Tickets went on sale for this UK PonyCon 2018 at midday on Saturday, and since I was on my way to a Worcester ponymeet at the time I dropped into the local library to buy my ticket. (I don't like doing this sort of thing on a phone; I like to have a keyboard available.) I was originally going to buy the middle-tier Supporter ticket, as I had last year, which was (and is) solid value at £45.
But then I got to thinking. I always buy the con T-shirt, which generally costs about £15. I always pay the couple of quid to upgrade from a basic to a con-specific lanyard. I sometimes buy the con tote bag. Put those together and you get... well, I don't know exactly, but more than £20. So my total expenditure on these things was likely to be £65 at a minimum whatever I did.
Now here's the thing: if you bought the £70 VIP ticket (technically a £35 ticket plus a £35 upgrade, but same result) that reserved you a goodie bag in which you got the T-shirt, the tote bag and a special lanyard. You also got a VIP-exclusive art print and button badge. Plus priority entry and seating, though I don't usually want to sit at the front so probably won't use the latter much.
So, long story short, I went VIP. This is the first time I have ever bought a top-tier ticket for a convention, and it's actually quite exciting! It's a good job I made the decision quickly, though – because you know I said that last year VIP tickets sold out in six hours? This year it took around thirty minutes. I was expecting them to be popular, but sweet Celestia that's amazing.
I suspect VIP tickets may cost more in future years, if indeed there are future VIP tickets (and UKPCs!), so this may be the only time I have a Posh Pony's Pass. I'm not too fussed about that, as I didn't feel I missed out with a Supporter-tier ticket in 2017. But still... it'll be interesting now to see how quickly the non-VIP tickets sell out. If you want to go, I'd definitely recommend buying as soon as you can!
No comments:
Post a Comment