Youmacon

[Veleon]

Okay, so we plan to go to Youmacon this year as a group. I suggest we start planning now. If you'll notice on the Youmacon site you can pre-register. I highly suggest that we do this. It will save us some money in the long run, and we can get uber sweet platinum pass. I would also like to suggest that all of us get the same kind of pass. As we should probably stick together for some major parts of the con.

Now after that, we need to decided sleeping and driving arrangements. If we could all stay at the same place and carpool from the same place, we could save a lot of gas. The only problem is where. I mentioned to Gabe that all of us crashing at his grandfathers house would be ideal. However, depending on his grandfathers answer this may not be possible. So, I would like to know if there is anybody else who lives close that will be willing to offer up their house as a sleeping place. I would, but my house is out of the way for everyone.

If we want to do this we have to start planning now.

[bigkev]

if we do this right it will be.... JUST AS PLAN!

[ngsilver]

Go otaku planning! Fighto! ^^

On the pre-reg note, even if you don't feel you can really afford the platinum pass it is still highly beneficial to pre-reg. For one, if you do so before the end of the month you will save $10 on the at-con rate and if you do so before the final deadline you will save $5 on that rate. Also, and this is key, you can BYPASS the long at-con lines. You can even pick up your badge Thursday night before anything starts which allows you to get into all the early starting events without having to worry about waiting in line for your badge.

Platinum has it's benefits. I suggest you weight those before jumping in. That way you know what you are getting into and what you are getting, other wise you may feel that you didn't get what you paid for.

I also suggest staying in the hotel. But I also am part of the camp that likes to party and if I'm not partying at a con I tend to attend all the late night events and such. Having a room to crawl back to is always a plus. Not having to worry about leaving in a carpool is also a plus as well since you could then stay as late as you want and also go back to the room to veg during the day if you're tired.

Also, between us, it's easy to cram 6+ people in a hotel room and save BIG BUCKS on it. My hotel budget for cons is usually $40 bucks and that includes Thursday normally. True, you may not get a bed every night, but it sure beats spending $300 on a room for the weekend. Always something to think about on a tight college student budget.

[Firemage]

My view on the Platinum membership is this
When i went to Otakon in 2001
I paid 60 to get in
30 for a t-nuts
And my uncle traveled with me and covered the room, but we also explored Baltimore outside the con for a week.
So for the last con i spent 90$ in 2001 dollars.
now in 2008 dollars that 90$ would be about 108.50$ in 2008 dollars........
So i'd save over my last con.

-- the only one here nuts enough to factor inflation into his con budget.

[cyberlink420]

Hmm...don't know about sleeping arrangements, since my house is pretty far out of the way as well, but I'd be willing to donate my car for the driving cause. And if the need arises, I've got sleeping bags to spare. I'll also be bringing a video camera along with us so we can record our "wild and crazy antics" (insert jazz hands here) throughout the day.

And I agree that we should pre-register. Anyone who's ever gotten one of those "fast-passes" at an amusement park knows that anything you can use to beat the crowds is a godsend, and I really don't want to have to wait in the long lines. Plus if it'll be easier on our budget, then I'm all for it.

There's still more stuff that we need to plan for, though. Like, for example, panels and events each of us wants to attend, as well as how many people from the club will be attending in the first place. Keep in mind that this includes potential newcomers in the coming semester; I've already recruited one person from my old school, but I don't know for sure if he'd be interested, nor can I predict how many newbies will be joining us this year.

[Firemage]

Well this is one reason why i'm pushing for advertising and us taking part in the orientation this year. Note again one reason why i am pushing for fliers by the end of June is i will be out of the country for two weeks in July. the 9th to the 23rd

[Veleon]

I am going to suggest that if you can spring for the platinum pass. I know I will want to.

[Veleon]

So, we should get back to more plans for this. I will be paying for my platinum pass soon. How do we want to plan this?

[ngsilver]

Dew eeeeet!!!