Dragon Con is Finally BACK in Downtown Atlanta - Lengthy Badge Pick Up Line / Wild Night of DCW 2021
Dragon Con 2021 Begins - Day One (Thursday)
Transcript
0:03
today's adventure begins by peeking out
0:03
the window of my hotel room here at the
0:05
westin peach tree center in atlanta
0:08
georgia as a recording of this september
0:11
2nd thursday
0:13
about 9 20
0:15
am the official
0:18
start
0:19
of dragon con
0:21
2021
0:28
i am so ready for you
0:28
downtown atlanta and since i am this far
0:31
up i can give a general layout of the
0:33
land of what my plans are let's start
0:35
off by going over to the sheraton hotel
0:38
one of the five host hotels
0:40
pick up my badge
0:42
then walk along the street here
0:50
start the tour over at the hilton
0:50
and then of course the marriott marquis
0:53
which i commonly refer to as the belly
0:56
of this convention beast
1:01
there are even some
1:01
what you could refer to as hamster
1:03
tunnels that go above the city streets
1:06
not sure if those will be
1:08
quite operational during this time frame
1:10
but
1:11
and then gonna peek over here to the
1:13
hyatt
1:14
as well there are five the one i'm in
1:16
the westin the hyatt
1:18
the marriott
1:20
the hilton
1:22
and the sheraton
1:24
i can't forget about a multi-level
1:27
gargantuan vendor room which is right
1:30
behind
1:31
the wesson and down here in the lobby of
1:33
the west and they have a little bit of a
1:34
avengers theme
1:36
going on
1:37
definitely need a piping hot caffeinated
1:39
beverage before beginning could have
1:41
made some in the room but there's a
1:42
there's a there's a stand down here all
1:44
right even at this early time frame on a
1:46
thursday the line to pick up badges
1:48
stretches all the way up that road to
1:50
the sheraton and then all the way up the
1:54
side of this block
1:55
a lot of people here already a lot of
1:57
people welcome everyone adam the woo
1:59
here wearing an appropriate t-shirt
2:03
now i recall back in the day when
2:05
thursday was not even a real convention
2:07
day here at this event but things have
2:09
changed they have so people started
2:11
showing up on the
2:13
pre-party day that they made it an
2:16
official day starting a few years ago
2:18
i'm just going to give a tour around and
2:20
just let see how everything is get the
2:22
layout of the land explain a little bit
2:23
about what dragon con is inviting you to
2:26
join me and i get my badge my lanyard
2:29
shall you i will be here in town at this
2:32
event for a few days i am gonna get
2:35
knee-deep into dragon con 2021
2:39
knee deep well maybe farther than me
2:42
right up here is a accurate cats 2019
2:45
cosplay release the butthole cut oh
2:48
all right here we go yeah this is
2:49
something else there has to be at least
2:52
three or four thousand in line already
2:54
so far
2:56
it just keeps on going i am definitely
2:58
pleasant surprised so many are here i
3:00
didn't know what to expect
3:02
this is pretty much proof that it's
3:04
going to be a great weekend especially
3:06
when the line circles around a few city
3:08
blocks finally ends here around the back
3:11
of the ship completely
3:12
around the sheridan full circle around
3:14
the sheraton good to see this jedi's
3:16
also has a coffee
3:19
yeah people just keep keep flowing in
3:22
the number is growing i've been waiting
3:24
here probably about 20 minutes i got in
3:25
line about 10 a.m i'm gonna time it see
3:28
how long it takes
3:29
there is kind of doses where there are
3:32
no
3:33
pieces of shade and trees
3:35
but thankfully i've turned this corner
3:36
and there's plenty of foliage
3:39
got that little last little stretch back
3:41
there on that other block
3:42
it's all open to the elements inside it
3:44
was it was
3:45
very toasty also as the banner
3:47
designates this is the 35th anniversary
3:50
35 years of fun
3:52
this celebration weekend 35 years
3:55
of dragon con i am almost
3:57
to the front of this line
3:58
probably about another 100 yards 200
4:00
yards before i could get inside anyway
4:02
all right i am now entering
4:04
the building
4:06
and here are some of the requirements
4:08
right here
4:09
you must have a facial covering
4:11
and these are also required right there
4:13
even the little dragon's got a little
4:16
facial covering there all right now
4:18
going in this is
4:20
warning
4:21
oh wow
4:23
two people in here
4:35
all right i'm a little surprised they
4:37
have paper programs this year
4:39
a couple different stacks of them here
4:41
upon exiting i have downloaded the app
4:43
which kind of has all the information on
4:45
there as well which i prefer to do that
4:46
than to carry around a booklet
4:48
it's moving very quickly it took me 40
4:50
minutes to get out of the sun and into
4:52
here so
4:54
yeah it's it's not moving fast but it's
4:56
not moving slow it's moving at a decent
4:58
pace successfully have gotten my lanyard
5:01
and badge
5:02
in the past they never gave you a
5:04
lanyard only the badge you had to
5:05
purchase
5:06
the lanyard over here at one of the gift
5:08
shops which is over here this is the
5:11
first time i've ever seen where you
5:13
don't have to wait in this line to
5:14
purchase a lanyard they give you one
5:17
with your badge now because i got my
5:18
first dose back in middle of june and my
5:20
second dose in middle of july i do not
5:24
have to do this
5:25
but for those that need to there's a
5:27
line over there
5:28
and all i had to do was just show proof
5:30
of on my phone the card is not necessary
5:33
you could just have a really clear photo
5:35
of the both the dates
5:36
front and back of the card and that
5:38
works too in recent years they also have
5:41
stores at other areas some of the other
5:43
host hotels i think i'm just going to
5:44
kind of wander around and maybe
5:46
get some merchandise sometimes the other
5:48
merchandise in the other hotels does not
5:50
go on sale till the following days but
5:52
on thursdays you can get it right here
5:54
outside of badge pickup wow this is wild
5:56
the line is stretching another two
5:58
blocks farther than it was when i
5:59
started and now goes all the way from
6:01
the sheridan
6:03
to this corner
6:04
so it's probably another
6:06
well i'll say two city blocks
6:09
another couple thousand people from
6:11
where i started in line past where i
6:13
started in life it took me about 80
6:15
minutes from the point i was at about 80
6:17
minutes
6:18
to get my badge so i would say from this
6:20
point probably
6:22
i don't know two hours i had to guess
6:24
here you need to go ahead and get the
6:26
end of this line right here
6:34
i feel like kind of doing one of the the
6:34
wayne's world thing like you know the
6:35
waynes world where they're walking
6:36
backstage like that the backstage
6:39
waynesworld moment yeah i went over to
6:41
this side of the road i don't know if i
6:42
want to walk along that line with this
6:45
while everyone is being patient waiting
6:48
it's it's a lot of people here now out
6:50
of the 35 this has been happening
6:52
i have been to eight of them eight in a
6:54
well it would have been nine in a row
6:57
first year i was here was back in 2013 i
7:00
have not missed a year yet with the
7:01
exception of last year which did not
7:03
happen
7:04
yeah so this is kind of a tradition for
7:06
me to be down here on labor day weekend
7:09
that's the hotel i'm staying at right
7:10
there in the middle of that little pylon
7:12
looking thing that's the westin go
7:14
straight up to the sky
7:15
silver one now navigating these hallways
7:17
can be very very confusing this bb unit
7:20
probably doesn't know exactly which way
7:21
to go either okay which way which way to
7:24
the hyatt you know which way the high it
7:25
is
7:26
okay
7:28
all right i'll go that direction man
7:29
someone has created this little
7:30
makeshift memorial here to the fedex
7:34
this little fedex area because if memory
7:37
serves me correctly there used to be a
7:38
fedex store right here with a fedex
7:42
employee stand up next to it i think
7:45
that's what that's
7:46
alluding to down there oh hello
7:49
yeah there he is fedex john everyone
7:51
called him fedex john is no longer
7:53
around the cardboard cutout stand up is
7:56
gone but at least there's a little
7:57
something there oh goodness check over
7:59
here here's a jawa and a couple droids
8:00
these these well i don't know if those
8:02
are the droids i'm looking for but the
8:03
droids nonetheless it is a little
8:05
unusual just to be wandering around here
8:08
when it's not a real beehive of activity
8:10
yet it is a little
8:13
unusual
8:15
as stated
8:17
calm before the storm oh and i believe
8:19
there used to be another fedex over here
8:21
okay now there's just a fedex express
8:24
there's a couple different fedexes
8:26
throughout the host hotels
8:28
and here is another homage
8:30
to fedex
8:32
the fedex john look at this
8:34
there's a couple different ones
8:37
right there
8:40
is a real thing
8:41
fedex john though his googly eyes cannot
8:44
be seen
8:46
john watches overall all right back into
8:49
the marriott marquis now strolling back
8:51
into the marriott oh yeah inflatable
8:53
dragon you are in the perfect spot right
8:56
here underneath the rib cage esque of
8:59
the marriott marquee you're preparing
9:02
now back over to the hilton
9:04
at some point i'm gonna head back to my
9:05
room at the westin just kind of relax a
9:07
little bit there are some events that
9:09
are going to be taking place later in
9:10
the evening
9:12
that i want to go to it is currently not
9:14
even one o'clock it's like 10 minutes
9:16
until 1. i feel like everything's going
9:18
to pick up a little bit later everyone's
9:19
still kind of checking in that's the
9:21
line for check-in now i've seen fedex i
9:23
got ups
9:29
why is the package on fire
9:29
because i'm the anti-john v the
9:31
anti-john now i saw a little homage to
9:34
john do you have an homage anywhere has
9:36
anyone left a little memorial for you no
9:38
but i've defiled the john memorial
9:40
you've defiled the john memorial
9:42
which one there's two both of them
9:44
okay carry on
9:46
carry on
9:50
john is a anti-john
9:50
prophet
9:52
the false prophet don't worry demi i'll
9:54
see you around don't worry don't worry
9:56
demogorgon i will be around
9:59
quite a few days i promise i promised
10:01
him when i gave the second update i was
10:03
right here looking downward but now it
10:05
stretches
10:06
all the way down that direction and kind
10:09
of doubles back
10:11
as well
10:13
wow yeah that's
10:15
that's way down there
10:17
there's got to be a few probably 4 000
10:19
people in line to get bad just at this
10:21
hour you know earlier i actually
10:22
considered going back to the room
10:25
and you know kind of relaxing for a
10:27
couple hours and then getting back in
10:28
the line i'm glad i did not do that and
10:30
i waited because
10:31
it's probably a good two and a half hour
10:33
wait
10:34
from here to to get the match now we'll
10:36
also add in it might mellow out in the
10:38
following days because everyone
10:40
well everyone that's here today does not
10:42
have to wait tomorrow or saturday or
10:44
sunday
10:45
to get their lanyard or their badge
10:46
because
10:47
they'll already have it
10:49
so the following days might not be as
10:51
bad of a line to get your badges
10:53
possible
10:54
almost back to my room
10:56
at the westin which
10:58
is up there
11:01
60 plus floors up
11:03
look at that building
11:05
that is sky high back up in the room now
11:07
here at the westin
11:09
just to kind of show some of the places
11:10
i went i went to the hyatt right here
11:12
which has this ufo looking dome of
11:14
course the marriott
11:17
and badge pickup
11:19
way down over there
11:24
a little bit of traffic there on the
11:24
freeway as well i'm just going to relax
11:26
for a few hours and head back
11:28
a little bit later i want to also show
11:30
off the app that you can use instead of
11:32
having the paper
11:33
program
11:34
i've clicked on today's date thursday
11:36
the 2nd
11:37
and it just shows hour-by-hour basis
11:40
on everything that's going on over the
11:42
entire
11:44
extended weekend
11:45
and i have highlighted as a favorite
11:47
the opening ceremony which starts at six
11:50
i'll walk back over and document that
11:53
as well as
11:54
check this out there is a wrestling
11:57
event and just like that a little time
11:59
has passed it's just about 5 p.m i'm
12:01
gonna head over to the marriott
12:03
to the grand ballroom
12:07
for what is designated as the opening
12:09
ceremony oh check it out stone cold and
12:12
not have yours that's not every day you
12:14
see a clevon little cosplay from blazing
12:17
saddles bart here now i'm noticing
12:19
chewbacca's head is down here did you do
12:22
that absolutely i did you did that with
12:24
the with this uh was this was the battle
12:26
axe yeah you better make good you got to
12:29
make do yeah it's definitely getting a
12:30
little bit busier than when i was here
12:32
before oh is there a doctor in the house
12:34
oh this is nice even has the the bird
12:36
right at the top there that is awesome a
12:38
little action shot
12:39
coming through
12:40
over there
12:46
all right it's all just about time for
12:46
the opening ceremony and i am going to
12:48
making my way over to the ballroom where
12:50
they're going to do the 6 p.m opening
12:52
ceremony on the way there of course
12:53
check out some of the cosplay as i roll
12:55
through
12:56
some of the other areas heading down
12:57
over to
12:58
where the opening ceremony will take
13:00
place which is going to be in one of the
13:01
ballrooms inside the marriott kind of on
13:04
the second
13:05
so i guess it's the second level of the
13:06
marriott
13:08
cosplay's filling up around here
13:12
all right welcome to dragon con 2021
13:14
everyone
13:26
thank you guys for coming
13:28
um it's been the longest two years of my
13:30
life
13:31
and i am so glad to see you guys uh
13:34
anybody here for their first draft raise
13:36
your hand
13:42
i know it's tough to see him but the
13:43
invisible man is getting a photograph
13:45
here a few hefner
13:47
some of the bunnies oh it looks like
13:49
they're doing a con crawl right there
13:53
on
13:55
crawl they're probably just
13:56
going all around the area and with the
13:58
little booklets with the information
14:00
arriving
14:01
tampa j is now all right it took me two
14:03
hours to get these because i got them
14:05
when i got my pass to dragon con you're
14:07
bad you had to wait two hours for your
14:09
badge two hours i waited about an hour
14:11
and a half so you got here a little
14:13
later than i did i got here last night
14:15
you flew in today you got you flew in
14:17
this morning
14:18
and boy are your arms tired
14:24
you know you spend 10 15
14:24
or more on a meal and they give you a
14:27
a
14:28
three cent or less piece of plastic
14:30
cutlery that looks like it could it
14:32
could follow
14:37
exactly all right i bumped into another
14:37
fedex john mashup
14:39
what is the what's the what's the
14:41
match-up fedex john snow
15:13
take
16:25
are you ready for your first
16:25
championship match of the night
16:30
ladies and gentlemen
16:53
oh
17:31
it's
18:44
he's gonna take
18:44
it down
19:05
and here we go ladies and gentlemen
19:13
me
19:58
you know why
19:59
because you're stupid just like the
20:00
atlanta falcons
20:27
it is
20:51
go home
21:05
i'm getting into this
21:17
this is crazy
21:19
do you think it was going to be this
21:20
wild on a thursday night
21:32
the final match
21:32
could be a good ending to dragon con
21:34
thursday night
21:50
a real man in real town is a dallas
21:50
cowboys
22:03
but you're totally wrong
22:23
hold him back
22:24
hold it back
23:09
thank you guys so much for joining us
23:09
here for this year's edition of dcw
23:12
before you go check out our table over
23:15
here in the corner we've got dcw
23:17
t-shirts on sale here tonight tell
23:20
people
23:37
oh yeah very retro very retro
23:37
indeed
23:38
no way could this be the way to end the
23:40
video ric flair
23:42
thank you get the rolex i love it
23:47
see the next video the vlog he knew my
23:49
name
23:50
is over