WTF @ TFW - Supplemental 42 - An American TFcon - Feb 2 2014 A fireside chat between Vangelus and Colin Douglas about 2014's debuting TFcon variant in the United States of America. More info can be found at TFcon iTunes users - You can subscribe to and review the podcast here: iTunes Store Zune users - You can subscribe here: zune://subscribe/?WTF@TFW=http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/external.php?type=rss2&forumids=404 The RSS feed which includes a media link for the m4a file is: WTF @ TFW Transformers Podcast - TFW2005.com And if you want an MP3 version, it's linked below: http://www.tfw2005.net/podcast/WTF_TFW2005_-_289.5__-_An_American_TFcon_-_February_2_2014.mp3
Questions from a first time con-goer: Should I book my hotel room for Friday through Monday, or will Sunday suffice? I'll be flying in from Texas. Should I plan on renting a car? What kinds of activities (for lack of a better term) should I expect at this one? That's all I can think of for right now, I'm sure I'll come up with more. I'll be bringing along the wife (who's just being a good sport about it, so I'll want to do some kind of other touristy thing for her too) and the step son who sounds almost as excited as me.
How long you're staying all depends on what you're doing. If you plan on just trying to get in and out of the dealer room then Friday - Sunday is fine. If you're wanting to partake of more of the social stuff then Sunday night is a must. For activities, you're going to be in Chicago. There is plenty to do, and it may well be up to you to decide what that is. As it gets closer to convention time there will probably be a thread or two in the Conventions and Get Togethers forum about doing things and meeting up. Read it and contribute. I know that in my future will be at least one Lego store trip (duh, right?). For car rental, it's going to heavily weigh on the previous answers. If you're planning on staying at the hotel, save your money. If you're planning on doing things out and about constantly, renting a car might be nice. Also, Chicago has a passable mass transit system. You might be able to do the out and about and not get a car. I've not looked into it myself since I'm semi local and would drive up to get there in the first place.
Alright, I'll book through Monday, then. I'd definitely like to meet people if I can. I know I'm a bit of a nobody on the boards, and I'm totally shy, but I do like to drink - and I hear TFW does too! I meant activities at the con itself - I'm really totally clueless as to what actually goes on. I've seen pictures and such that get posted here from Botcon and other conventions, but I'm truly clueless as to how everything actually works and what goes on. I'm sure it'll be easy to figure out, but I'm all excited and kinda stressing (in a good way!) about being prepared. I think I'd like to see things outside of the hotel as well, so I guess I'll expect to rent a car unless it's cost-prohibitive. On that note, what's the traffic like? I grew up in New Jersey, so I know how to navigate traffic and I'm not scared of it, but I've also been living in small town Texas for 7 years, and as my last trip to Dallas showed me, I'm a bit out of practice in super crazy traffic. Thanks for the input.
It doesn't matter if you're a nobody on some website. Everyone that's there is going to be a fan of toy robots in one form or another. Guess what, there's your icebreaker! At con activities are usually panels to sit in and puttering through the dealer room. For things outside of the hotel, well again, it's Chicago. There's more than enough to do around the city. AND they're the inventor of the traffic snarl so they've got that going for them, which is nice.
If you're going to spend time Downtown, I don't think you need to rent a car. The hotel is right next to the Metra Rosemont station on the North Central Service line. North Central Service (NCS) Line Map This will take you downtown to Union Station and if you don't mind walking or taking other mass transit, there's plenty to see and do. If you plan on doing something in the city outskirts or suburbs, I would check the Metra lines to see if there are any stations near whatever attraction you might want to hit up. For example, I believe there's a station a few blocks from Galloping Ghost in Brookfield.
I would agree. With the hotel having a free shuttle to/from the airport coupled with the Metra being so close, anyone flying into the area shouldn't need to rent a car to do some sightseeing.
I've been to a few Canadian TFCons and I've loved each of them. And Chicago's at the top of my list as far as placed in the States I'd like to visit. That being said, the timing just isn't working for me. There's a reason so many conventions are held in the summer. So kids and college/university students can go. As a teacher myself the end of October just isn't doable. I wish them all the best though, and I really wish I could be there.
Can't wait to go to this Con. I'm another longtime reader but don't really know anybody (I had to post for work a couple of times, but I'm here now strictly as a collector). Anyway, just wanted to say that I didn't know arcades like this even existed anymore, and I'll definitely have to make a side trip to this one - thanks for the head's-up!
It's a neat place. They've got an arcade room plus pinball tables next door in various states of restoration.
Excellent. Also, not trying to start any pizza place fights, but I loved Pizzeria Uno when it was up here are Ridgedale many years back. Looking at their menu now for the Chicago area, I'm not seeing anything that really brought me in, like their taco pizza. Does anyone have suggestions for good deep dish within travel range from the Hyatt?
As someone who got pretty sick of dealing with the hassles of BotCon I'm pretty pumped about getting a stateside TFCon.
