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[PRIME] The 6th Annual West Coast Train Trip
Posts
Normally, I stock up on junkfood or real food in zip lock bags in my carry on. I usually go for a couple of dining car meals before we hit Seattle. We don't get access to microwaves or stuff like that although there are some in the snack car but they only use it on the stuff you buy from them. There is an extended stop in Northern California where we stop for like 20 minutes and can get off and buy some food from the cafe in one of the stations which is... okay from my experience.
There was a pizza run last year where someone came on the train with like 10 pizzas and people had paid to get some although the results weren't all positive.
Their was confusion on who paid, and who did not pay. Alot of us paid for the pizza, and when it got to the train it was clear their was not enough pizza for the amount of people. Many folks admitted they were not aware and chipped in some.
The idea was great, if we decide to do it again, maybe group 2-3 people up per box and see if the pizza guys will put a group name per box/box's. We are all a family on the train, and I personally don't mind sharing. But we should work on organizing the pizza run a bit more for this year.
just my 0.2c
Triwizard Drinking Tournament - '09 !Hufflepuff unofficial conscript, '10 !Gryffindor
Nerd blog at culturalgeekgirl.com
[X] Train tix
[_] Finish Vivi costume
[X] Anxiously wait
I'm trying to decide...PAX Dev, or the PAX Train. They'll probably be mutually exclusive.
Hell, even when we had the "random drunk passes out and punches the paramedic who helps him and then gets arrested" incident a couple of years ago, we got to Seattle right on time.
Basically, we've been early/on-time like, 3 of the last 4 times I've been on the train.
My friends and I did the Triwizard and Train last year and it worked out fine. We changed into our Hogwarts uniforms on the train and booked it via cab to our hotel after the group pic. Dumped our stuff at the hotel and then cabbed it to our first bar. Our House boy was very understanding and had given us his contact info beforehand so we could meet up with them if the train got in late. If I wasn't looking to Enforce this year I'd train again, and still Triwizard it up. It's totally doable and honestly the crawl goes til the bars shutdown, so you have plenty of time if you know where to meet your group.
On the touchy-pizza note.. my friends and I ordered our own pizzas separately through the same company at the Portland stop. We ate them in the bottom of the main car away from the group and it was fine for us. If you're really worried about food that is always an option, just make sure you get your order in with the same delivery guy. Also, you might not be the most popular people when you walk through the cabin with pizzas and declare "sorry, these are privately owned".
!Ravenclaw Deatheaters, represent!
So...I want to be clear...is there a specific pizza place in Oregon where people have had a history of having them delivered to the train station directly?
[X] Train tix
[_] Finish Vivi costume
[X] Anxiously wait
Thanks for the info about the Triwizard logistics. I'm still somewhat torn between the train and PAXDev, but at least now I know they're both options.
Also, there's something magical about the idea of changing into your Hogwarts robes on the train.
Triwizard Drinking Tournament - '09 !Hufflepuff unofficial conscript, '10 !Gryffindor
Nerd blog at culturalgeekgirl.com
1) Is it worth it to try bringing a laptop along or are there not chargers / space enough to really use them?
2) Is the return trip worth it at all or am I better off trying to get a flight? Mainly asking since I'd need to take a extra hotel night if so, granted all the flights are super expensive at this point.
3) Does it take all that long for things to get started up? I'd be getting on in LA but that sounds like the case for most people here.
I kind of want to do this if only because it sounds like a fun experience and I might not have the free time to do it next year. It sounds like a chance to meet up with some people and get into some different aspects of PAX (I've pretty much never been a card or tabletop person). Anyways, depending on what I decide to do I might be able to bring a small console / monitor and maybe get some co-op stuff running on a laptop.
2) Return trip is up to you. People are sort of winding down and/or trying not to spread whatever disease they picked up on the trip back. I've stopped taking the trip back down so I could fly back home in a few hours and spend the extra day off for myself.
3) The party starts once they check our tickets at our seats. Then we migrate up to the obs deck. Some people may prefer to game with people in their seats if the noise is too much for them. Find whatever suits you.
1)Personally laptops don't seems too worth it to me since they're a bit of a hassle to fit in your bags and they are a bit antisocial. The whole magic of the PAX Train is to get away from the tv screens and game with your fellow train-goers. Thus life long friendships can be formed, possibly kidding on this last part.
2) As Arikado stated, the train ride back is definitely not as action packed as the ride up due to the lack of energy and most people are just gamed out. But if you are looking to squeeze that last bit of PAX fun in, this might be for you.
3) The party don't start til I walk in! (Kesha has done horrible things to me.)
XBL/PSN-Polaris314/Twitter/DJ P0LARI5
edit...20%! wow!
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=am/Layout&cid=1248543278910
[X] Train tix
[_] Finish Vivi costume
[X] Anxiously wait
The discounts only apply if you're purchasing the tickets from the same stop. If a single stop wants to coordinate with 10+ people to get that discount, then it'd work, but otherwise..
!Ravenclaw Deatheaters, represent!
Also: Tickets acquired. Yay, train!
I've got around 2.5TB worth of anime, and 2TB worth of pretty much every movie released in the last 4 years. I'd be willing to bring my laptop. Last year the game cart was hardly used. We used it off and on for board games. But at night, it would be a cool thing to watch some anime/movies. I can bring some decent speakers so we can all hear.
If anyone is taking the train, and can bring one. PM me.
Also if anyone knows any good 4-player games from Steam let me know, I have Jamestown, Magicka, and Nation Red that seem to work. If they work on Mac that's a plus too, but I'll probably be able to run a Windows partition for the Xbox controllers.
It's my first paxtrain ride, I usually live in Seattle but this summer I'm working in SoCal. (Out of curiosity, which train station is closest to someone in the Pasadena area?)
How crowded does this thing get, what is the usual attendance?
If you take the Gold Line that will get you right to Union Station where I think this should be boarding from. I don't know which Pasadena station you'd be going for but usually I get on around Madre Street (right off the 210 freeway). You do have to pay a couple of bucks to ride the train though, I think it's like $5-ish?
Edit:
Here's the website for it, I usually take this line to go down to LA when I don't feel like driving.
http://www.metro.net/around/rail/gold-line/
If I do come, which is at this point fifty-fifty, I'll bring my copy of the D&D newredbox.
Triwizard Drinking Tournament - '09 !Hufflepuff unofficial conscript, '10 !Gryffindor
Nerd blog at culturalgeekgirl.com
First time going to PAX ( and obviously first time on the PAXTrain)
in the past some Dungeon Masters have opted to take sign ups for at least one of their campaigns here in the thread, with a set time(s) that gaming would be taking place. If one opts to organize a game after they're on the train that works too. I leave that entirely up to the DM, but if any one wants to organize a game here in the thread let me know and i'll add all relevant details about your game to the OP.
That said, I will be gaming most of the time, but will need time away from that from time to time. TIME.