Pre-Mare-a-Thon Brony lunch meetup

So you're going to the SoCal Bronies March Mare-a-thon, right? What, you want even more PONY to fit into that day! Well ok!

Since so many bronies seem to want to be showing up early on the day of the Mare-a-thon, the logical thing to do would be to have a pre-meetup meetup. Since nopony has yet suggested an official pre- Mare-a-Thon lunch meetup here on our meetup board, I am now doing so. This way we can all meet and greet, find out exactly who and how many are intending to come early, grab something to eat together, and we can all not be lingering around the hotel, such that our nice organizers here get charged extra because of it.

According to the Google maps, right near where the hotel is, is the Anaheim Garden Walk, which features a bunch of nice eating places ranging from casual, to more expensive. We can meetup there, decide on an eating place, and get a chance to chat and have lunch. When it it is time for the Mare-a-Thon to start, we can all hoof it over there.

I am planning on getting there at 1 or so in the afternoon I think, and I think 3 hours is a pretty good amount of time to get in a good amount of discussion about ponies, get something to eat, and have enough time to leisurely enjoy the food and company.

Here's more info about the plaza including a list of the restaurants

http://www.anaheimgardenwalk.com/dining/

There is a California Pizza Kitchen, a Cheesecake Factory, a Bubba Gump, and also a Johnny Rocket's, as well as some other, possibly more expensive eateries. If we finish early, there are also several candy/sweet shops in case you feel your inner Pinkie Pie craving sugar, more sugar, more sugar...

I figured it would be nice to have an organized pre-meetup for all the bronies who are planning to show up early, so I hope I'll see you there!

I am planning on getting there early, so I'll be around get everypony who's coming to this together.

I had wanted to ask: actually, seeing as the number of bronies coming this is growing, is there any specific resturuant that y'all would like to eat at? because if we know in advance, I can try to make a reservation for a larger group so we could all be together. That or, if everypony wants to eat different things, another option would be to split off into a few smaller groups: However, I would like to gather everypony together at some point during this because:

Update: Also, I have been informed that we have a special occasion to celebrate! The 31st of March is the birthday of a couple of our fellow bronies! Therefore, in the words of a 4th-wall breaking pink pony: "Hey, you know what this calls for!? A PARTY!!!!"

"Help us celebrate! the cake will be delicious, the festivities first rate!"

Ok, so in the interest of making sure that everypony can find one another, I would also like to lay out a preliminary schedule for the way this short lunch pre-meetup is gonna work:

12:30-1:15 PM (for anypony who is planning on showing up early, I want to have a good amount of leeway time for people to show up. Meet at the center back area outdoors
on the 2nd (main) level.

You can find a printable pdf version of the map here:

http://www.anaheimgardenwalk.com/directory/AGW-Directory.pdf

or you can take a look at this nice map that I have posted and also ponified here:

http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/7/6/4/event_105241892.jpeg

larger image (http://i.imgur.com/fvSvw.jpg)

Referring to the map, there is an open area in the middle/back part of it on the main level (that's level 2), that is called, fittingly enough, the Gala Garden. Let's meet up in that area.

1:15-3:15 PM Split up into groups by specific restaurants you all want to eat and, have lunch

3:15- 3:40 PM- I would like everypony to meet back up after lunch at the tables in the food court area (that's near the movie theater towards the back of the shopping center). There be cake, and the wishing of happy birthday to fellow bronies!

3:45: walk over to the hotel for Mare-a-thon and more pony fun!

for your convenience, here also is a map for how to get from the garden walk to the hotel by foot, although it might just be easier to just follow the herd of bronies that will be migrating over there XD

http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/c/c/8/event_105243272.jpeg

larger image (http://i.imgur.com/drzKJ.png)

yes it takes all of 8 minutes by foot and turning 1 corner lol

Thanks again, everypony! let's make this the most awesome day ever!