Britain's biggest (by some distance) pony convention, BUCK, has published its ticket details for next April's fourth edition of the con. They're going for a modular structure this time, but this is how it will work (prices are rounded up to the nearest pound):
Standard weekend: £100
Saturday (daytime): £35
Saturday (evening): £20
Sunday (all day): £55
On top of that, there are the bolt-ons, which are as follows:
Generosity badge/charity donation: £10
Priority entry/pre-registration: £35
A2 poster/listed in conbook: £35
2016 "20% Cooler" T-shirt: £35
Guest buffet lunch: £50 (Sunday?)
Mini-golf with guests: £50 (Fri afternoon)
Jazz Club with VIPs: £50 (Fri evening)
If you're American, these prices probably look sky-high; UK running costs are much higher, so that's inevitable to some extent. Even from this side of the Atlantic, they ain't cheap: this is by a long way the most expensive pony con in the country. It was last year as well, but most people (including me) felt it offered decent value for money.
The weekend ticket is up £20 on last year; the organisers claim it's the same, but that's pushing it a little; last year we got the Summer Sun Celebration on Friday evening as well for that price. Accommodation and travel may be trickier as well in 2016 owing to the edge-of-town location, so I think it's inevitable that the con will be costing some people significantly more than in 2014.
As a two-BUCK veteran, I know just what a wonderful experience these things can be, and how well (the odd hiccup aside) they're organised. These prices are such that I can't really commit to going in 2016, but if I can scrape the money together then I'm still tempted: there isn't a great deal that I'd rather spend any "fun stuff" cash on than a really good BUCK weekend.
On the other hand, I could buy three UK PonyCon weekend tickets for the same money and still have enough to buy food! :P
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