Dragon Con 2024
It’s been several years since I last went to Dragon Con and I decided to attend for a few days since things worked out in my schedule to attend for a few days. Instead of the normal Thursday to Monday, I attended Friday through Sunday, with Friday and Saturday being the days that I attended the convention. Since it was last minute, I wound up staying at the Marriott by the airport and using the MARTA. I will say for those who are not super into late night Dragon Con activities, staying at the airport and using the MARTA is a great cheaper option. The MARTA run every 15-20 minutes from early morning to late in the evening. As soon as I got to the Dragon Con area, all of the memories of my past visit came back. Thankfully I remembered where everything was located, so getting around was easy. It was interesting when I went back to the Marriott by the airport as it was so quiet, and I was the only Dragon Con attendee. And the cost! It was only $150 a night and they gave me a $30 food voucher (which I used for dinner). Plus Mariott points; I highly recommend signing up and getting the app.
For those who want to experience Dragon Con and not looking to buy a badge, that will be impossible. There are plenty of badge checkers and security at all entrances of the connected host hotels and they check well past midnight. If you are local to the area, you can get opportunities to take photos outside by the Hyatt as there are many meet ups throughout the days. Regardless if you are lobby conning or attending for photos, I highly recommend getting the cosplay meet up schedule. I am not a fan of large group shoots, however, before the meet up begins and when it ends, it becomes a great opportunity to take photos of individuals, especially if it is from a fandom you enjoy. While always held during Labor Day Weekend, it is still warm and humid in Atlanta. Besides drinking plenty of water, keeping a small portable fan, a sweat wicking small towel and a change of baseball caps helped me throughout the day. Inside the main hotels (Marriott Marquis, Hilton and Hyatt), the AC is on full blast, so it helps to go back inside at times. Taking photos inside can be challenging, especially at the Marriott since it is quite dark and crowded.
The usual spots to take photos tend to be between the back courtyard of the Hilton or by the park outside of the Hyatt. The distance between the two is about a mile and it’s either joining the crowd of people while travelling between the connected hotels through the sky bridges, or sweating it out walking outside with the benefit of getting to the areas faster. Personally, I rather go inside as there’s a good chance of running into cosplayers to take photos while in the Marriott.For my photo gear, I wound up sticking with my 35mm. It gets so crowded that backing up with a 50mm is challenging. I also brought a constant light for times I took photos inside the Marriott.
For 2025, I plan on attending the entire time. Instead of participating in the Hunger Games of getting a host hotel, I wound up getting a Courtyard Marriott room right around the corner of the Hyatt. Since I am not a late night partier, I prefer to have some quiet time when going to sleep. Many attendees of Dragon Con will party like it’s Burning Man and will be up until 5AM each day, get a few hours of sleep, and back at it again around 2PM. Rinse, repeat.
