Back in 2005, I had attended Celebration III in Indianapolis. I have attended the Wizard World Comic Cons and other conventions, but Celebration III was going to be the biggest one I'd ever been to. Now after attending Celebration IV each day it was open, I noticed that I learned a lot from my Celebration III experience.

Here are a few things I've learned and maybe other's can apply them when going to other multi day conventions J

If your hotel has the option of a refridgerator in your room...GET IT. I don't care if it's an extra 25 bucks to have it the entire time your in the hotel. The options that open up to you with a refridgerator in your room are endless. The biggest being, you can grocery shop and bypass all that over priced convention food and still eat healthy.

Ask if your hotel has a coffee maker in the room. If not, get a small one and take it with you. The reason is not for coffee, but for hot water. When you grocery shop you can buy things like Cup of Noodles, Oatmeal and other things that require hot water. Just let the water cycle through your coffee pot and "Ta Da" you got hot water.

Pay for your entire hotel room stay when you arrive unless your paying with a credit card. Me personally, I don't much care for credit cards, so I used Travelers Checks when going to Celebration IV. Pay in advance and get a recept. You may have to put a deposit down for your phone, but that money will come back to you at the end of your stay. I took 2,000 dollars with me to Celebration IV and came home with a few hundred dollars after room and food and collectables. I payed everything I could as soon as I got there so all the money I had, was spending money. Took a big weight off my mind because I was afraid I'd get caught up in the moment and cut into the money for my hotel expence. Paying upfront took that out of the equation.

Unless you have a cell phone, which almost everyone, but me, has LOL Get a calling card, or a pre paid phone card. This will save a great amount of money if you want to call home long distance to check in with family so they know you didn't get mugged in downtown "whatever". Not to mention any emergency that could come up.

Even though I took travelers checks, not everyplace takes them. Before getting in any lines at the Convention, ask in advance if they take travelers checks. If they don't make a mental note. Also, now that your at the convention, use your travelers checks every time you pay for something. Turn those things into cash because not everything at the Convention takes Travelers checks. If what you want can be paid with travelers checks, use them, don't use your cash. Save the cash for those places that don't take the travelers checks. Also ask your hotel attendant if they will cash travelers checks and how much each day. Keep that in mind and take advantage of it. The Wilshire Grand in LA cashed travelers checks, but only 100 dollars a day. I never took advantage of it, but it was an option if I needed it.

If your like me, you have to have some kind of noise while you sleep. Me, I run a box fan for white noise to help me relax. I have talked to people and it seems to be not that uncommon. The thing that is uncommon is that a lot of hotel rooms don't have a central air system or a fan that makes enough noise LOL. Before even leaving home I purchased a small 10 inch box fan to insure that I'd have some comfortable soothing noise in my hotel room. I took it out of the box and placed it in my suitcase. It was a life saver because the central air in my hotel did not make any noise at all. Which is good, if you don't like noise when you sleep.

Those are just a few of the more major tips I can share with people. So if you are planning on going to Comic Con in San Diego in a few months, or any of the Wizard World Comic Cons, or even daring enough to venture to Celebration Europe, these things may help in big ways.