Looking Ahead to the Summer HP Cons

[pennswoods]

It looks like there are 3 US-based HP cons taking place this summer that I know of, and I'm curious to know who's planning to attend which one. Take my poll and spread the squee!

[Poll #1817323]

Comments

[irishredlass.livejournal.com]

Please let me know of your findings. Drox and I did a similar poll with less wibble room in it. I would love to do Leaky because it is so close for me, but it did not look as though many were attending. I will do Ascendio if that is where the masses go, but FL heat and humidity in costume is going to be murder.

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

Will do. I might need to promote it more since this is probably a bad time of day for hits and it will get buried in the late afternoon traffic. Feel free to promote if you think it will bring in a slightly different crowd. I have a fair number of different ships on my flist who may not overlap with Drox's flist.

[ravenna-c-tan.livejournal.com]

I hear you about the heat and costumes... which is why I'm trying to make a quidditch costume just for Night of a THousand Wizards. (The rest of the time I figure I'm in air conditioning, if anything I'm usually to COLD in Florida because they crank to AC so much I end up wearing a sweater everywhere...)

[alisanne.livejournal.com]

I'll be at Leaky Con and at Luuuubricus (yay!).
Sadly, Ascendio is at the same time as Comic Con, so I can't attend that one. :((

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

I so want to be able to go to two cons this year myself. Sounds like you'll have loads of fun, and I'm looking forward to slashing with you in Seattle! :D

[elenauial.livejournal.com]

LUBRICUSSSSS. :D I'm so grateful and feel so lucky that it happens in Seattle, because I never have the money to travel for a con, nor would I be able to find someone to take care of my son for that long.

But I wouldn't miss Lubricus for the world!

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

Yeah! I'm so glad I'll be seeing you there.

[cabepfir.livejournal.com]

Please do a meeting in old Europe!

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

Europe is definitely not being well-served by cons this year.

[cabepfir.livejournal.com]

After this post, I started searching for HP cons in Europe, and discovered that they are organising Alohomora 2013 in London, August 2013. Since I had already half an idea of going to England in 2013, you can't imagine how thrilled I am...

[ravenna-c-tan.livejournal.com]

OOoh oooh oooh. I had such a good time going to the UK for Diacon Alley. If I have the money... especially now that Aeternitas announced they are cancelling in 2013!

[glockgal.livejournal.com]

wth, the poll buttony things don't show up for me so my answers: yes to Ascendio, no to LeakyCon and omg if I win the lottery I will so be returning to Lubricus. I got fairy godmother'd for Ascendio, which is really the only reason I'm even doing a con this year. WHY CAN'T ALL FANDOM WIN A MAGIC LOTTERY.

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

Here's crossing my fingers that you win the lottery this year!

[arcanetrivia]

Leaky is too close (timewise) to Lubricus for me to do both, especially with other things involving double plane fare (me and husband) possibly going on this year.

Ascendio is in Florida in July, which should say it all, but also the hotel is faintingly expensive and HPEF doesn't seem to know how to make a con fee reasonable, so.

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

Leaky and Lubricus are really close together. I didn't realize it until I posted this poll.

[nqdonne.livejournal.com]

Re: cost, I used to feel the same way too, until I got onto the planning side. When you actually know what all the costs are and what a registration pays for, it's kind of incredible that HPEF cons aren't twice as much as they are. Niche cons of a similar sort -- academic, writer/publishing cons -- are generally twice as expensive for the same format/types of venues. (and cons that are in the sf/f vein are usually way bigger so there's cost deflection there, and they also generally don't include any food and beverage, which is a huge cost driver). It depends on what you want out of your con, but if you want the HP Feast experience, all the informal events (including the ball w/ bars!), the special guests, the broad formal programming, then there is the higher reg cost. Things like mics and screens for presenters, f&b minimums set by the hotel, insurance, program printing, decorations... so many things are built into the reg that you never "see" but are pretty essential. Other cons use a different model and cost less, but for me there's nothing like the full, intimate HP con experience. I think the costs *are* reasonable for all that you get, if you partake of the full con offering.

Specific to Ascendio and the hotel, it's a luxury hotel, so yeah it's expensive, but the rate is a) the same as Infinitus and b) only $40 more than it was at Azkatraz and c) about the same (give or take $20) as it was at Terminus, so I don't have the same sticker shock as some. I like that your room key is a line-hopper pass in the parks -- I had a lot of fun w/ that last year (zipped through BOTH parks in one day!). But I also split my room four ways, and $52 a night is a steal in Orlando (not everyone can do this, I know).

Obviously, I work with HPEF, but I didn't always. I used to rant about the cost back in the day, and now I feel silly because I'm on the other side and a) these cons are damn hard to run and b) no one at HPEF gets one red cent, and in fact most of the chairs donate large sums of their own money to fund the things that the registrations don't (HPEF chairs also pay for their registrations -- no one gets a freebie).

(SO SORRY, tl;dr)

[arcanetrivia]

Re: cost, I used to feel the same way too, until I got onto the planning side. When you actually know what all the costs are and what a registration pays for, it's kind of incredible that HPEF cons aren't twice as much as they are.

No, I understand that (I have organized niche group events too, although nothing on this scale) - it's just that HPEF seems to purposely pick luxury sites and try to throw in every possible amenity for extra fees and it winds up getting a little silly. I don't think it's necessary to be that fancy for a con to be fun, and I think they go overboard.

[tjs-whatnot.livejournal.com]

I'm especially sad about Lubricus as I will actually BE in Seattle this summer... but in June, not August.

*sobs forever*

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

*sobs forever with you*

Oh man, I was hoping to Lube it up with you this summer. :D

[magicalpresence.livejournal.com]

*sigh* wish I could go! I loved my time in Seattle though :)

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

Seattle really is awesome!

[magicalpresence.livejournal.com]

I loved it so much there. It was my favourite out of all the places I visited :)

[chickadilly.livejournal.com]

I wish ... one day I'll make it to another HP con!

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll see you at one in the not too distant future.

[lunalovepotter.livejournal.com]

Oh, I really really wish I could go to at least one of them so we could meet in person again - our encounter at Lumos was entirely too brief! But my sister's wedding this year (not to mention the surrounding events) has to take precedence. I hope you have a blast and take lots of pictures!

If my circumstances change, I will certainly let you know. :)

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

OMG! Lumos was such a wonderful time. My first con - it was magical meeting so many HP fans in real life, including you.

[reallyginnyf.livejournal.com]

I'd really love to make it to my first-ever con this year as a great big "fuck you" to agoraphobia. But I had a diagnosis confirmed last week that rules out the Florida climate in a big way and I'm not really a slasher. So I'm going to try for Chicago. I'm acclimated to Midwest heat and humidity so Chicago in August shouldn't be too bad.

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that you make it to LeakyCon. That should be a fun experience.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

August cons (and Dragon*Con) are impossible for me with Eldest Boy's Sept. 1 bar mitzvah, so it's Ascendio only for me this summer. But I will be in DC the weekend Avengers comes out, so I'm going to use that for my Alternative Fannish Summer Moment (even though May isn't technically summer).

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

I know August was getting tight with respect to the start of the school year for a number of us.

[samtastic4.livejournal.com]

waaa!!! i wanna go to both!!! lubricus is for sho, obviously, but even though i think hpef is too big and not slashy enough, i still like going, but i am on the fence...plus i just calculated that it would cost about 1600 just to go to ascendio...grrr, why must it be so expensive!!!??

[nqdonne.livejournal.com]

Ascendio would be slashier if slashers came and proposed programming :P (I speak as a slasher who is *furiously* working behind the scenes on slash programming. I'm organizing four panels, a meet-up and the slash suite but I can't do it alone!) And Ascendio will be smaller -- about 700 people though, yeah, obviously not all slashers. But I'm a slasher who really likes other stuff (esp. YA lit), so I enjoy it. :)

Would you do a room by yourself/are you really far away? $1600 is much higher than my costs! I've calculated about $1,000, including my $200 reg, $124 park ticket, sharing a room w/ 4 ppl for 5 nights and food, approximating $300 for a flight from L.A. to Orlando. But, then again, I still get my con-on like a college student XD

[samtastic4.livejournal.com]

opps, i means 1600 to go to both, and yeah i calculated about 1000 for ascendio...i am still thinking about it. i am on the concom for lubricus so i totally understand about con costs and everything, which is why it is so nice to go to other cons cause i can just relax and not have to worry about the planning thing....hmm, i will have to think about it...another consideration is i am moving in with my grandpa as a care giver so i am not sure if i can get away for two weeks that are so close together (ascendio in july and lubricus in august)

[nqdonne.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, that makes more sense :) Two trips so close together is tough.

Welllll hopefully when we post our awesome programming, you'll be able to go. You're totally right about being able to relax at a con you didn't plan - it's fun :) (I'm so excited that my official chair work ends before the con begins... though I did volunteer myself to run the Quill Track lol).

[dragonsinger954.livejournal.com]

While most cons I would love to go but scheduling and financing don't work,

When it comes to Leaky, No way no how. Ever

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

Alas. I know for scheduling can be a nightmare for some people.

[pern-dragon.livejournal.com]

I can't even express how bummed I am that I can't do any cons, but specifically Lubricus, this year. *wails and gnashes teeth and rends garments* I SO enjoyed Lubricus last summer, and I would LOVE to *cough* come again *cough* but the money factor is a huge problem right now. :( I will just have to sit here and enviously devour everyone else's updates and such when the time comes.

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

I am going to miss you dearly, but I totally understand. These things aren't cheap and I'll facing my own financial quandry.

[ravenna-c-tan.livejournal.com]

I am going to Ascendio by hook or by crook. I missed Infinitus (for something else that was way awsome--I got picked to go to an astronomy camp for professional science fiction writers...) and I REALLY want to go to Night of a Thousand Wizards. It's silly maybe, but I really don't want to go to the theme park for the first time with a bunch of muggles. So I've bought my con reg and everything already, have roommates all lined up, etc.

Full disclosure: I also got roped into helping arrange fanfic readings at the con! So I'm on the fringes of the concom. :-) It definitely means I want there to be lots of slashers there reading *hint hint*...

Alas, I'm already booked for three other non-HP cons in August. (The Floating World, which is a fetish/BDSM con in New Jersey, the Fetish Fair Fleamarket in Houston which I run even though I'm from Boston, and Worldcon in Chicago, which is the oldest running multilfandom convention.)

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

That astronomy camp thing sounds like it was too good to pass up too.

You're going to have a smashing good time at Ascendio!

[ravenna-c-tan.livejournal.com]

I'm also going to CON.txt this year! I went two years ago and had a total blast, just spending the whole weekend with the slashiest slashers who ever slashed. Can't wait!

[sugareey.livejournal.com]

Ascendio...I gave in for, specifically because they wanted more Quidditch again, and I couldn't say no. So, I'll be running IQA Quidditch with the second best team in the whole world, doing a couple of panels for it and selling merch. Also, will be bringing BF, sister and we'll be rooming for a couple of awesome HPers. And, I'm seriously considering selling my artsy stuff at the Craft Faire.

Leaky...I am organizing all things Quidditch there but I am NOT going to the con since I'm going to Chicago in October for a work conference.

Now, like I told emmagrant01, I am a serious maybe for Lubricus. I'll be contributing at least something to the con no matter what, but I think my days off are feasible. I just need to see if finances will be okay by then, since I'm looking for a new apartment for the Spring/Summer, and I'll need to get transportation to the airport. And well, airfare from Boston to Seattle is not exactly nice. I am hoping I'll be able to figure things out by April or May at the latest. And if I do go...be able to find roomies!