Information on Midwest Furfest?

[Jackie]

I've already saved about £300 for Confuzzled, but I'm seriously thinking of using that and future savings to attend Midwest Furfest this year. Please could anyone give me any information on logistics and potential costs at all?

Thanks ^_^

[Shim]

The website iteself should help

It's my home-con, so I don't have to pay plane or gas money, but I can assure you I'll have my house open if there's another chlorine-bomb

[Alsek]

It was a great con.  If you split a room with 4 people I think it worked out to 150 USD or so for the hotel room for the entire con.  I've never had to do an international flight so I have no idea what to tell you as far as what to expect for the cost of the flight.  Sense i'm flying domestically the flight only cost me 200 or so but I would expect to spend a whole lot more than that flying from the UK.  If you meet up with Ari/Blast in person again I would ask him.   As with all cons it will be much cheaper if you get good from outside of the hotel.  If you can get to fast food or if you can go to a local grocery store to get sandwich makings do so.  And lastly,  if you can plan to save some money for the artist's alley and dealers den you'll be very happy you did.  There will be plenty of things you will want.  ^^;

[Shim]

It was a great con.  If you split a room with 4 people I think it worked out to 150 USD or so for the hotel room for the entire con.  I've never had to do an international flight so I have no idea what to tell you as far as what to expect for the cost of the flight.  Sense i'm flying domestically the flight only cost me 200 or so but I would expect to spend a whole lot more than that flying from the UK.  If you meet up with Ari/Blast in person again I would ask him.   As with all cons it will be much cheaper if you get good from outside of the hotel.  If you can get to fast food or if you can go to a local grocery store to get sandwich makings do so.  And lastly,  if you can plan to save some money for the artist's alley and dealers den you'll be very happy you did.  There will be plenty of things you will want.  ^^;

Like caffeinated soap that smells like root beer!

[Jackie]

I went to a few travel agents to confirm my online searchings, and it would be about £460 for flights, factoring in train tickets to airports and taxi fares it would be about £500 or so.

With around £150 for hotel room sharing that would make it £650, and then with another £100 for spending money, (About $150 USD) that would be about £750.

It seems doable, but I'll have to see in terms of how much I save. Even if I was unable to go this year, 2016 would be a dead certainty for me attending. ^_^

And yeah, I'll ask Blast how much it normally sets him back when he's home later.

Thanks guys, anything else I should know potentially? Like advice and tips? O.o

[redyoshi49q]

Thanks guys, anything else I should know potentially? Like advice and tips? O.o[/color]

Is this your first con of any kind?  Your first furry con?  Your first international/overseas experience?  All of the above?

[Jackie]

Yeah it is Yoshi ^_^

[redyoshi49q]

Yeah it is Yoshi ^_^

So... sorry for being so slow in replying.  Alsek covered a lot of the details, so I'll try and stick to covering things that he didn't.

If you don't already have one, you'll need a passport to get into the country.  I have never gotten a passport, myself, but I imagine that it may take some time to go through the entire process of getting a passport, so you should look into that in advance.

The drinking age in the US is 21.  While it may be legal for you to drink in your home country, you'll be underage here for another two years, and you won't be allowed to buy, consume, or be served alcohol while you're here because of that.  There may be some other legal differences between where you're from and the area of the convention, but nothing else immediately pops out at me as being potentially relevant.  If you have any specific questions, ask someone on the subject.

Cons (including MFF) generally have a First Con panel that covers information that's relevant to a furry con attendee's experience.  Since you've been on a fursuit outing before, you'll likely already know the parts that relate to interacting with fursuits, but it also covers the 6/2/1 rule (at least 6 hours of sleep, 2 meals, and 1 shower for each day of the con) and how to handle the possibility of interaction with the media.  This panel is usually early on Friday morning.  If you don't expect to be able to make that panel, it's not a huge deal; the information covered isn't strictly imperative, and if you'd like to see it anyway, you can view the First Con panel of a prior con through Youtube beforehand (they're all pretty much the same).

Cons, especially big cons, have a very large number of panels and events, including Open Gaming rooms.  You won't be able to see the entirety of what a con has to offer; given that, it's generally best to see the panels that interest you the most.  In addition, it generally helps the first con experience if you go with or arrange to meet people that you already know, even if you only currently know those people online.  You may find that you're having so much fun with old and/or newfound friends that you don't go to all of the panels that you were initially planning on attending.  Don't worry too much if that happens; a big part of cons is having fun and socializing, and if you miss a few panels, you'll still have achieved that end.