Fut the whuk? Did you by chance report that pizza vendor?
Report it to who? There was a thread on this forum about this a few months ago and that discussion had something to the effect of "Hot box is the official pizza of GenCon" I said something then and it fell on deaf ears. The best I can do is not give that pizza place my money
Isn't there like a Better business bureau like org you can report them to??
I generally avoid crowds, and lines. If you're interested in GenCon, it's worth the travel time. If you're only interested in a few of the most popular things, yeah you'll probably be waiting in lines or they may already be sold out anyway. There are SO MANY other things to do the entire time that you'll be busy as long as you want to be. I like to go to the dealer hall on Friday and Saturday- they close at 6, and I will save most of my gaming time for after then. Mayfair Games has a GREAT setup- buy a ribbon (I think it's $25) and you can play unlimited Mayfair games for the whole con. You can collect ribbons for each new game you demo, and they have drawings & prizes on Sunday. We usually do most of our Mayfair demos late at night. The lines I've seen: Will call (sometimes, not always), Swag bag line, a couple celebrities I wanted to meet, True Dungeon, and usually food if we go to a restaurant. However- ALL the lines I've encountered in the 3 years we've been attending, have moved faster than most other places, and the crowd is amazingly nice people. So yeah, ignore your friends. It's worth attending.
To further echo what's been said, the only major lineups I can remember seeing are: - Will-call (but it moves really fast - which is good for those of us who have no choice but to use it) - Celebrity signings (these can be slow; trick is to get there early...or not bother) - Author's/artist's avenue where people line up to pay for their purchases (not going to be an issue this year, I believe; it's being done differently) - Auction consignment store (this one's random - sometimes it's nice and fast (or short, or nonexistent), other times it's a bog) - Lineups at specific vendor booths for deals, giveaways, etc. (random) - Various restaurants and bars near the ICC (oddly enough, though I don't like lineups these don't bother me much as they're a great place to meet people) - People getting to major events early to get a good seat (self-inflicted)
The crowd outside the dealer hall at 9:55 a.m. Thursday I don't consider to be a lineup. It's more like an unofficial event in and of itself.
The only other place/time things really get jammed up - and I mean jammed up good - is when most of the main floor of the ICC gets taken over at about 3 p.m. Saturday for the costume parade. One year I got trapped in the Auction room for half an hour. Another year this jam-up made me late enough for an event that I got dropped from it. You'd think I would learn from this and make sure to be elsewhere, but every chance I get I manage to forget about the parade until it happens...by which time it's too late.
Other than that, however, lineups and crowds aren't much of an issue at all.
From the Event Description: This ribbon allows you entry into any of our ticketed events & our evening Git-Togethers throughout Gen Con (excluding tournaments and charity events). Open gaming library included!
I'm not sure that Gen Con could be called "overcrowded". Yes, it is a lot of people in a relatively small space, but it's no different than a college football game or our state fair. Heck, the town I live in is smaller than the Gen Con attendance, so anything there is going to seem crowded to me. But it is not so packed that it seems like the world's largest gathering of sardine imitators. It will be much busier than what I am used to day-to-day, but it is also well worth it.
True, I didn't know who to say something to. Maybe one of the admins could post something here as to who to talk to?
I looked at the food trucks, and the lines, and though to myself, "It's a trap!"
I love eating at restaurants when on vacation (both new and ones I've been to before) but Gen Con has reached that tipping point where I have started to bring more and more of my own food for breakfast, dinner, and snacks. And it's not a "save money for the dealer room" issue, it's an "I don't want to wait in line for an hour or two to get a table" issue. Granted, at Gen Con, I'm usually eating alone, either because I'm at the con by myself or because my schedule rarely meshes with my friends. So if there's no room at the bar, it's even harder to get a table. Would love to pump some money into the local Indy economy, but it's just not that feasible anymore. About the only place I can consistently find a space to eat with a not-too-long line is at the ICC cafeterias. Wish the food was of a higher quality, but, you take what you can get. :)
Last year, the food trucks I ate at weren't bad--the quality of the food for what they were charging was decent enough--and the lines weren't too long when I went. My issue was not being able to find somewhere to sit and eat afterwards as we weren't supposed to bring outside food into the ICC. :p
Food trucks: when you combine the lines, the pricing, the horrible customer service, and the inconsistent quality, it's just not worth it IMHO.
I'm not trying to dispute other people's experience, especially since I don't know all the factors at play. But I've simply not run into problems timewise with resturants. Even ones relatively close. I think it REALLY helps to go at off peak times and be willing to walk a few blocks.
But again, yes, I realize I can't take everybody's circumstances into consideration. There will be times that someone's only got peak food times free, and yeah, that'll be an awful experience. But folks are making the difficulties sound so continuous and consistent, and from my point of view, it's simply not been that bad, as long as the peak times are avoided and a bit of distance - not too far, certainly no further than some hotels are - is taken.
The Indy City Market is filled with great places to eat and has relatively short lines:
http://www.indycm.com/
Looks to me a lot more than just 10m walk.. I'd say 20min.. As its on the other side of the mall.