Otakon 2008 is coming. Yes its not until aug 2008 but i had to reserve the double bed room for all three nights. Most hotels are sold out and the people that wait much longer will have to pay normal cost per night. The differents is for example: $159 wil be $233. Holy crap HUH!!. And then for the people that wait until there are just a few months to go may not even get a room at all. Dont wait for crap sake. If your going to attend get the room now and cancel it later if things dont work out. Most hotels offer a no fee cancelation up to two days before. Please visit the otakon page to see for yourself the rates and whats sold out. [link] Make sure to tell them you are a otakon member so you get the rate on the page. You cannot go by the price on the hotels webpage. Anyway! If i had to guess i would say this year may be over 30,000 people. I believe that the numbers are so high that no anime convention in the United States even comes close. We are planning to put together a group of da members that would like to meet up before the convention and attend certain functions as a group. Also enjoy Inner Harbor at night. Shopping and eating out. Safty in numbers is the idea. Plus things are more fun when done with friends. Im sure there will be room shareing for those that do not have anyone to go with or want to save money to spend at the convention. It is scary going alone and because of that the group idea may work fine. Me and my guest will be staying at the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore. It would be nice to have our group be in the same hotel but since they are selling out so fast that may not be an option. Also for people that are not into driveing in the city we may be able to setup a carpool type thing. Save gas and parking fees this way. We can stay in contact via cell phones. I am not worried about my number getting out to members here. Call me if you have any questions about anything or ideas even. Im danny and i live near harrisburg pa 717-701-1999 cingular. Free to people with the same carrior. If you would prefer, you can call me and i will gett your name and number. Once verified that you will be a part of the otakon da group you can choose who in the group you would like to be in cell phone contact with. This will work better than just tossing numbers in a hat. I will be in contact with my guest is driveing out from the other side of Ohio to give you an idea of driveing distance. I will call often to check the progress of the trip and to give any support needed. Once my guest gets to pa i will take over the drive to baltimore. We will try to get a letter sent out to da members about the otakon da group thing as soon as possible. Please tell your freinds.