First off, MAL has a reputation of being the "friendliest" of events. I will tell you one thing. My MAL experience was not as friendly as my other experiences at events, but I did have a Dom hovering making sure I didn't play with anyone else last time, which kind of dampered everything last time, while at other events I've had the opportunity of going stag. This time I'm bringing a good friend to his first kink event, and I'm hoping he has a good time, and is a good pig in his own right.
The best part of MAL, as I had said in my review of MIR, is the lobby. There was a rumor that the lobby was now non-existent as MAL changed venues, but I can assure you that this is not the case. Two friends and I were in DC and decided to venture to the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill to investigate, and the lobby is actually better. The Washington Plaza hotel was dirty and small which is fine, but this new lobby, as long as they give us free-reign, will be really huge and great for everything. My favorite part is the entrance, which will be a great vista into kink on Friday and Saturday nights. When you walk into the revolving door, there's a balcony overlooking the entire lobby, and then you take an escalator down to the lobby itself. What a great way to cruise.
I think the lobby will stay a crucial part to MAL and the best part of the socializing aspect of MAL, and it will help it's tradition of being a friendly kink event, and a perfect first event for people. Another thing is the openness of types of kinks MAL kind of opens things up to. The pictures on the webside include more rubber than leather, actually.
Buahahaha, we're taking over. And also I really want those gloves, and have no idea where to get them.Now, one pet peeve has already happened with MAL this year. They have a new admission policy to the market, of a person having to pay 25$ for the whole weekend in the market. This is bothersome for me. I feel like for some of the younger crowd, the market is their first way to do hands-on exploration of kink. A lot of these kids are local and a lot of them are going to feel hard pressed even for the 10$ day pass to not explore the kink in the market. Recon has a great policy when it comes to young students at events that they are at, which is that they have a history of giving free premium to someone until they turn 25 if they see you at an event and you fill out a form. I'm happy to say I have free premium for a couple of years. The young ones are the future of kink, and I feel like even I have an obligation to help the ones less experienced figure things out. MAL is not helping at all. They just want cash and I find this greedy, as some people can't afford that.
In all, it's going to be a good weekend. The Hotel is sold out and it has an indoor pool that's heated. I'm excited for the hilarity. I'm bringing my speedo, I don't know about you. Oh yeah, and my rubber to have shittons of fun both in and out of sleepsacks.
Until next time, I wish you speedoes, spitting, and spelunking,
Bo
The fee isn't just for the market. It's for the market and the whole social area where everyone hangs out and drinks. They had a hard time trying to produce the event when no one bought a weekend package and just freeloaded in the lobby hanging out. It's caused a lot of tension, so we'll have to see how it goes over, but I think it's worth it to spend a weekend with all those horny men. I've paid more for cover to a bar, and don't get me started on CODE's cover!
ReplyDeleteI love the Recon under-25 premium deal! I call it their twink affirmative action program.
ReplyDeleteSo, Rich, you're telling me that we have to pay for the lobby of the hotel that in which we are sleeping and hereby spending 169/night if not more to actually stay in?
ReplyDeleteOf course people stayed in the lobby last time, as the package is an insane price. If you think someone is going to spend 180 to 200 bucks for 5 events, and only discounted prices for another, well, it looks like you're paying 30-40 dollars per event, and none of these events have free drinks. If MAL made their package more reasonable, more people would buy it. This makes CODE's cover seem more "reasonable," right? I remember REACTION is, what, 35 or something? This year it's probably 70 or something. If you make it this expensive, you're not going to get any young people since we simply can't afford to tack on 200 dollars.
And yes, MDW, I love it. :-)
From what I understand the fee isn't to hang in the lobby proper. It's for the market and the large function event area. I've been to a few conferences for work, and I am sure you have been too and I've always had to pay the conference fee to get the hotel room block set aside. That's what MAL used to do at the old hotel anyway. You had to buy the weekend package to get a room. Think of theis like a conference. If you don't spend the fee to get the fancy conference name tag, my guess is they'd ask you to leave the conference event area fairly quickly even if you were just socializing with the other attendees. This hotel social area is supposed to be much larger than the old hotel and also separate from the lobby. I'm sure the hotel doesn't give away space for free to the event.
ReplyDeleteSure the weekend package price may be high. I think MIR's was too, but I still bought it. I bought the MAL package one year too and didn't use a damn part of it. For people who don't want to buy it though, you're still getting a benefit from the organizers planning a large event that draws hundreds of people from all over. It's only fair to help support that since you get the benefit of the socializing and interaction.
I'm saying that this is imposing an impromptu amount of cash on each person going to the event for no reason. They're making it difficult in a community that is already known for being expensive to make everything more expensive for them. Leather has always been a very classist social circle being a lot about who has the best gear and such. And for them to just amp up the prices like this makes it even more imposing on the lower financial brackets of the kink community.
ReplyDeleteI expect a Centaurs MC/GOProud booth at the event.