Finally, the NMRA convention and National Train Show will be close to home!
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I have a lot of questions for those in the know.
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The hotel given for the convention is the Rosen Inn on International Drive. Actually it is one of the several Rosen Inns on I-Drive, be careful making your reservations. The specified hotel is part of the Orange County Convention Center Complex. I will be staying at the Hilton Tower on the South side of the Complex. Is the convention actually in the Rosen Hotel, or is it in the convention center?
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My wife’s 60th birthday is earlier in the week, so we will be on Daytona Beach for the first half of the week. We will drive to Orlando on Friday and spend Friday and Saturday night at the convention. Are the last three days of the convention the best? What will I miss?
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I know the National Train Show is on these days. Is the train show also in the convention center?
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Layout tours: I have seen many of the layouts listed on the convention tour list. A lot of these are a good distance from Orlando. How is that handled? Are there tour busses? Do you carpool? I think I will skip the layout tours.
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I go to a lot of Anime, Cosplay, and Wargaming conventions, but this will be my first Model Railroad convention. At the previously mentioned conventions we pretty much just hang out, drink, overeat, socialize, and dance or play games. I have a feeling this convention will be different than that. What should I expect?
Just go out to the NMRA web site for detailed information. The NTS is at the convention center at 8100 International Drive, and is in the convention complex. The hotel is a walk away. You need to be a NMRA member to attend the convention, but the NTS is just an admission to get into.
Thank you, that is what I needed to know. I am no longer an NMRA member, nor do I have any desire to be one again, but I will be hanging out on the grounds and attending the train show. Maybe I will meet some interesting people.
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Does anyone know if the NMRA convention is in the Rosen, or at the Orange County Convention Center. Hopefully it is at the OCCC. I tried the NMRA website, but they seem pretty tight-lipped about details on the public portion of the website.
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I have so many point with Hilton Honors that I need to burn them up somehow!
If you have the time, attending a convention can definitely be worth it with all the clinics and other activities. If not, at least attend the train show on Friday. The show is normally open to just NMRA members on Friday morning, but you can get in at noon, which isn’t much different.
Personally, I think there is a lot more value in the clinics and tours at NMRA Conventions themselves – the Train Show is just, well, a train show. But that’s just my personal opinion.
Am an NMRA member, but the Amtrak trip is a distance from Wisconsin so I’ll stay put. Perhaps next year, at Kansas City, assuming Trump doesn’t shut down the Amtrak. The Greyhound would be a long and tortuous ride. Afraid of heights so an airline is not for me.[^o)]
Members who paid to attend the convention. You had to have a convention badge to get in before noon. They will not let anyone in (except exhibitors) before the show actually opens (usually around 10am).
From past experience, you will miss 90 percent of the clinics, layout tours and prototype tours.
There are two typically two types of layout tours. One type is a bus takes you around to different layouts. Lunch is typically included, and sometimes dinner if it is a long tour. The second is self guided. You pay $10 or so and they give you a book of layouts that are on the tour and the days and times they are open, scale of layout and a brief description.
Prototype tours are bussed events. Lunch is typically included.
If you are not a NMRA member, you will not get to participate in any of the activities except the train show anyway, so its kind of a mute point (unless they just changed that this year).
Clinics start the Sunday evening before the NTS, there is also a dinner that evening. The clinics and tours run throughout the week until Saturday evening. Clinics are typically 60-90 min in length, and vary in scope and topic and type.
They range from hands on building a model with an master model railroader to powerpoint presentation to slide show of old photographs. Topics vary widely and you can get a sample of the types of clinics by looking up a past convention (I think Portland 2015 and Indianapolis 2016 are still online). I got to go on the Tacoma Rail facility trip and the Indiana Railroad trip, both were interesting.
As BMMECNYC explained, I should have said NMRA members who are registered for the convention get into the show early. That’s one of the benefits of attending the convention.
At the same time, it’s just three hours earlier. It’s not like 10,000 people storm the gates and buy everything before noon. [:)]
The NMRA did not tell me that when I called a few days before. Anyway it does not matter I enjoyed the NTS enough thst I will be in Orlando. We have a timeshare there thus my wife and her bff can do what they want while I attend the show.
Since I can only make the last three days of the convention, and apparently miss most of the good stuff, I guess I will concentrate on the National Train Show and take my wife out for a steak at Charley’s up International Drive on Saturday night.
Alright, got my hotel room for the National Train Show. I had enough Hilton Honors points for 3 free nights in a pool view suite in the Hilton Tower at the convention center! I am only going to the train show, but hopefully I will meet up with a few like minded people in the lobby, convention walkways, or show floor. I attend MegaCon every year at the OCCC and the outside is always more fun than the inside. Hopefully train people are fun too.
Kevin,For me the NTS is the best part of the convention since there will be manufacturers there with their new models and will answer questions and listen to any model suggestions.
For those thinking of attending an NMRA National in this or future years, a few suggestions from someone who worked hard as part of the planning and registration staff of the host Division for the 2010 National.
First, anyone thinking they can register as walk-ins and take in the entire convention is likely going to be disappointed. Layout and prototype and non-rail tours (if by bus) and operating sessions and most Special Interest Group events are booked and often filled well in advance – I mean months, not weeks, in advance. Some layout tours are filled by the prior spring if the layout is a famous one. The downside to that is the layout tours are sometimes canceled if they are not close enough to being filled to warrant the expense of the bus, by late spring. Some very fine Milwaukee layouts did not have layout tours because NMRA National was, in our opinion, so quick to cancel a tour, sometimes as early as the March before a July convention (as the host Division we had to beg for a few more weeks to try to make this or that tour a “go”)! That included nice layouts that had received pre-convention publicity in the magazines. There are still some hurt feelings as a result.
There were also some special meals that were filled early by pre-registration and we had to face some seemingly angered people who felt deprived because they expected to have access to everything by registering as walk ins the day (or second day) of the convention. I thought one person was going to become violent they were so angry — they were a full hour late for a special picnic dinner, nearly all the food and all the beer was gone, and he was screamingly angry. Pointing out the time on his ticket did not calm him down in fact it made him madder. You run into all kinds …
Anyway … For those that wait too long to register, that pretty much leaves clinics, contests, displays, special events and meals
I am no stranger to conventions, but this is my first Model Railroading event.
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The forums and clinics is a situation I am well aware of. If you want to get into the Game of Thrones room at Tampa Bay Comicon, you better be ready for an effort! I would assume the Pelle Selborg room would be the same at the NMRA.
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I have already seen/toured most of the layouts incouded in the convention, so no big deal about those.
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The National Train Show is near the NMRA convention hotel in the Orange County Convention Center. This is a BEAUTIFUL venue that I have been to many time before. The fact the actual NMRA convention is being held in the Rosen Hotel is a bit surprising, since the hotel is directly in the OCCC complex. I was expecting the NMRA to use the OCCC facilities.
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I am staying at the Hilton tower at the South end of the OCCC complex. I prefer this hotel, and I can walk to the Rosen. I plan just to hang out and see what is happening.
OK, so I walked to the “Rosen” hotel to check out the NMRA convention. Unfortunately I did not realize the NMRA was at the “Rosen Plaza”, and I went to the “Rosen Center”.
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Anyway… It was not a total loss. At the Rosen Center there is a convention of a Doll Crafter Assosciation. WOW! These people do some amazing work. Everyone was VERY friendly, and all were talkative and passionate about what they do. I love it when mistakes turn out good anyway.
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So, if you are at the NMRA convention this week, it might be fun to take a quick walk down to the “other” Rosen hotel and check out the craftsmanship on display.
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I will wander to the correct hotel and check out the NMRA event tomorrow.
If you’re coming to the National Train Show this weekend, the one thing that’s missing from these posts is the ACTUAL location of the show. It’s in West Concourse Hall E!! The OCCC is a huge complex and the signing in the area is NOT GREAT!!
I was at the show setting up and finding the hall was like finding a needle in a haystack, as the saying goes…