Dolpa3 NYC co-hosted by FDQ - Discussion Thread

Just another idea to those thinking of possibly staying in NJ. Last year I stayed with a friend in Port Imperial, NJ (right across the river). I think that is what I will be doing this year as well. I just hopped on the Ferry at the Port Imperial, took that to the ferry terminal at W40th st, then took a free bus. There is a bus that goes up 23rd street. FIT is (I think) 27th and 7th, so you can get off reasonably close to the Dolpa (short walk, but easy). Afterwards, I took a cab back to the terminal, and the ferry back to Port Imperial. I think the ferry was about $6 each way. Admittedly, I didn't have to worry too much about a car since mine was parked at my friend's apt. complex, but the PI ferry has a huge lot. I would imagine you could find parking there if you wanted to, particularly on a weekend. Mitsuwa also runs a shuttle into the city (at least they did the last time I checked...).

ETA: I agree with Stella that driving/parking into Manhattan isn't a big problem if you can get some advice on good buildings/lots, etc. My bro-in-law works in NYC frequently, and he's found a good building right outside the Lincoln tunnel in the city. I can get the specifics if anyone is interested.

 

misa1 that is a very good idea, Port Imperial though is not actually a town, so if people are looking for a hotel they should search for a hotel that is near Port Imperial, which is a place indeed. Do you remember the name of the hotel?

 

Ah, and I just bought my ticket for A-Kon - which happens to be the weekend before. Decisions, decisions! *weeps*

 

I was staying at friend's apartment which was in the complex directly beside the ferry at PI, but I think if people looking to stay in NJ take your advice and search for a hotel around Fort Lee, Hoboken, or Edgewater, they can then drive from the hotel to the Port Imperial Ferry terminal. The PI ferry is maybe 10min down the road, south from Edgewater/Mitsuwa.

This is the site for the ferry:
http://www.nywaterway.com/ferry/terminals/port-imperial.asp
If anyone is looking at NJ area hotels and wants to consider taking the ferry into nyc, that site should give you an idea of distance from your hotel, fares, parking, etc.

 

what airport would be best to fly into and how should i get to a hotel near penn station from the airport

 

When I attended the first Dolpa I took the underground to the station closest to FIT and then walked a few blocks. It was easy and extremely inexpensive.

 

Once again, I apologize for sounding like such a jerk earlier. Truth be told, my husband and I have found parking fairly easily in the city in the past. Part of that is because I have an HP placard because I have trouble walking. I hardly ever have trouble finding spots on the street in Boston. If we've not found a muni-metered space, we've found lots with reasonable rates, but the weekend in December was just a bad spot. We'd parked at a muni-metered space in Koreatown, went away for dinner/karaoke in the three hours that we'd paid up for (using every dang quarter in the car! every one!) and came back at 11PM to find no car. I freaked out, found out that the GPS tracking thing I'd bought with the car had expired (strike two!), called the cops, waited an hour for cops that never showed, found out some tow lot numbers from my sister, got lucky on the first call, wasted time cabbing it to the tow lot that was ironically next to the Javitts where we'd been all day, and then got back to Edgewater at like 2:30AM, $185 poorer and with a $95 ticket to pay. We didn't even get an answer as to why we were towed and ticketed until we left the tow lot. There was literally no signage where we parked (nothing obvious) stating anything that could've possibly made the spot illegal. There was no curb, no "No Parking" signs, nothing. Nada. It was apparently a space for "non-carbon emissions vehicles" or something (ironic because we drive a dang Prius, and geez, it was turned off?!?! I still don't get that). It really was just one bad experience, but it soured me something fierce. Again, I apologize for being a bit of a jerk. It was one bad experience after a string of many good ones and I should've thought a bit more before posting.

In my own research, I found that searching for hotels in the FIT area yielded some interesting results. I found the Affinia Dumont. It sounds pretty nice, and not like a bad place to split with a few people. They do suites. Neat!

Google Maps reveals more!

 

IMHO Newark is the best airport to fly into, but you can also go to JFK or LaGuardia, and they all have many taxis just waiting to wisk you to your destination.

Mara, you didn't sound like a jerk, your experience is certainly not an oddity. Which is why the traffic courts are clogged every day with people trying to get unfair tickets and fines dismissed, but if you are from out of town, they've kind of got you, right? One of the reasons you should always have a camera on you, to take pictures of the signs or lack thereof. However if you've already been towed they just tell you to take it to court. Annoying. I do hope your experience is better next time, I really do. I feel embarassed for my home town when I hear stories like yours.

 

When I went last year I stayed at the Broadway Plaza Hotel. It's literally 3 blocks away from the Fashion Institute (I still have my reference map ^-^ ) I thought it was a fantastic hotel for a very reasonable price, especially being so close to the Empire State building et al. I was within walking distance to Madison Square Park, the Empire State Building and more.

 

Ohh, my best friends lives in Brooklyn....maybe I can take the train up, stay with her and take the subway there each day. *trying to be cheap as possible* Haha

 

that doesnt sound like a bad idea at all. would staying in newark be feasble and taking the train over to penn station work?

mara no you dont sound like a jerk *pat pat* you are telling your experience, nothing wrong with that.

wicked- is gerschwin really worth it? how much was it a night?

 

http://gershwinhotel.com/
here's a link, if anybody needs it.

I THINK (don't quote me on this... not sure I remember, I'm gettin' old) that Lolly and I shared a room with 2 double beds in it, and it was like $200 a night - so we were there 2 nights, we stayed Sat and Sunday, and so it was around $200 for the weekend for each of us. There ARE cheaper rooms than that, but we're too old to really wanna rent bunks, LOL. My college days are long gone.

We like the Gershwin and we'll probably stay there again. A couple times we forgot something and had to go back to the hotel while we were at the tea, so NOT having to get on a subway or a bus or something was a good thing for us. We know where it is, it's just down the street from FIT, and it's clean and funky and weird and they don't mind us.

 

I remember staying at the Gershwin my first year and really enjoying it. I'm looking at the site now and does anyone have recommendations as to which room is best? I'm mostly looking at the 'Essential', 'Le Standard', and the 'Superior'. ^^

 

The Gershwin is really cute and hip and funkily decorated. The staff are cool, almost unconcerned, so it's good if you already know your way around lower Manhattan or don't need a lot of hand-holding. The concierge screwed up my airport-shuttle reservation, and nearly made a whole vanful of people late to LaGuardia in the morning (he turned out to have been the general manager, which goes to show that management should never try to actually DO anything). But the hotel's chicness & convenience to FIT couldn't be beat, and there are tons of conveniences in the immediate area (1-block radius for food, drugstores, etc). I got a small private room instead of a dorm, and I loved the tiny cramped Old-New-York vintageness of it. Entertainingly, I found a hopeful tip-envelope on the dresser; apparently, $180 per night isn't enough to expect a clean room for free. ^^ So! I guess I'd stay there again, if I can't get anything cheaper/nicer within walking-distance of FIT. There's other nearby hotels to be had, if you sniff around on the NYC travel pages.

But I'm not reserving anything until I learn more about the Dolpa itself... I wanna go, I wanna go to another painting-class, I wanna see some of the eastern DOA folks again, I wanna see the one-offs, and I have a whole lineup of Volks boys waiting their turn to come shine at a Dolpa. I'd love to automatically assume that I'm going, but not just yet!

 

I booked my room just in case... It says you can cancel up to two days without penalty, so it'd probably be best to reserve your space now, rather than later. And since I'm assuming no one will be rooming with me, I got myself a room with a double bed. :3 That should be plenty of room for me and my boys.

 

I have no idea whether I'll get to go or not but I did reserve a room at the Gershwin just in case. After hearing how small the rooms were I got one with twin beds. I get one and dolly stuff will go on the other. How small are the bathrooms in the room?

 

Yeah -I DID hear about some sort of trouble with the concierge, and one of the girls when we checked in was A BITCH OOOH LA LA. Which of course wasn't cool but - meh, it was over in a minnit and on the whole we didn't need anything there.

I will be curious to see if other people find something within walking distance that is as cheap as that; I'll be watching. It's fun to stay where a lot of other dolly peeps are staying, that's for sure.

OO you had a VIEW??!?!?!? and a BAY WINDOW??!?!?! **is jealous** we didn't have a view at all. LOL.

 

Hm, when will we be getting more information? @_@;

We're going into New York two days early, because I've never been! And I want to visit the City that Never Sleeps. :3

 

I guess I should reserve a room too.. I'm just not sure if the person that was planning on travelling with me will be able to go anymore and I really don't want to have a room alone. Last year I ended up in a bunk room and didn't have any other dolly people in it with me (at least for the first night). It was pretty depressing being all alone so far away..

 

I hope they do that survey again. I want to choose School C on said survey. School C, how I love you! School C can be measured in units of cute. I'd say one School C equals about twelve cutes.

 

How does signing up for the painting classes work? I'm sorry to sound so clueless. @_@

 

You sign up at the same time you register.

 

Thank you!

 

I want a school head C so badly it's pathetic. please please please choose school head c everybody! please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bluegirlwish... if we both get in and go... i'm TOTALLY going to squish you, hard, so... be prepared for it.

 

I'm not even into SD sized dolls and I'd want to paint a school head C if I got into class.

 

I am so excited about this, it's ridiculous. Maebe and I had a ball last year. This year, I'll have Maebe and Ari with me. I didn't get a FCS last year, but I'm seriously considering splurging on one this time around. I love sunlight skin. If that's an option again, then I may have to do it. Let's hear it for those government rebate checks (hopefully...)!

 

I hope i can go this time. To vist New York will fun and then I can finally meet other doll people. I wonder if Volks will let us pick the msd school kits this time around. I would love a rock and a school c

Briar

 

I was so happy that Volks brought Sweet Dream School A for the classes last year, but I am totally on the School C boat this year! It would be great if they had C and B for a little variety.

 

..

Schooooool C yes ;o;

I think last time they took the survey, School C was still pretty new and we hadn't seen all the awesome custom jobs yet

 

Are you kidding? If I get in, I'm going. X3 I sent my mom a text that essentially said, "NYC DOLPA. Y/Y?" And she called me and said, "HOW SOON CAN WE GET PLANE TICKETS." I'm so excited. We almost went to the last one, but I was STUPID and said no. -_-

I think I corrupted my mom. Oops. 8D

I dunno! I love pretty School Cs, but I'd be more likely to actually keep a Regular or Sleeping Sch. A around the house. X3 *is a killjoy?*

 

remember in the Dolpa NY2 they came just in time to add the sato only msd heads to the fcs of dolpa ny2? I thought that would be the case this time around. There is one particular head I am extremely interested in but currently Sato only. Could anyone tell me the cost of an Sd13 girl and boy? If it's definitely not going to be available in NY3, then maybe I will get a service to order for me.

 

If they do Sato only SD heads too, I would HAVE to go. Even if it meant hitchhiking to NY. Its nice to dream.

 

I've looked at 3 of the rooms there on my 2 trips to the NY Dolpa, and the bathroom can be shockingly tiny - I swear I could barely fit into the bathroom the first time I was there and I'm 5'7" and I took a step back from the sink and accidentally landed in the walk in shower - to a decent small/medium size bathroom where I could turn around without problem. The hotel is laid out like it was once an SRO residence hotel - it REALLY is a shabby chic hotel, with more chic and almost no shabby really. Just small rooms! I didnt get a bay window the first time but I did a window facing the street and it was noisy at night. I preferred the rooms and windows which looked out into the center courtyard. Alex

 

Oh, I really need to stop looking at this thread. I cannot go this year.... From reading all these posts, I am so tempted.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that there will not be a boy LE... otherwise, I am really doomed.

 

I'm so going! I think I have my mom convinced to go with me because she loves NYC, so that means it'll be cheaper for me with another person along! And is it terrible that I'm thinking of opening another credit card account so I can have it available if I fall in love with something at the Dolpa?

 

Sorry....but what do the differnt school head molds (A,B, & C) look like? Is there a link to them?

 

Man, I said it last year too, but skimming through all of this talk about planning hotel rooms and plane tickets makes me glad I live in New Jersey. XD I'll probably just take the bus to avoid dealing with parking. Anybody know how to get to FIT from the Port Authority? XD

 

Same here

I'll be coming from Port Authority and walking a few blocks to FIT if you want to exchange numbers and meet up
~Anthony

 

If you go here and scroll down to the section labeled "School" you can see all 4 heads http://www.bunnysneezes.net/volks-sd13.html

Personally I would love a School Head B girl Hopefully they will have B and C this time since they had A and Sleeping A last time.

 

dkotobuki: http://www.angelden.net/volks/school/index.php


I'm in an extreme minority in that my fave school head is B. I'd love to have school B offered at some point, but A and C are such crowd favorites that I don't think that will happen anytime soon. On the other hand, at least that frees up my money for a sunlight FCS!

ETA: Eeee! fireflytranc is another B fan! Whattayaknow, we are out there!

 

*raises hands* I'm one too, though I'm going to likely have to wait a while before I see one in the squad here.

And she'd definitely have to be a girl

 

http://www.angelden.net/volks/school/index.php
Cassiel's amazing site shows all the school heads in great detail.

 

No joke Mara. I am so with you. If they offer school C I will be so happy.

On a more serious note, I finally found my Volks membership card in the "safe" place I had hid it from myself. No pitiful emails to Volks this year from me.

 

I'm hoping for School B^^ I like C, but I don't care for his lips. They are all lovely though^^

 

Well since they had two heads last time hopefully they will have two again this time and they will offer both B and C and everyone will be happy

 

I'll drink to that. I would be happy with everything, B is the only one I wouldn't want, but then I would just let someone else have her as I did (regretfully now) with my SWD A head last year.

 

Well, I just made my reservation! I'll be at the Gershwin the 5-8th. Got two beds, even though right now it is just me, 'cause it was the same price so maybe I'll find someone to go with me between now and Dolpa. I wish A-Kon wasn't the weekend before. All my doll friends are Versailles (a band) fans too and Versailles is prerforming at A-Kon....

I am hoping for school head B. I like big eyes...

I haven't been to a Volks event since the Halloween party! Woot! I'd be tickled pink to win another one-off of one my fave dolls (being as my fave molds aren't exactly wildly popular and the best way of getting one is via one-off), but I certainly don't expect for lighting to strike twice. I am INSANELY LUCKY to have the dolls I have... I have no luck when it comes to "winning" things so I am not even going to pretend to have a chance at something amazing like a free pair of zouks or tenshi, but it would be nice to see Valico or Mikey again.

 

I'm going to be the unpopular one and say I would want to paint a Sch. A or a Sleeping Sch. A... >_>;; Cs are pretty, too, tho.

 

haha, you're not the only one who likes school A. i'd love to get one at the nyc dolpa

 

I'm hoping for B and C this year. I want a C boy but I don't like how that head looks on the SD13 body. I'd have to see if I could trade my Mom for her SD body. ^^;
And I waaaaaant a B girl. Badly.

 

Ohh, I hope we both get to go to Dolpa again this year! It would be awesome to be in one of the classes together. :3

 

Thanks everyone for all the links to the Volks heads. The sites were great. Now, I really want to take a painting class too. I am not sure who is my favorite.

 

Does anybody have an idea of when they're going to announce what school heads will be available? *__* I don't really follow Volks so I'm not sure how far in advance they announce things. (I'm also wanting a School C head~ luckily someone I know is going to this Dolpa so she might pick one up for me if they sell it *3* I didn't realize School C was suddenly so popular, hehe )

 

Well, if they offer any head besides B, I can probably help someone there if they don't mind I paint it and wipe it. I don't have a head to paint and would love to try a face-up once...

 

Just to give an idea of the time line from last year, I recall that registrations had to be in by April 20th. If I'm not mistaken (and I may be, since I did not take a painting class last year), you needed to specify which school head you wanted at that time, so it had to have been announced somewhere around there. For several months prior to the Dolpa, the Volks website had periodic, multiple choice surveys asking things like what school heads should be offered, what theme do most want for the costume contest, etc. If you keep watching this thread, people always pipe up and let everyone else know if something relevant has been posted by Volks. Also, last year, we didn't know the identity of the limited until really late! I think it was like June 1st or something?