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NEWS: Anime Expo to Offer Free 24-Hour Hotel Shuttles




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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15335
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:14 am Reply with quote
Quote:
The shuttles will be available every 7 to 12 minutes


But in L.A. time, that's really 45 minutes. Rolling Eyes
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Asrialys



Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 1162
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:03 am Reply with quote
*hopes hotel for staff is walking distance*

Wonder how this will work out for cosplayers with props...
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mokitty



Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 106
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:23 am Reply with quote
It sort of worked for Star Wars Celebration at the LACC. Shuttles were meant to run every 10-15 minutes from the same hotels. Only one of the hotels (the one not serviced by shuttles, I think it was a Westin or something) was in convenient walking distance. You could do the walk from the Wilshire Grand but it was a bit of a hike carrying props or merchandise, and not the kind of walk you generally wanted to make in the middle of the night since nothing's open after 6pm except for the IHOP and Subway and you're right in the center of L.A.'s "this is where everyone went when we shut down the asylum" (as it was referred to years ago by some locals I lived with down there) district.

The traffic wasn't the only problem -- there was no standardized routes the busses took. I imagine there were supposed to be but the drivers didn't seem to know it. Sometimes they'd go to all the hotels on their list, sometimes not, sometimes you'd be redirected around a movie shoot, sometimes not, sometimes your bus would show up on time, and sometimes, not... the only real good point about it was you could deliberately hop on the wrong bus and take a free ride to the Kawada to tour Little Tokyo. That may sound real pessimistic, but for a venue as large as the LACC, which had hotels far away long before SWC got there, I would have thought they'd have something more efficient worked out from experience. This surely wasn't the first major event they hosted that had visitors coming in from all over.

As for people with costumes, the busses were the standard chartered tour-type with the padded captain seats and dick all as far as leg room or aisle space. Hopefully they will have resolved some of these issues, but I can't imagine there's much they could do about the busses. If you plan to go costumed, be aware that county law requires all passengers on that type of bus to be seated before it can get underway -- if your costume is bulky, you're going to either be dressing when you get to the LACC, or walking.

Frankly, after my experience with the LACC, I remain surprised as all heck that they ever announced an AX there. The convention center itself is great but the surrounding area is a ghost town of far-spaced hotels, restaurants and shops that close at the end of the 9-to-5 workday, and drunkards peeing on people's cars. But hey, maybe the area has improved. They were supposedly building a new grocery store across from the convention center. All I know is that Lucasfilm is suing a now-defunct Gencon after the latter went bankrupt trying to run the Star Wars convention there. In spite of attendance in the 35-40k range.
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Sticks



Joined: 14 Apr 2007
Posts: 199
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:45 pm Reply with quote
I myself have only been to the LACC a few times for other cons. I have to say that I'm not really comfortable being there late at night unless there's some kind of security or cops around to watch people. During the day it feels alright, and besides, most of the expo is indoors with plenty of room to move around in. But at night, when your outside, well... lets just say that I can take care of myself if I have to, but it's way better if your part of a crowd, the larger the better.

It's because of this that Im not sure if I'll stay late in LA. As long as Im in the CC or in the hotels, I feel fine. But outdoors....

I don't know yet..... we'll see Confused .

FYI to everyone....... They only have one (1) lousy ATM there with a long line of people all day, and the food is expensive too. My advice to everyone, bring money with you beforehand, k? Wink
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aluria



Joined: 11 Nov 2005
Posts: 367
Location: New Westminster, B.C., Canada
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:58 pm Reply with quote
It's great that they're trying to accomodate congoers, hope it works out well.
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fighterholic



Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 9193
PostPosted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 7:51 am Reply with quote
I think they're definetly taking what con-goers had to say about last year and trying to work it out for this year. They're trying to make sure that attendees will be somewhat satisfied, but at the same time, I think that they are also looking out for the safety of the con-goers as well, which is a good way to try and go about this year's AX.
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Hagaren_Otaku726



Joined: 16 Mar 2006
Posts: 137
PostPosted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 9:22 pm Reply with quote
Oooh, very very good idea someone had here. If not for these shuttles, it would be a long shot for me to be out after dark around the area. Hopefully, they'll run somewhat on schedule, and they'll run somewhat consistently =D

...hopefully.
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