You've watched hours of your favorite anime. You've subscribed to manga magazines and invested in buying the volumes. You've ordered posters online of your favorite characters. And now you're ready to attend an anime convention. So how do you make sure that your dream vacation doesn't turn into a nightmare from hell?
Research different anime conventions in your general area. Find out where the nearest cons take place, and when. A good place to research this is animecons.com, which lists almost every anime convention in the world by region, country, and state. Do you want to attend a huge con, or would you rather start out with something smaller? Large cons can have anywhere between 15 and 40 thousand people attending, so make sure you're up to it. At a large convention, there is no way you'll be able to attend every event, so keep this in mind. On the flip side, big cons always have the most famous bands and guest artists. Some cons have a higher cover fee than others, and you may want to take this into consideration. Make sure that your con takes place at a time when you will be able to vacation for 3 - 5 days.
Decide how you're going to get there. If it's far away, are you going to fly? If you're planning on a road trip, will you rent a car? Who will drive it? How much will gas cost? Make sure you have more than one person who can drive, and that the car you've chosen is reliable and has enough room in it for the passengers and luggage. Figure out who are you going to take with you, if anyone.
Register early. The price of con registration goes up the closer you get to the day of, with usually a difference of $15-$20 between the early price and the at-con price. If you pre-register, all you have to do is pick up your badge the night before or the morning of con, and it saves everyone a lot of stress. At-con registration is expensive, stressful, and usually involves getting up at 5:30 am to avoid standing in a long line of other people who also forgot to pre-register. Usually registration for a con opens up about three months before it occurs, so be ready.
Bring enough spending money. Remember to bring spending money too! You can easily spend more than $200 dollars at con on clothing, posters, DVDs, books, and other merchandise. You will be very sad if you get to the con with your $25 and want to buy some souvenirs, but don't have enough money. So come prepared! Books and DVDs are often discounted, so there's incentive to buy them there.
Know if you are you going to cosplay. If so, plan in advance. Buy or start making your costume at least two months in advance. That way it's sure to be shipped on time if you're ordering it, or you'll have plenty of time to sew it. Even if you sew every day for hours, it still takes two or three weeks to make even a simple costume, so give yourself enough time.
Give yourself plenty of time to get there if you live more than a couple hours away. You don't want to get there at midnight the night before, or even worse, 6 am the morning of! Make sure you have time to settle into your hotel room and get a good night's sleep the night before. You'll need your energy!
Read the guide to con before you go. At registration, you are given a packet containing con rules, as well as a detailed schedule of events. Take a couple minutes to run through this with a highlighter pen and mark anything that catches your eye. This way you won't miss any of your favorite anime screenings, autograph sessions, or band performances. Don't worry about planning every minute. Just find out what interests you beforehand and make your decisions as you go. Do not try to attend everything that interests you! It isn't possible, and rushing around all day to catch five minutes of everything will just make you feel tired and dissatisfied.
Do not be afraid to split up. If you're at con with friends, don't feel pressured to spend every minute with them. Set up a designated time and place to meet, then go off to explore on your own or in pair if you're part of a large group. Con has something for everyone, and no matter how much you and your friends have in common, you won't all want to do the same thing all of the time!
Remember to eat, sleep,drink water,shower,and brush your teeth. Don't get so caught up running around that you forget to take care of yourself. Eat lunch, even if it's just grabbing a quick bite at the con's hotel or convention center. Staying till midnight to catch a late night anime showing can be fun, but don't stay into the wee hours every night and wake up groggy and exhausted in the morning, and don't forget to shower and brush your teeth because nobody likes a smelly convention go-er with bad breath.
Line up early for big-name events. For band performances, cosplay and AMV contests, and awards ceremonies, make sure you get there early. Lines can grow to epic proportions, and although chatting with fellow attendees in line can be fun, waiting 45 minutes is not.
Don't spend the entire time at con doing the same thing. Although you may be captivated by the RPG room, ready to fork over all of your cash in the dealer's room, or just stuck on those old AMVs in the 24-hour AMV theater, if you only do that, you'll regret it later. Get out and try things that you don't know anything about! You may find some new anime, manga, or friends in the process!
Learn that socializing at con can be a tricky business. Friendships are made and broken, and love sometimes found. Don't get too attached to someone you don't know. Although you may be both avid fans of Death Note - maybe you're even both cosplaying Light! - that doesn't mean you should exchange emails and be best friends forever. Get to know somebody before you give out personal information, if at all.
Make sure you give yourself enough time to leave and get home. You may be tempted to stay until late into the night on the last day of con, but if it's a Sunday and you have school or work tomorrow, you may want to reconsider. By the last day, the important events are usually over, so don't feel bad about skipping out on the last half-day if you have to get home.
Remember, conventions are supposed to be a fun experience, so try not to get overwhelmed or stressed out by the number of people and events and the limited amount of time.
Author's Note: Sorry if the article was stupid. I just could not find a better idea to write an article on.
Research different anime conventions in your general area. Find out where the nearest cons take place, and when. A good place to research this is animecons.com, which lists almost every anime convention in the world by region, country, and state. Do you want to attend a huge con, or would you rather start out with something smaller? Large cons can have anywhere between 15 and 40 thousand people attending, so make sure you're up to it. At a large convention, there is no way you'll be able to attend every event, so keep this in mind. On the flip side, big cons always have the most famous bands and guest artists. Some cons have a higher cover fee than others, and you may want to take this into consideration. Make sure that your con takes place at a time when you will be able to vacation for 3 - 5 days.
Decide how you're going to get there. If it's far away, are you going to fly? If you're planning on a road trip, will you rent a car? Who will drive it? How much will gas cost? Make sure you have more than one person who can drive, and that the car you've chosen is reliable and has enough room in it for the passengers and luggage. Figure out who are you going to take with you, if anyone.
Register early. The price of con registration goes up the closer you get to the day of, with usually a difference of $15-$20 between the early price and the at-con price. If you pre-register, all you have to do is pick up your badge the night before or the morning of con, and it saves everyone a lot of stress. At-con registration is expensive, stressful, and usually involves getting up at 5:30 am to avoid standing in a long line of other people who also forgot to pre-register. Usually registration for a con opens up about three months before it occurs, so be ready.
Bring enough spending money. Remember to bring spending money too! You can easily spend more than $200 dollars at con on clothing, posters, DVDs, books, and other merchandise. You will be very sad if you get to the con with your $25 and want to buy some souvenirs, but don't have enough money. So come prepared! Books and DVDs are often discounted, so there's incentive to buy them there.
Know if you are you going to cosplay. If so, plan in advance. Buy or start making your costume at least two months in advance. That way it's sure to be shipped on time if you're ordering it, or you'll have plenty of time to sew it. Even if you sew every day for hours, it still takes two or three weeks to make even a simple costume, so give yourself enough time.
Give yourself plenty of time to get there if you live more than a couple hours away. You don't want to get there at midnight the night before, or even worse, 6 am the morning of! Make sure you have time to settle into your hotel room and get a good night's sleep the night before. You'll need your energy!
Read the guide to con before you go. At registration, you are given a packet containing con rules, as well as a detailed schedule of events. Take a couple minutes to run through this with a highlighter pen and mark anything that catches your eye. This way you won't miss any of your favorite anime screenings, autograph sessions, or band performances. Don't worry about planning every minute. Just find out what interests you beforehand and make your decisions as you go. Do not try to attend everything that interests you! It isn't possible, and rushing around all day to catch five minutes of everything will just make you feel tired and dissatisfied.
Do not be afraid to split up. If you're at con with friends, don't feel pressured to spend every minute with them. Set up a designated time and place to meet, then go off to explore on your own or in pair if you're part of a large group. Con has something for everyone, and no matter how much you and your friends have in common, you won't all want to do the same thing all of the time!
Remember to eat, sleep,drink water,shower,and brush your teeth. Don't get so caught up running around that you forget to take care of yourself. Eat lunch, even if it's just grabbing a quick bite at the con's hotel or convention center. Staying till midnight to catch a late night anime showing can be fun, but don't stay into the wee hours every night and wake up groggy and exhausted in the morning, and don't forget to shower and brush your teeth because nobody likes a smelly convention go-er with bad breath.
Line up early for big-name events. For band performances, cosplay and AMV contests, and awards ceremonies, make sure you get there early. Lines can grow to epic proportions, and although chatting with fellow attendees in line can be fun, waiting 45 minutes is not.
Don't spend the entire time at con doing the same thing. Although you may be captivated by the RPG room, ready to fork over all of your cash in the dealer's room, or just stuck on those old AMVs in the 24-hour AMV theater, if you only do that, you'll regret it later. Get out and try things that you don't know anything about! You may find some new anime, manga, or friends in the process!
Learn that socializing at con can be a tricky business. Friendships are made and broken, and love sometimes found. Don't get too attached to someone you don't know. Although you may be both avid fans of Death Note - maybe you're even both cosplaying Light! - that doesn't mean you should exchange emails and be best friends forever. Get to know somebody before you give out personal information, if at all.
Make sure you give yourself enough time to leave and get home. You may be tempted to stay until late into the night on the last day of con, but if it's a Sunday and you have school or work tomorrow, you may want to reconsider. By the last day, the important events are usually over, so don't feel bad about skipping out on the last half-day if you have to get home.
Remember, conventions are supposed to be a fun experience, so try not to get overwhelmed or stressed out by the number of people and events and the limited amount of time.
Author's Note: Sorry if the article was stupid. I just could not find a better idea to write an article on.