Ok, I’ve made a list of things you can and should do to prepare yourself for your Dragon Con experience but that list is for you actually being at the con. It’s for your cosplay, your health, and other items you would need to know when you are at Dragon Con. But what do you need to know before you actually get to Dragon Con?
Where do you park?
Where do you pick up your membership badge?
Can I get a Saturday membership badge and use it for Sunday? NO!!!
Can I use my best friends membership badge? NO!!! But BFF, come on, I won’t tell and no one will know. Still, NO!!!
What time should I get to the membership badge line?
I can only make it for 1 day, which day is the best day to go?
Where is the walk-of-fame and how do I find where I need to be?
Which hotels are the host hotels?
Do I need a badge/membership if not attending the actual con but just want to visit a friend who is?
Ok, you get the idea of the kinds of questions that you might need to know and that’s what I’m going to talk about to the best of my ability. I’ve been going to Dragon Con since 2008 and have done the one day drive to get there at the morning to then drive home that night, I’ve stayed outside the city, stayed inside the city at a different hotel, and have stayed at some of the host hotels for the whole event, so I have a bit of experience on what to expect when going. I will go through those actual questions above and then will add a few that’s not in that list. If you have any that I don’t have here, feel free to reach out to me and I will answer if I can.
1) Where do I park? That is a very important question to ask and to know before you go to Dragon Con. Depending on your plans of attendance, staying for the day or 2 day weekend, or for a longer stretch, this will dictate where you will park at. My advice when choosing where you park your vehicle, go with one of the paid lots that’s at or next to the hotels if you can. I don’t advise to park on the street curb, especially if it’s blocks away. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard stories of people parking on the street curbside 5 blocks away to save $10-$15 and come to find that their car was hit or broken into. Repair and lost item costs are going to be a lot more than any of the parking at the host hotels, so pay that or pay for repairs.
a) Parking at or near hotels – there is a lot of parking lots around the area so if you get there early and depending on the day, you should be able to get in one of these easily. My advice, go for the garages first that are the closest to the host hotels.
1) The Hilton, Marriott, and the Hyatt hotels are all in line with each other on 3 blocks, each of these have parking of their own. They are more expensive than street parking or some of the garages but they are the host hotels and you won’t have far to walk.
2) If you don’t want the hotels, there is another garage on Courtland St NE, https://maps.app.goo.gl/TsDnmppS9cR5M2QU9
3) If the garage is full, there are lots right across the street from the hotels, https://maps.app.goo.gl/CX2DMe17jXFqX12z8
4) In case you are still looking, do a Google search with one of those links and then change the map setting to satellite view so you can see what the area really looks like. You will see there are a lot of options close by for parking.
b) Public transit can be a solution for your parking. There are people that find a location on the MARTA line where they can park there and ride the transit line into the city. There is a stop that comes out right at the hotels so that makes it a short walk to the hotels. I’ve also been told that the parking fee is cheaper at those MARTA lots but there are some drawbacks.
1) You need to plan for the time of travel. The transit will be stopping at all the stops for pick-ups and drop-offs, so you will lose time in waiting for all those stops. The further out you go the longer it will take you to get there. A 30 minute drive away might be an hour or longer to get to your destination on the transit.
2) Your car will be far away. Having your car at a host hotel is nice because if you buy stuff you can easily get to it and back to the con in not much time. Taking the transit means if it was an hour ride you will have a 2 hour ride to get to the car and back.
3) It costs, not much, but it still costs to ride the transit. It’s not free. So you will have to add that to your parking fee.
4) You can’t carry too much with you on the transit. With parking nearby, you can carry what you need and drop off what you need in a quick fashion but the transit does not offer that. If you plan on buying say a 2 pound statue and get an autograph on something or a photo with someone, and even though these things don’t weigh much, having to carry them around all day while dodging people, and worrying about them getting damaged, is not that fun or easy. However, you can’t just take them back to your car in a timely manner if your car is a 2 hour train ride.
2) Membership badges, where do you get them and how to get them? Getting your badges is a time consuming process, no matter what day you go on, but Saturday is going to be even longer than any other day. To get your badge, go to the Courtland Grand hotel, https://maps.app.goo.gl/MfR8aV6hrAo4ppZXA and once you enter the building or even before you enter it, you will see the line for the badges. If you can get there early, get there as early as you can. For Saturday if you plan on doing a panel at 10AM and you are getting in line for your badge at 9AM, you most likely will not make it to the panel in time. Maybe if it’s a small panel that won’t fill up, but if it’s for one of the big ones, there is a high chance that it will fill up and you won’t be able to get in after it begins because it will be full. Get there as early as you can, I’m not meaning 2AM to get in line but if 6AM or 7AM is the time I would say get there. The only day you shouldn’t have to worry about the badge pick up is on Thursday because even on Monday, it will take some time to get through the line.
3) What’s the best 1 day to go on if you can only go for 1 day? Saturday. Saturday offers the most for you to do then any other day, which is why it’s important to get in the badge line so early. On Saturday there’s the parade, which you do not need to have a badge for so you can show up to watch the parade, see some cosplay, and then be done. Another aspect is that on Saturday most of the featured guests will be there. Some guests will only appear on Saturday and Sunday, so this gives you a chance to see them when Friday and Monday they won’t be there. It’s also the busiest day, so you will get to see a lot of cosplay. On the downside, more people means longer lines and waits.
4) Finding your way around the con and where to go. Looking for the walk-of-fame, where the vendors are, or just trying to find the panel you want to go to, all can be confusing and make you late for where you want to go if you don’t know. Here are the ways you can solve those problems.
a) When you get your badge, pick up the books they are giving out. One book will tell you who is there and another will tell you what’s going on and where to find it all. They include maps and times and other important information that you will need to know.
b) Don’t want to have to carry the books around? Yeah I get that, then use the Dragon Con app. Everything that you need is in that app. It will give you maps of the hotels, where panels are, what guests are there, and all sorts of other information that the books can’t give you. You create a profile and you can connect with your friends so you can plan what each of you are doing, you can set up your schedule so you know what is coming up or if something overlaps, and so much more. My advice, 1 day or all days, get the app.
c) Talk to the volunteers at their booths. On every floor (lobby floors not room floors), in every hotel, there are help booths that have wonderful volunteers sitting there waiting for you to ask them a question. They are great resources for you to use and they always have daily update sheets for you in case things change like a guest cancellation and includes fun facts and stories to read for the day.
d) Ask a fellow con goer. Most likely you will find someone that has been attending Dragon Con for years very easily, so, just ask them if they can give you some advice on where you need to be and they should help you.
5) What hotels are the host hotels? The host hotels are 5 hotels, the Courtland Grand where you will pick up your badges from, the Hilton Atlanta, the Marriott Marquis, Hyatt Regency, and the Westin. The main 3 are the Hilton, Marriott, and the Hyatt, but all 5 have events going on in them so be sure to check them all out. There’s also the vendors that are located in the Americas Mart building 2, even though it’s not a host hotel, it’s part of the convention and it will be where you find the vendors and the artists.
6) Do I need a badge/membership if not attending the actual con but just want to visit a friend who is? No, you do not need a badge/membership to be at the hotels as long as you are not attending anything Dragon Con related. For instance, if you want to go into the Walk of Fame or want to attend one of the panels that are in the hotel, then you will HAVE TO HAVE a badge/membership. Workers/volunteers are on hand to check for those badges and they will do their job to make sure no one sneaks in. This is good and you should be nice to them because while you are having fun, they are keeping it as safe as they can for you to have fun.
However, lets say you have a friend attending Dragon Con or you just want to see what the hubbub is all about, then, no, you will not need a badge/membership, for the most part of the day. Because Dragon Con is held in hotels, you can go into the lobbies of the hotels to just hang out for a short time. There are places to eat and shop in the hotels that will have con attendees as well as having Dragon Con specials/themes. You don’t need the badge to just sit in the lobby. But be AWARE, after a certain time of the day, night, the hotels will have workers placed at the entrances of every hotel door looking for badges and/or hotel room key cards. If it’s after a certain time of night and you are not wearing a badge you will be asked to present a hotel key card. Believe me, they will be looking and they do ask for badges at the doors, so if you are visiting the hotel then you might want to talk to the hotel desk workers to be sure you are OK with being with your friend after a certain time.
Now if you do want to just see what’s going on but you’re not going to enter the hotels, well, that’s easy to do, just go to the streets at the hotels. Anywhere around the 243 Peachtree St, John Portman Blvd/ NW/Harris St NE, Courtland St NE, or 230 Ted Tuner Dr NW by the Americas Mart will put you in the middle of Dragon Con goers. There will be a lot of people going to the different hotels and vendors dressed in their great cosplay and just cool clothes celebrating the things they like. No need for a badge or going into a hotel, just stand at a corner of Peachtree St/ John Port Blvd NW and you will see a lot of cool people. There’s also the parade on Saturday that will have a great deal of the cosplay, vehicles, and even some guests appearing and all you have to do is show up for that.
7) How do I get around to the other hotels and to the vendors? This is important to know because knowing how and where to go can save you a lot of time or not knowing can get you stuck. Between the 3 main hotels, Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt, are the sky bridges. They connect to each other so you don’t have to walk on the streets and will help you save some time when getting from one hotel to the other. But be aware, the skybridges are popular and can get jammed up, so if you see the lines not moving, then take to the streets. A good tip though when looking, the line might look like it’s not moving at the entrance to the skybridge but once you are past the doors it will move. Another thing to remember about the skybridges, if it’s raining, they will become a traffic jam of people. If you don’t have to worry about getting yourself or your items wet, when it rains, always take the streets. You can get across pretty fast on the streets in the rain vs standing for half hour to use skybridges.
https://www.hacu.net/images/hacu/conf/32ac/SkyBridge%20Map.pdf
8) Are there places to eat nearby? Yep, there are restaurants on the streets, ones like Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, Hard Rock Cafe, Tin Lizzy’s Cantina, and others that are located around Harris St NE. If you want something a little cheaper, like fast food, there is a food court in the Peachtree Center. You can actually get to the food court from the skybridge from the Marriott. Take a left instead of a right turn from the Marriott and you will get to the food court.
