Niagara, ON *** Celebration 3 ***

OK, this topic is starting very early but Sebulba-X just posted in the FanForce Convention forum that it is 99% a go for Indianapolis.

At the meet and greet with Rox we were told basically the same but I didn't want to post anything until I saw Seb's post.

We still need to wait for the Official Site to announce it, but expect it to be late April 2005 in Indianapolis.

This thread will be for discussing the YJN plans for the event.

Its not too early to start thinking about it, we are only about 18 months away.

 

I told the FF Staff about the strong possiblity about this back in June, and I've been sitting on really nice hearsay for a while before that. Since I found the listing of C2 on the ICC Online Calendar last time, I'm pretty sure they've asked them to not post it until they announce it, but it doesn't matter because of what I was told today...bascially the same level of confirmation as the online calendar posting in my book.

 

Time to start saving up...

 

Deb and I have already discussed it and as soon as we hear the 100% conformation we will be booking our room.

 

Time to start saving my pennies!

 

No one will ever notice I edited this message.

 

Booking rooms??? Wow! talk about pre-planning.

Are you planning on a hotel right by the convention center or a short drive away?

What days do people plan on leaving and returning? I plan to go down Thursday and return on Monday.

Not sure how the R2 thing is going to work but we might have 5 finished Ontario R2 units going down.


Alex
Styrofoam Guy

 

Hey Alex if you need a roomate..

 

Has anyone researched the area for hotels and rates yet? It would be nice if we could get a group of rooms together.

 

We want to get a hotel room across the street this time. Then we won't have problems with traffic and can just walk over.

 

I'll wait to see what the hotel selection is like. I'd personally prefer to get a room at the convention site.

Actually we may be able to get a cheaper rate still. The 501st is sure to be booking a large block of rooms and we have the contacts to add our names into the block.

That was how I got a cheaper than con rate hotel room at Dragon*Con.

 

I suggest right on the site myself. I mean, it is Celebration 3. And if you're going to spend money, might aswell spend alot

Either way I'll see you all there. Not like I'm going to miss it

 

Sigh.

Here's the predicament I'm in. I don't know if I can get a Fri off. And that will only be the one day. Apparantly teachers can't take days off unless sick or at a teaching related things. Then I heard no if you give the date in advance. On Fri my teacher is taking off early to go up north but come on he has senority and it will be my first year.

 

Just tell them that you are going to the states to witness the latest artistic creations from Jorg Sacul and are interested in using his work as part of the curriculum.

 

There's a terrible, terrible flu making it's way up to Niagra from Indianapolis. It's slow moving, so it probalby won't get to your area for another 533 days, but when it does arrive it's highly contagious. Alphabet soup and bed rest as required by the World Health Organization. I certainly hope you don't catch it.

 

*cough cough*

I might be catching it.

Do you have the actual dates btw?

 

April 22-24, 2005 ...about as sure an one can unofficially be, but we've got all sorts of random confirmations now.

 

Hrm...

Tue Apr 19 - Apr 23 2005
Lutheran Education Assn. Triennial Convocation
Halls A-C

So for 2 out of 3 days we are going to be sharing convention space with Lutherans??? Poor guys.

 

I specifically asked about that conflicting convention...the best info I got was they other guys were being moved to make room for the intergalatic cash cow.

"The convention center will be quite empty when your friends arrive."

 

Holy crap...that could lead to quite the conflict. A collection of obsessive religious folk trying to pass on the good word of their beleifs and the Lutherans. Eitehr way I think that the Fanboys will have much fun. be interesting to cound how many conversions each side makes.

 

I'm there no matter what...I will be booking my room as soon as its official. I missed C2, I won't miss C3!

 

For me I think I finally decided to go to C2 only weeks before the convention.

A friend located a hotel that was a 10 minute drive away and it was no problem booking a room.

Rooms by the convention hall were all gone. (and a lot more expensive)

Driving and parking wasn't much of a problem.

However I still like the idea of being able to walk to the hotel.


Alex
Styrofoam Guy

 

PDF Map of downtown all the orange squares are hotels. Someone over on the official site boards said they got a room reserved at the Westin already, while some of the other hotels don't book that far in advance.

You'll have a much more enjoyable experience if you're downtown...it's relatively safe there, so even a few block walk isn't bad. But, being here for it is more important, so if cashflow is an issue, staying on the outskirts of town (bascially anywhere on the I-465 loop) will save you at least 50-75% of a downtown hotel and only be a 10-20 minute drive.

 

Thanks Brian.

I was going to say that most major hotels tend not to take reservations more than a year in advance anyways, besides I'm sure there will be one or two "official" convention hotels with a special convention rate.

And once again we can probably get an even better rate by adding our block of rooms into an order made by the 501st.

The other way is for all the Canadian FF chapters to get together and book a block ourselves. I can see YJN needing, oh lets say 3 rooms, Toronto would probably be 4, Edmonton is looking like 3 or 4 as well based on the message thread in there (I'm figuring about 4 to a room). So right there if we combined we could be booking a block of 10-12 rooms. Add in the 501st Canada people, Montreal, etc... it wouldn't be impossible to see us needing up to 15 rooms.

So when the room rates are announced at the official convention hotels, if we are already prepared we can approach one of the hotels the next day and try to negotiate an even better rate by basically booking an entire floor (or significant portion of one anyways)

Of course the 501st (US) will still be able to get a better deal probably because they can book an even larger block of rooms.

Even then if we can figure out how many rooms we'll need now we can either book them under our own name or approach the 501st and see if we can tag onto their booking.

 

I was already looking last night and know pretty well where Chris and I are staying. As soon as the dates are officially announced, I am booking our room. Last year we were about a 10 minute drive away, and although the hotel was nice and cheaper than staying downtown, the traffic was sometimes a problem. Especially with the race that went on the one morning. I can't wait...this will be a good time.