The Haunted Hotel Party By the Collective

Attended this event with friends last night and came away with a few thoughts that I felt were worthy of a review.
We bought tickets for the Hyatt Regency party only ($ 39 plus processing fee). You can also purchase a VIP ticket ($ 89 plus processing plus) to attend both parties at the Hyatt and Marriot. I arrived at the party around 10p and was glad I came prepared to pay for parking ($ 15 for self parking). The parking garages had copious amounts of space, but I wound up on the top floor by the time I got there, and walked down 5 flights of stairs since the elevators weren’t operating properly (or just had a VERY long wait.)
Met up with my friends and checked in, which was a quick process, then headed upstairs to check out the party. The grand ballroom hosted various DJ’s and dancers, including a great Daft Punk tribute duo. I was surprised by how many people weren’t dancing, but just standing around in the crowd in the room. Oh well. .. I let me hair down and shook my booty.
Outside the grand ball room in the atrium were a few vendors (who I didn’t pay any attention to) and a live band, That Eighties Band, and you can guess the type of music they played. They were good, but I just wasn’t into listening to 80’s music all night. A lot of people were, though, and seemed to enjoy them.
I loved that this event brought out a variety of people in all age ranges. The costumes were fun to peruse and there was a costume contest available with a $ 1000 grand prize (that went to Shrek and Fiona).
Most disappointing? The venue and entertainment did not live up to the $ 39 ticket price. A red bull and vodka in the bar? $ 10 and change. Outrageous! No wonder we downed a few beers before the party. Also, the photographer who we posed for earlier in the night had shut down before end of party — LAME =\ So we left without our photo.
I’m not sure I’d attend this event next year at this price. The costumes and company made up for the lack of variety and expensive drinks, but I think the only way I’d return next year is if they slashed the VIP ticket to $ 40 to include both hotels. THAT would have been awesome!