I've never done one of these, having never attended a JoeCon until now however I have been a member of the club
I came down from Illinois by van with my wife and my son. My son is 15 and autistic. If takes us at least a couple of hours after waking up to get all of his stuff together and give him his vitamins, etc. to start our days - so keep that in mind as I write about our days.
We stayed at the Westin. We got into the convention block even though we registered late in the process. It took us some time to decide whether we could attend (due to my job and ongoing projects). When we finally decided it was a go, the Marriot had already filled up as had the Staybridge. So we were very glad that the club expanded the blocks to include a third hotel. The hotel: The Westin is I'll admit, a bit fancy for my taste. We enjoyed the room and the amenities, however having 3 to 6 people waiting on you in the lobby whenever entering or leaving was strange for us. We also didn't know whether to tip the valet parking attendants, since one told us the first day that their fees were covered by the hotel and tipping was unnecessary. But after a while, we noticed that several guests were tipping the drivers, so we started to. I also had at least two people offer to handle my bags, but I wanted to do it myself. The looks of disappointment on their faces made me concerned that their livelihoods depended on tips. I thought that was unprofessional. The only other issue we had with the hotel was that on Saturday night the noise in our room was very loud. There was a reunion party on the first floor, and an outdoor party outside and just below our room - as we were on the 2nd floor. The party included a lazer light show, and it kept my son awake until well after midnight on Saturday. We got up fairly late on Sunday as a result. Other that those fairly minor points, the hotel was great. We only met two people who were there for the convention, and neither was a Trencher.
We arrived on Thursday late at night, having driven from the Chicago area. We had hoped to check in on Thursday evening but didn't arrive until after 11pm due to traffic and a late start.
Friday morning, we walked to the convention for the first time close to noon. We walked up to registration and nobody was in line. The people there told us it came in waves, so we lucked out. I picked up my Green Beret convention package, our general and two aides lanyards, and my pre-ordered t-shirt and hat. The green beret set came with an extra bazooka, M-16 and machine gun to outfit both Joes the same. I thought it was a nice add-on to a great set! Next we got in line for the club store which was the only thing open until 2pm. We were getting hungry so we decided to skip the opening of the vendor floor and go to lunch after having a crack at the club store. I picked up the convention lithograph, and the accessory set for the free black and white soldier figure from this year. I asked whether any of the other club merchandise was discounted, and they told me that nothing was as of yet. So we concluded our sale and left to get lunch.
On our way, we ran into a family who were walking faster back from the convention. Their 7 or 8 year old son told us that he got knocked over during the parachute drop. He also said his dad had bought him one of the figures from the paradrop from an adult who got one. We weren't sorry to have missed that since our son would never have been able to compete against adults for a chance to pick up a parachute figure. It was better, we thought, that we didn't even see that. We decided that since the seminars I wanted to attend were both on Saturday, and we wanted to do something entertaining for our son, we took him to the Tennessee Aquarium that afternoon. We decided to take in more of the convention on Saturday.
On Saturday, I got up and drove to the convention a little before 10am and did a little shopping. Just before that I ran into Scott and Charlotte and introduced myself. Then I went to a great panel at 10 am about the GI Joe Adventure Team since 1976 led by Barry Kay. It was very interesting and entertaining, with a lot of tidbits about how the newer sets mostly tried to tie in with other stories and with past "Joe lore." After the seminar let out, we took a big group photo of the Trenchers present with Brian Savage, and with Derryl Depriest.
Next I picked my wife and son up at the hotel, and we went to Market Street and ate at a great pizzeria called the Mellow Mushroom! Afterwards, we went to the convention together and headed for the contest entries. We looked at all of the dioramas and photos in the room, and took photos of a few. My wife and I found those very entertaining, and extremely creative! Next we checked out ALL the dealer booths. I found one of my few "must buys" - a nearly perfect AT Sea Adventurer with the original box for a nice price! Then we went back to the hotel for a break. In the evening we went back to the convention and ate at the banquet. We waited over a half an hour for the valet parking to retrieve our car, so we were pretty much at the end of the line. The food was good but the conversation was better. We met two really nice RAH collectors. One who was from Oklahoma and one from Denver Colorado. After supper my son didn't want to hang around for casino night, so we went back to the hotel and missed both casino night and the costume judging and prize awards. So my convention is over. As little as I was able to see - I enjoyed immensely. So sorry it's the last one.
off and on since 2000, so I thought I'd add my 2 cents worth since I like to write. So here goes.
I came down from Illinois by van with my wife and my son. My son is 15 and autistic. If takes us at least a couple of hours after waking up to get all of his stuff together and give him his vitamins, etc. to start our days - so keep that in mind as I write about our days.
We stayed at the Westin. We got into the convention block even though we registered late in the process. It took us some time to decide whether we could attend (due to my job and ongoing projects). When we finally decided it was a go, the Marriot had already filled up as had the Staybridge. So we were very glad that the club expanded the blocks to include a third hotel. The hotel: The Westin is I'll admit, a bit fancy for my taste. We enjoyed the room and the amenities, however having 3 to 6 people waiting on you in the lobby whenever entering or leaving was strange for us. We also didn't know whether to tip the valet parking attendants, since one told us the first day that their fees were covered by the hotel and tipping was unnecessary. But after a while, we noticed that several guests were tipping the drivers, so we started to. I also had at least two people offer to handle my bags, but I wanted to do it myself. The looks of disappointment on their faces made me concerned that their livelihoods depended on tips. I thought that was unprofessional. The only other issue we had with the hotel was that on Saturday night the noise in our room was very loud. There was a reunion party on the first floor, and an outdoor party outside and just below our room - as we were on the 2nd floor. The party included a lazer light show, and it kept my son awake until well after midnight on Saturday. We got up fairly late on Sunday as a result. Other that those fairly minor points, the hotel was great. We only met two people who were there for the convention, and neither was a Trencher.
We arrived on Thursday late at night, having driven from the Chicago area. We had hoped to check in on Thursday evening but didn't arrive until after 11pm due to traffic and a late start.
Friday morning, we walked to the convention for the first time close to noon. We walked up to registration and nobody was in line. The people there told us it came in waves, so we lucked out. I picked up my Green Beret convention package, our general and two aides lanyards, and my pre-ordered t-shirt and hat. The green beret set came with an extra bazooka, M-16 and machine gun to outfit both Joes the same. I thought it was a nice add-on to a great set! Next we got in line for the club store which was the only thing open until 2pm. We were getting hungry so we decided to skip the opening of the vendor floor and go to lunch after having a crack at the club store. I picked up the convention lithograph, and the accessory set for the free black and white soldier figure from this year. I asked whether any of the other club merchandise was discounted, and they told me that nothing was as of yet. So we concluded our sale and left to get lunch.
On our way, we ran into a family who were walking faster back from the convention. Their 7 or 8 year old son told us that he got knocked over during the parachute drop. He also said his dad had bought him one of the figures from the paradrop from an adult who got one. We weren't sorry to have missed that since our son would never have been able to compete against adults for a chance to pick up a parachute figure. It was better, we thought, that we didn't even see that. We decided that since the seminars I wanted to attend were both on Saturday, and we wanted to do something entertaining for our son, we took him to the Tennessee Aquarium that afternoon. We decided to take in more of the convention on Saturday.
On Saturday, I got up and drove to the convention a little before 10am and did a little shopping. Just before that I ran into Scott and Charlotte and introduced myself. Then I went to a great panel at 10 am about the GI Joe Adventure Team since 1976 led by Barry Kay. It was very interesting and entertaining, with a lot of tidbits about how the newer sets mostly tried to tie in with other stories and with past "Joe lore." After the seminar let out, we took a big group photo of the Trenchers present with Brian Savage, and with Derryl Depriest.
Next I picked my wife and son up at the hotel, and we went to Market Street and ate at a great pizzeria called the Mellow Mushroom! Afterwards, we went to the convention together and headed for the contest entries. We looked at all of the dioramas and photos in the room, and took photos of a few. My wife and I found those very entertaining, and extremely creative! Next we checked out ALL the dealer booths. I found one of my few "must buys" - a nearly perfect AT Sea Adventurer with the original box for a nice price! Then we went back to the hotel for a break. In the evening we went back to the convention and ate at the banquet. We waited over a half an hour for the valet parking to retrieve our car, so we were pretty much at the end of the line. The food was good but the conversation was better. We met two really nice RAH collectors. One who was from Oklahoma and one from Denver Colorado. After supper my son didn't want to hang around for casino night, so we went back to the hotel and missed both casino night and the costume judging and prize awards. So my convention is over. As little as I was able to see - I enjoyed immensely. So sorry it's the last one.
Comment