Dragon*Con vs. Anime Weekend Atlanta

I've been attending conventions of all stripes -- comic conventions, furry conventions, hacker conventions -- since... well, I couldn't give you an exact date, but it was around the time it was still cool to wear Pikachu as a backpack. Since then I've learned to appreciate what goes into a good convention: interesting People, awesome art, cool costumes, good shopping, and great panels. You can do without one or two and still have a good convention, but it's hard.

Dragon*Con, sadly, has gotten too big for its own good. It's not that conventions have a maximum size they can become -- but HOTELS certainly do, and even with three large hotels to split the efforts, Dragon*Con is consistently too plump for its own good and refuses to expand itself.

It's to the point where security admits attendance was around 60,000 but the conventioneers only say 30,000, because any larger than that and the fire marshals would get pissed off.

The Hyatt -- the ONLY hotel of the three to stay open at all hours, and thus contains all of the nighttime fun like the Cruxshadows concerts, the late night hentai, and of course the scantily clad women -- is constantly shut down with the exits blocked off, making a fire hazard not just for convention folk but also for people just trying to return to their hotel rooms.

(Naturally, the CONSUITE is also in this hotel, and only in this hotel. Wouldn't it make sense to have a consuite PER hotel, if anything?)

In fact, a critical problem of Dragon*Con is that EVERYTHING convention-critical is in the Hyatt. The building simply isn't BUILT for a convention of this magnitude.

The Cobb Galleria, on the other hand, is built for conventions. Wide doors. Huge alleyways. An Artist's Alley that's well away from the rest of the shopping, so a single entry point isn't overwhelmed. The place is spacious, and so it's easier for costumed folk (and the less mobile) to move around.

At Dragon*Con? God help you if you're in a wheelchair and waiting an eternity for the elevators! (Let alone trying to get past someone in a wheelchair...)

They're both good conventions, but if you want less of the "incidental" hassle of having to fight hordes of people just to get where you want to be... go to Anime Weekend Atlanta!