Some feedback

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

Here's some general feedback about the con. I'm reserving program participant-specific feedback for email, so this is the more general stuff. Quick caveat: some of this stuff may have been at the con, but I missed it. If so, sorry.

1. I'd strongly suggest putting "QUIET FLOOR" signs - large ones - outside the elevators on floors that have been designated as such. On Saturday and Sunday nights there were some very loud conversations - shouting back and forth along the corridors, actually - well after midnight, and the noise went on for some time in each case. I'm sure there was no malice behind it, but signs would probably have been a helpful reminder.

2. The management of elevators was a serious problem on Sunday afternoon. I realize that there isn't much to be done about the elevators themselves, but I spent quite a bit of time standing to one side and watching the elevators go up and down - we were, of course, waiting for an elevator. Apparently whoever was running them had decided that the "middle" floors should get little to no service, because over and over I saw elevators skip the 7th and 8th floors. And the buttons were definitely pushed, mind you! We waited over 25 minutes for an elevator, and when one finally came, it was full. This was a concern for us because my wife has a knee problem and could not possibly take the stairs.

We weren't the only ones who were stranded. One party was trying to check out, and after about half an hour or so they tried to take their luggage down the stairs. I'm told they nearly passed out.

And yes, some people - I don't know if they were staff or not - were rude about the elevators. But I saw much worse last year, so I didn't take it seriously. I mean, if someone wasn't abusing their authority it wouldn't be a con, would it? :D

In any case, if someone deliberately decided to isolate certain floors, I'd say that was a very bad idea. May I suggest working out a set of contingency service plans in advance, for situations when 1, 2 or 3 elevators are inoperative? Assuming such plans haven't been made, that is.

I'm also tempted to suggest some sort of "disabled member" system, but that could easily be a logistical nightmare.

3. Art show hours. For the second year in a row my wife and I missed the Art Show completely. We tried to go, but it was closed every time - or else the elevators were not available. I don't know if extending the hours is practical, but I know that a lot of people aren't able to make it to the show for the same reason.

4. Food cost. If a family of three (with one child) ate at the hotal restaurant for all three meals in a day, the cost would be $189. The cost for the entire con would be $680! I realize that the hotel sets the prices, but maybe someone could point out to the management that they'd get more customers if they offered a full menu in addition to the buffets - and that $32 each is a BIG stretch for dinner, for most of us.

The carts weren't bad, but I'll admit that even $5 for a hot dog kind of appalled me. Maybe I'm old-fashioned. We ended up making a supermarket run.

5. Things I miss from Arisias past:

• a formal dance
  
• the Dealer's Room (the Row was fine, but we miss the Room)
  
• the laser room (ah, that was long ago. But it was magical)
  
• a 24-hour video room. What happened to that?
  
• the amateur video contest. Although I'm not offering to run it!
  

Comments

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

Wasn't there a dealers' room, in addition to dealers' row?

[nchanter.livejournal.com]

not this year. there wasn't a good space for it. It was on 14 last year and was... not a good space for it. Fast Track was in there this year, and from what I have heard, it was a good space for Fast Track (but someone with kids or working Fast Track can probably speak to that better than I)

[thespian.livejournal.com]

it's funny; I commented to someone that the pricing at the snack bar was really uneven; the chicken fingers were about the same as they would be at any place that wasn't fast food (pricey but not insane), the wraps were a GREAT deal (the turkey was stuffed full and very good), and the noodles and hot dogs were really stupidly priced.

But boy, that wrap was a steal.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I thought the noodles were expensive, but not AMAZINGLY expensive. They were really good, and I'm not unhappy at paying $4 for them. They were probably really worth about $3, though.

[ceo]

Huh. I thought the noodles were great, if a bit oily, and the turkey wrap was heinous.

Actually...that's a really good idea...

[happypete.livejournal.com]

When we had our "stuff" together, the elevator operator was on radio. We could have set up a system where folks with disabilities were given the ops phone number, requesting an elevatr pickup.

I'd have to check to see if house phones were available on every floor, though--otherwise if you weren't on your room's floor, you might be out of luck.

Re: Actually...that's a really good idea...

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

How's this for a crazy idea: how about assigning a floor (preferably a low one!) for people who cannot use the stairs? That way that floor could be given priority service when elevator shortages occur. It might even be practical to assign one elevator just for non-stair people. There were a lot of people in wheelchairs/scooters this year, and I could see that it was really difficult for them to deal with the crowds. A reserved elevator could have a volunteer to help people as necessary.

I realize that it probably wouldn't be possible to dedicate an elevator exclusively to the disabled throughout the con - and certainly not if one or two elevators are broken - but heck, even setting certain hours or times IN an hour when an elevator would be available preferentially for people who really need it might help a lot.

Re: Actually...that's a really good idea...

[ibabeu.livejournal.com]

Most people have cells these days, and with a con full of techies someone should be able to come up with some jury rigged text message system.

In fact, it's more solving the "too portable" problem than anything else. Walkie talkies in the "good enough" category are quite cheap. If you want something a little more controllable maybe those cell phones for kids that can only take/send calls to the "parent" numbers and just hand them out to folks with disabilities...can you get those on a prepaid?

[sethb.livejournal.com]

I don't think the non-express elevators were managed at all; rather, when elevators are full (according to their weight sensors) they don't answer calls, since that would just increase the weight.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

Well, I saw several of them stop at 6 & 9 while skipping 7 & 8, so something weird was going on. Someone told me that the decision had been made to skip the middle floors, but you know how rumors are - so I took that with a grain of salt.

Still, things were definitely not right.

Formal dance

[cintyber.livejournal.com]

There was a formal dance on Sunday night.

[maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com]

a formal dance
I'm not sure what your definition of formal is, but the Goblin Ball, Sunday night had Waltzes, Quadrilles, etc.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

By "formal" I meant a dance where I could wear my formalwear without feeling silly. Looks like I missed it. I wish it had been publicized more, because hauling my white tie and tails in and out of the con - and mothballs - was no joke! :(

[jcholewa.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, the con suite had a pretty decent variety of free food -- partly junk, but a lot of the sort of thing you could actually live off of (sandwiches with sliced meats and cheeses, meatballs, different fruits and vegetables, tiny hot dogs, fruit juice, bagels, et al). I don't think my girl and I actually needed to buy any food this con, and this genuinely shocks me.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

That totally depends on when you were in Con Suite. I NEVER saw sandwiches or sliced meats/cheese there, only ever saw the remnants of meatballs, found only brown apple slices and carrot & celery sticks for veggies, never saw hot dogs, and only once caught bagel pieces over the entire con. And Con Suite is generally where I stop inbetween each and every function I go to at Arisia. I suppose I just had bad luck, but I honestly would not have known most of those things were there had you not just listed them (and I don't have any reason to believe you to be making stuff up.)

[saraphina-marie.livejournal.com]

The regular menu at the Zephyr was available, just not much publicized. I had a bacon cheeseburger the SIZE OF MY HEAD with all the trimmings and seriously a FULL POUND of pomme fritte (aka AWESOME fires with herb mayo) for $14. Not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but not the $26-$30 buffet.
Our table shared around some buffet tidbits and the fries. It was a helluva meal.

Consuite was fooded, but not at any specific time. I caught mini hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls once. I had some cheese bits now and again and there were always chips.
Food in the Greenroom was TO DIE FOR- curry and stew and everything delicious to feed hungry participants. But only open til 7pm? I was in panels in the evening and the ConSuite would be picked over by then. Perhaps extending the Greenroom hours to 9pm or even 10pm? That would have made things much easier on me and a number of others I regularly met in the hallway in front of the locked door.

[tehuti.livejournal.com]

Agreed re: longer hours. Every time I remembered I could go to the Green Room, it wasn't open. I did manage to get there once and catch a snack. And I didn't get a sniff of anything other than fruit and veggies in the con suite except for Saturday morning, when waffles were available. A far cry from year's past, when I subsisted almost entirely on the con suite, and didn't eat junk all weekend, either.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.

Well, when we asked if the regular menu was available - it was Friday night, I believe - the hostess told us that the buffet was the only option. Pity, we'd have probably eaten dinner at the hotel at least a couple of times if the regular menu had been offered to us.

As for the Green Room, I'm afraid we're going to have to disagree on that one! I've loved the Arisia Green Room for years; I really look forward to the food there, and the wonderful ambiance. But the new regime this year was a big disappointment for me. I went in several times, and only saw hot food on Sunday; even then, it wasn't food I cared for. It all seemed heavily geared towards vegans.

But mostly I only found plates of carrots, crackers, a few slices of ham, and lots of soda. So this was the first time in many years that I didn't find a thing to eat in the Green Room.

[flyingwolf.livejournal.com]

the "regular" menu was NOT available. Or at least it wasn't for Sunday at dinner time. Only a few bar-like items and the buffet. Burgers were one of the items, and the only one I could eat. Of course, they messed that up too.

[rosefox]

Thank you so much for the compliment! We definitely plan to open earlier and close later next year, probably 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Food costs...

[avivasedai.livejournal.com]

I brought two bags for food and food-related stuff and one bag of clothes. (That was for me and a brunch for my friends.) Depending on how your family eats, it might be cost-effective to bring a lot of it. There are ice machines on each floor, so you could keep a cooler cool, and you could bring a hot plate to heat lunch or dinner food while you're out of the room.

Better luck next time on the food issue.

Re: Food costs...

[autumnlaughing.livejournal.com]

Are they OK with hot plates? I'm a "food allergic consumer" and lived on cold tuna, meatloaf + chicken all weekend :( I should have checked, but somehow I got it into my head that there would be a microwave available....

I haven't had much luck using ice machines to keep coolers cool - OTOH, I keep forgetting an extra tupperware for the ice! I tried plastic cups this year, when the fridge we were supposed to have wasn't there. I finally bugged the hotel when the cooler was room temp on Saturday morning. But the hotel staff were perfectly nice about correcting that, and our extending our leaving time (twice) and correcting the error in our bill. And giving us a new parking ticket when we lost the old one.

A few things

[undeadruler.livejournal.com]

I had a great time but a few things did come up.

Concerning the 4 day format:
Although I, along with many other people, were dragging our arms behind us as we left the hotel, I did like the format. Allowed me to demo that many more games.
However, I find it strange that some things didn't last 4 days. The art show was literally taken apart when I got up there (figured it would run until Monday so I didn't go until Sunday). Also, a couple of the dealers had apparently left on Sunday.

My compliments to the gaming staff. They did a great job keeping an eye on things. Two things I would like to suggest for that room, though, is that the door leading outside not be left open to be used.
It's bad enough when hotel staff are using it but when attendees start using it as a shortcut it only ads misery to the problem. Every time the door opens the person coming in brought in a huge blast of cold air with them, not to mention a gust of wind which scattered pieces all over the table.
Also, heat is a good thing. Where was it? It was cold on Saturday on the far side of the room where I was. On Sunday it was unbearable. I don't know if anyone noticed but not only was I wearing my winter jacket sitting at the table but a young lady sitting across from me was wearing hers as well. The technician turned the heat on sometime Sunday night but it only lasted about 20 minutes and then it was back to wearing the jacket.
That was the only room in the convention that I had been in with that problem.

Re: A few things

[ron_newman]

I went to a panel in Paul Revere on Monday where we had to move the panelists' table well away from the back of the room. Cold air seemed to just pour through the glass window, and we didn't want to freeze the panelists to death.

[eudociainboston.livejournal.com]

Actually, I did pass out after bringing one load of luggage down the eight flights of stairs and walking back up the eight flights of atairs to the room to get the next load.

laser room

[(Anonymous)]

Well, as one of the folks behind said laser rooms of yore, we've moved
on to other things... for example, much of that photonic stuff going on
in the ballroom Saturday night was from my fingers, albeit not of the
coherent variety. But it's still a fun form of Art.

If it's any help, I make at least a vague stab at getting the laser crew
or parts thereof back together to add to Arisia every year, but everyone's
pretty busy these days.

_H*

[docwatson42.livejournal.com]

I've already stated this at one of the gripe sessions, but I'd like to have the meatballs in the Green Room as well as Con Suite (please). Also, I overheard the comment about the reason for the lack of lasagne (four days versus the usual three), but if you could persuade the person who makes it to produce enough for a day or two... And of course be certain to publicize that it is a limited commodity, in order to limit the complaints. ^_^