I booked Thursday to Sunday so that could be a possibility.

Why would anyone book monday?

Am I missing something? Fri and sat are the main nights to book a room

Good Point.

there are a few people that would like some extra time to get everything loaded and out of the building. personally, I have stayed Sunday night twice just because it was late and shitty weather so, i didn't feel like driving home after working and then loading. i wouldn't think there would be enough to sell out the Hilton, but perhaps some people are just planning ahead.

I think that's the issue. Their front desk is really confused. Use the link, I'll fix them tomorrow.

Got a room booked and ordered two Friday night tickets for my wife and me and a t-shirt. I got an order confirmation, but no tickets. Will those be sent out at a later date?

Only seven months to get the machines ready. We are currently planning on Alien Poker and Heavy Metal Meltdown. Much excite.

Looking forward to it. Room booked. Tickets purchased. Question is do I skip Texas... The TPF hotel really jacked things up this year. Pay for 1 night non-refundable a year in advance is a bunch of doo-doo. This is much better. A new shining star of a show with most of the buzz...

As one of the Arcade hall volunteers, I'm really looking forward to helping out again. Dan & Gary have been great about taking input from everyone and making the MGC get better every year. I know we're going to do everything possible to make the transition a good one, so don't hesitate to plan on bringing a game (or several)!!

Oh and my hint was "Let's all just relax and take a time out to appreciate a random crowd photo from 2012" The key words were "Time Out" which was a nod to Jim's Time Out... An awesome dive bar one block to the west of the Milwaukee center that I'm amazed is still there.

Jim's Time Out is in the middle of a remodel...

Texas is awesome, I hear. Once my kids are older I will be heading there I hope. Although I guess I'll also need to not have a job because timing, but who knows. Now that I'm not doing the full time thing I'm literally having part time stuff I enjoy falling into my lap at fair wages, and I'm cheap enough that it could work.

Anyway, perhaps the business reason behind this for Texas is we lose like 5 or so percent of our hotel rooms in the last week before the show. Those hotel rooms are critical for space rental costs and stuff. Want me to get to pick show dates in the future sooner? Get a hotel room, it is by far the biggest thing that influences that.

When you plan to sell out, and then 5-10 percent of your rooms duck out, they might even be on the hook for that. It sucks.

We actually shocked the hotels by asking the cancelation period to be one week out to hopefully blunt some of the last minute cancelations. We probably won't be too affected by it this year - as unless we can double our Saturday night rooms sold, we're not above the magic Milwaukee number for being considered truly a big deal - but it's something they may have to deal with.

Uh oh... Hope they don't go too far!

Okay, my wife and I will be going for the first time. I didn't have to twist her pinhead arm much at all. Need more info on the Saturday night options for us low life's that will not be bringing a pin. Bar vs. Garcade? Will those sell out quickly too?

They probably won't sell out until they are fully revealed.

The bar one is going to be like a Vegas after party with rock stars. And video games. And I'm picking those words very specifically.

The Garcade is an awesome arcade in town that will be hosting an after party that is like a mini mgc after party at their location. Bus ride to and from it should be included with ticket price, we're working it all out.

Both should be great. I seriously may be sneaking away to check out the 42 one, but. I can visit the Garcade whenever. Hell, a few of my games are on location there!

Huh?

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

Yes please. Maybe I can actually play one, since I seem to never make the invite list.

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

I thought I was playing a game you might die when you played. Instead, I just had Randy Savage keep yelling at me a lot.

No, this was my mistake. I went through the Hilton website.

Ah, that's why.

Although the front desk was not so useful to me. And Sunday night is "sold out" at both hotels until I talk to them tomorrow.

I'll be ready man! Already excited for the show, and we're more than a half a year away!

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

Dan, I see the post above that the guy that said something about parking cost. So is this true, and if so, what is it for those of us that bring big trucks and trailers

Invites are always misplaced. I will say, Taro has enjoyed the last couple olympics he's been to.

Dick!

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

I too am curious about this. Placed an order for 4 Tom Taylor excursions and 4 VIG tickets last night. I have yet to receive any confirmation email or otherwise. (Checked junk mail). Even found the link to resend information, still nothing. Paypal was charged. I did see the receipt for order on the website after payment, but that is all.

I also thought that last year (our first MGC) when we purchased the VIG tickets that the option to register for the tournaments was done at that time. Don't recall seeing that this year. Still in the works?

Thanks, Can't wait to check out the new venue!

Is what true? I looked above and wasn't sure what you meant, sorry. I can answer better than.

In short, there are plans.

Pm me your name and email address, I'll see what I can do. You should have received a confirmation email with the tickets attached. If that didn't happen...

I totally missed this yesterday, sorry. Can you double check the email and see if there is an attachment? If not, pm me (or just forward me the confirmation directly) so I can figure it out.

In the same boat. Just sent an email about it with the confirmation. (I'm the dummy that missed the clock chaos registration, so the email is a 2 for 1.)

Side note - strange. I had no problems ordering a Tom Taylor ticket without a two day pass. Just added 1 VIG, set the donation for TT, entered 1 and proceeded to checkout.

PM sent. Thanks.

OK! Everyone for ticketing, we got it, and the good news (ehhhh) is that everyone is missing it. It seems a magical setting on the MGC server got changed by our hosting company in between the time we last tested it and made it live, so NO ONE got the actual emails from us.

Gary is on it right now, although will probably have to wait about an hour to make it actually function since he's at his real job. Once it works, I will plug all the emails into the resend, hit submit, and you should receive everything. Hoping for 1pm today.

Sorry for the confusion, of COURSE that happens in the last couple days. It's not MGC without some sort of annoying issue like this cropping up, but usually it happens when ticket sales are slow and then no one tells us for a month, so this is FAR better.

Tom's no longer will FORCE you to buy the two day ticket because about half of the tickets go to people who buy games. I just check the list against a list of game bringers later on, and email people who I don't see there. So it's far less complex than it used to be, but pretty much everyone is cool about it.

Ticketing has been fixed, everyone should have their stuff right now. If not, please contact me again. Sorry!

Also, hotels should be fixed, or at least the Hilton is. Hyatt will be opening more Sunday / Monday night rooms a bit later today.

Do we have to pay for parking, if so, how much, the person above said like 15-30 per day

And what if we have a trailer, does it cost extra, and is there large areas to park is guys with big trailers

The little Gremlins are in the server.

Blame Gary, I called him (and since he's at work, I never know if he can answer) and he answered with, "I already know why you're calling, and I'm figuring it out. Server configuration. Trying to fix it on my phone while I'm walking, I don't know I can. If not, I should be able to do it at lunch."

I was like, oh, okay. Hung up.

Like fifteen seconds later a text saying, "Fixed it, will resend in a moment." arrives.

There is a Clock Chaos thing outstanding. Not sure on the fix just yet, he apparently has done it, but can't send it to me right now because job.

Parking starts at $8 / day at the Hilton. I honestly don't know of any places downtown that are $30 / day, even if you're valet parking your car.

For trailers, we're working on it and have to see exactly how many of what is coming. We theoretically have 10 dock spaces that can fit semis. Not that many people bring full-sized semis to our show, so... we can use those spaces for other things that *aren't* vehicles to park, but we have to see how many people will be doing that, and there may be a small cost to do so. We are TRYING to make it so there isn't, and if you're bringing content that can stay on the show floor, I'm relatively certain we will cover it at least partially, but I don't yet know the details. Based on how many trailers we had at the show last year, we should be fine. But if we end up in the 6 dock space, and we have an extra 20 people bring trailers because why not, we're in trouble.

Stay tuned on that one, but for you Troy, you shouldn't be concerned.

And the ramp up to the unload place has semis drive up it all the time, so we'll be fine.

Did some looking! If you park at the Grand Avenue, you CAN pay $30, but only if you tell them you are parking for a full week.

The Hilton is actually a bit more expensive than what most other lots are, if you're willing to walk like 2 blocks, lots of places are $5.

http://www.parkmilwaukee.com/destinations/33#main_content

This *doesn't* answer the trailer part, I do know.

Sorry to be a broken record, but Hilton said $25/day when I booked. Did you get confirmation it's $8/day? Not a deal breaker for me as I'm staying at the Hilton regardless, but it might affect others' decisions.

Thanks for all your time responding to everything in this thread. When does this man sleep?!?

Yes, the general hotel information that they can't change is it is $25.

Not just will it be $8 / night for those sleeping overnight, it will be $8 / day for those who park there and get a little coupon thing we will have at the MGC proper. You won't even need to stay for it.

Working out close parking was super important to us. The Hyatt doesn't own their structure, and they want $18 / day for it. That's why the Hyatt's rooms are a bit cheaper, to try to offset that.

Hotel web sites are weird in what they can't edit. This isn't the first time we've seen something like this.

Lately, uh, basically never. I'm hoping to change that because I'm getting one heck of a cold because of it :-/ Luckily, now this is out there, things can dramatically slow down on my end for a bit.

Makes perfect sense. You the man!

No, you da man!

Pumpkin2007 (resized).jpg

(Thread needs more vaguely related random pics!)

Dan, for other shows larger trucks and trailers used the convention center surface lot between Wells and Kilbourn. I believe a special rate was worked out with the show and center. Is that something on the table of possibilities for parking space?

Yes, although it might not work for us.

Honestly, just give us some time on this. We have to see what people (more the vendor side) are thinking about bringing, and then we can figure out some real solutions, but I can't get that info for a couple months. There are like five different solutions pending right now, all of them various levels of "perfect" to "well, if we have to" but we'll do our best to make it work.

What you're proposing has the issue that we have been told because of the other groups using parts of the facility at the same time, we may not be able to do it. And, we'd like a cheaper option to if we can.

Thanks Dan,
Not trying to put more on your table, but I know others like Chris (kingpin) are in the same boat. When your truck trailer combo is over 45 feet long, you have to ask these question.

I know at the Sheraton, it always becomes an issue for me. I generally have to park my truck, and be stuck at the venue. The one time that I unhooked my trailer and used my truck to run to firehouse subs (for Rob Anthony) I come back and some idiot parked in front of my trailer where I couldn't hook back up until they were found. which took hours. That's not on MGC, that's just someone being an idiot not thinking that it takes a truck to move the trailers, lol

this year, my truck(s) will be in one of the semi docks.

probably will be one of the largest collections of games any one person/company will have brought into MGC ever (and I have brought in 48ft of packed truck and trailer before). it's going to be a fun event.

We're well aware of the issue. Again, it depends. If we have 20 things total, I can tell you what is happening right now. But if we have 20 things total and I say that, I guarantee you 40 are going to show up and it's going to be a cluster... So instead of that, we're kind of slotting things as they go.

I know what you've got Troy, you're high up my list, don't worry You'll probably be getting a call from me in the not too distant future to nail things down. I've been talking with Chris first because of... thing that will be announced relatively soon, that I think people here will find crazy fun.

Many of the downtown lots have flex pricing - the daily rate varies by the event schedule downtown.

April 14/15 is the beginning of the first round of the NBA Playoffs. There is a possibility that the Bucks make the playoffs, and could play either Saturday or Sunday (either home or away). The Bradley Center will need to hold those dates, so no other event can be scheduled there until it's clear they won't play that day/night. That's usually too late for another event to schedule.

The Admirals are at home Saturday April 14th - 6pm start.

And, don't forget, we're sharing the building with at least one other event.

I have no idea how their pricing matrix works, I just know that more and more lots are moving toward that method of pricing.

Frank, while this is true, the location we are at is far enough away, and earlier in the day, so a lot of the time that doesn't really apply. The theory is they flex on demand, but since a lot of our people will be showing up at like 9-11am, that's far before things get more hairy. In the morning, the lots will take the risk that we will be out by that time and go for the cheaper rate.

The Park Milwaukee site should be pretty accurate. And Sunday? There is a ton of street parking that's free.