Much earlier than was the case last year, UK PonyCon has announced ticket details! They will go on sale at 7pm BST on Saturday 6th April. Although that's over a month away yet, the official tickets page is now online, so you can see what will be available.
The convention is sticking to its four-tier ticketing setup: Standard, Bronze, Silver, Gold. There have been tweaks, however, notably in that Silver places have increased from 60 to 75 and Gold from four to five. Last year all four Golds went inside two minutes, so I somehow doubt UKPC will have any difficulty in selling the extra one!
Now then, prices. As I usually do, I'll concentrate on Adult Weekend tickets, but one-day, child and family rates are also available. Also, a reminder: since this con handles its own ticket processing, there are no booking fees – the price you see is the price you pay. I'll just pause for a moment to say that I think this is something really worth applauding.
Standard: £60 (+15% on 2023) – entrance to the convention on both days (including the Saturday night concert), con book, basic blue lanyard. Book before 1st August and you'll also get a personalised con badge.
Bronze: £85 (+5%) – nicer lanyard, Bronze sponsor badge, name in con book (if you want it), Bronze button badge, vinyl sticker sheet, £5 donation to the con's great friends at the RDA.
Silver: £185 (+23%) – priority queue, silver sponsor badge, messenger bag, Silver/Gold sponsor-exclusive T-shirt, art print, mug, enamel pin, two autograph/photo tokens, £10 RDA donation.
Gold: £450 (+12.5%) – all the Silver perks and sponsor hoodie, Sewpoke Britannia plushie, top-table seating at Afternoon Tea, personalised welcome letter, four autograph/photo tokens, £20 RDA donation.
I haven't listed absolutely every feature of each tier above, but that should be enough to give you an idea.
So, a few thoughts? The one that immediately stands out is that the respectively small and large increases in Bronze and Silver prices mean that the gap between those two is now much wider than it was in 2023: the difference was £69 then but is a full £100 in 2024. To my eyes, that makes the Bronze ticket probably the best value for what it offers if you're willing and able to spend that amount.
UK PonyCon will be keenly aware that annual 15% rises would eventually make tickets unaffordable – if they did it every year, a Standard ticket for the 30th anniversary in 2034 would cost over £240 and by the 40th in 2044 it would be very close to £1,000! It'll be interesting to see how they handle this over the next few years. I don't intend to dwell on that, though, since here I'm more concerned with providing information.
With that in mind, there is one more very interesting innovation tucked away on the tickets page. This year there will be optional Friday pre-registration! If a substantial number of people opt for this, then there will be fewer needing to register on Saturday morning, which with other (as yet unspecified) changes ought to improve on last year's sometimes excessive queue waits.
If you've been around me for any length of time, you'll know this next part by heart, but: no, I don't know whether I will be able to make UK PonyCon this year, and if so for how long. I won't know for ages yet, so don't hold your breath! But as you'll also know, I have a lot of time for UKPC and I think it's an event that really enhances this country's part in the MLP fandom. Here's to a great 20th!
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