And in other News....

[Leon]

Yeap, I am going from Wed through Saturday too. I am already looking forward to it. I hope to meet a lot of members I haven't met before.

Originally Posted by mrreality68

I agree with scoping the place out taking pictures/notes of what you see and want to double back to.
Have a plan and stay focused.
As for the days to go. Depends on what you want to do. The Early days are great for finding the hardest/rarest/things you most want or need on your list. Because many of the items you are looking for might be gone by someone that came before you.
The prices are highest on the earliest days and dealers may make less deals (on Wed or THur) because they feel they have the full convention to sell their items. On Sat and Sundays as the National Show is coming closer to the end the prices and deals often get better but again selection is not as good.

IT also depends on the activities you intend to do both in the show and out of the show(since you are in Chicago for example) maybe you want to go to a ball game or something so depends the days they are playing.
Are you meeting with people if so what days they go may impact your plans.

I am going Wed thru Sat. I want the extra time. This year I did Wed, THur and Friday and was not enough time for me to meet people, meet dealers, have lunch with a few, and take my time to enjoy the show and all the details

[IndyDave]

I'm in line with the earlier posters. I will drive to Chicago from Indy on Wednesday with plans to attend the Wednesday sneak peak, all day Thursday and most of the day Friday.

I booked the adjacent Hyatt for Wednesday and Thursday nights. Depending on how late I stay Friday I will either drove all the way back to Indy or get a room somewhere away from the show (plenty of rooms in Chicago).

I'm most likely coming by myself and like others, really don't plan to do the autographs or breaks. I'm there to see the tables. Usually by mid-afternoon on Friday I'm getting tired - and grouchy. By then I've usually seen every table once, or more than once. It is typically time to go home.

I've always gone with the option to stay Saturday if I want to. Haven't felt the need yet.

I like staying at the Hyatt to have access to my room during the show if I feel I need a quick break. Last year I didn't have a room there, but still walked over to use their public restrooms and grab a sandwich from their grab and go place. Better than the food at the show, just as high priced.

When I haven't stayed at the Hyatt, I've taken a cooler with me. I bought a sandwich in the morning on the way in at Trader Joe's and went out to the car for my lunch.

[commishbob]

Well I may get back to a National after all. Haven't been to one since the long ago Houston edition. The last two years I've been in the wrong place at the right time (I was in Chicago this year during the AC show and in Jersey last year during the Chicago show!). But we plan to visit our new grandson in Evanston every year for his July 28 birthday this may just work out.

If we're lucky the weather will be as freakishly nice next year in Chicagoland as it was when we were just there, 70s/low 80s with low humidity. It was perfect.