Hitchhiker's Guide to PAX East 2011 - OP Updated

Rdr

Welcome to the Hitchhiker's Guide to PAX East 2011!

View the Mobile Version | Download the PAX Assistant w/ HGtPE for Android

This guide was created by Rdr with contributions from ArsonIsFun, Euicho, Frugus, Trinistand and Zerzhul. We hope this Guide helps you in your journey through
PAX East. Keep in mind that this is our foundation and next year there will be many more additions. Feel free to contact Rdr (Rider Miller)
by email at ridermiller@gmail.com or by twitter if you have questions or want to be part of the HGtPE team for 2012.

@hgpaxeast | HGtPE on Facebook

Table of Contents

• PAX East 2011
  • BCEC (Boston Convention and Exhibition Center)
  • Departments within PAX
  • BYOC
  • Advice for Surviving the Lines
  • Who are Enforcers?
  • Official PAX and PAX Community Twitter/Facebook links
  • PAX Survival List
  • Useful Utilities and Mobile Applications

• Tourism
  • Sights
  • Museums
  • Breweries
  • Magical Mystery Tour (MMT)

• Travel, Lodging & Dining
  • International Traveler's Guide (Updated for 2011)
  • MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority known as the T)
  • What to do at 2AM When PAX Closes
  • Authorized Cab Companies
  • Parking near BCEC
  • Restaurants Near BCEC
  • Restaurants Around Boston
  • Grocery Stores, Food Marts and Gas Stations
  • Hospitals, Clinics and Pharmacies nearby BCEC

• Community & Sponsored Events
  • Pre-PAX
    • PrePax Breakfast!
    • PAX East Train Alliance 2011 (PAXTrain East!)
    • PrePAX Dinner East - Dick's Last Resort
    • Pre-PAX Lunchtime Fried Food Extravaganza II
    • Pre-PAX East Gaming Night returns
  • Ongoing
    • PAX Pokemon League: East
    • PAX East Trading Cards 2011
    • PAX East Pokewalker Meetups
    • PAX East 2011 Scavenger Hunt
    • PAX East '11 Costumes!
    • PAX Prank East 2011
    • PAX East 2011 Cookie Brigade
    • MAGFest Jamspace PART III
  • Friday
    • GLBT Meetup
  • Saturday
    • PAX East IRC Meetup
  • Sunday
    • PAX East 2011 Dim Sum
    • Girls Meetup at East

realisticradical

Sweet. Hooray for hhg pax east! I can't wait to get started.

feitocomfruta

I know, it's gonna be awesome!

ElmoTeHAzN

Hopefully this will be very helpful and Ill be able to go to PAX East this year...Wanted to go last year but was sidetracked =(

juju

*digs in*

Onmitsu

Just scribble on the cover: Don't Panic.

arsonisfun

Allow me to volunteer to take care of updating all of the restaurant pages

Aereus

arsonisfun wrote: »

Allow me to volunteer to take care of updating all of the restaurant pages

You're going to get everyone massively drunk. I know what happens when you "guide" people. As such, I fully support this.

Rdr

arsonisfun wrote: »

Allow me to volunteer to take care of updating all of the restaurant pages

I can't think of anyone better to do it.

Jenga!

Thank you for doing this! I'll be headed to East for the first time, from the opposite side of the country and have already had a nightmare about being lost and alone after-hours

undead

I work on a convention that runs in the connecting hotel in February. I can snag a restaurant guide (covers a lot of ground) and can fill you in with details on the Westin Waterfront.

Rdr

undead wrote: »

I work on a convention that runs in the connecting hotel in February. I can snag a restaurant guide (covers a lot of ground) and can fill you in with details on the Westin Waterfront.

Feb 2011? I'm hoping to have this guide done by Dec 1st, 2010 for the most part. The guide would still be useful for last minute additions to anything arson missed though.

feitocomfruta

I think I'm going to try to come up with the general travel knowledge, seeing as I am a PAX virgin. So I can take over the To and From Boston part of travel, as long as some veterans and locals can take over the in-city stuff. Also, I'll help out with whatever else I can.

undead

It runs in February, I can have the stuff next month (last year's restaurant guide and pertinent hotel info. Although, I should ask if there was any really specific info you were looking for about the hotel or do you just want the general rundown?).

Keep in mind, the detailed info is going to be for the connecting hotel (Westin Waterfront). I'd have limited info from other hotels in the area.

I also have basic info on the BCEC I can give you. Alas, I've only been in that building once. Nice place, but whatever you do, don't eat there.

Rdr

Ya general details about the BCEC would be good from a person's perspective rather than through what it says on their site.

That also reminds me that we should get basic info on the hotels through the travel desk when its up. Like what commodities they have, etc.

feitocomfruta

I think we need to get in contact with the organizers of all the forum events NOW so that they know we exist and that way they can help keep us updated on their info so we can post it to the HHGTPE

Rdr

feitocomfruta wrote: »

I think we need to get in contact with the organizers of all the forum events NOW so that they know we exist and that way they can help keep us updated on their info so we can post it to the HHGTPE

Good thinking. I can shoot heels an email.

I was waiting for people to catch up to my excitement for PAX East before really diving into this guide and it looks like the time has come.

Rdr

I've added a forum guide in the OP so people can easily find threads pertaining to East.

I also noticed we got quite a bit of spam on the wiki. I am going to work on some antispam measures without having to have people asking me to make them an account. If you see spam then please delete it.

Krissta

Yup, this thread is full of win! This is going to be my savior planning the trip. I'm kinda the OCD-overplanner type.

juju

Exciting times!

The MBTA has released open source information about real-time tracking for the Red, Orange and Blue lines today \o/

It'll be dev-ed into existing iPhone/Android apps and web apps by the end of the week. Can't wait to do some research on it when that happens for the Wiki because we all know geeks like me love their web apps.

alyu85

Well here are some apps with real-time tracking and schedule info. Thank God I've lived in Boston my whole life.

http://www.mbta.com/rider_tools/apps/

VisionOfClarity

To be honest, I'll probably still just stick to calling the schedule line and asking instead of using an app.

For directions including public transit the google map app on the iphone has always done a good job.

zerzhul

can you Lime the main link to the wiki guide? also maybe make it a little bigger and the VERY first thing on this OP. Honestly I had to look for it because so many other things catch my attention more.

Rdr

Thanks, zerzhul. I hope it sticks out pretty good now.

Rdr

Big news!

Yesterday I emailed Nick Swar the creator of the PAX Assistant 2010 app which was so beloved and he is going to link HGtPE and include the guide in its entirety within the PAX East Assistant 2011 app!

Also, we not have a fb username! You can get to HGtPE on fb by going to http://www.facebook.com/hgpaxeast

RumpleForeSkin

you forgot an important part of the weather:

During baseball season, flashing red means the Boston Red Sox game has been called off on account of weather.

VisionOfClarity

PAX is two weeks before the season begins.

Rdr

Did a little work on the wiki today. The first thing I did was remove more spam. I had to make it where people have to sign up for an account and sign in to edit now. Sorry everyone.

I upgraded the skin to the Vector skin that Wikipedia uses. I love it and think its much better than the old style and figured it should match Wikipedia.

The main page is under construction. I am going to do something above the table of contents but have to figure out what and how. All with time. Speaking of table of contents there is a preliminary toc now. The goal is to have the guide read like a book. Also I want people to get quick access to everything on the main page.

Each page will have ways to get back to the main chapter or move on to the next page or move back. It'll be a bit of work but worth it. When creating a new page you have to remember to include it in the toc and add in the navigation.

The table of contents looks different than in the OP because the OP is ideas and some of it can be put into one page rather than spread out.

The overall plan is to create a skeleton and have people fill in the blanks I'm not able to. I plan on trying to do some more work to it tonight if I stay away and then tomorrow.

Rdr

Updated forum guide to include to threads.

Also looks like I have finally thwarted the spamming on the site. No new spam in 2 days. phew!

Tentura

Props to everyone working on this! This will be my first trip to PAX East, so I'm sure I'll be checking the guide out frequently to prepare. I just booked a room at the Westin waterfront and my flight! Sooo excited!

arsonisfun

heya

made an accout for the wiki, I'm guessing I'll need access granted to create/modify pages.

I should be able to get the framework of restaurant listings up in a week or two, then I'll slowly flesh it out.

Rdr

arsonisfun wrote: »

heya

made an accout for the wiki, I'm guessing I'll need access granted to create/modify pages.

I should be able to get the framework of restaurant listings up in a week or two, then I'll slowly flesh it out.

Awesome. By creating an account gives you access to create/modify any page except for the Main Page. That is the only page protected.

feitocomfruta

Sorry I haven't been around for a while on here, but I plan on getting my NaNo on in November, so I'll need something to distract me from work, cosplay design, and NaNo-ing. I will get all the US travel info for international and transcontinental people.

Rdr

Just a bump. Been working/holidays/hanging with friends and being generally lazy. Oh and was sick for like 10 days

Gonna be some big updates this weekend and then going to start making the final push and have this thing ready for public Feb 1st.

juju

arsonisfun wrote: »

heya

made an accout for the wiki, I'm guessing I'll need access granted to create/modify pages.

I should be able to get the framework of restaurant listings up in a week or two, then I'll slowly flesh it out.

I am down for adding some help for restos. Will you be sorting by type or distance from the convention center?

kropotkin

Nice work Rdr. You do need to update the International Traveler's Guide section of the site as a new thread has been developed for it. I tweak the guide every year to ensure it's up to date and doesn't have any useless information on it. Every year I find the world is getting smaller and smaller and difficulties of previous years become less prevalent.

Anyway, do make the relevant changes if you please to the Wiki and the OP. Cheers.

GeekBoston

I'm a Boston native & know the area like the back of my hand. Any questions that need answering about the city or sections of the wiki that need input, let me know!

arsonisfun

juju wrote: »

arsonisfun wrote: »

heya

made an accout for the wiki, I'm guessing I'll need access granted to create/modify pages.

I should be able to get the framework of restaurant listings up in a week or two, then I'll slowly flesh it out.

I am down for adding some help for restos. Will you be sorting by type or distance from the convention center?

There is a section for stuff near BCEC and then a catch-all for Boston which I was breaking down by type. My rough plan is to link each restaurant to it's Yelp page since there is stupid amounts of info there already. I'm mostly just picking places I think are good. I've lived here for 10 years and I'm a serious eater so I should have a solid base, but any help is of course welcome

euicho

I've been updating the wiki today. I figure PAX East is less than 2 months away and we have a lot to do! I've added a restaurant template to make adding them easier. Edit the Grasshopper page to see how it works. It's pretty simple stuff. If you have any trouble using it just let me know.

Blank template:

{{Infobox Restaurant|Name=|Cuisine=|Address=|Distance=|Phone=|Hours=|Menu=|Website=}}

Rdr

euicho wrote: »

I've been updating the wiki today. I figure PAX East is less than 2 months away and we have a lot to do! I've added a restaurant template to make adding them easier. Edit the Grasshopper page to see how it works. It's pretty simple stuff. If you have any trouble using it just let me know.

Blank template:

{{Infobox Restaurant|Name=|Cuisine=|Address=|Distance=|Phone=|Hours=|Menu=|Website=}}

I know arsonisfun is handing the restaurant stuff. I think he was going to link to yelp pages rather than creating a page for each place on the wiki. But the template can be used when we talk about various places.

As for the wiki, I see you've done some editing. Thanks! Life+Weather+Work have been busy lately but tomorrow afternoon/evening and Sunday are free and I plan on getting some pages done. Want to make that stable release date for Feb 1st

euicho

Awesome. I'm fine with linking to Yelp, why reinvent the wheel after all.

Any chance my account can be set so I don't have to answer a math question every time I edit?