Invincible Overlord wrote:Maybe you could rent out your place of residence for the Olympics, to cover the cost of Gencon...  

We did actually think seriously about that - or about renting out a room. We are only 5 mins walk to the railway station, and then 20 mins to the Olympic Stadium.

Cheers,
KAL

Bracton wrote:GenCon registration opens this Sunday.  So my son calls me from college today.  He wants to see what I'm going to do, because he and "a lot" (his words) of his friends are already starting to make plans to attend.  

Who says there's no next generation in role playing?

To save money, however, they're thinking about staying at one of the more distant hotels, and driving the 15 minutes to downtown.  He asked me about parking near the convention, but I've pretty much always stayed nearby and so didn't have to park.  Any suggestions?  Martin?

I always get a cheap, distant hotel and commute.

If they're trying to save money, make sure they don't use the really expensive parking garages right near the Center.  They get much cheaper if you go 3-6 blocks away and walk.

Prufrock wrote:
There will be plenty of parking but it will be expensive.  Parking on the street has gone up to $1.50/hour.  Garages will be just as expensive.  However, if they do not mind a little walk they can use the parking lot I use on Meridian rigth across from the Slippery Noodle Inn.  It is $5 a day, first come first serve.  It fill up by 9 AM.  There is a second parking lot just across the street.  The walk to the Convention center is about 4 blocks and it is not dangerous at all.

Martin

Wait wait. Dangerous? I literally walked Indy end to end when I went two years ago and there wasn't an instant where I felt like I couldn't handle what was going on. Granted, I am from Philadelphia.....so my opinions may be biased, but Indy is like the safest city I've ever been in lol. 3am I walked over to Steaks and Shakes for some food, I didn't see a single prostitute, ganger, drug dealer, nuthin'. I was surprised!

Zen

Blackmoor wrote:The VIG packages all sold out within a few hours  

Isn't that the norm?

Zenfinite wrote:Wait wait. Dangerous? I literally walked Indy end to end when I went two years ago and there wasn't an instant where I felt like I couldn't handle what was going on. Granted, I am from Philadelphia.....so my opinions may be biased, but Indy is like the safest city I've ever been in lol. 3am I walked over to Steaks and Shakes for some food, I didn't see a single prostitute, ganger, drug dealer, nuthin'. I was surprised!

Both years I went I didnt see any of the riff-raff you mentioned either.  Did see quite a few homeless people hanging around the convention center asking for change though.  One of them was about 6'7", had long, unwashed blonde hair, wore a filthy trenchcoat, and was preaching about the gospel of Thor as we walked by.  Course he could have been a convention-goer for all I knew.  Either that or one of the Indiana Pacers.

The only time I felt like I was in even in a wee bit of danger was late Sunday night the second year.  We were walking from the Hard Rock Cafe back to the Westin and I was wearing a Dallas Cowboys shirt.  There had been a Colts pre-season game that afternoon and a small group of Colts fans walked by.  One of them started spewing profanities at us and we just kept walking.  He was obviously drunk by the way he kept falling down.  But he kept screaming at us and followed us most of the way to the hotel.  I cant remember if we scared him off or if he passed out on a bench, but he eventually stopped.  With all the cops in downtown during the convention I doubt anything would have happened.

The most dangerous thing about Indy during Gen Con is the smell of the gutters mixed with the stank of some the gamers.  

Prufrock wrote:There will be plenty of parking but it will be expensive.  Parking on the street has gone up to $1.50/hour.  Garages will be just as expensive.  However, if they do not mind a little walk they can use the parking lot I use on Meridian rigth across from the Slippery Noodle Inn.  It is $5 a day, first come first serve.  It fill up by 9 AM.  There is a second parking lot just across the street.  The walk to the Convention center is about 4 blocks and it is not dangerous at all.

Martin

Thanks, Martin.    I knew you'd have a good idea about parking.

By the way, do you think they'll have the zipline up for GenCon?  I'd love to see some gamers flying high overhead . . . as long as I'm not right below them.     (For those who don't know what I'm referring to, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AWri-eWQKg .)

tiro wrote:You can turn down the wrong street on your way to see, like Betsy Ross's house, and end up getting your ass kicked for free.  Or find a nice little Italian restaurant.

I'm from the Philadelphia area, and sadly I can attest to the fact that this is in no way an exaggeration.

Badmike wrote:
Wow, I remember an incident I had that same night.  Walking back from the dinner at the Hard Rock, 3 drunken fools  with Colts jerseys (coming back from the same event that King mentioned) started following me and my wife and making comments.  They were working up the courage to try to beat us up (I'm positive of this) when we got to a stoplight, it turned green, they crossed and then realized my wife and I had stayed behind.  They screamed at us from across the street as we walked to the next block and crossed over at another light.  The only reason I wasn't worried is that they were so drunk my wife and I could have taken them (one was noisily sick in the street while walking behind us at one point).  Other than the filthy drunken Colt's fans, the streets of Indy were totally safe and I remember walking back to the hotel room early one morning about 4 am after a game of Tower of Gygax with no fear of anything bad happening.

Mike B.

Same incident.  We were all together at the time.  The whole reason they started in on us was because I was wearing the Cowboys shirt.  

Simple solution.
Get a custom Tee that says:
"Colts 2011: 2 & 14"

Prufrock wrote:
So you learned your lesson:  Don't wear crappy Cowboys jersy in Indy.

Martin

Can I wear a Manning jersey, or will he be the enemy once he gets booted and goes to the Jets???  

Mike B.