Parking

[Cloud]

How difficult is it to find a parking spot during Fanime?
For example, how early in the morning would I need to get there on Saturday or Sunday to be able to find a parking space relatively close (walking distance) to the convention center? This will be the first year I'll have to deal with parking, so it would be great if I could get any advice or info on it. Thank you!

[SpiritOfKairi]

There's a great thread on this which I can't find at the moment, but I'm sure someone else will post the link.  In the meantime though, I can give some brief details.  Which hotel are you staying in or are you staying in one?  If you are, then they will have parking for you.  But if you live in San Jose or are staying at a hotel that's a little far away you can park in the convention center garage.  My advice is to get there early since it fills up quickly.  Try to get there before 10-10:30 if you can since in the later morning/afternoon it's really difficult to get a spot in there.  However, there are other parking options.  There is parking by Psycho Donuts (which apparently is great for sticking your car there for the entire weekend since with Monday being a holiday they don't charge on your way out), and there is parking by the Fairmont, but I wouldn't recommend doing it.  Last time my roommate and I parked there (granted this was about 3 years ago), we got hit with not only daily charges, but also overnight charges, and the total was a whopping $80.  The rates might have changed, but since we haven't been back there, I really don't know.  Unfortunately those are the only parking locations I know off the top of my head.

[echoshadow]

http://www.sjdowntownparking.com

That should help. As you can see there is lots of parking within 3-4 block walk. Just keep in mind your going to have to pay a bit.

[Cloud]

Thank you for the responses! I am not staying overnight, so just day time parking. I'll definitely try to get there before 10. I'm thinking around 9 or so unless there's some events going on earlier for some reason... Hopefully that's early enough XD
Probably going to end up trying to park in one of the parking structures close by unless anyone else knows of a cheaper place to park during the day.
Thanks again!

[spookdy]

Last year there were signs for a reduced parking rate when parking at the convention center, but I was hard pressed to find where I could get that deal.

Will there be a discount rate for people parking in the convention center parking lot this year? If so, how would one go about getting that price?

[Alejandro Cuba]

If you are talking about the parking garage under the convention center then there is generally always a special event rate going for Fanime from year to year.  In previous years, it was a flat rate of $10.  Now that's great if you've been parked all day because it really is less then it would be normally.  But if one tends to go in and out a lot then this isn't really a good deal, but most people parking there tend to stay as long as possible. And there isn't really anything special you need to do to get that rate to my knowledge.  Just drive in and get the ticket.  The pay machines inside are programmed with the special rate.

[SuperSheba]

If you get there early enough and don't mind a walk, there are some places with $5 and $7 flat rates as long as you don't mind no in/out privileges.  If I'm not mistaken, there is a parking lot with a $7 flat rate near South Hall.  It has no in/out privileges either, but it's really close.  I live in downtown San Jose, so if I'm out and about and see somewhere within half a mile of the convention center that is cheap, I will try and tell you where it is located. Hope this helps!  The key is to get there early enough so that experienced con-goers and people who actually work/live in downtown San Jose haven't taken all of the spots.