Tips and Tricks


 

    1. Hotels 
    2. Getting Around Atlanta
    3. Getting Around the Con 
      1. Hyatt
      2. Marriott
      3. Hilton
      4. Sheraton
      5. Food Court
      6. General
    4. Parking 
    5. Food 
      1. See also 
    6. What You'll Need
    7. Scheduling 
      1. Health 

       

      Hotels 

       

      Getting Around Atlanta

       

      Getting Around the Con 

       

      Hyatt

      * The underground parts of the Hyatt comprise two "towers" just like the aboveground hotel parts. If you go down from the lobby you'll encounter the large ballrooms. If you go down from the international tower, you'll encounter smaller rooms. At the bottom, the two sides connect. If you are in Hanover and need to get to Embassy, you don't have to go up, up, over, down, down. You can go down, over, up instead.

      Between the Marriott skywalk and the convenience store, there are bathrooms and a stairwell. That stairwell goes up to the con suite on the second floor (and up farther, of course), and down to the Centennial ballroom area. In reverse, if you stand outside Centennial and look at the escalators, on your left there is a small nook containing three doors, one of which is a stairwell that goes up and skips the escalator crowd.

      * There is a skywalk on the 22nd floor of the International tower that goes to the main tower. If you have a room in the main tower on the 20th or 21st floor, consider going up the International tower elevators, across the skywalk, and down the stairs, rather than going up the main tower elevators. Unfortunately you cannot reverse this route, because the main tower stairwells do not allow access to the 22nd floor. If you're lucky enough to have a 22nd floor room, take advantage of this in both directions.

       

      Marriott

      * When the Marquis towers (the buildings you walk through between the Marriott Atrium and the Hyatt and food court skywalks) are open, there are nice quiet pretty places to relax available if you go down the stairs/escalators inside the towers.

      * There is a less popular food court attached to the other Marquis Tower. If you head from the Atrium toward the Hyatt skywalk, it will be on your right (through another small lobby and across another skywalk). It is only open on weekdays, unfortunately.

      * The pool is open during con to Marriott guests. It has indoor and outdoor sections and has a steel bottom, which is very cool. It also has a hot tub.

       

      Hilton

      * At the rear of the first floor there are two large outdoor concrete areas, one side with some plants. These are good gathering places for large groups of people, if weather permits.

      * There is an outdoor running track around the basketball courts on the 4th floor with a decent low skyline view of north/west Atlanta.

      * The first floor has an exit near the FedEx office that leads in the direction of the Sheraton.

      * There are small open lounge areas on floors 5, 12, and 19, similar to the 10th floor in the Marriott but much smaller and less frequented.

       

      Sheraton

      * There is a not-indoor skywalk from the food court to the parking garage between the Hilton and the Sheraton. Going that way and down the elevators in the garage is much faster than walking through the Marriott and Hilton, and a bit faster than walking at street level and dealing with crosswalks.

      * If you approach the pool from the lobby and turn right down the guest room hall, then turn right at the end, you'll find a hallway that goes to the back side of the meeting rooms and a staircase that goes down to the ballrooms. This can avoid large crowds at the choke points outside those rooms.

       

      Food Court

      * The up escalator in the food court leads to a door out to the courtyard above the food court which has benches. If the weather isn't bad, this is a viable alternative to trying to find seating inside.

       

      General

      * Holding "door close" and your floor button does NOT get you an express elevator in any of the host hotels.

      * Pressing both the up and down elevator call buttons does NOT speed up the elevators. Instead, it makes the whole elevator system slower.

      * There are no attendee-accessible paths between the two underground portions of the Hyatt except those outlined above.

       

      Many of these tips are courtesy of sparr.

       

      Parking 

       

      Food 

            You will need to eat. It's vital for health and energy. There are many restaurants around and within the convention area. You also have the option to bring your own food with you.

       

      What You'll Need

      These things are mandatory:

       

      Scheduling 

       

       

      Health