From Phoenix to DragonCon

by Jen

As my Twitter profile proclaims, Dragon Con is my favorite weekend of the year - and it's almost here!

Cosplaying pin-up superheroes at DragonCon 2014

This will be my first year traveling any real distance to Dragon Con.  I lived in the Atlanta area for 14 years, but this year I moved to Phoenix, so now it's not just a matter of driving downtown to get to Con - I have to plan ahead!  Plane tickets have been purchased, hotel reservations made and confirmed, and I have to plan my costumes with greater precision - it's not like I can just call my husband to bring me something I leave at home!

My favorite part of preparing for Dragon Con is deciding which panels I'll be attending.  In the olden days, that meant printing pages of schedule grids and poring over them with a highlighter - but in recent years, this has been replaced by the wonder we call the Dragon Con app!  The preliminary schedule was released on Friday, and I spent a good chunk of my weekend going over the list of celebrities and various fan tracks to determine what my priorities will be. (Here's a hint: the Sunday panel featuring Doctor Who companions definitely tops my list this year!)

The best advice I can offer to Dragon Con attendees is this: 
Plan well, and use the app wisely!  

It has so much more than just the schedule (though it's nice to be able to sort by celebrity, location, day/time, or fan track) - if offers maps of the downtown Atlanta area, which can be confusing if you aren't familiar with the five host hotels, and a feature that lets you connect with your friends and see their schedules so you'll know who you can stand in line with!

I can hardly wait to get on the plane that will take me to my favorite weekend of the year!