Advice for attending a Dolpa

Can anyone share some advice for attending a Dolpa? I've ordered the guidebook+bento (I expect they will have more stuff than just pantsu) and I'll be in Kyoto at the time, but I'm wondering what the etiquette is like. Advice for details about when to show up, what to expect (vendors? lineups?), if there's a point in taking a DD (I assume I'll want to buy & carry stuff back), limits on photography, how much my feet will hurt from standing in line all day, etc. I know that there's a lottery to determine your place in line, and you go in and... buy stuff. Other than this stuff, that's about all I know

 

I do remember there was a topic about this before but I can't find it now, unfortunately the forum doesn't let you search for 'dolpa' because it's too common ~_~

I'm also very interested in advice as I'll be going in May (if anyone else is going to that one hit me up!)

Next time instead of just putting "Dolpa" since it is too common add something else with the keyword. I put in "Attending Dolpa" and it found the thread quickly

 

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=6131&start=0&hilit=Attending+Dolpa

 

And sometimes when the search function on the forum is not working for me I will just put into Google "Dollfie Dreams Forum (Insert subject here)" and that usually does the trick. Hope this helps you & bethykins for your trips!

Next time instead of just putting "Dolpa" since it is too common add something else with the keyword. I put in "Attending Dolpa" and it found the thread quickly

I'm pretty sure I did that ！(◎_◎') But I also remember searching for post subjects only, and it's misspelled there (I tried searching a few times)

 

Thanks!

I'm pretty sure I did that ！(◎_◎') But I also remember searching for post subjects only, and it's misspelled there (I tried searching a few times)

 

Thanks!

The reason I found it so quick is because I used the search bar that is on the page for this section of the forum instead of using the more advanced search page. It also picked up the thread because of my using the word "Attending"

 

You're welcome!

So, one thing I'm not sure about is if there's a point to actually taking a doll to Dolpa. I mean, I'm sure it's at least a bit fun regardless, but I think I'd rather carry stuff I buy. Is there anything to miss out on? Also, are there any restrictions on photography? I guess general photography is ok, but maybe not the vendor floor.

So, one thing I'm not sure about is if there's a point to actually taking a doll to Dolpa.

That depends on what you want to do. Volks offers "tea party spaces" (blank table spots) for rent in a large area, upon which attendees can set up dolls or displays or hang out with others / have doll meets. If you have something you want to show off, then you can bring it. Anyone can walk around and look at the dolls set up here and talk to the people displaying them. Photos are OK with the permission of the owner. You rent these on the day-of, so anyone in attendance can rent one.

 

Volks also offers "private photo spaces" for rent at 30 minutes at a time. These will be elaborate backdrop and prop scenes; you bring your own doll to pose in the diorama and take pictures. Photos are NOT okay unless you pay to rent the space.

 

Other than those two places, people keep their dolls in the doll bag or just not have any at all. You won't need to worry about bumping into dolls accidentally when waiting in the sumika line or the limited dolls line. I think it's too much trouble to bring a large doll to Dolpa unless you have an overwhelming reason to want to.

 

Photos in the vendor space are OK as long as you get permission of the individual dealer. You just have to ask them.

 

If you do decide to bring a doll, Volks always has a courier service on site so you can mail anything you buy back to your hotel or home (inside Japan only). So you don't necessarily have to choose between bringing a doll and buying something. Just up to you.

Thanks! I had no idea about the tea party/photo spaces and stuff. BTW, how long does the Dolpa last? It sounds like it's open well into the afternoon. My guidebook just shipped, but I don't know how much of it will be in English.

 

I don't intend to go for the limited items, just things like the miko outfits. I guess that just means lining up for the Sumika items early?

Officially, Dolpa's operating hours are 10am-5pm. Stuff is happening prior to 10am, but only things like number drawing and lining up, which do not require money to change hands. Anything involving money must wait until 10 to begin.

 

You should try to "stay" the whole time, even if you are otherwise done early. The bingo game is where Volks gives out lots of expensive free stuff, and this gets started around 4pm. However, be sure to go to the bingo card pickup booth and get a game card earlier in the day, so that you have one when the game starts. You can get one card for each Dolpa guidebook you have (they stamp the back of it). If you are done early and just waiting for bingo to start, you can go get a late lunch at an outside eatery and then come back. You have unlimited entry/exit privileges, and just have to hold your guidebook out each time you enter the door. I'd recommend taking a little break like that from the crowd in the middle of the day.

 

Since you want the Sumika Items most, you can cruise on in around 8:30ish and look for the end of the Sumika Line. ("The end of the line" is "saikoubi" in Japanese, if you have to ask someone). It is not necessary to get in it super early, because around 9:30ish Volks will re-shuffle the order of the Sumika line anyway. They'll hand out tickets to people in line, in order, numbered 1-200 or however many. Then they'll pick one number from a box, and that person becomes the new head of the line. So, if they pick number 111, the line becomes #111-200;#1-110. You don't know where the new head of the line will be, so it's only guesswork as to how early you want to arrive.

 

*Important: this is all based off of Tokyo Dolpa at Big Sight. Kyoto Dolpa is a different venue, and may work slightly differently. Please be sure to read your guidebook to see if it says anything different. (I am not going to Kyoto Dolpa and haven't ever been to one in Kyoto, so I cannot confirm if it is exactly the same as Tokyo or not). If you cannot read the non-English portions (very little of Dolpa guidebook is in English, pretty much just the behavior rules), take super high res photos and we can read the lineup rules to confirm what they say.

Thanks for your help! I think this is the page that describes the stuff,

 

http://i.imgur.com/CqwpsxO.jpg

 

It looks like they're showing an example of the lineup thing in the [9:30~] block at the bottom of the middle column (um, yeah, the top of that column has kanji-no-sumika shop).

Yep, that's the correct page!

 

The Sumika line directions are indeed the middle column as you surmised, and the plan is indeed the same as described in my previous post (whew). Arrive between 8:30 and 9:30, line up, then the line is shuffled, and you're let in to the Sumika Shop at 10am.

 

If you end up arriving after 9:30 due to any morning mishaps, then you must go to the dealers/general line because the sumika lineup lottery will be over. You can still get in to the Sumika shop in this case, no worries, but you will just have to wait longer and get in line from inside the hall.

 

As you might also guess from that page, there are three different lines to get into Dolpa, depending on where you want to start your day (limiteds, sumika, dealers). So please be sure to get into the correct line! The page you scanned says that a map of the venue showing where each line is planned to be is on pages 20-21. The end of the line will be marked with a Volks staffer holding a GIANT sign that will be mostly in Japanese, but will say "Tenshi no Sumika Items" in English in smaller text. So you can be sure you have the right line that way.

That's great, thanks again for your help! (#^.^#) Now the only thing I'm nervous about is that I arrive the night before; hopefully I won't be too weary/jetlagged to enjoy the Dolpa, and I'll get up early to show up on time f^_^;) I've been to Kyoto before so I don't think I'll be too disoriented, at least.

I assume that they dont but just wanted to check,

 

When you buy guidebooks on the volks international website do they have your name on them or are they linked to you at all?

 

Its 3 per person so im going to buy 3 and im going to use my mums account to buy my partner 3 but wanted to check that they wont be locked to her at all!

question bump!

question bump!

Oops, I forgot to reply

 

When you buy guidebooks on the volks international website do they have your name on them or are they linked to you at all?

Nope, they're not linked.

 

Its 3 per person so im going to buy 3 and im going to use my mums account to buy my partner 3 but wanted to check that they wont be locked to her at all!

Are you going with five other people? They say that as far as attending the Dolpa goes, it's one per person (for the Sumika items, one guidebook lets you buy only one of each outfit).

No just two of us, but we had previously been advised you get one lottery draw per guidebook and your allowed up to three attempts?

No just two of us, but we had previously been advised you get one lottery draw per guidebook and your allowed up to three attempts?

No, I remember reading you're only allowed one per person. They produce a limited number of guidebooks (they're like tickets), so they're not intended to use that way.

 

They've actually updated the Kyoto 11 site with some of the info I asked about,

 

http://www.volks.co.jp/htd_kyoto11/guide_en/

 

It says there "even if you bring several guide books, you can draw one ticket only. We would appreciate your understanding."

Awweh that's a shame but really good to know! I will let my source know too

Thanks again for your help ^^ I'm currently waiting in the Tenshi no Sumika line. For anyone going to Japan, I HIGHLY recommend ordering a Pupuru which gives you a personal Wi-Fi hotspot and LTE speeds for about $12 per day (a cheaper one is available if you don't need the longer battery & speed).

Thanks again for your help ^^ I'm currently waiting in the Tenshi no Sumika line. For anyone going to Japan, I HIGHLY recommend ordering a Pupuru which gives you a personal Wi-Fi hotspot and LTE speeds for about $12 per day (a cheaper one is available if you don't need the longer battery & speed).

 

 

I've ordered one of them! I can't imagine a trip without it, spend ages trying to figure out where you are or a quick search on Google maps!!

Thanks again for your help ^^ I'm currently waiting in the Tenshi no Sumika line.

You're welcome! Glad you made it right to where you wanted to be.

 

So how did the clothes shopping, sightseeing, and bingo game go?

I've ordered one of them! I can't imagine a trip without it, spend ages trying to figure out where you are or a quick search on Google maps!!

I have to say, it's really fantastic. While I'm on the subway train I can watch the little blue dot move on the GPS map and see how far I have to go That said I thought I'd try out its "pedestrian route navigation" thing for going from Takeda station to Pulse Plaza on foot, and it put me on the wrong, far side of the building, and I had to walk around it to get in (－‸ლ)

 

So how did the clothes shopping, sightseeing, and bingo game go?

I've been wondering where to post my impressions but I guess this is a good thread for it. It was pretty great! Except for Bingo, I got like four numbers. I kind of didn't want to get bingo anyway because it would have felt too awkward to go up front and collect prizes XD

 

In the Tenshi-no-Sumika lineup, I ended up in the "longer" half of the line split, maybe at the 70% mark. I got there at 8:30-ish, and there ended up being 2x more people behind me than in front. Unfortunately I didn't catch what the split number was, but I was #65. When I got in, they had just said that the Lady Archer & Wizard sets were sold out. I was able to get the miko set & geta, but the boots I wanted were completely gone

 

But wow I ended up buying a lot of stuff on the floor. Well, maybe it's not that much stuff considering that I usually have to buy everything mail order. If I bought all that via mail order and pay shipping to so many different shops for small items, that'd be crazy XD

 

This was the first time I saw DDs that weren't my own. Things I realized,

 

• OMG RANKO IS LOVE! I always liked her but she's just so pretty in person.
  
• There was one Neris there and she looked wonderful, I never thought she looked good in photos. So I took a photo and looked at it later, and yeah, she's hard to photograph.
  
• Makoto Kikuchi is so pretty. Everytime I saw her she was just so lovely.

 

The exhibition display of everyone's dolls was wonderful. There was a lot of really great stuff, like one table with nothing but goregous Aoko's dressed up. I took a bunch of photos and I've love to post them, but there's a difference between asking "can I take a photo?" and "can I take a photo and plaster it all over the Internet?" I didn't ask the latter

 

I'll share a low resolution photo of this though, because it's just too awesome. I think this is all the MDDs, plus Haruka Amami XD

 

 

I also made a little photo story :~)

 

I'll share a low resolution photo of this though, because it's just too awesome. I think this is all the MDDs, plus Haruka Amami XD

 

 

I know it's bad, but that setup produces a bit of an urge to push one down like a stack of dominoes.

 

Thanks for mentioning the mifi device. I'll have to look into that. I was off the grid except at the hotel last time there & relied on a standalone hiking GPS to not get lost.

So, the After Event is on April 4th. Crap. That happens to be my one free day in Tokyo when I go back there (I'm currently in Malaysia for the F1 GP). I was hoping to swing by Dollpoint again to see if they had DDH-09 in stock, they only had DDH-08s there when I went on Wednesday (I did get the wavy white wig for Melty though, woot). Judging by what I've been able to decipher from the page, they'll be doing a lottery for entry at 8-8:30, and people will be able to enter at 10. It sounds like it lasts all day or something? Unless I line up early, it doesn't sound like I'll be able to 'swing by' at all (｡-_-｡)

 

I still want those boots, so I can either trying doing the clickwar on the International site via my pocket WiFi thing, or spend most of the day dealing with the after event…

So, the After Event is on April 4th. Crap. That happens to be my one free day in Tokyo when I go back there (I'm currently in Malaysia for the F1 GP).

Well, you are correct that you won't be able to just "swing by" the After-Event - like Dolls Party, you will need to make a special effort to be in the right place at the right time. But, if you wanted to go to Dollpoint again anyway, you should definitely go to the AE. Here is how. It will sound very familiar to you now.

 

First, begin lining up at whatever time in the AM you want to. Line number tickets will be given out between 8am-8:30am, BUT may be given out earlier if there get to be too many people for the holding area (so get there before 8). Once the tickets are distributed, a number will be drawn and that person becomes the new head of the line. All people in front of that person circle around and go to the back, in order. You are then held until the store opens at 10am. During this time, Volks may start distributing tickets for the limited dolls and things. At 10 you will be able to go in and try to buy the boots. The line will snake through the store and you can pick up what you want as you walk by it. Dollpoint sometimes does tickets even for regular clothes items, so keep your eyes peeled for tickets as well as for the shoes themselves.

 

Once you get through the purchase line, you are free to go browse the rest of the store. It might take a few hours in the morning to do the event, but it will not take all day. So, the afternoon will be free for you to go around Akihabara or whatever you like.