's private like you have to be an eternal to get in. There's no plus one. You have to be 21 or over, To get into the party, You'll get an email with the information, I really enjoy the party and I go over here and that is the one thing that Dragon Con, Does. So, that is the only thing that you have to be an eternal to get into that party, It's all unofficial nobody's checking badges you're welcome to bring your if you're an eternal you're welcome to bring your non eternal friends and family so we're not really exclusive at all in that sense the only Way we're exclusive is that one party and that's because.
[9:09] Then there wouldn't be room for the eternals.
That's really cool but so yeah so that's that's why we call her eternals in, The actually yeah so but the other thing is is that you also your volunteer you volunteer correct, Yep yes still volunteering with the dragon con store, Just for this audience I have been told the dragon store will have an amazing shirt available, At the Courtland Grand Store formerly known as Sheraton and a variation, At the Marriott store. So, you'll want to visit both stores this year. Wow, that is actually kind of interesting.
Yeah the Courtland Grand Store I haven't heard any differently and if I do of course all Give you a voicemail so check your voicemail this year but usually the Courtland Graham store.
[10:30] And the Marriott store is opening on Friday Which you know make sense because the Courtland Grand is where everybody's going to go pick up their badges. So, they open first and they have a nice, long line on Thursday. Just get in it. The line moves quicker than it looks like. Yeah. And especially to Marriott store after Yeah you know the next day as far as pick up is concerned badge pick up is concerning if you haven't heard Dave and and Virginia talking the previous podcast, Because you have to buy your your tickets in advance. Your memberships, They that it's strictly called badge pickup now. It's just badge pick up because you will have already paid. You'll probably gone through grow ticks. You will had to have you know done all of that that stuff before even walking into the into the, What's it called again now because it's going to be I want to say sheridan and it's not sheridan. Courtland Grand.
So, so what's the deal there? So, I know we're going to get into, Dragon rooms in in hotel stuff in a in a bit but what's a deal there, What happened.
[11:47] Not looking at a map right now but there's a Portland down there. But yeah, the the the hotel is, On the corner of two streets and one of those streets is Courtland something I think Courtland St so I guess the wind just wasn't very creative and naming their hotel they're like let's just name it after the street so oh Which yeah I'm jumping ahead here but if you have a reservation at the Sheraton you might get an email from the Wyndham because the Wyndham owns the Courtland Grant So you will hear if you hear people say wind dumb They're probably referring to the Courtland Grand which is the new name for the sheritan. So, it's not at all confusing. I don't know why you don't have this memorized already, John. Well, Wyndham Brand, Wyndham Grand Speaker Fire doesn't sound as good as Sheridan Speaker Fire. You know what I mean? Does it? Yeah, it does a different.
[12:42] I have seen people coming up with like creative things that CGS could stand for, Courtland grand store, Calling it like the share a courtland or like coming up with like crash up names you know to like try and make it sound better and I I think it's just like badge pick up we're just going to have to get used to it you know, Cool. So, yeah, you talk about the DC merch which is that's that's actually really, really cool.
Cool news. You know, you're, you've been on top of it and you you do a lot of, A lot of times there'll be stuff that we that you'll send us and you'll talk about we'll talk about because you're doing a lot more research than we ever do, Oh Yeah, I got a VIP ticket to that this year. Have you ever been?
[13:52] Before times when there was you know remember there was a time when there we never had to think about COVID.
And maybe it will be a point we never had to think about again but you know the, It was it was super super nice. It's it's really cool being there.
And they were still sort of getting, Yeah, it's it's really caught on as an event. Do you want to talk a little bit about what the event is? Liquid, what you did there, Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Well, I, for me, A cosplay contest going on. A pageant or whatever I mentioned with the actual term that they were using. And you had access to basically Rome the, Most of the aquarium. Some of it was still shut down. What was shut down just I think it might have been like the upper levels or something. I'm not sure if it's still at true today.
But and it was just at night. It was all the, all your dragon cut, closest dragon friends.
[15:13] A lot of people that were attending were were themed, Towards the aquarium like I saw a lot of aquaman the year I went. Which makes sense. There's always little mermaids and Ursula's. Right. And because it also be because, Oh yeah yeah, There's a couple of aquaman that were taken in front of in front of the aquarium and they were just like freaking phenomenal. It was just it's just a nice nice, Scene.
Yeah if you have an aquatic theme costume or of course this is the year of the little mermaid so if you have a little mermaid cost you want to come do the aquarium and post in front of the dolphins or you know whatever fish, Seahorses you know just turn off your flash, Turn off your flash when you're you don't need the flash because the tanks are going to be lit. Yo, especially when you arrive early. Arrive at 7 o'clock as early as possible. The tanks will still, So yeah VIP the tickets.
[16:30] The VIP tickets are are sold out. The aquarium tickets went on sale around April 20 and VIP sold out about a month later. I want to say on May 18.
I'm not sure if those dates are precise but if they're off they're probably only off by a day or two. So VIP tickets means you get access to a separate room Which has a DJ and music and dancing one whole wall is an aquarium tank so you you know it's not like you're just in a separate room and you can't see the fish, Right. You're looking at a beautiful tank with gorgeous fish.
And then there's free food and drinks. Well, not free, paid for with your VIP ticket and then you also get a little enamel pan that's limited quantity. So, if you want the enamel pan and it's a different design every year. I haven't seen what the design is this year, But if you want the pin then get there earlier because they are limited.
[17:25] So really it's just VIP gives you access to that one real so if you have VIP and your friends don't You can still enjoy the aquarium together. It's just as a VIP, you could go into that room and get some of that food that you paid for and dance to the DJ. So, I enjoy that. The regular aquarium tickets are still available But in recent years all of the aquarium tickets have sold out in advance and none were available at the door so if this year is like past years if you wait until the schedule comes out, To buy your aquarium ticket all the aquarium tickets We'll probably be sold out by then and they're probably not going to sell any at the door.
[18:13] Add ons to your membership but that that actually not even 100% sure if you have to have dragon Lanyard. No, you don't have to have a dragon con membership to attend. You will see a lot of people at the event wearing their dragon con badges. Just because people are in the habit of wearing their dragon badges when they're at dragon con and they 10 to come straight from the hotel there is usually a shuttle and that should be in the published maps or you can get an Uber or some people walk but the aquarium event goes till 11 PM So, I don't recommend walking back in the dark by yourself. If you're going to walk, go as a group for safety. Yeah, you do gotta cross, Did you get a crust through the park to get back to drink on proper so Right? Yeah.
[19:02] I don't think you're aquarium membership means that you can attend this event, I've always been told that it means you can't but if you but I am not an aquarium Georgia aquarium member So, I'm not 100% on that. So, if you are a Georgia aquarium member, I suggest contacting the aquarium directly and asking them about that just to get information straight from the source. Right. So, yeah, my understanding is you have to buy a separate ticket and then a dragon con membership Is not required.
Where I'm checking that you bought. Yeah and it's a it's also important to note.
Converse that's true which is that your dragon con badge is not admission.
So. Right. That's that's the only thing to point out. And you know, so that 40, so you have to pay the the $45 per person, It is, you know, I don't even know how much the normal aquarium visit is. It might be in the, it might be, it means probably less than that but But it is, On Saturday morning to.
[20:25] VIP was listed as 110 through July 2 but it VIP sold out long before July 2 Had it not sold out the price would have gone up by one to 115, There might be some taxes on top of that 45 price for the regular tickets, But you know, so budget about 45, 50 bucks if you want to get a regular ticket for, yeah, there's like four box taxes. So, Let's round it up and say a regular ticket is 50 bucks for the aquarium right now.
[21:01] I need non dragon kind event.
That's basically the same price. It's because I just looked it up. A single day ticket to the Georgia Aquarium. If you're just to go say, you know, September 30.
I don't know if they're open on September 30 that'll soon that they are it would be $42, Or 47 if you bought it the day up. So, the reality is is that it's actually slightly cheaper to go to go as a deal at the it's like $two you're saving, really, at the end of the day. Yeah, I, When it's not Dragon Con. And I think the dragon kind of course is amazingly fun because regularly you don't have Aquaman and the little mermaid aren't wandering around the aquarium while you're visiting, So besides that, The other thing that you are on top of is.
[21:56] Hey Facebook, Yeah, before we get to that, do you mind if we talk about the parade in the upcoming? Oh, yes. Really quick. Absolutely, sorry, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, okay. Cuz this is really unusual, You can still sign up for the parade.
Long time attendees will recall in recent years the parade sign ups would open and close in a matter of hours in February so a lot of people probably just assumed That the parade was already filled up it is not you can still sign up for the parade and John I will give you the link to put in your show notes because it's this long google you are all.
[22:35] The, If you go to the drawing con website under dragon con and then the navigation things to do and then parade they have a link to their official Facebook group That is the best place to get information they also have a Twitter account and a Google group listed on that dragon con web page but they're not active anymore they haven't There's been no posts in either of those since 2020. So you definitely want to join the Facebook group or if you're not into Facebook.
The parade director is Annie Carter and her Email address is DC underscore parade at Dragon Con. Org so you can email her with questions, But the link to sign up to the parade is in the Facebook group it's actually I don't know why but it's not published On the dragon con web page so that might have also confused people too because if you go to the dragon web page to specifically, The page for the parade there's not a link to sign up for the parade on that page it's just in the Facebook group, But like I said you can I'm sure you can get it by emailing Annie Carter, But yeah, you can still sign up for the parade. Like, I have two parade groups and we still both have openings. The eternal members parade group has openings and I'm the founder of the cult of mariot carpet. I named it that.
[23:54] That gets bigger and better every year and I'm really really proud of both of my pray groups. They're both amazing and so yeah, we we still have spaces and a lot of groups still have spaces. So, if you Have ever wanted to be in the parade. This is your year.
Have you ever been in the parade John? No, I've only volunteered for the parade. Okay, well, that is amazing. Thank you very much.
Rest in peace, Yes please former parade director original parade director it's very awesome her between I would be her runner so I would I would stand next to her.
[24:43] They need some way to communicate and she was so busy with just trying to keep the parade going.
That you just need to be able to to hit somebody and say hey you know can you tell them XY or Z is happening and so that's how it that's how it sort of started with with me working with her, And so yeah so that's what I would do and in fact I that the very first year I had to run all the way down if you know if you know where the parade starts and where the actual, Sets up to do their broadcasting from it's a it's a pretty good hike it's probably about halfway down the parade route so I had to run, Oh ran back and forth I think three times that year actually literally running well I was just parade brewed is about a mile so that's a lot of running, That's it. That's the other thing because people are already lined up there. Because we had a communication problem or something with a headsets and and whatnot. So I do deliver headsets back and forth.
And so yeah.
[25:51] Just wants to watch the parade. Yeah, there's different ways to see it live and then, of course, it's always recorded and Put on DCTV and put on youtube by dragon con afterwards. So, if you're curious about the parade, you can Look up the Dragon Con account on YouTube and they've got videos of years of past parades right there so you can see what it's all about, So, yeah. So, as far as we know that the form is still up, Now mind you but yeah by the time you this comes out which is probably about 4 or 5 days, After we've recorded it, it could be down but as of right now, the form is still upping and still signed, still sign up.
I'm presuming that that's intentional and that they've just someone didn't just forget to take it down, Or to to say you know we're full or whatever. No. Cuz in the past when the parade has filled up. They would take that form down and then they would put the whip they would then they would put the weight list for them up, So if so if a group or a bunch of people cancel then they would start letting people in from the wait list so there's yeah this form does not say wait list it is the original form, And as you point out use you have some, Space available in your.
[27:13] The best place and if you don't know yeah and if you don't know what group you want to join you just fill out the form and the parade will be Put you in the appropriate section you just say I want to march here's my costume and they'll find the right group for you, The other thing that you want to talk about before we get into talking about Hotel situations is what I just wanted to mention the upcoming, Sorry.
[27:46] Section that says participate in the navigation and then the first option says volunteer, Eastern time all the times we talk about our eastern because everything's in Atlanta time, Official page on the official website, You can fill out the volunteer application. There and there's a lot of helpful information on that web page. So, there's a new volunteer application if you've never volunteered before.
And a former volunteer application if you're like me and john and you have volunteered before and a lot of other helpful information on that page there's also an unofficial, Up Hey Facebook group for dragon volunteers which is just Facebook. Com slash group slash dragon convo volunteers and that's an unofficial group with I think about 1400 people in it So that's another resource for if you're a potential volunteer and you want to get some advice From experience volunteers you don't have to be a volunteer to join that group it's just for.
[29:03] So I just wanted to let people know what usually happens at the meetings, The recent volunteer meetings have been live streamed which is amazing, Is that directors will stand up, directors are people in charge of certain departments. John's going to be interviewing a lot of directors this year as usual.
And volunteers directors will stand up and talk about what their department does And how many volunteers they're looking for and what qualifications you need to volunteer in that department because certain volunteers, And other departments you know can just use anybody So, for example, for some departments, they might be like, we need drivers so you need to have a driver's license for this position.
[29:58] Willing to help out and happy to learn whatever needs to be done for that position, Cool and it's a it's a nice what is the what is the requirement to get a free membership for the year for 3 days, Hey Facebook.
[30:25] And then after that there's no feed of volunteer, If you are volunteering to get a volunteer badge so you don't have to pay for your badge.
There used to be a requirement of like 20 or 25 hours that you had to volunteer during the convention and it's been a couple of years. They don't have that specific requirement anymore. Now, that's done on a per department basis.
So you would need to ask the director of your department what their hours requirement ends.
[30:59] Depending on what department you're in that's I I assume that's why they did this is because some some departments require a lot more work than other departments.
You know it's it you know and the the variety of of things that you would have to do in different departments are, Or maybe more intensive so you may not want to put a such a high level of requirement on on someone if they if they're you know, Holling 20 lb bags left and right all over the place. You know, you don't want it to to kill these people. So, but it but we do appreciate our volunteers.
Yeah, if you hear volunteers talking about, oh, I worked 40 hours or 50 hours.
Trust me, they did. They work the hours. They said, because there's a lot of setup hours. So, if you hear math and you're like, that math doesn't work. Keep in mind, they're set up and tear down too. So, that adds to the hours but.
You know, nobody is making a dragon convo volunteer work.
You know, 40 or 50 hours. They do it because they love it. So, the requirement for a department.
[32:08] So for most people that they're only volunteering part of the day. But yeah, exactly like you said, they also, you know, you can't roll up.
Volunteer for 2 hours. Bounce and get a volunteer badge. That's not fair to the people who are pulling their way. Right. So, Yeah, there is going to be some kind of requirement depending on what your department is but if you want to work more hours.
[32:36] Do more than the minimum because they love what they do.
That is I believe let me double check I believe that's a Saturday July yeah Saturday July 22 at the Hilton Atlanta at 4 PM they don't they never really list an exact, Room for it but pretty much you just show up at the Hilton Atlanta and they'll probably be signs or you'll see people wearing, You know dragon con T shirts and you just follow them or just ask at the front desk where the meeting is. You know, a lot of hotels when you walk in, there's some kind of signage like some kind of electronic billboard that's like this meeting is here.
So, yeah, I don't know the exact room but that shouldn't be hard to figure out. And again, it should be live streamed. That's what I've heard. If I'm wrong about that, someone please call in and correct me but everything I've heard says, it should be live streamed on the official.
On social media. And so if you're listening, listening to this one this drops, it would be this coming Saturday. So, because this is going to drop.
The week, the before that, that.
[33:47] Meeting would it occur.
[33:56] Sam what if I'm just now deciding that I want to go to Dragon Con and you know I haven't found a room a place to stay yet what can I possibly do, Well, first of all, if you see people on social media saying there's no hotel rooms.
That's not true. Like that scares new people every year.
[34:25] Where the dragon con is officially held over five host hotels plus the vendors room But you can't check into the vendors room and sleep there I'm sorry if you want to sleep in a pile of squish mellows But you can't. You can only stay. Oh, you watch me. I'll find a way.
[34:48] Not vendors room but the five host hotels they do sell out in advance and I'm going to go over some news on all of those but, Again I'll talk you through the dragon con website if you go to the dragon website in the navigation so you're going to dragon con. Org, And click on travel and then click on hotels That's a list of all the hotels that offer the discounted dragon con rate and the first five you'll see listed on that page are the host hotels and they're, There's a whole bunch of other hotels. Some of which are listed with strikeout texts so it looks like they're sold out. They may or may not be sold out.
But it's but a lot of the overflows you know this this page what this page is really good at on the website is it's good at giving you the booking links, Some of the information on these pages is from last year and hasn't been updated but you can pretty much tell that if it makes a reference to like a deadline being in 2021 on that page obviously that's last year's info, But most of the page.
[36:01] Because sometimes people cancel in a new room might open up it list phone numbers for the various hotels it list the dragon con rate booking codes so for example you might have to call the hotel at a Call a hotel at a specific number.
[36:21] Rate code the dragon con discount code listed on the web page can you book me a room for these dates At this hotel using that this rate code if you don't mention the dragon con rate code they're going to quote you the full rate which is going to be at least $100 a night more expensive.
[36:41] Also a lot of these hotels have a minimum stay requirement which they've been doing for some years.
Where in order to get the dragon conray you need to stay either three or four nights and it will vary by hotel and again that'll be listed on that web page so it might be this hotel only requires three nights or that required.
Requires four nights and dragon con never officially announced this in any way but a lot of people suspect.
That the reason this happened is because there are some years where there's a big sports game going on and some people would book a hotel room using the Dragon Con rate for just one night And so by having a minimum stay requirement you're probably not going to book a room for four nights if you're just in town one night for a football game so what they're trying to do is What we think they're trying to do. This would make sense. Again, we don't know for sure. Is that they're trying to keep these rooms for dragon con attendees by having a minimum state requirement, So, you know, you could Atlanta's a big city. You can always find some place to stay even if all the host hotels.
[37:51] Which does not include the dragon con rate is going to be more expensive.
[38:05] When you're going through the, On the the dragon website under Atlanta when you cooked Atlanta hotels it literally says there are always hotels available for dragon guns so when you know you yes, It's just weather or not it is you know it is one of the as your point out one of the the, I'll say party hotels one of the the convention hotels that where they actually have, You know, dragon events in but you know, like for example, a loft.
Four nights is your alluded to one night deposit charge at time but all that stuff is on the Dragon Con website and you know, for example, you can get AA quad room which is two queens and a sofa bed for 288 at night. Now, You know, If you have more than four people in a in a double bedded room then they're going to charge you some more money. That kind of thing.
No whether or not they get you in at the toll different thing. But anyway.
[39:23] Nobody has ever slept in the bathtub at Dragon Con. Ever.
But no, so, yeah, that's that's great information. It's always, you know, it's nice to see, you know, and by the way, some people preferred not to be at the Dragon Hotels because it can be crazy and it can be loud, Over by the stadium when we went as a family just because it was, It's going to be quieter. You know, so, there's a couple of hotels over by the by the the sports ball stadium. There that but it's a, it's a hike to get over the, UberWorks and and you know I said to my feet, Yeah and the overflows have their loyalist too like I remember the year hotel indico opened and that's across the street from the Hyatt Regency host hotel and the first year Their rates were pretty low because they didn't know about dragon concod And then the next year they jacked up their raids.
[40:26] Or some people really love the rits like there's definitely people who they like to stay in the same hotel every year So, it's not just host hotels that have their fans like a lot of overflows, people, some people You know like the peace and quiet of the overflows or, But they're not one of the five host hotels.
[41:02] But yeah, I I do want to mention really quick. It is very important. So, for example, one of these overflows is the Hilton Garden Inn That's an overflow one of the hosts is the Hilton Atlanta so when you're booking a hotel room Look at the address of the hotel your booking and make sure your booking the room you mean too, When it's not a host hotel Or you think you're booking a quiet overflow and then it turns out it is one of the more crowded noisier host hotels so just always double check the address and make sure your booking what you intended to book, Now, let's talk about legacy.
[41:49] It does particularly this year because some new legacy rooms got released so I'll I'll talk about that but yeah legacy is offered by two of the host hotels, By the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton Atlanta and what that means is is if you are a legacy reservation holder you have first dibs To renew your room at that hotel for the following year. So say let's say John you were a legacy at the, Hilton and you had a room from Thursday check in to Monday checkout, At some point closer to the convention probably sometime in early August you'd get an email from the Hilton.
[42:35] And it can very slightly, But the email will go to the reservation holder and they'll say okay here's what we're going to do for next year and in recent years the high sorry in recent years the Hilton has required a one night deposit, And they will automatically, Renew your reservation for the same days and I'm pretty sure the same bed types. So, if you had a room for one king bed, your renewal would be for one king bed.
Thursday through Monday morning check out of the next year You can contact them and ask if they can change your reservation and based on how other people renewed you might be able to change your bed type or your days but by default they'll just keep everything you had before.
And then they'll tell you when they're going to run your credit card and then you'll they'll send you a confirmation Email for 2024 so you basically get first dibs to renew and because, That's why it's hard for people who aren't legacy to get a room at the Dragon Con rate at either the Hyatt.
[43:38] So those are the only ones that have what I refer to as guaranteed legacy which means your room is being held only for you and the only way you lose it, Is if you don't pay the hotel by the deadline. Now, the policies were slightly different for the high. This year, the high didn't take any money out and then they charged, All of it in May.
[44:06] You know not pay for their reservations in May and more rooms will open up.
[44:26] Did you lose me? No, you're back. You're back now. You're fine. Okay.
So the I was saying the Sheraton used to refer to what they did as legacy but it was never really a true legacy they would send out an email with a link which would quickly spread online and anybody could use that link so the Then share it in was never really saving your room specifically for you like the.
[44:54] Overflows including the indigo have referred to having legacy but again it was never really they were saving the room specifically for you so it's it gets kind of tricky using that term but mostly what people mean is The legacy is reserved for you and as long as you follow the hotels instructions you get to keep that room, For the next year. Maybe not the same exact room if you had, you know, room 507. But it'd be the same type of room.
Yeah, some people have reported they actually do get the same. Oh, really? That's pretty cool. Yeah. But that's not guaranteed.
But it's generally the same type. So, for example, the high at also has these two separate towers with private elevators. So, you have to have a room key to use those elevators and a lot of people really like those because they're private, they're quiet.
And the elevators work, You know.
[46:04] You're a little bit separate from the convention and you're in a quieter area which some people really like, But you know that's that's kind of a high at specific thing. So, Does that explain legacy or do you want me to go through any other part of that before I get into the hotel, You did a great job. Appreciate it. Okay, The higher it announced on their social media sorry the Dragoncon announced on their social media that morning That they were going to be releasing some new legacy rooms and at first they were kind of vague about it and it really scared like their original post was kind of vague and it really scared existing legacies like oh no what's going to happen but then it turned out it was good news and they released 25 new legacy rooms, There was very short notice so don't feel bad if you didn't get one This is actually pretty typical for how new legacy rooms are released and there are years no new legacy rooms were released because everybody renewed so 25 new legacy rooms is really kind of a lot and of course they all sold out pretty quickly Hmm.
[47:29] That legacy rooms have been released more than once in a year.
I mean, I don't know this for sure but I think if they had more legacy rooms, they probably would have released them. So, the only way we'd probably get more is if a bunch of people cancel, which like I said, with the typically high renewal rate.
I mean it's not impossible but I just don't consider it very likely, So any questions about the no no questions about the high but let's say that I don't want to pay $288, A night for the con. I want to sort of split my.
Split up my time with maybe sharing a room with somebody is there any place I can go for that, To find a solution. Yeah. Yeah, the Dragon Con Rooms group is a Facebook group. So, it's WWW. Facebook. Com slash groups slash, Dragon Con Rooms group and I'll I'll give you the link. Okay. And if you look in the and then there's a couple screening questions just to make sure you're not a robot, It we we just crossed over 17 1000 members.
Oops, I think about 10 years old now. So, we've been around for a while and there's a lot of very experienced, knowledgeable people in the group.
[48:48] So there is a dedicated thread that's got your basic FAQs there's a dedicated thread, Each host hotel and for the overflows there's also we also have a thread called the master list and that is what your that's what would help if you, Want to open your room up to some roommates or you want to join an existing room as a roommate say you want to stay in a specific hotel but you can't book a room there because it's all sold out There's lots of people who are looking for roommates and so we just have a thread in there, In the featured announcement section you just joined the group and click the featured button, And so it's kind of just the need it got it list people just say I'm seeking this or I'm offering this and you just you know Contact somebody who has what you're looking for, You know, and then if you want information about a specific hotel, like I said, we've got, Dedicated threads to specific hotels. So, for example, there's been information in that group all year.
The problem is there weren't any available.
[50:11] But if you had read the FAQ in the Hyatt thread a year ago, The second you heard new legacy rooms were ready you would know what you need to do to get that room.
[50:32] Do you want me to move on to talking about the Hilton now? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, please do. Yeah, yeah, feel free. Okay, I would love to be wrong. I would love for there to be more Hilton like I would love for there to be more high at Legacy Rooms to be released.
But a lot of people have also been asking about the Hilton because the Hilton let people sign up at a waiting on a waiting list last year at the check in desk you could walk up Did the Hilton check in desk and say hey do you have a waiting list and they would tell you how to sign up for it which was by sending an email to this address, And I know a number of people who are on that waiting list Sadly multiple reliable sources have said and by reliable sources I mean employees who work at the Hilton.
[51:26] Not even the people on the wait list because they already kind of oversold, The legacy rooms so, This means if anybody cancels they're probably not going to go to the wait list because they're they're just overbooked just what they've been, I mean it's not impossible again I'd love to be wrong we're we're still, You know a little bit less than that by the time this is released but, But a lot of people would have to cancel and then hopefully the Hilton Wood If they did have any legacy rooms, Or if they had any honor. Yeah, you know, hopefully they wouldn't forget that this wait list, You know, like I said, they've repeatedly said that that's not likely. So, if you, you know, it.
If you know that you're saying number three on the hill and wait list you might be sitting around going hey any day now I'm going to get a Hilton weight a Hilton room and unfortunately they've been repeatedly saying that's just not very lightly Now what I'd be interested to know that I don't know that I will email you if I find out, Is let's say there is no movement on the wait list this year are they going to roll that wait list over to 2020-
[52:54] And you know it's also an important thing to note is that the legacy, Grown out of out of dragon con. It's not.
Guaranteed to continue year to year it's a it's a hotel.
[53:27] Yeah there was 1 year a few years ago like the Hilton had the legacy system and at first they didn't call it legacy. Right.
But yeah, there was 1 year Hilton stop legacy. So, everybody basically lost their legacy that year because it didn't exist and then they started it back up again.
So there were people that had legacy and lost it and still haven't been able to get it back and I think that was like over 5 years ago so yeah things can and do change every year Like I would love it if the Marriott offered like a C but it's never happened.
Yeah. So, you know, they had the the 10 1000 had experienced doing rollover from 2020 to 2021. So, they could have started doing a legacy if they wanted to now that they have Practice it roll overs like all the hotels did and they just never have you know if you're a hardcore, You know, I feel bad for the Courtland grand people this year because they have no idea how their renewals are going to happen and every time somebody calls and asks, the answer is we don't know, please ask it, check in, So
[54:48] You know, Email addresses to your allow list. Yeah. You know, keep checking your junk mail because you're not going to get a confirmation Email.
From the Sheritan it's going to come from the window now, And if you don't have your new reservation yet you can click on the link from your original Sheritan reservation email, And it should take you to the original pesky website pass key is a system that books hotel rooms that some of the hotels use for their dragon con reservations, And you can tell it's a pass key link because it'll go to where you are that has the word past key in it so, So that's what a pass key link is it literally says past key so again go on go to click on the link from your original share it and reservation email click on manage existing reservation Select that you don't have an acknowledgement number it's going to ask for your email address and last name enter your info, And then you should get an email confirmation with your new, Call their phone number.
And you know say I have a dragon con reservation.
[56:06] Reservations from the Sheraton into the Courtland Grand slash Wyndham system yet but I do know they're working on it. I don't know when they're going to, You know, you probably want to get that set up as well because that'll be helpful for the future but a lot of people in the dragon con rooms group, the reason I know all this.
Is people been sharing information in the dragon con rooms group in the dedicated thread For the Sheraton slash Corland Gran. People are really good about helping each other in that group because a lot of people have the same questions.
And that, you know, probably saves them.
[56:56] Give that give the URL for the dragon rooms site a web group rather. Sure. Cool. Yeah, it's a Facebook thingy.
So it's Facebook. Com slash groups, So that groups is plural so Facebook. Com slash group slash Dragon Con, Perfect. And you can look for that link also in the post that this, This podcast is associated with over at the unique. Com and it's probably also in the notes depending upon what pod catcher You have it may or may not show up in your your notes are not are the show notes.
But yeah that's it that's a great resource to To use.
[57:49] Either Zan or I nor even that that Facebook group are directly associated with Dragon. We don't speak for dragon con. And the other thing I want to point out too is that Some of the hotel not some of them all the hotel rules are controlled by the hotels individually. So, I know that you know, people will go, oh yeah, it's a drying con. How'd you do that? Remember, there's not technically, there's not just dragon people in those hotels.
Most of them. I'd say, you know, 90% of it is dragon. Folks. But, But so Drank Connolly has a certain level of say over what can you know what the hotel policies are be it for reservations be it for you know what your love to have on premises those kind of things, You know be writing dragon cunts you know, Folks about, you know, hey, they didn't let me bring in XYZ. I do know that a few years ago, there was a sort of a crackdown on the amount of liquor that was allowed.
In the hotel rooms so, Out of the ceiling or out of the floor.
[59:07] I know we've ever ever gave something with one of the hotels like did you hear about the Marriott Lions this year, The poop lions? What about them?
I realized I just said poop lie into which is going to sound strange the first timers but I'm not making this up John back me up there are statues of lions outside the mariot marquee host, They're this very artistic design and dragon content. It's not their official name but the dragon attendees have, Affectionately we call them the poop lions and at one of them.
[59:48] It's a headless lion.
So hopefully they'll get that repaired by dragon con. The point is every year it's something with one of the hotels. And we just never know.
What's going to happen next? And you gotta think it's a flood of people.
Put intended I guess of people you know entering these hotels.
All at once and and something go when one little thing goes wrong it can get Easily escalate out of out of control. So, you know, and and You know, it's it's it's part of, hey, it's part of the adventure of Drankon. It gives you a story You know people are already talking about poop lion costumes, This is how colds get started. Speaking of which, oh, I should have done this early in the podcast. Hi, Regina. Shout out to Regina. I love your.
[1:00:42] Guess who one of the judges is going to be this year they asked me Dwayne Johnson The Rock, No you oh okay, Colts of Dragon Con.
[1:01:13] Disclaimer by John.
[1:01:21] Yeah, that's what they told me but you know, asterisk subject to change. So, you know, I do have other news.
This year.
As soon as I get cleared to share my other news, Let you know like I know the dragon store is going to have another plush dragon they already Share that information online in a town hall. I don't know what color it is. I love collecting the dragons. So, I wish I knew that but unfortunately, that is not the news that I know And she knows obviously she had Given me a dragon the two one of the two head red dragons and I have named The left side is etern and the right side head is Nozan so I've gotta I got my etern and Nozan, Dragon up above. You can't, well, no one's seeing this. Anyway, but, but you can't see because it's kind of about a frame, but, Up on top my shelf behind me, It's the red-headed dragon from last at well 2 years ago with the two heads yeah, It's the only two headed dragon. We've had so far. So far.
So far. And I got the it got a little baby dragon and a the water dragon.
[1:02:45] That maybe I didn't oh I'm sure that there's lots of I'm sure there's lots of stuff that you know that that we did not put on the list but, But the fun part about it is you get to you get to share that information throughout this the dragon the 50 days dragon season so I don't want to take it all out, Once and it's a lot of information and I do appreciate by the way Zan I do really appreciate you coming on and, You've been a valuable resource to our 50 days family and, You know.
We just really appreciate that. Thank you very much. It's not Dragon Con without you and Lee and I really look forward to the countdown every single year.
And you know I hope Lee feels better and is back soon and, You know, I hope you can attend this year. We'll see. But you know, we'll see.
But if not I would definitely want to be there yeah because yeah because my you know my wife was pointing out it's gotta be at least it's gotta be over 25 years of consistently going and then prior to that it was, Yo, when you're here, when you're there. Well, I say attending virtually still counts. I do, I do too. Oh, well, I mean, other. Just streaming. Otherwise, technically.
[1:04:06] Than 20 then we all broke our streak at 2020 so because there was no physical no if you want to keep your street Just sign up for the streaming membership at your comfort. Absolutely. So, there you go. I do that regardless of regardless of their person or.
[1:04:27] Bonuses for eternals I don't even think they have this on their webs on their I don't even think they have this on the, Where you buy your memberships I I don't know if they have it in the description but a couple years ago they threw in a free streaming membership for all, So, if you're an eternal, you never have to pay for the streaming membership again either. So, September, So you're saving the whole $10. I think it's still $10 by the way. I'm 100% sure. Yes. I think it is but which is which is a bargain. Yeah.
It it's just yeah if you're buying an eternal membership you don't have to they'll just send you an email about your streaming membership, That streaming membership is at least it has been in the past years. It's good for the whole year. It's in other words, once you know, this, One string con starts this year and the streaming start it's good until you can go back and watch anything that's archive there For a year. So, yeah, I just, I just mentioned that because in the whole time, I've been an eternal, which is a long time. That's the only thing I can remember that they added To the eternal membership. Cuz a lot of people think like it's a VIP pass and we get to cut in line and we don't. We.
Sit in the same sections and we stand in the same lines as everybody else, So I said this isn't MegaCon.
[1:05:57] So it's it's it's I'm just saying thank you to Dragon Con for that because it's a nice thing they did that they didn't have to do and they threw that in for us so thank you Dragon Con, So again Zan thank you so much for joining us there's a lot of great information to provide us tonight I I it's, You know, anybody that's new that's listening, I'm sure learned a ton of stuff. Anybody that's been around for a while, learned a bunch of stuff that's new for this year. So, thank you very much for joining us. It's, It's always a pleasure talking to you, Thank you very much.
Peace.
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