What the H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS was that detouring about?

[pulsedemon]

As someone who stayed at the Marriott, I had the displeasure of every time I head back to my hotel room, I'd be directed outside to walk all the way around outside to the Sheraton to get into the convention center. While bag checks were there the last two years and are something we are used to by now, is this "outside detour" going to be an every year thing now? Because the winds outside and coldness (yes, I get cold easy) made me actually rather upset about this. Want to go to the food court? Go outside and far around to get back in! Want to go back to the hotel? Go outside and around to come back in! Want to hit the ATM by the sky bridge? Go outside and around to come back in! It got ridiculous. I figure it's a "line control" thing but it was very, very bothersome coming from our end and being a group who does go back to the hotel for leisure time, costume change, merch dropoff, hotel return for cosplay fix ups and more.

Can we please not do that again? Circle it around on the inside or something. I just said **** it and while down that way anyways, went to the Sheraton's third floor and entered the con through the Artist Alley to avoid standing outside in line.

On another note, the escalators.... why the lines there? Is there a problem new or something? We never had a line before and all of a sudden, we need lines to use them. Adding a line to these escalators practically makes everything in the con line-mandatory now. Might as well do it for the staircase too at this rate.


The escalator wasn't really a problem... more so curiousness, but the former most definitely was a problem.

[Old_School_Anime_Lover02]

Can we please not do that again? Circle it around on the inside or something. I just said **** it and while down that way anyways, went to the Sheraton's third floor and entered the con through the Artist Alley to avoid standing outside in line.


i wish i remembered that the first time i looked down the first set of steps and almost passed out on Saturday due to my disorder of fear of heights (Verdago is not fun to have) ,( a bird almost pooped on me thank you very much,) so when there was a mass of confusion i took the chance and snuck in i said frack it and ran in the middle of it, knowing i wouldn't piss anyone off cause the gap was a few five people wide, so i just ran in and started to walk.

I felt bad for the people who didn't know the line for pre reg was out side. HAVE SIGNS PEOPLE...YOU'D BE SURPRISED AT CONS HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN READ. I had to tell the very nice people in front of me because they didn't have badges, that they were in the wrong line, I had gotten mine on thursday.


why couldn't you just have ligned us up inside the sharaton like you did last year, and saved everyone else the trouble. If you don't do that again i think you'll lose some good costumers.

[PatternerMage]

On another note, the escalators.... why the lines there? Is there a problem new or something? We never had a line before and all of a sudden, we need lines to use them. Adding a line to these escalators practically makes everything in the con line-mandatory now. Might as well do it for the staircase too at this rate.

At the feedback panel on Sunday, staff explained that the escalator queue was because the Hynes noticed that one particular escalator's "escalating mechanism" (for lack of a better term x3) was not functioning well at higher capacities and needed to limit the number of people on it to keep it functioning throughout the weekend (correct me if I have misstated this!).

I, too, thought the escalator line was strange. Nevertheless, it was probably better than not being able to use that escalator at all!

[Master of NERV]

Because the winds outside and coldness (yes, I get cold easy) made me actually rather upset about this...It got ridiculous. I figure it's a "line control" thing but it was very, very bothersome coming from our end and being a group who does go back to the hotel for leisure time, costume change, merch dropoff, hotel return for cosplay fix ups and more.

And the weather was actually better than it could have been. The next three ABs will open at the end of March, at a time when weather in New England can be rather unsettled (April Fool's Day blizzard, anyone?) My first thought was if , in the future, we had a snowstorm or a cold, driving rain to contend with. I can imagine a lot of people in short sleeves chilled to the bone and a few destroyed cosplays. Something to consider if this detour becomes standard practice in the future.

[reaper527]

On another note, the escalators.... why the lines there? Is there a problem new or something? We never had a line before and all of a sudden, we need lines to use them. Adding a line to these escalators practically makes everything in the con line-mandatory now. Might as well do it for the staircase too at this rate.

in previous years i recall the escalator being blocked off / out of service at certain points as the con went on (apparently the hynes aren't fans of mitch hedberg). perhaps they were worried about too much weight being on the escalator at once and breaking it, and the lines were an attempt to avoid that?

[Swordsncarrots]

Because the winds outside and coldness (yes, I get cold easy) made me actually rather upset about this...It got ridiculous. I figure it's a "line control" thing but it was very, very bothersome coming from our end and being a group who does go back to the hotel for leisure time, costume change, merch dropoff, hotel return for cosplay fix ups and more.

And the weather was actually better than it could have been. The next three ABs will open at the end of March, at a time when weather in New England can be rather unsettled (April Fool's Day blizzard, anyone?) My first thought was if , in the future, we had a snowstorm or a cold, driving rain to contend with. I can imagine a lot of people in short sleeves chilled to the bone and a few destroyed cosplays. Something to consider if this detour becomes standard practice in the future.

Even though the weather could have been a lot worse, it was still uncomfortable for anyone in cosplay that left body parts exposed (I was wearing shorts so it was a pain). I also know of people whose cosplay was damaged because of the high winds. This is just extremely inconsiderate and unacceptable on part of whoever made this decision. Most of us went inside the convention center without the intention of leaving the Pru, so we weren't prepared to go outside in high winds with cosplay that could easily be damaged. There was absolutely no good reason in my mind for the wrap-around....if it was due to complaints from people at the Pru, they need to deal with the fact that it's a convention and it's naturally going to be crowded. We shouldn't be punished for PAYING to go to a convention that has a lot of people.

[Sayoria]

Because the winds outside and coldness (yes, I get cold easy) made me actually rather upset about this...It got ridiculous. I figure it's a "line control" thing but it was very, very bothersome coming from our end and being a group who does go back to the hotel for leisure time, costume change, merch dropoff, hotel return for cosplay fix ups and more.

And the weather was actually better than it could have been. The next three ABs will open at the end of March, at a time when weather in New England can be rather unsettled (April Fool's Day blizzard, anyone?) My first thought was if , in the future, we had a snowstorm or a cold, driving rain to contend with. I can imagine a lot of people in short sleeves chilled to the bone and a few destroyed cosplays. Something to consider if this detour becomes standard practice in the future.

Even though the weather could have been a lot worse, it was still uncomfortable for anyone in cosplay that left body parts exposed (I was wearing shorts so it was a pain). I also know of people whose cosplay was damaged because of the high winds. This is just extremely inconsiderate and unacceptable on part of whoever made this decision. Most of us went inside the convention center without the intention of leaving the Pru, so we weren't prepared to go outside in high winds with cosplay that could easily be damaged. There was absolutely no good reason in my mind for the wrap-around....if it was due to complaints from people at the Pru, they need to deal with the fact that it's a convention and it's naturally going to be crowded. We shouldn't be punished for PAYING to go to a convention that has a lot of people.

Exactly. I had a pretty short skirt on. Last thing I wanted to do was keep a handle on BOTH of my props while holding that down in the wind gusts that I experienced there. This time of the year, the winds are not too friendly to those wearing dresses or skirts, and as you said, I wasn't expecting to go outside.... at all. Actually, the suitcase prop I have was pulled by force with me trying to keep it under wraps that the handle started to rip... and this is a pretty good quality prop.

Another thing... I was on my way to an event... Anime Charades, and I missed the volunteering cut going around all dinky-doo-dah for an extra 10-15 minutes with that.

[dansolo]

Hi all

I agree that these lines outside were very, very annoying. It was windy and cold and I was not even in a skirt. I've been attending this convention since 2007 and there was no improvement inside the convention center whatsoever by having the lines outside. It was not easier to walk around and there were absolutely zero benefits. And the lines persisted well beyond 3PM... Seriously?

If this is going to be the norm from now on, I won't be attending anymore.

[guiiii]

The detour was something of a last minute request by the Hynes/Prudential to avoid a public safety issue. The detour was only there on Friday/Saturday during lunch hours (11am~3pm). The issue stems from the amount of people leaving the Hynes to go to the food court, the people coming back from the food court, and the local business (Dunkin, Frutata, Loft, Church, Crazy Dough, etc). Remember that on Friday and Saturday there are thousands of office workers and shoppers around, not only AB people.

The sheer amount of people in that hallway made it impossible to move when traffic was flowing both ways (i.e. people coming and going from the food court). On Friday/Saturday there were thousands of people around, God forbid anything happened.

So it was decided that at least during lunch hours the hallways coming from the entrance of the Hynes out to the food court and crazy dough would be a one way. This was done to keep traffic moving and prevent anything bad from happening. We positioned AB security along the Microsoft store to direct attendees to go around the corner. We also positioned people outside the food court to direct people to Boylston entrance. We would let people go by if they wanted to go to Dunkin or the hotel and if anyone wanted to go by the AB security there was nothing we could do; however, the Prudential security would turn attendees around and ask them to to around the corner.

Is this something that will happen next year? It's hard to say, maybe, maybe not.

Hope this helps

[dansolo]

If you're going to force us to wait outside even though the con clearly worked just fine when we didn't have to do that (and the con was not at all improved by doing that), then go back to having the con in May when it's not cold outside.

Convention-goers are the people who pay you and it wouldn't hurt to consider us when you make these policy changes, you know.

Also, I believe that good customer service (remember, we do pay quite a bit to attend this con) would at least include an apology for the inconvenience and a statement that you would be looking into options to reduce the inconvenience next year.

[Painted_Outlaw]

We would let people go by if they wanted to go to Dunkin or the hotel and if anyone wanted to go by the AB security there was nothing we could do; however, the Prudential security would turn attendees around and ask them to to around the corner.

Not trying to outright disagree here, just giving my 2cents, that does sound a tee bit weird since Sat. afternoon, my sis and I were coming back from the food court and trying to go by Dunks.. and some Orange Shirts (Were they AB security? I forget) were the ones screaming at us to TURN LEFT TURN LEFT.. and we got forced outside.

[Auron_of_Boston]

They were not allowing anyone with a badge to go to the Sheraton. I was trying to bring back lunch from shaws with my girlfriend and the cop kept saying I had to go around no matter how many times I said I was going to my room, until I said my gf was hypoglycemic and needed to eat now, which lead to additive saying I should have started with that. That was unacceptable.

[dansolo]

They were not allowing anyone with a badge to go to the Sheraton. I was trying to bring back lunch from shaws with my girlfriend and the cop kept saying I had to go around no matter how many times I said I was going to my room, until I said my gf was hypoglycemic and needed to eat now, which lead to additive saying I should have started with that. That was unacceptable.

Which is funny because they don't even have the authority to stop people from going to the Sheraton considering they don't own or rent the entire Sheraton. Maybe they didn't know that the Sheraton is still open for normal business when the con is going on?

Unacceptable is a word I agree with 100%.

Hopefully the Sheraton refuses to do business with AB if they ever try to do that again. How dare you. Seriously.

[AbZeroNow]

If you're going to force us to wait outside even though the con clearly worked just fine when we didn't have to do that (and the con was not at all improved by doing that), then go back to having the con in May when it's not cold outside.

Convention-goers are the people who pay you and it wouldn't hurt to consider us when you make these policy changes, you know.

May would have its own tradeoffs as well.(I loved 2013 AB because that one year, you didn't have freaking Sakuracon stealing all the good Japanese guests and industry folks).

Pros:
-Warmer weather
-No religous conflicts
-No conflict with freaking Sakuracon!!!!

Cons:
-Hotels are more expensive
-Red Sox Games at night would make the T even more crowded(or if a day game, during the day). If the Bruins and Celtics are in the playoffs, yikes!
-Hynes would be more expensive and thus weekend passes would cost more.

[Sayoria]

The detour was something of a last minute request by the Hynes/Prudential to avoid a public safety issue. The detour was only there on Friday/Saturday during lunch hours (11am~3pm). The issue stems from the amount of people leaving the Hynes to go to the food court, the people coming back from the food court, and the local business (Dunkin, Frutata, Loft, Church, Crazy Dough, etc). Remember that on Friday and Saturday there are thousands of office workers and shoppers around, not only AB people.

The sheer amount of people in that hallway made it impossible to move when traffic was flowing both ways (i.e. people coming and going from the food court). On Friday/Saturday there were thousands of people around, God forbid anything happened.

So it was decided that at least during lunch hours the hallways coming from the entrance of the Hynes out to the food court and crazy dough would be a one way. This was done to keep traffic moving and prevent anything bad from happening. We positioned AB security along the Microsoft store to direct attendees to go around the corner. We also positioned people outside the food court to direct people to Boylston entrance. We would let people go by if they wanted to go to Dunkin or the hotel and if anyone wanted to go by the AB security there was nothing we could do; however, the Prudential security would turn attendees around and ask them to to around the corner.

Is this something that will happen next year? It's hard to say, maybe, maybe not.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the reply. The event I was late for was Iron Editor then. My bad.

Anywho, this could still be a make-it break-it thing with people. If this isn't fixed next year, I actually know three people in my group who are going to refuse to go anymore. It's part of why I wanted answers here. I understand the traffic problems, but the way it was handled was terrible. I don't get why the area by Crazy Dough's pizza couldn't be the return-from-food-court path. I originally thought that was what was going to happen seeing the first ones by the Microsoft store. Once I got to that point by the escalators and the girl stopped me, I wanted to snap. I didn't, but I was clearly frustrated, and this was just me, not them.

[guiiii]

We would let people go by if they wanted to go to Dunkin or the hotel and if anyone wanted to go by the AB security there was nothing we could do; however, the Prudential security would turn attendees around and ask them to to around the corner.

Not trying to outright disagree here, just giving my 2cents, that does sound a tee bit weird since Sat. afternoon, my sis and I were coming back from the food court and trying to go by Dunks.. and some Orange Shirts (Were they AB security? I forget) were the ones screaming at us to TURN LEFT TURN LEFT.. and we got forced outside.

Thanks for the feedback.
We were telling everybody to turn left, "If you going to Anime Boston, turn left!", did you tell the orange shirt you were going to DD? We would not stop you if you were going to DD or any other shopping place. If you did not do that and tried to go past the people in orange shirt the guards would tell you to turn around.

[guiiii]

They were not allowing anyone with a badge to go to the Sheraton. I was trying to bring back lunch from shaws with my girlfriend and the cop kept saying I had to go around no matter how many times I said I was going to my room, until I said my gf was hypoglycemic and needed to eat now, which lead to additive saying I should have started with that. That was unacceptable.

Thanks for the feedback.
The person who told you this, was it someone with an orange shirt of was this the mall guard?

[Auron_of_Boston]

We were telling everybody to turn left, "If you going to Anime Boston, turn left!", did you tell the orange shirt you were going to DD? We would not stop you if you were going to DD or any other shopping place. If you did not do that and tried to go past the people in orange shirt the guards would tell you to turn around.

I was saying that I was going to the Sheraton with bags of food and drink in hand and was still turned away. First time was a cop and another was an orange shirt, and sorry for this but by that point I just walked past, i was paying a ton for my hotel room and I was not being turned away from it.

[Alcor]

Staff reply in this thread is feeling pretty dismissive. Can't you guys leverage the fact that you're *paying for this space* to get some cooperation here? Because otherwise you're letting AB get kicked around, and the congoers are very obviously not happy. Are you even going to try to alleviate this?

[MDK]

We would let people go by if they wanted to go to Dunkin or the hotel and if anyone wanted to go by the AB security there was nothing we could do; however, the Prudential security would turn attendees around and ask them to to around the corner.

Not trying to outright disagree here, just giving my 2cents, that does sound a tee bit weird since Sat. afternoon, my sis and I were coming back from the food court and trying to go by Dunks.. and some Orange Shirts (Were they AB security? I forget) were the ones screaming at us to TURN LEFT TURN LEFT.. and we got forced outside.

Thanks for the feedback.
We were telling everybody to turn left, "If you going to Anime Boston, turn left!", did you tell the orange shirt you were going to DD? We would not stop you if you were going to DD or any other shopping place. If you did not do that and tried to go past the people in orange shirt the guards would tell you to turn around.

For the PAYDAY 2 photoshoot meetup around DD, two Dallases and I went up to the staff in the orange shirt and mentioned we had to get there for the meetup. We were still told we had to go around even though we weren't going directly into the con or the Sheraton. This was on Friday and IMO very unacceptable.

I was late to the very thing I organized. Also it was very unfriendly to those with disabilities, as others and myself note in the criticism thread in detail.

[Sayoria]

We would let people go by if they wanted to go to Dunkin or the hotel and if anyone wanted to go by the AB security there was nothing we could do; however, the Prudential security would turn attendees around and ask them to to around the corner.

Not trying to outright disagree here, just giving my 2cents, that does sound a tee bit weird since Sat. afternoon, my sis and I were coming back from the food court and trying to go by Dunks.. and some Orange Shirts (Were they AB security? I forget) were the ones screaming at us to TURN LEFT TURN LEFT.. and we got forced outside.

Thanks for the feedback.
We were telling everybody to turn left, "If you going to Anime Boston, turn left!", did you tell the orange shirt you were going to DD? We would not stop you if you were going to DD or any other shopping place. If you did not do that and tried to go past the people in orange shirt the guards would tell you to turn around.

I know it was short notice for you guys, but even with that, it was an unwritten pass. No one would be expected to know this. As a con-goer, when I hear "If you are going to Anime Boston, turn left!", I assume it means "If you are an Anime Boston con-goer, turn left!" ... which would mean everyone who is....well..... a con attendee. I am willing to bet 80% or more attendees going to Dunkins or anything in-between that point to the Sheraton read it like that.

[guiiii]

If you're going to force us to wait outside even though the con clearly worked just fine when we didn't have to do that (and the con was not at all improved by doing that), then go back to having the con in May when it's not cold outside.

Convention-goers are the people who pay you and it wouldn't hurt to consider us when you make these policy changes, you know.

Also, I believe that good customer service (remember, we do pay quite a bit to attend this con) would at least include an apology for the inconvenience and a statement that you would be looking into options to reduce the inconvenience next year.

Thanks for the feedback.
I wouldn't mind having AB in May either
We're always looking for ways to improve AB, it may not have been the best option, but it was the only option available to us on short notice. We will take this experience and try to improve it for next year.

[Alcor]

Gosh yes please stop putting it over Easter *please*?

[guiiii]

I know it was short notice for you guys, but even with that, it was an unwritten pass. No one would be expected to know this. As a con-goer, when I hear "If you are going to Anime Boston, turn left!", I assume it means "If you are an Anime Boston con-goer, turn left!" ... which would mean everyone who is....well..... a con attendee. I am willing to bet 80% or more attendees going to Dunkins or anything in-between that point to the Sheraton read it like that.

Thanks for the feedback. If we have to do this again next year we may use your feedback to try and give more info to con goers. Thanks again!

[Alcor]

So is AB going to stop this line-wrapping bull----- next con or at least try to push for a saner policy? You're being awfully dodgy here.

[reaper527]

I was saying that I was going to the Sheraton with bags of food and drink in hand and was still turned away. First time was a cop and another was an orange shirt, and sorry for this but by that point I just walked past, i was paying a ton for my hotel room and I was not being turned away from it.

i can second this. my group (3 people, including myself) were trying to get back to our rooms at the sheraton. an orange shirt stopped us and said we couldn't get into the con that way and had to go around. we told him we were going back to our rooms at the sheraton and he said it didn't matter and pointed us down a hallway. when we got to the end of that hallway, we realized we had to go outside in our t-shirts/costumes.

hopefully next year they will try just putting a rope divider down the middle of the hallway and telling everyone to stay on the right side of the divider. that will keep foot traffic moving without forcing people out into the cold who aren't dressed for it (and with ab being in march in 2016, it will likely be a lot colder than this year)

[guiiii]

Gosh yes please stop putting it over Easter *please*?

I would like that, too
2017 will not be on Easter.

[guiiii]

So is AB going to stop this line-wrapping bull**** next con or at least try to push for a saner policy? You're being awfully dodgy here.

I'm not being dodgy here, I don't know the answer, simple as that. If I knew anything I would not mind sharing the info. Since I do not know if this will happen again next year I can't say anything. All I can do is read through your feedback and if we have to do this again next year I can take the feedback and try to improve things. One thing I will not do is lie to you guys or spread rumors, don't expect that from me

[Alcor]

Okay. It'd be nice to have some kind of official statement about what you're planning to do given that this treatment got an extremely negative response from what amounts to the entire community commenting in these threads.

It's like you guys planned for 30k people and then didn't have any supplies/personnel for it. What happened to last year's line management instead of rerouting? Or why were there only 3 wheelchairs? Were you low on resources this year? What will be done to ensure that the needs of a large and growing con continue to be met without unnecessary problems?

[guiiii]

hopefully next year they will try just putting a rope divider down the middle of the hallway and telling everyone to stay on the right side of the divider. that will keep foot traffic moving without forcing people out into the cold who aren't dressed for it (and with ab being in march in 2016, it will likely be a lot colder than this year)

Thanks for the feedback. I can see how having a divider down the middle of the hallways could help things. I'll keep that in mind in case we need to do this again.

[Painted_Outlaw]

Thanks for the feedback.
We were telling everybody to turn left, "If you going to Anime Boston, turn left!", did you tell the orange shirt you were going to DD? We would not stop you if you were going to DD or any other shopping place. If you did not do that and tried to go past the people in orange shirt the guards would tell you to turn around.

Oh, I didn't know that until now (Like I said in the Criticism thread, it never happened to me on Friday, only that time on Sat.); I had considered asking the Orange shirt about what was going on, but at the time, I just thought "Blurg, not worth getting yelled at".

[guiiii]

Okay. It'd be nice to have some kind of official statement about what you're planning to do given that this treatment got an extremely negative response from what amounts to the entire community commenting in these threads.

It's like you guys planned for 30k people and then didn't have any supplies/personnel for it. What happened to last year's line management instead of rerouting? Or why were there only 3 wheelchairs? Were you low on resources this year? What will be done to ensure that the needs of a large and growing con continue to be met without unnecessary problems?

Alcor, I understand your point. All I can say is this was something that happened during the con, it was not something that was planned for. We did not plan to redirect people before the con. If we have to do this again next year I would like to know before hand as well so we can better prepare.
I cannot answer some of the question as I don't know the answers. I did not know there were only 3 wheelchairs either.

I think that to ensure we meet all the needs of our con goers we need to continue to work closely with the Sheraton, the MCCA (Hynes), and the Prudential so that we can plan for every thing that may happen during the con.

[Fetch]

They could have had an Orange Shirt at the Food Court with a sign pointing to Boylston St.
Yes, this would still put people outside, but for not as long and not in that crazy wind tunnel of an alleyway.

AB put on it's FB and it's tumblr a reminder of the Boylston St entrance for the Hynes.
It would have been nice if they had a few signs reminding people of it as well.

On Friday after getting food at the food court, I saw the orange shirt holding sign at the main intersection, and figured they were using the other hallway to send people back up towards the Hynes. When I got to it and saw another orange shirt with a sign pointing outside, I went up to them, told them I was going to the Sheraton, and started walking. As I know from LONG experience (I've been to every AB at the Hynes) that they can't actually do anything to you except have someone follow you to make sure you are going to the Sheraton. And I did go into the Sheraton. Went to the 3rd floor and used the Artist Alley entrance.

[Nemra]

Staff reply in this thread is feeling pretty dismissive. Can't you guys leverage the fact that you're *paying for this space* to get some cooperation here? Because otherwise you're letting AB get kicked around, and the congoers are very obviously not happy. Are you even going to try to alleviate this?

I want to assure everyone that we are absolutely not being dismissive. Many of the con-runners are still busy wrapping up some loose ends here and there, and are recovering from post-con. More official answers will be given as soon as possible. We just ask for a bit of patience and everything will be answered.

That being said, I need to point out that we do not pay for any space in the prudential. The only space we pay for are the in the Hynes and in the Sheraton. The moment we step out of one of the two, we enter completely different territory. We will definitely continue to work with Pru Security and the BPD to address the line issues that arose this year as we have in the past.

I will ask, once again, for everyone to please be a bit patient until an official response comes out from those who are more knowledgeable about what happened. We are definitely listening (reading in this case) to the feedback and we take all your concerns seriously. Please also ask your con friends to post their own feedback on our forums as that is absolutely the #1 way to have your voices heard and makes our jobs much easier when we know exactly what went wrong, where it went wrong, and how to solve it.

[Master of NERV]

The detour was something of a last minute request by the Hynes/Prudential to avoid a public safety issue. The detour was only there on Friday/Saturday during lunch hours (11am~3pm). The issue stems from the amount of people leaving the Hynes to go to the food court, the people coming back from the food court, and the local business (Dunkin, Frutata, Loft, Church, Crazy Dough, etc). Remember that on Friday and Saturday there are thousands of office workers and shoppers around, not only AB people.

Is this something that will happen next year? It's hard to say, maybe, maybe not.

Hope this helps

Indeed it does! I'm very grateful to know what happened.

I was thinking that, in the future, you may want to come up with a "detour map" and make it available pre-con on the web site, and made available at-con on the both the paper booklet and online con guide. If the need arises, people will not be caught completely unawares, and will have some idea where to go when requested. It would be AB's version of a movie theater's "In the event of an emergency" announcement, or that chart on every hotel door showing the preferred fire route.

[Oos]

You know what? No. This line-wrapping bull---- CAN'T happen again.

In the other thread, the concrit thread, at LEAST three disabled people who had difficulty walking were forced to go up a set of stairs outside. That is an ADA violation if ever there was one and you could be looking at a lawsuit if someone got hurt that way. I almost fell backwards myself, and this was BEFORE we got into the convention to hopefully pick up one of three wheelchairs. which there WASNT ONE when I got there. I had to wait until they were done treating an emergency, I'm just lucky it was a temporary usage of one and not a whole-day one.

Do you understand that you have MANY disabled people at this convention? Do you really think detouring them UP A FLIGHT OF STAIRS is a good idea? Did you or Hynes staff think about that?

If I wasnt able to get a wheelchair on Saturday I would have had to go home! THATS how bad my legs are and that's not even the worst of it as far as disabled people at this con goes! So no, there IS no 'this might or might not happen next year', it CAN'T happen that way. I had a handicap access sticker on my badge and everything and I was still told to go up the stairs. If you want to have adequate money for hosting a con, money that isnt being used for a lawsuit because someone who cant walk up a flight of stairs either fell or got sick or collapsed, maybe you should think about that a little harder.

[Max465]

I have two major suggestions to this problem.

First has already been mentioned. You need to direct people to ALL of the entrances. Not just the one. You need to mention that you have three entrances...AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CON. No more of this posting on facebook crap: "LOOK HOW SHORT THE LINE AT THE BOYLSTON ENTRANCE IS!!" That's honestly unacceptable. Tell us the WEEK BEFORE THE CON ABOUT WHERE EVERY ENTRANCE IS!! LET US KNOW BEFORE HAND!! For some of us its actually more convient to use the boylston entrance, but we may be unaware of it, or just plain forgot. Not everyone is from the area. Also Detouring everyone from the food court to the furthest possible entrance(After all the looping around it is the furthest) is simply unacceptable.

My second suggestion, and this is really a huge extreme, and I may even get backlash from this one.

But...forbid photos being taken in the Prudential center area. If that's a bit extreme (Which it is), at the very least directly outside the convention center. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the chaos and traffic is caused because people stop moving for a good 10 - 30 seconds at a time taking photos. I know I saw an awesome group of Fire Emblem cosplayers that were probably there for a good minute or two because people (Myself included) would walk up to them and want them to hold on just a little longer so they could grab a photo (One bunghole even walked in front of me when I took my photo so I had to apologize and ask them to hold a little longer). Fortunately this was later at night, so it wasn't crowded, but I've seen it happen during more crowded hours.

[Nemra]

I have two major suggestions to this problem.

First has already been mentioned. You need to direct people to ALL of the entrances. Not just the one. You need to mention that you have three entrances...AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CON. No more of this posting on facebook crap: "LOOK HOW SHORT THE LINE AT THE BOYLSTON ENTRANCE IS!!" That's honestly unacceptable. Tell us the WEEK BEFORE THE CON ABOUT WHERE EVERY ENTRANCE IS!! LET US KNOW BEFORE HAND!! For some of us its actually more convient to use the boylston entrance, but we may be unaware of it, or just plain forgot. Not everyone is from the area. Also Detouring everyone from the food court to the furthest possible entrance(After all the looping around it is the furthest) is simply unacceptable.

My second suggestion, and this is really a huge extreme, and I may even get backlash from this one.

But...forbid photos being taken in the Prudential center area. If that's a bit extreme (Which it is), at the very least directly outside the convention center. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the chaos and traffic is caused because people stop moving for a good 10 - 30 seconds at a time taking photos. I know I saw an awesome group of Fire Emblem cosplayers that were probably there for a good minute or two because people (Myself included) would walk up to them and want them to hold on just a little longer so they could grab a photo (One bunghole even walked in front of me when I took my photo so I had to apologize and ask them to hold a little longer). Fortunately this was later at night, so it wasn't crowded, but I've seen it happen during more crowded hours.

first: I'm sorry you took it that way. It was a "please use that entrance instead of that other entrance" rather than a rubbing it in your face which was obviously not intended. We understand that people may have forgotten about that entrance which is why we blasted it continuously to please use that entrance. I will definitely make it a note to remind everyone when the con is closer about all three entrances.

What I will not do, is not update everyone on whether or not there is no line at a specific entrance whether you took it the wrong way or not. People will always prefer the prudential entrance, just as they have in years past and having to continuously remind people that there is usually no line on the Boylston St entrance is something that must be done to try and route traffic that way. I'm sure had we not said anything about the Boylston St line being non-existent, we'd get the same remark that we should have said something

I am not sure who was re-routing people from the food court to go through the Pru entrance as the door to use the Boylston st entrance was right by the food court and was the shortest distance. Was it an orange shirt? Pru security? any details you can tell us will be helpful in figuring out what happened, why, and by whom.

[guiiii]

They could have had an Orange Shirt at the Food Court with a sign pointing to Boylston St.

We did have someone in the food court pointing people to the Boylston st. entrance and we also had signs pointing to the Boylston st. entrance. However, most traffic would still go to the Hynes entrance in the prudential.

In the other thread, the concrit thread, at LEAST three disabled people who had difficulty walking were forced to go up a set of stairs outside. That is an ADA violation if ever there was one and you could be looking at a lawsuit if someone got hurt that way. I almost fell backwards myself, and this was BEFORE we got into the convention to hopefully pick up one of three wheelchairs. which there WASNT ONE when I got there. I had to wait until they were done treating an emergency, I'm just lucky it was a temporary usage of one and not a whole-day one.

I'm very sorry you had to go through this ordeal to get inside the convention. I want to let you know this, which perhaps you did not know at the time, but if you are handicapped or you have a disability you can usually go to the front of the line. This applies to the entrance and to panels such as main events or Hall D for example. In the future, just let us know and we will move you up to the front of the line. Again, I'm sorry you had to go through this.

Thanks for the suggestions, please keep them coming.

[guiiii]

I have two major suggestions to this problem.

First has already been mentioned. You need to direct people to ALL of the entrances. Not just the one. You need to mention that you have three entrances...AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CON. No more of this posting on facebook crap: "LOOK HOW SHORT THE LINE AT THE BOYLSTON ENTRANCE IS!!" That's honestly unacceptable. Tell us the WEEK BEFORE THE CON ABOUT WHERE EVERY ENTRANCE IS!! LET US KNOW BEFORE HAND!! For some of us its actually more convient to use the boylston entrance, but we may be unaware of it, or just plain forgot. Not everyone is from the area. Also Detouring everyone from the food court to the furthest possible entrance(After all the looping around it is the furthest) is simply unacceptable.

My second suggestion, and this is really a huge extreme, and I may even get backlash from this one.

But...forbid photos being taken in the Prudential center area. If that's a bit extreme (Which it is), at the very least directly outside the convention center. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the chaos and traffic is caused because people stop moving for a good 10 - 30 seconds at a time taking photos. I know I saw an awesome group of Fire Emblem cosplayers that were probably there for a good minute or two because people (Myself included) would walk up to them and want them to hold on just a little longer so they could grab a photo (One bunghole even walked in front of me when I took my photo so I had to apologize and ask them to hold a little longer). Fortunately this was later at night, so it wasn't crowded, but I've seen it happen during more crowded hours.

Max465, I don't know what this is about "LOOK HOW SHORT THE LINE AT THE BOYLSTON ENTRANCE IS!!" so I have no comments on that one. We could do a better job of spreading the word about our 3 entrances before con, thanks for the feedback. I can tell you that we security staff inform people about the Boylston st. entrance to people in line, but for some reason people prefer the Hynes entrance in the Prudential side.
As for the second suggestion, that's pretty extreme, but it's a good feedback nonetheless. I'm not sure we could do that but it's something we can discuss.
Again, thanks for the feedback.

[Max465]

first: I'm sorry you took it that way. It was a "please use that entrance instead of that other entrance" rather than a rubbing it in your face which was obviously not intended. We understand that people may have forgotten about that entrance which is why we blasted it continuously to please use that entrance. I will definitely make it a note to remind everyone when the con is closer about all three entrances.

Sorry. I didn't meant to come off as annoyed at the facebook posts themselves. I was more annoyed that they were the only method in which people were informed about those entrances. I don't remember any heads up on the site(As far as I'm aware, there isn't any information about entrances at the site at all). I don't use facebook or any social media during the con. As I'm on roaming while in boston and it eats up battery life. My phone is also my camera(Although I hope to fix that for next year). So when I saw that post it was late at night after the con was over. So it certainly rubbed me the wrong way a bit more than I'm sure it would have others. Don't stop posting them. I'm sure some love it. I just wish there were other reminders through different venues pre-con.

[Oos]

In the other thread, the concrit thread, at LEAST three disabled people who had difficulty walking were forced to go up a set of stairs outside. That is an ADA violation if ever there was one and you could be looking at a lawsuit if someone got hurt that way. I almost fell backwards myself, and this was BEFORE we got into the convention to hopefully pick up one of three wheelchairs. which there WASNT ONE when I got there. I had to wait until they were done treating an emergency, I'm just lucky it was a temporary usage of one and not a whole-day one.

I'm very sorry you had to go through this ordeal to get inside the convention. I want to let you know this, which perhaps you did not know at the time, but if you are handicapped or you have a disability you can usually go to the front of the line. This applies to the entrance and to panels such as main events or Hall D for example. In the future, just let us know and we will move you up to the front of the line. Again, I'm sorry you had to go through this.

Thanks for the suggestions, please keep them coming.

i still probably would have had to go up the stairs though? i doubt anyone would have let me go around.

[Nenya]

In the other thread, the concrit thread, at LEAST three disabled people who had difficulty walking were forced to go up a set of stairs outside. That is an ADA violation if ever there was one and you could be looking at a lawsuit if someone got hurt that way. I almost fell backwards myself, and this was BEFORE we got into the convention to hopefully pick up one of three wheelchairs. which there WASNT ONE when I got there. I had to wait until they were done treating an emergency, I'm just lucky it was a temporary usage of one and not a whole-day one.

I'm very sorry you had to go through this ordeal to get inside the convention. I want to let you know this, which perhaps you did not know at the time, but if you are handicapped or you have a disability you can usually go to the front of the line. This applies to the entrance and to panels such as main events or Hall D for example. In the future, just let us know and we will move you up to the front of the line. Again, I'm sorry you had to go through this.

Thanks for the suggestions, please keep them coming.

i still probably would have had to go up the stairs though? i doubt anyone would have let me go around.

For the future: if you are disabled, there is a sticker you can get in Registration that goes on the back of your badge. All of our security staff are trained to allow those with this sticker to have special access. If you have a problem, please let us know so we can try to help!

[Nemra]

Sorry. I didn't meant to come off as annoyed at the facebook posts themselves. I was more annoyed that they were the only method in which people were informed about those entrances. I don't remember any heads up on the site(As far as I'm aware, there isn't any information about entrances at the site at all). I don't use facebook or any social media during the con. As I'm on roaming while in boston and it eats up battery life. My phone is also my camera(Although I hope to fix that for next year). So when I saw that post it was late at night after the con was over. So it certainly rubbed me the wrong way a bit more than I'm sure it would have others. Don't stop posting them. I'm sure some love it. I just wish there were other reminders through different venues pre-con.

For future reference, the entrances/exits are given/shown in the con-chowda as well as the other book that is handed out in registration. Should also contain a map in there too (can't for the life of me remember the name of it at the moment DX) I'll definitely pass along a message to the appropriate parties to perhaps make it more visible so that it is not as easily overlooked among all the information in those books.

[ResistNormal]

I wonder Why people prefer the Prudential entrance.
1. It's right next registration, what logical reason would people have to walk around the outside of the building when they can enter there.
2. It's Early April and it's still cold outside.
3. A lot of Animeboston Arrive via the Prudential subway stop.

People will always line up there.

The moment my wife and I arrived via the Prudential subway when we got to the top of the escalator we directed away by an orange shirt and we didn't have badges yet.

[H. Guderian]

I do recall that in warmer periods you can exit from the food court directly outside. That was blocked off this year, does anyone know why? People who might've been familiar exiting that way might not be as familiar with returning to the main hallway and exiting to Bolyston that way. So yeah, are the mall staff refurbishing the outside area or was it closed due to weather? It was the same white wall that one of the food shops being changed was behind.

[Nemra]

I do recall that in warmer periods you can exit from the food court directly outside. That was blocked off this year, does anyone know why? People who might've been familiar exiting that way might not be as familiar with returning to the main hallway and exiting to Bolyston that way. So yeah, are the mall staff refurbishing the outside area or was it closed due to weather? It was the same white wall that one of the food shops being changed was behind.

construction. Sadly, no more plaza

[H. Guderian]

Aw, they putting up a building or an extension of one out there? On the years when the weather was nice it was a good addition. If they're replacing it with just another food shop I'll be a tad disappointed. I always eat at Regina every year without fail, so i can't say my patterns will be that disturbed.

[Nemra]

office building it looks like. you can see an article about the construction here

[reaper527]

I do recall that in warmer periods you can exit from the food court directly outside. That was blocked off this year, does anyone know why? People who might've been familiar exiting that way might not be as familiar with returning to the main hallway and exiting to Bolyston that way. So yeah, are the mall staff refurbishing the outside area or was it closed due to weather? It was the same white wall that one of the food shops being changed was behind.

construction. Sadly, no more plaza

do you know if that is temporary construction and the plaza will be back after it's complete, or if the plaza/entrance/exit gone for good? i noticed there was a wall where the windows/doors usually were, but didn't go outside to see what was on the other side of the wall.