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PAX PRIME 2012 Information and FAQ (READ THIS FIRST, THEN ASK ALL QUESTIONS HERE)
Posts
BYOC- how exactly does BYOC work? Is it just a little room with Internet acces for people with laptops, do they host BYOC tournaments, ect.
Parties for >21- Im an under 21, And I am hearing that a lot of the pre/post PAX parties are at bars and the such, and Seattle is pretty strict on the no minors rule (well, Oregon is too)(and not like I would want to go to a bar, Alchohol smells gross to me >.<) Is there any parties and such for minors, because I really want to get social and meet new people
BYOC: It's a casual LAN. It's definitely not just a little room with Internet access, it's a PAX LAN with a lot of LAN activities. That said, it's casual, so there aren't any hardcore tournaments or what have you. There are contests and various LAN-style events, but it's meant to fit in with the overall fun and relaxed nature of PAX (as in, nothing like MLG or any hardcore LANs). Some BYOC people spend the majority of their PAX time in BYOC, some people don't. It's one part of PAX, so even though participants want to do some LANing, they likely want to do other parts of PAX too.
Parties: There might be parties for under 21, but I wouldn't bet on them being in 100% alcohol free venues. There /may/ be totally dry (alcohol free) parties, but it's not a typical thing considering the average demographic that party-throwers are trying to hit is usually in the 21+ crowd. That doesn't mean they don't want to include under 21, but most venues make it difficult to do both, and the venues make more money when there's booze flowing. If you want to hit up an under 21 friendly party, you'll have to keep your eyes peeled for them (there's usually a party thread close to PAX on these forums that may have information in that regard).
As far as getting social and meeting new people, that's pretty much ALL of PAX. Participating in community activities that are organized on this forum are a fantastic way to start, as there are lots of pre-pax activities organized by this community. Also, just playing games and talking with other people at PAX is part of the PAX experience and you'll likely meet a ton of new people if you keep yourself open to it during the con.
Any frequent PAX Primers that could point me in the right direction? I am driving a VERY long way, 2000+ miles, and I am willing to pay a little higher price to be able to be within walking distance (because I dont want to deal with parking and driving downtown). But I also am a college student, thusly I have a limited budget. Less expenses for travel/hotel means more money for fun around the convention. =)
Oh well, nothing is set in stone yet, we are still trying to decide if its worth it to stay in the city and be able to walk to/from everything or stay further away and have to drive in with our car or via taxi/bus. A few of us are leaning towards the city option just because it is our first PAX and think that itll end up being worth it because we can show up earlier and stay later.
What I do, since I drive up from Portland, is drop off my stuff at the hotel, then stash my car at one of my friends' place and bus it back to downtown. If you're staying downtown, there's really no reason to have a car on you (hell, I know people who live in the Seattle area who still get a hotel by the convention center simply because driving to/from home is too much of a drag), so stashing it miles away works out fine. Granted, this does hinge on you finding a place to stow it that you actually trust.
Updated!
Again, though, that's for the extremely budget conscious who have a car as the 40 minute ride is a helluva annoyance. You can also park in garages and lots around downtown, but generally not overnight. And the expense of that will probably offset your hotel savings.
I read that the hotels are like 150-200 bucks, but over at Kayak I find that there are Hostels and other Hotels about a mile away that are waaay cheaper. Is there some sort of disadvantage on using these or what? I'm also planning to go since wednesday, since there are a whole bunch of activities since then right?
There's plenty of community stuff going on from wednesday, so no worries there.
If you buy a hotel through Kayak, and it turns out that it's one of the ones that PAX has also bought a block at, you could potentially end up getting booted by the hotel out in favour of the official booking block.
In addition, they're further away. I know that seems obvious, but proximity is a big determination in price, and is often worth paying extra for.
About the same year to year... I wouldn't have expected any DRASTIC changes. Prices vary depending on the hotel, what's being talked about here is /average/.
I stayed that the Grand Hyatt Last year, and I can assure you they didn't include parking and I don't expect them to change this year. And there was no discount either for having a room (in fact I believe it was more expensive than day parking in the exact same garage, they use that one right next to the WSCC.) However, IIRC (and someone else may need to correct me on this) some garages don't allow overnight parking (unless you go through your hotel.) So even though the Hyatt shared a garage with the WSCC, we were under the impression that to park overnight we had to use the Hyatt rate/Valet. (Also that came with 24 hour in/out privledges, which was kinda nice. We didn't know if we'd need them. If was our friends car actually, I don't know if he used them or not.)
I'll reiterate what I wrote above, depending on where you're coming from my math shows that much above 1500 miles it actually becomes cheaper to fly rather than drive once you take into account the mid-way hotel room, food etc. Granted if you're coming from somewhere very far from a major regional airport that may vary. STL isn't exactly known for it's low low airfares since we lost hub status. Tickets are running ~$400 (round trip) now, but I expect them to drop to well below $350 possibly even below $300. Last year we scored round trip non-stop tickets for $250.
But im not gonna lie, an epic road trip is kind of enticing...
4 was the Magic number I arrived at to get it cheaper. There will be a "Westward aviation" thread closer to PAX where people post what planes their on. Last year I posted significant price drops in there too (Prices *tend* to drop nationwide around the same time, YMMV, Do your own searches and such.) I have Kayak set up to give me a weekly email of prices, when we get closer (mid May-ish?) I'll switch to a daily email.
If you buy them now, you'll get the actual badges via mail and can physically give it to him.
You can give one to him, but you only get one omegathon entry if you buy them together (and it would be in your name)
You can buy two and just hand him one (that's usually how my wife and I do it) although it's worth noting that buying seperately increases your chances (marginally I suppose) to be chosen for the omegathon.
It is $25 or $30 (per 24 hrs) to leave your car in the parking garage across from the Convention Center. We stayed at the Sheraton but put the car in this garage instead. The Sheraton was charging the same amount to park, but would not let you have access to the garage. If you wanted anything from your car, the valet would have to go get your car. This isn't a big deal if your car will just sit all weekend and you don't need anything in there, and it is more secure this way I'm sure. However, it is polite to tip them, so really it is more expensive to valet the car in this situation.
Looks like next week or the week after. Here is what the site says:
"Oh what a day, what a LOVELY DAY!"
I thought last year hotels went up before passes. I know they did for east this year ;) According to paxsite though it says a week or two.
if you want to have reserved space for it, etc, I assume you have to register as an exhibitor or be an enforcer... I could be wrong though. Email [email protected] for an official answer.
PAX Prime Attendee since 2006, BYOC Attendee 2008-2012, Buttoneer 2010-2014
https://www.pinnypals.com/pals/alegria
If you got charged, I think an email to [email protected] is probably enough to get this resolved. I sincerely doubt they would not fix it when you already have a charge pending.
Same here I would really like to know as well since I have purchased quite a few tickets for my family/friends and am out of funds.