I went to the gencon housing site to check for open rooms (like I have been every day for the past few weeks lol)  And they are closed to new bookings???  I'm confused, why are they closing it so early?  And if it's only closed for maintenance or whatever, are they are re-opening it, when would that be?

I just did a search and it seems fine to me, and there were a few rooms available; I assume you just caught it when the Passkey system was temporarily down for maintenance.  See if it works for you ok now.

 I do see that about all that's available now through the housing block is the Adam's Mark eight miles away. So, do they ever open up more hotels in the block, or do I need to grab what I can now? I sure would like to stay closer, but I sure don't want to drop over $1000 on just my hotel stay.

It is possible hotels will be added, as I think a few were last year, but not definite, and there aren't any close in hotels that aren't already in the block.  Last year when hotels were added, they were in the airport block. 

You can either, book out of block, just using hotel website, or a place like Priceline or hotels.com, or some such; or you can book in block, but far away.  What I would recommend you do either way is call the housing bureau number on the passkey site, and request to be put on the waitlist for a closer, downtown hotel. 

Last year at the Gen Con feedback seession (which I really recommend you guys attend, and which was poorly attended last year), Owen said that even as late as a week or two before the Con, there were some rooms in downtown in which they could have put people off the waitlist.  Now, they may not have been your first choice, like the Mariott, but they were downtown.  Of course, by then, lots of people already had reservations elsewhere that they couldn't cancel without penalty.

If you reserve in the Gen Con block, and the housing bureau "moves" you, you do not pay a cancellation fee for the change in reservation.  So it's a gamble to take the farther hotel and wait and see if you can get a closer one off of the waitlist, but it's not an impossibility.

If you absolutely must have a hotel downtown however, I'd say your best bet would be to book out of block; the Westin and the Conrad were showing availability last time I checked.

Okay, thanks a lot for that information. I'll likely just be grabbing something out of block. 

Also watch for the tons of threads that will pop up asking for roomies or someone to take their rooms so they can transfer instead of cancel. I seem to remember a lot of them showing up in the month or 2 pre-con.

At this point, I'm really considering a Motel 6 or a Red Roof or something nearby that I can just Taxi in from. Even assuming $40 a day in Taxi fares, which seems about right, it'll be much cheaper than anywhere closer in. Has anyone else done this and had any particularly good/bad experiences? 

There are a couple of lots a short walk away from the center for $5 per day. I used this lot the first couple of days till I moved to the Omni. The one I used was down by the White Castle. I'd say it was a 10 minute walk. As long as you don't have a ton of gear to tote, this is not bad, and sure beats the $20+ lots and garages. Keep in mind also that if you intend to leave for any reason (going back to the hotel to nap or something of the sort), you will likely have to pay to get back in and lose your spot. If you are going somewhere close, you might still be able to grab one of the $5 downtown taxi's.

I've even heard of some guys getting fantastic rates through priceline and some of the other bidding sites. Can't hurt to try them.

 I'll be flying in and won't be renting a car, so what I'll likely do is keep the motel reservation and then try my luck as it gets closer to con time on the last minute deals, cancellations and the like. I'm generally fine with staying at the con from dawn till dusk, so going back and forth to the room really isn't an issue. Still, the locker idea sounds worthwhile, especially as a place to stash stuff I've bought.

 All very helpful suggestions, I appreciate all the information I can get.

On a long-shot, maybe you can talk a friend into letting you stash stuff in their close hotel room for short periods of time. I wouldn't hold my breath on that one, but who's saying it's not possible?

I used hotwire and got a room at the airport for 36 a night, you might look into that.