Philly Brick Fest 2015 – Apr 23-26

BrickCon was mostly a joke, Micah – I have family ties out there and could somewhat reasonably combine a trip to see them with the con, but for most folks it’s a bit far – especially to take our big display items (since we’d have to drive 2500 miles with the stuff, or figure out how to pack and take on planes…)

Evan, I think they’ll probably work with us on the price (I believe they did last year, too), but I’m not sure how much. They seem to be able to draw plenty of LUGs and MOCs to the Philly event (unlike Cincy…)

Ben – we’re a bunch of loser dorks whether or not we go to PBF2015… we’re adults who play with toys.

Folks, @bricksonthedollar reached out the other day to get an update on Steel City LUG’s intentions regarding this event. Looks like we’re going to have a presence, but we’ll have to flesh out exactly what that means in the coming weeks. Last year, I believe we had a 20×20′ display, with 7 members attending and contributions sent along by a few other members, as well. It’d be awesome to expand on that, and I think we have the manpower to do so, but don’t want to make any assumptions.

Looks like the discounted AFOL registration is still available UNTIL SATURDAY NIGHT. So if you want to pay $40 instead of $60, hit that up post haste. Chris also said that “any form of LUG discount (beyond the discounted admission if you register soon) will come in lodging/travel type expenses”, so we’ll have to see what they’re able to do for us in that regard. I wouldn’t count on too much, but they were able to get a group rate at hotels, and we were able to carpool and whatnot to make it pretty affordable last year. Probably were under $200 / person for the 4-day event.

Right now, here’s our attendance list based solely on this thread:

IN:
1) Ben
2) Dan (Texas Ranger)
3) Paula

MAYBE:
1) Micah
2) Rick
3) Matt

Display discussion on separate thread (it’s easier to keep the logistics of attendance / lodging / etc. apart from the logistics of what we’re displaying.)

@paulamalu – Thing about going the first two days is, they’re awesome, but you won’t see any of the public sessions (which are only on Saturday and Sunday) The first two days will be setup of our display, networking with other AFOLs, ogling their displays, buying ALL THE THINGS from the vendors, attending a few seminars, playing games (like such as Settlers, card games, LEGO games, impaired speed builds…) and general rowdiness. But there’s something to be said for basking in the glory of 20,000 adoring kids and parents. So maybe if you’re doing 2 of the days, do Friday/Saturday, to get a bit of both sides of the event? Your call, ultimately, but one other thing I’ll point out is there’s a lot of potential for cost savings if we plan carpooling, but if you leave early, you might be on your own there. Then again, you’d only be chipping in for hotels for some of the nights, so it might even out.

Anyway, yeah. This is a rad event, and everyone should go, so sign up (soon if you want to save $20), and let’s start talking about what we’re gonna build and display!

OK kids, update e-mail from BrickFest:
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We finally got a hotel block secured for PBF this year. Unfortunately we were not able to get the Hilton Garden Inn across the parking lot like we had in April and September of 2014, and that is why this took so long. Instead, we will be staying at the Homewood Suites by Hilton which is only a 10 minute drive from the venue.
681 Shannondell Blvd.
Audubon, Pennsylvania 19403
You can feel free to book your rooms using this link:
http://homewoodsuites.hilton.com/en/hw/groups/personalized/P/PHLHWHW-BFL-20150420/index.jhtml

This email has been sent to all currently registered attendees. A reminder with the same information will be sent out closer to the event for more recently registered attendees.
______________________________________________

As of today, while they may not have gotten a block of rooms, I’m seeing availability at both the Hilton Garden and Hampton Inns right by the convention center:

HG $116/night (AAA rate)

Hampton $122/night (AAA)

(Based on 3 nights – Thurs 4/23 thru Sat 4/26)

I’d totally pay an extra few bucks to be close, unless we think it’s worth it to get the 1 bedroom suites (like we had last year) instead of studio suites (single room; possibly no foldout couch bed). Doesn’t seem like the HG or Hampton have those available at this time, so the Homewood Suites may be the best option if we want to go that route.

Last year, at the Hampton near the convention center, we had two of those suites with a kitchenette, couch, and TV in the entry room, and a second room w/ king bed and TV and a bathroom off that room. We fit 4 people in one room and 3 in the other, and it worked pretty well – yeah, @JoshHall and I had to share a bed, but we’re close friends, so it was no biggie. 😉

If people want to weigh in on this, please do. We may want to move quickly if we want the closer hotels – they seem to be fairly full already.

Based solely on confirmations / interest expressed in this thread, here’s the current attendee list:

IN:
1) Ben (Wiz)
2) Dan (Texas Ranger)
3) Paula
4) Paula +1
5) Matt, The Ambassador
6) Tim

MAYBE:
1) Micah
2) Rick

Obviously, anyone who wants a private room can make that call and pay for it, but if people want to bunk up, we could probably handle a crowd of 6-8 in 2 rooms, maybe 3 if they’re smaller rooms / people just want more space. Keep in mind, (ballpark) $100/night rooms work out to $25/person if we go 4 to a room, but get more expensive quickly if we only go 3 ($34/person) or 2 ($50/person) to a room – and for those staying all 4 days, we’ll need to multiply those per person totals by 3 (unless you want to drive out Wednesday to be ready to roll first thing Thursday, or stay Sunday night and come home Monday… in which case it could be 4 or 5 nights.)

I’m guessing more people may decide to attend who have yet to speak up – we’ll have to deal with additional rooms for additional people as they commit.

For now, do any of you want to commit to a room at one of the closest hotels and book it? I’d probably rather book now, cancel/modify later than wait until the close hotels are full and have to drive from a further hotel. I’m willing to make a reservation (for either one room or two) if yinz want me to do so.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by Matt Redfield.