Where to park?

Hey all, we are new to the Con, and trying to figure out how hotels and so forth work out. We are driving from a fair distance away, and we're wondering what people usually do for transportation. Most of the hotels seem to charge quite a lot extra for parking; rates seem similar to Chicago, in fact. And we certainly don't want to end up paying twice a day to park: at a hotel and at the convention center.

So, how does the shuttle system work? How good is public transit? Should we park someplace far away and cheaper, and then take a bus to a hotel and just use shuttles the whole time we are there? 
How do other folk usually swing this? We would really love to know!

There is a shuttle service provided by Origins and Experience Columbus that goes to almost all of the non-attached hotels (one roundtrip per hour). Last year it went to The Columbus, Holiday Inn City Center, Hyatt Capital Square, Doubletree and Courtyard from 6am to 5am most convention days (it started at 2pm on Wednesday, ending at 1am and on Sunday it ended at 7pm). The run should be similar this year.

For parking, some of the hotels have special rates for Origins attendees. You can see info about all of the hotels here: http://www.originsgamefair.com/2008/attend/hotels Special rates are available at The Columbus, Crowne Plaza, and Hyatt on Capital Square.