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It is pretty late to be going on to the hotel waitlist TBH.
If I was you I would look into alternative rooming solutions if possible.

That is just how fanime hotels roll. Many Congoers will go in groups and stuff as many people as possible into a single room to save cost, beds be damned.

And somehow, they always end up next door to me x-x

I wouldn't be surprised if half or so con groups are stuffed into a single room with 5+ people. 10 is pretty extreme, but I imagine 6-7 is common enough.

That is just how fanime hotels roll. Many Congoers will go in groups and stuff as many people as possible into a single room to save cost, beds be damned. Of course, having 10 people in a room is a safety hazard should there be a fire or some other emergency, but as long as they are within safety regulations they allow for there to be more people then the beds can hold. The vast majority of congoers are aware of how this goes and decide if they want to shell out the cash for a less occupied room or (more likely given the limited number of rooms available) room up and save cash. It is not like they are swindling anyone though, they are quite clear with what the rooms offer, so I don't see any issue. I don't know why their reputation would be affected by allowing their customers to room how they please (within safety standards), and even if was affected, I am quite positive their reputation would already be ruined for allowing congoers in their facility (see Rainfurrest).

As for a single King being occupied by 4 people, that is pushing it for sure, but most years we have 3 people in a king bed easily enough, and most rooms have a couch or armchair that can be occupied by another person. Most people I room up with will bring a sleeping bag as well, should they not want to share a bed.
I suspect the room with a rollaway only allowing 3 people also has to do with safety regulations. Id imagine those regulations are based on available floor space, and with the added bed that floor space is reduced.

I would tell your roommate to bring a cot/sleeping bag. I have never had or heard any issues with using one. If they are really concerned, they should just roll it back up after using it.

Well I was planning to call housing after my nap today, but lo and behold I got an email acknowledging the error so it looks like I did bug it =P

So I got my room booked, but during that process, I went thru the booking steps twice, since the first time I did not get to the confirmation page. The 2nd go around I got my confirmation and my email right away, but an hour or so later I got another confirmation email with the room I initially tried to book and I presumed failed.
Going to the modify reservation page, both confirmation codes seem to confirm that the rooms are indeed booked, but I was under the impression we could only have 1 room booked per badge, and the confirmation page seems to concur that. Was anyone else able to book more then 1 room or did I somehow manage to bug my way to a 2nd room (not a surprise given the sites bugginess =P)?

Welp I got my room, and my buddy got my groups other room including our Thursday night room, so my group is set

Same, 17th at 7am

Aye kno de wae, budda

Yeah, they closed off the top floor to badge carriers only. They did so mainly so they didn't have to have badge checkers at every event hall or room in favor of just checking at the staircases, which has worked out surprisingly well. It is also to keep con goers safer from wondering pedestrians that are in the downtown area on the weekends (likely drunk). It is undoubtedly also an effort to prevent freeloaders from just hanging out outside the exhibit halls, which many people did do.

The raveDance is still a thing. The con is still 24 hours and people do hang around in the middle of the night. There are subtle rules changes here or there, notably more restrictions on what you can cosplay. There is an emphasis on consent, given that glomping was/is a thing. Can't say it is necessary given common sense, but it doesn't affect how I conduct myself either way so whatever. I am sure there are plenty of other changes to the rules I can't recall, given the 10 years of con blurring together.

The con head changed during that time as well. The on notably went through a slump in quality and content a few years back but has since been improved upon. It has in general not changed much though.

If you go thru the Fanime's housing site Hotel rooms will be a bit cheaper, and most hotels near or connected to the convention center are partnered with and really only available thru housing anyways.

Prices always can fluctuate (or rather rise) from year to year, but from what I remember (per night):

Ramada (cheapest option) ~$70-$80
Hilton, Mariott, Hyatt ~$99-$130
Fairmont ~$150 (?)

Of course, with tax, these numbers go up a tad, but you do save with some of the hotels off of the amenities they provide like continental breakfast and the like.
Assuming you go Fri-Mon (3 nights) and are splitting with 3 roommates, prices are not too terrible. I remember my 4 night and 3 night rooms at Hyatt last year came around to ~$600 and ~$450 each, around ~$130 per person. And of course you can always go over the 4 person limit on rooms if you want to be a rebel, but that is generally frowned upon (by hotel staff).

If you are a local then doing carpool/light rail works, but at least for me it was way too much trouble for what I saved, and that is as someone that lived only a mile from the convention center for 2 conventions. The convenience of being able to quickly rest, freshen up, store things, not have to get everyone on the same schedule, and time saved overall is well worth the cost.

While I am of the opinion that it is completely asinine to be caring about people recording in the 18+ rooms, I can understand that there "can" be some possible legal ramifications otherwise.
Regardless, shutting down events over a few offenses from a few individuals is a terrible plan. With this kind of policy the events are guaranteed to be shut down quite often, and as noted it does punish the group for individual offenses. The simplest and least disruptive method would be to just pull the people aside and deal with them as appropriate.

Does the earlier registration days only apply to Hotel priority or does it also get you other things?

Normally Hotels, though I suppose there is always a possibility of events with limited access that can be based on badge priority in the future (though I don't think they have done anything like that for as long as I have been going).

Finished 2 minutes past Noon, so I am pretty happy with my spot. On the slip side I don't know how my other mates did, and one of the guys that said he was going to take care of a Room this year had not done so 6 hours after reg opened up (he probably didnt know how competitive getting rooms is). Well I at least have my reg to guarantee a room most likely

Saw a Crunchyroll Expo Ad on a VTA Bus today on my way home from work. Im a little surprised they are advertising like that =P

my bade was flipepd over half the time...they didnt care lol

Saw the AX with by live streaming this year....Fanime needs to step it up

AX as in Anime Expo?
Why would anyone want to watch a livestream of a convention? That just sounds so odd to me.
I mean sure Im guessing there are industry panels to tune in to, but Im doubtful any big news wont show up on the net days later, and at least for me being at the event and doing things is the appeal of a convention.

Yes AX is the only Anime Expo I know of in Cali...

Million Dollar questions: why do people livestream on Facebook? or anywhere else for that matter do you find that strange too?

Its probably of panels, guests, and i am hoping the major events (cosplay and AMV), as well as the music event..

I want to see this mainly because I can't make it to AX anymore.

I mean I do find it the oddest thing that Twitch is what it is, games usually being available with ease for people to play for themselves.

my bade was flipepd over half the time...they didnt care lol

Saw the AX with by live streaming this year....Fanime needs to step it up

AX as in Anime Expo?
Why would anyone want to watch a livestream of a convention? That just sounds so odd to me.
I mean sure Im guessing there are industry panels to tune in to, but Im doubtful any big news wont show up on the net days later, and at least for me being at the event and doing things is the appeal of a convention.

For those saying that this was the worst Fanime ever, the common denominator I noticed so far is alcohol and social issues. Those are you and your friends' choices for ir/responsibility, not the convention.

It's been compliments all around.
No one has blamed the con for their own personal issues... at least not yet. Dun dun dun.

Yeah generally alcohol can be a pretty bad issue over con. I myself like to get a bit of a buzz before heading out over the night, but a lot of my friends feel the need to get completely wasted beforehand. The guy that passed out in my room did unknowingly drink Absinthe not realizing how much alcohol is contained in it usually (about twice that of whisky and other usual hard drinks), but also is known to have a drinking problems in general.
On the flip side alcohol did make myu other buddy with an infected tooth able to function during con by keeping his tooth relatively clean, but eh still would be nice if they didnt have to drink so much. At least I didnt have somebody snorting coke in my bathroom this year =P

[PreEvent]

I hope everyone had a good weekend this year?

I unfortunately did not.

PreEvent
For the most part everything was ready and I was excited and rearing to go. Despite my terrible allergies this year which developed into a annoying cough, I actually was a bit more energetic then I normally am, and I took all the usual precautions to help alleviate those allergies.

Thurs
Fine for a Day 0 for the most part. Got Pretty drunk and Swap Meet, went around town eating. Found this Icecream Sandwich place called Creme a couple of blocks out after learning B&J closed, amazing place with fresh warm cookies for the sandwich as well as some other options.

Fri
Wasted a lot of time waiting for people to show up for our dinner deal we usually do, as well as getting people into cosplay. Overall an Ok, but uneventful day.

Sat
Started out alright. Then came back to the hotel to find a friend over-drank. Long Story Short, he fell in the bathroom and threw up several times while unconscious. Requiring us to get into the muck and turn him over on his side so he wouldn't drown on his own vomit. After a few hours when he regained some consciousnesses he could not tell us some basic information, and one of our guests (Great guy that stayed around the entire time to help out) told us we had to call the ambulance after that because he may have a concussion. So after they came and took him away, I had to go and clean up the pool of vomit. Most of my latter part of the night was wasted there.

Sun
I was determined to make use of this day best I could and not be held up by my friends dilly dallying, but at this point it seems I got extra unlucky and developed a sinus infection of sorts, and after a few hours out at Con I was incapacitated and had to retire. Missed the vast majority of the night, but still managed to stay up from the ruthless cough that I had developed which required constant maintenance.

Mon
Well I still felt like shit, but was mobile enough to clear out my rooms and get a few items out of the dealers hall, though I didnt get to bargain at all being effectively as dead as I was, which for me is usually half the fun of the Dealers Hall on Monday. Overall I was looking forward to getting back home. Had some miso soup at a sit down Chinese place near Ramada. Got my traditional Buritozilla as my Fanime castaway. Immediately went to my parents place to get antibiotics. Hoping this infection dies down over the week.

PostWrapup
Overall, probably the worst Con I have been to, and that sucks because for the most part it had little to do with the Con itself, which from what I saw had some decent content available that I would enjoy. And this is usually my one vacation for the year where I can ignore school and work and relax (albeit while getting plenty of exercise from walking around).

Been up for 4 hours preparing because I napped and cant sleep  ::)
Hopefully everything is ready and I dont forget something.
Now if only I can get back to sleep!

There are a few booths in Dealer Hall that sell some older stuff, but really if you are looking for old stuff the Swap Meet is the best place to shop.