Walking from the Doubletree or Omni to the Convention Center
I still hear people complaining about how far it is to walk from the Convention Center to the Doubletree, which is the furthest of our four hotels, situated just behind the Omni.
Lookie here...
That's me from back in February. I did it in freezing temperatures, with blowing snow (though it's hard to see in the photo), while dragging a bunch of heavy luggage. And I got there in just about six minutes.
So there!
Heh. That reminds me of when I did a paper route, in Wisconsin.
Last year, the Doubletree let us (especially the furries) use their
shuttle minibus.
I didn't use it. It's close enough to the convention center that
it works about the same if you walk right and take the shortcut towards
AC, or wait to ride a minibus.
I also found the 7-11 in the lobby very handy. The restaurant in the
lobby didn't hurt, either. Finally, the wi-fi was nice and there was
no real wait for the elevators.
Staying at the Doubletree for AC is hardly a hardship.
I stayed at the DoubleTree hotel last year, and I also did not mind the walk; I actually enjoyed staying at that hotel, and its proximity to the DLCC was fine with me. And yes, as BlackJack mentioned, no waiting for the elevators there!
As someone who stayed at the Double Tree last year I can highly recommend them, and confirm the walk is really quite pleasant. It's easy to navigate (and I'm a country girl not used to city streets, so that's saying something) through a nice area of the city. It gives you a chance to see something other than the Westin's wallpaper during your stay, the the hospitality at the Double Tree is top-notch to boot.
And the Bigelow Bar and Grill (in the hotel lobby) has some mighty good eats.
Walking from the hotel to the convention center is a pretty nice walk.
It's the walk BACK to the hotel with your feet screaming at you after walking around all day that's the rough part, especially because it's a slight incline.
Heh, working retail all day long, 9 hours on my feet per day for 6 days in a row... yeah, I know how you feel.
I stayed at the Doubletree this year so I speak a bit from a first time experience:
Granted the walk is not too far, but the biggest hassle is the inconvenience that it isnt as conveniently located like the Westin or Courtyard. I found that I had to carry around 2 shopping bags + my camera bag all day because it was not worth it to walk to the doubletree and back in the extreme humidity that we had. If the weather was ideal or even a bit colder, then it would not have been any trouble.....however the humidity was a killer and made the effort very unpleasant (not difficult).
Although after hours of walking around and your feet getting sore and your muscles aching, the last thing you want to do is walk anywhere else......especially if it is 2 in the morning and you do not know the exact way back to the hotel and you are alone and have a fear of being mugged 
EDIT: I forgot to add....one upside to the Doubletree is all the delicious warm gooey chocolate chip cookies you can eat! They were delicious!
Stayed at Doubletree last yr, Westin this yr. It was a slight walk, usually down William Penn Pl.--not much further than the Omni, where I stayed in 08. Slight inconvenience. If anything the walk did get to be a bit much after the first few times...I did like the bkfst buffet at the Doubletree.
I walked to PNC Park last yr to catch Pirates-Cubs. On the way back as I crossed the Clemente
bridge I noticed the Doubletree shuttle, free to guests, and thought, perfect--like most people
I tossed in a buck or so as a thank-you to the driver.
So, its cold in pittsburg when anthrocon is happening? If so, it'll be so much easier to fursuit! And, about how much is the Doubletree a night to stay in? Any costs I should worry about if my mate and I are gonna stay there?
AC takes place near the end of june. the only places that with even be relatively cool are the headless lounges
As a rough estimate (Pricing will be revealed in February) Pricing will be about $140 a night AFTER taxes and fees, at the convention rate. Last year, the hotels were all within $10 per night of each other. That might sound high, but these are downtown business hotels; the rack rate runs from $200-300 a night before taxes. You should not have any particular charges beyond the basic ones if you don;t do anything to incur them.
Also, the Doubletree has free chocolate-chip cookies. :9
As mentioned, Anthrocon is in June or July each year; it can be warm outside even in Pittsburgh's temperate climate.
--Chi
Uncle Kage is not required to ONLY visit Pittsburgh during AC.
The pic he posted was him in town in February.
AC is always in June or July.
Oh, lol, I feel dumb... Cool, the Doubletree sounds good. I would love to meet other furs in the hotel! I'll talk to Reli about it...
That hat looks SUPER HOT on you, Uncle Kage!!!!!
ETA: Er, I should say, YOU look SUPER HOT in the hat!!!!!! (the hat itself does not really have any sex appeal 
)
I'm not opposed to a bit of a walk to get to and from my hotel; but in this case, I'm with Stahi. I stayed at the Courtyard last year, and despite its' proximity to the DLCC and Westin, did so much walking that by early Saturday morning, I couldn't feel my hooves.
Glad to see I'm not the only one tired of hearing people whine about this matter 
Looks to me like a lot of folks could use the exercise. I was at the Doubletree last year and I was surprised to hear so many people complain about walking such a short distance.
ive walked more at the mid america truck show, which uses btw, 1.5 million square feet of exhibite space(its in louisville, ky), but i killed my feet at AC. thats strange
Did you remember to SIT DOWN at AC?
I've noticed a lot of people just stand and walk, walk and stand, and don't take opportunities
to sit at convenient chairs, or attend sit-down panels in between, or sit down for a meal,
or hike to the restaurant before the meal (walking to Buca takes a while.)
I used to do an event where I had to stay walking around a room for over 3 hours,
and I was fine so long as I remembered to sit earlier and later.
I've trudged to the Doubletree TIRED, but not with aching feet.
Then again, I'm not constaff- Stasi's entitled to have aching feet- he's the set-ninja,
and has to move stuff around a lot.
The regular attendees, you have only yourselves to blame. Wear sneakers or comfortable
shoes and remember to sit down.
ohhh i did sit down, but i just walked a lot, as for foot were, i perfer boot from red wing due to them being more comfortable than shoes. im gona be more catutious this year. but ill still walk the walk, its exercise anyway 
Speaking from experience, the walk from the Doubletree is only bad when there's two feet of snow on the ground (stayed there during Snowmageddon last year). But the beds are comfy, the staff is very pleasant, and the cookies, I've heard, are totally worth it. Plus it's nice out, so that makes it even more bonus.
Yeah, it sucks when you have to carry things to the convention center, but I've heard resourceful furs will often put some of their "con needs" up in friends' hotel rooms, so that they don't have to take it back and forth. And, for the extra lazy, the buses are free in town until 7pm. =D
You forgot to mention that it was uphill... both ways.
It actually isn't all that far, about .4 miles. "Just a good stretch of the legs."