by J. Brent Stewart

Read Part 1

DragonCon 2005 takes place Friday September 2nd (Friday) through Monday September 5th (Labor Day).

The central (i.e. party) hotel is once again the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, which also hosts most of the concerts, movie room, panel discussions, etc.

The Hyatt's address is:
265 Peachtree Street NE
Atlanta, GA 30303

The Marriott Marquis (located across the street from the Hyatt, accessible via Skywalks connected to the hotels) hosts the exhibitor and dealer rooms.

The Marriott Marquis' is:
265 Peachtree Center Ave
Atlanta, GA 30303

Marriott: Escher-style architecture & booze/pills = bad trip, man.

And for the first time, the Atlanta Hilton has entered the fray, hosting the registration duties!

The Atlanta Hilton
255 Courtland Street, NE
Atlanta, GA 30303

For all the info you need about these hotels and other satellite hotels, head here:
http://www.dragoncon.org/dc_location.htm#Host_Hotels

Remember when booking your rooms to tell them that you’re coming for the Con, and use the convention codes, as listed on that page, otherwise you’ll be told that the hotel is SOLD OUT!

Hotel costs with discount run about $170 per night for four people, -$10 per night for decreasing number of people in the room ($160 for 3, $150 for 2, etc.), plus parking if you use is (about $20 for valet…cheaper if you park off-site at a parking garage, usually around $12 a day or so) and don’t forget the sneaky hotel taxes. As of right now the hotel and occupancy taxes for the Hyatt are running about 8% and 7%, for 15% total (those taxing bastards!) You’ll want to remember that when putting your budget together.

As for convention memberships, they break down thusly:

If you’ve pre-registered, you probably got a discount for getting in early. If you’re just going to be registering at the door, however, here is how it breaks down:

Purchasing "Memberships" at the Door

In addition to full memberships, 1, 2 or 3-day passes are available at the Door (and only at the door) on the day that they are good for.

At the door rates:
4 days (Fri. – Mon.) $85
3 days (Sat. – Mon.) $70
2 days (Sun. – Mon.) $50
1 day (Fri., Sat. or Sun.) $30
1 day (Monday) $25

All of the info you could need about memberships is available here:

http://www.dragoncon.org/dc_members.htm

Guests!

As of August 23rd there are 371 guests & Bands confirmed for 2005, including:

Authors: Kevin J. Anderson Bill Fawcett Robert Jordan Anne McCaffrey Rebecca Moesta Michael Stackpole Film & Television: Forrest J. Ackerman Melody Anderson Carmen Argenziano Morena Baccarin Adam Baldwin Charles Band Michael Berryman LeVar Burton Robin Curtis Gigi Edgley Ken Foree Ron Glass Erin Gray Max Grodenchik Dean Haglund Hattie Hayridge Virginia Hey Raelee Hill Bruce Hopkins Gary Jones Sam J. Jones Lloyd Kaufman Lorenzo Lamas Daniel Logan Lisa Loring Peter Mayhew Paul McGillion Mercedes McNab John Noble Ray Park James & Oliver Phelps Matt Robinson Tom Savini Marina Sirtis Kevin Sorbo Jewel Staite Dean Stockwell Connor Trinneer Ken Weatherwax

Comics, Art, & Illustration: Tim Bradstreet Bob Burden Howard Chaykin Peter David Roger Dean Larry Elmore Basil Gogos Gris Grimly Paul Gulacy Cully Hamner Bill Holbrook Adam Hughes Brandon Jerwa Joseph Michael Linsner Georges Jeanty Joe Jusko David Mack Don Maitz Mike Mayhew Ted Naifeh Eric Powell Ethan Van Sciver Brian Stelfreeze Karl Story William (Bill) Stout Arthur Suydam Dexter Vines Marv Wolfman Music, Theatrics, & Performance Art: ARTC Bella Morte Belljar Combichrist The Consortium of Genius The Crossed Swords The Crüxshadows Emerald Rose Gene Loves Jezebel The Killer Robots Lips Down on Dixie McFly Ookla the Mok Voltaire Voodou

Complete guest list here, babies:
http://www.dragoncon.org/dc_guests_list.htm

Events:

There’s always tons to do at D-Con, from roaming the comic pro rooms, to looking at art shows, going to discussions/panels with stars and pros, going to fan discussions, wandering the massive dealer and exhibitor halls looking for deals, watching movies, playing games, etc. Here are some of the big events:

Annual Adult Swim Panel, including many of the creators and talents at AS (including MC Chris and George Lowe), and info on upcoming shows!

Klingon Beauty Pageant!

Klingon Beauty Pageant...beauty really is subjective, isn't it?

4th Annual Downtown Parade!

George Takei...in a car!

Moments after this photo was taken, Wonder Woman broke my neck.

Still better than the movie!

Team X-Treme & SGWA Pro-Wrestling!

Short Film Festival!

Late Night Dj’d Dances!

Several live music Concerts!

RHPS presented by Lips Down on Dixie!

Dawn Lookalike Contest!

Robot Battles!

And the huge Masquerade!

Patsy Klingon...and what's more, she SANG "CRAZY" IN KLINGON!!!

There’s much more than that, too. To get a taste:

http://www.dragoncon.org/dc_events.htm

There are individual programming tracks based on Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Dr. Who, British Comedy, Wheel of Time, Pern, Lord of the Rings, Comics, and on and on. If you have any sort of interest in any genre material, chances are that there’s an entire day’s worth of discussions, panels, films, etc tailored directly to your tastes!

So, I hope you’ll consider coming to the con. Perhaps you’re a comic fan who didn’t realize that DragonCon offered a lot of comics programming and guests. Perhaps you’re a filking Klingon LARPer who didn’t know there were others like you (though I hate to think of a lone man in Klingon regalia singing about Elfquest while juggling a 10-sided die).

Something...so...not right...about this.

Either way, come on down, and look for the immense drunk man with the huge mustache, sunglasses and press ribbon. I’ll be having my picture taken with beautiful girls and harassing Chewbacca at the bar.

At least two of these people are really, really drunk.



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