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I answered your question regarding when housing opens here: http://forums.fanime.com/index.php/topic,19604.msg481075.html#new

You COULD try going to the Hilton and Fairmont websites to see if there are any rooms available for Fanime weekend, but my guess is that, most likely, Fanime staff have already blocked off all of the rooms ahead of time for when housing starts. It couldn't hurt to check, but there's a 99% chance you'll have to wait until housing officially opens to get a room.
According to the 2014 Fanime hotel list, rooms at the Hilton were between $88 and $122, while rooms at the Fairmont were between $89 and $115. I imagine the prices will be higher next year, but I don't think it'll be by TOO much more.
The only time I've stayed at a hotel during Fanime was this year - I stayed at the Hilton with my sister, and personally, I rather liked it! =) Nice spacious room, plus being that close to the convention was very convenient. The hotel staff were very helpful and polite, too.
However, as I said, I've only stayed at a hotel during the con this one year. Someone who's been going to the con and staying at the hotels longer than I have will probably have more a more useful opinion regarding which hotel is the best.

So like when does that open? and is it for staff only?
I'm just really trying to figure things out in advance this year because last year I went with a group and they got the hotel reallllllly far from the center. But I want to get my own room this time and I want to stay in the Hilton

Nope! Housing is available for all of the attendees. =)
I suspect housing will open shortly after registration does; staff have been pretty organized lately, so I'm guessing that'll be around November or December of this year. They'll announce housing ahead of time, so don't worry. ;)
I have to warn you, though, that rooms closer to the Convention Center get snatched up REALLY quickly. =/ In particular, rooms at the Hilton and the Marriott are all taken within minutes after housing starts, and generally rooms at the the other hotels are all gone an hour or so later. If you don't get a room at the Hilton, they DO have a waitlist just in case someone cancels their reservation. But, so you're forewarned, you may have to settle with a hotel slightly farther from the Convention Center.

Is there any other way to get your badge if you don't have an ID? I graduated high school, and the school made me give back my ID. I don't have a driver's license, and I'm not 18.

Well, I haven't been in a similar situation, but I'm pretty sure that in the Registration FAQ, it says that if you're not 18 yet, your parent/guardian can show their government-issued ID and that + the e-postcard you were emailed will be enough. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that.

However, you say that you're not sure if your guardian can stay for registration. Is it an issue of time? I went to pre-reg at 1:30 today and was out within minutes; my brother was there an hour and a half ago, same story. There might be a line now, but if registration keeps going as smoothly as it was a few hours ago, you and your guardian will not be waiting around very long. LineCon doesn't appear to be happening this year. :P

In any case, good luck! I really hope you can get your badge.

I, too, want to commend reg staff. Staff has been so disorganized with getting the website up and so on, and I (along with everyone else) was so frustrated. I was sure LineCon would happen again... But I couldn't be happier that staff didn't drop the ball with the reg lines this year! <3 <3 <3 My sister and I got there at 1:30 and we were in and out within ten minutes (probably more like five, really). Same with my brother when he came around 3:00.

I can't help but wonder what will happen with all the fan-made LineCon 2014 merchandise though. Hm...

My only complaint is that my friend's badge had the cutest penguin and I had the bishie... hmm tough choice!!

My sister and I encountered the same problem... I have a penguin badge and she has a bishie badge. Ha ha ha. :)

I've tried to avoid replying to threads like these because I don't like feeling bitter, but I think it's time for me to say that I, too, am extremely disappointed that the website hasn't gone up yet and that the staff has generally been very disorganized. It's less than two months until the con! Very much unacceptable.

I'm definitely going to the con this year - already bought my badge, might as well enjoy myself as much as I possibly can. But like many others, I'm heavily considering not going to Fanime starting next year.

Am I the only one with a sneaking suspicion that Fanime 2014 is going to be cancelled at the last minute? Maybe that's taking it a step too far... I like to think that such a thing is impossible considering how large the con is, but with the staff being so disorganized this year in particular, I can't rule the possibility out...

(Psst. Guys. I already answered his question, like, a week ago. ;) He wasn't asking what you think he was asking; he was actually asking if his cousin needed parental permission/supervision to go to Fanime itself.)

I wasn't sure because of the wording, but I figured you that's what you were asking. That'd be kinda bizarre if you were asking about whether your cousin could watch hentai, lol.

Yeah, I believe parental accompaniment is only required for ages 10 and under. Most large cons have the cutoff age anywhere between 13 and 18, so I dunno why it's 10 for Fanime...

So my cousin is a little scared to ask but me and my 2 cousins are going to Fanime this year and he was wondering if even though he is 17 will he be able to get in by having my other cousin with him who is 21 years old or if he can call his mom and have her give permission, if Hentai night/room whatever it is will be featured this year. Thanks for the help with this question

...Okay. Your question is worded strangely, so I can't exactly tell what you're asking. Others have assumed, possibly incorrectly, that you're basically asking if your 17-year-old cousin can watch hentai at Fanime.

Because of how ambiguous your question is, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that what you're trying to ask is this: can your 17-year-old cousin go to THE CONVENTION ITSELF even though there will be hentai shown in certain rooms? Yes, he can go to Fanime; he just can't go to any 18+ events/showings. He's old enough to go without being accompanied by an adult and technically also doesn't need parental permission to go (although I'm sure his mom will want to know where he's going before he leaves the house =P ).

However, if you are, in fact, asking if he can watch hentai at Fanime, the answer is no. This is for legal reasons. The Fanime staff would get into huge trouble if they were to show porn to under-18s, even if said under-18s supposedly had parental permission (and what parent would give that sort of permission anyway?).

EDIT: I wanna add that it'd be nice if you could get back to us and clarify what exactly you're asking.

(Hopefully I'm not causing a problem by posting this late. Was too shy and/or busy to post this earlier, sorry~)

At the Black and White Ball, there was one cute guy cosplaying as the Tenth Doctor who I wanted to dance with, but unfortunately, I caught him just as he was about to leave. I did get a picture with him though! =)

I was the brunette girl with the blue/green/purple strapless dress and dorky John Lennon glasses. =P

If you are the Tenth Doctor cosplayer I described above, you are awesome and we should dance next time! =)

Is there a way to find out which hotels will have a shuttle? Or is that all of them? We're trying to find a hotel that might at least be within walking distance of one with a shuttle (or one with a shuttle! Though slightly fat chance).

The only hotels with the shuttle are the three near Clockwork Alchemy - that would be the Holiday Inn, the San Jose Airport Hotel, and the DoubleTree. Fortunately, the rest of the hotels (i.e. the Hilton, the Marriott, the Hyatt, the Fairmont, the Sainte Claire, and the Ramada) are within two blocks of the Convention Center.

It seems there aren't any available rooms at any of the hotels available through Fanime Housing, though. I also believe you need to actually have a room at one of the three hotels where the shuttle service is available in order to use the shuttle. I think your best bet is to wait and see if any rooms open up (which will inevitably happen by April if not sooner than that).

I'm sure you do need a room at one of the hotels to use the shuttle but when I stayed at the Raddison(now the Airport hotel) the driver didn't ask, we just climbed right on. Plus there's the shuttle that goes straight from Fanime to Clockwork since you can go to both with one badge.

Ah. Thank you for the clarification. :)

Is there a way to find out which hotels will have a shuttle? Or is that all of them? We're trying to find a hotel that might at least be within walking distance of one with a shuttle (or one with a shuttle! Though slightly fat chance).

The only hotels with the shuttle are the three near Clockwork Alchemy - that would be the Holiday Inn, the San Jose Airport Hotel, and the DoubleTree. Fortunately, the rest of the hotels (i.e. the Hilton, the Marriott, the Hyatt, the Fairmont, the Sainte Claire, and the Ramada) are within two blocks of the Convention Center.

It seems there aren't any available rooms at any of the hotels available through Fanime Housing, though. I also believe you need to actually have a room at one of the three hotels where the shuttle service is available in order to use the shuttle. I think your best bet is to wait and see if any rooms open up (which will inevitably happen by April if not sooner than that).

Yes! There is a shuttle that goes from the Holiday Inn to the Convention Center, and vice versa. The shuttle also hits the San Jose Airport Hotel and the DoubleTree. I believe the shuttle takes ~10 minutes to go one way.

I actually just called DoubleTree where they are holding Clockwork Alchemy they said they are fully booked already.

As I said, the rooms are listed as "booked" because housing has blocked off all of the rooms for the con. What I meant was that last year, there were plenty of rooms available through Fanime Housing (and ONLY through Fanime Housing), when it became available in January, at the DoubleTree and other nearby hotels. I imagine that'll also be the case this year.

I apologize for not making that clear. Hopefully what I'm saying is clearer now.

My boyfriend called to book a room last month I think, and they told us the rooms were booked already. We were able to find a room somewhere else after a couple calls. But if what you say is the case then they should tell us to wait until the hotel booking is up to call, not tell us that the rooms are all booked already. Fortunately, we are able to cancel our spot at any time if the rooms will be open but I'd rather not worry myself because someone didn't translate the situation correctly.

What Gwydion and several others said above me is on point. To reiterate, the rooms are listed as "booked" because they've been blocked off by housing so that only con-goers will be able to book these rooms (as soon as housing goes up). Booking will probably be open later this month.

If you do want to keep the hotel room you already have rather than go through the trouble of cancelling and getting a new room later this month (and although I wouldn't recommend it, you can absolutely keep your current hotel room if you want to), just make sure you have a way to get back to your hotel that doesn't involve excessive walking. Downtown San Jose's not exactly a safe place to walk through at night... It might be safer during the con (I don't know, you'd have to ask others about that), but even then, I think you should avoid that situation if you can. Just to be safe, you know. ^_^

As OtakuMessiah said, you'll have to wait and see. I'm told that housing went up in January last year (I went last year but was too late to get a hotel room through housing), so I imagine it's only a matter of days before it goes up this year. When housing does become available, try to move quickly: apparently, last year, all of the rooms at the hotels closest to the convention center were taken in a matter of hours! (There were still plenty of rooms closer to where Fanime's sister convention Clockwork Alchemy took place, though, so you wouldn't be completely out of luck if you didn't move fast enough. You'd just have to take a shuttle to the convention center in that case.)

Hopefully you aren't too late to book a hotel room close by. Just about every hotel is booked solid within a 2 mile radius of the convention center.

This is incorrect! You are actually a bit early rather than too late. The rooms at many of the hotels near the convention center have been "booked" (really, they've just been blocked off) by Fanime Housing. This way, only con-goers will be able to book the blocked-off rooms. As I said, you'll probably be able to book a room later this month.

Thank you for the information! It's very helpful, even if the hotel situation looks pretty bleak. :P

I check the forums and main website at least once a day, so if there'll be advance notice at either of those places, I'll definitely see it. (I also have been checking Facebook and Twitter occasionally lately, but I know those are rarely updated.)

[EDIT: Also, thank you to the two three of you who answered below as well. ^_^]

I can't find the answers to these questions anywhere, so here goes.

Is it true that last year, all of the hotel rooms available through the Fanime housing website were booked in less than an hour? If that's true, then geez... How long has this been the case, all of the rooms booked so quickly?

Do they let you know in advance when housing will be available? I'd really rather not be left without a room this year...