[2016 edition] Paging interest for a more-feasible subreddit meetup around Toonfest for the East coast, details within

(You people in big rural states probably think 30 minutes is extremely close but I assure you in our tiny overpopulated state it's not)

I'm so confused by people's concept of distance in the Toontown community. O_O I live in a "big rural state" in an urban area (even predominantly rural states have cities...), and when traffic's bad it might take 30 minutes to go five miles. Thirty minutes doesn't mean anything. It depends on the time of day, the weather, which route you can take (highway versus street driving), construction, and more. I can't imagine a metropolitan area on the East Coast doesn't have variables like those; in fact, I'd assume it's worse. If I limited myself to a 30-minute drive wherever I went, I'd hardly go anywhere except the grocery store--I can't imagine expecting a convention aimed at a national audience to be held within 30 minutes of me. My country-dwelling relatives are much more likely to think 30 minutes is a long time than I am. They're used to speeding down a country highway at 80+ miles per hour. A densely populated area makes it take more time to go places, not less.

I realize the people here are probably teenagers and young adults who either don't drive or haven't driven much outside their immediate area, but it's hard for me to believe any metropolitan area would be easily accessible for most people (they're hardly accessible for the people who live in them, because of traffic bottlenecks and construction nightmares...). The truth is, it's impossible for there to be a location that's good for everyone in the U.S., because it's a huge place. Anywhere it's held, it's going to be too far without a plane ticket for the majority of people, and a hike for even a lot of those who end up going.

I don't think it's all that odd that OMG!Con is held in Kentucky--because people often travel for conventions (everyone I know has, anyway), and Owensboro is within 2-3 hours of several major cities like St. Louis, Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, and Cincinnati. No, it's not 30 minutes, but expecting that seems absurd to me. For the more dedicated fans, Memphis, Atlanta, Columbus, Chicago, and some other cities are 4-6 hours. The other plus of a location like that is that accommodations are a lot cheaper and traffic is less of a hassle.

/r/Toontown Thread