Ascendio 2012

You can still purchase tickets to Night of a Thousand Wizards 2, our private event taking place in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter on July 12, 2012; ticketholders can enter Islands of Adventure at 2 PM, and celebrate all

things Harry Potter when the Muggles leave the WWoHP at 10 PM, and it’s ours exclusively, until 1 AM. Click here for more information.

We will have certain tickets for sale on-site at the Portofino Bay Resort, including Day Passes that give access to Formal Programming and Quill Track sessions, StarKid events, our Wands By Wands By Wizards theatrical revue, and more! We will have  a very small number of tickets to the Welcome and Leaving Feasts then, too.

Any registration questions should be directed to ascendioregistrar@gmail.com, after you’ve read the Registration FAQ.

If you haven’t finalized your travel plans yet, the Portofino Bay Resort still has some rooms available on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at our $210+tax per night rate, which is good for up to four people in a room. Click here to learn how to make your reservation, which includes a Universal Express Pass and Early Admission to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (with a Park admission ticket, sold separately). Check out the hotel’s Summer Schedule, including Dive-In movies, live music and chilled towels by the pool, too!

Most of the senior staff for Ascendio will be on-site two weeks from today, and we can’t wait to see you there! Safe travels, everyone, and please follow our updates via our HPEF Twitter posts, as we’ll be updating that throughout the event with news and information and room changes, too.

Sorry about the all-caps, but this is important!

We’ll have daypasses available onsite, but the only way to get a Full registration for Ascendio, the final fancon by HPEF which is taking place in Orlando, Florida & at the WWoHP from July 12 – 15, is to register online before midnight (EDT) tomorrow!

Also, yesterday, we posted an amazing announcement about Night of a Thousand Wizards! Now, each NoaTW 2 ticketholder will be able to enter Universal’s Islands of Adventure® starting at 2 PM on Thursday, July 12, and will get a $20 voucher for dinner that can be used that evening. The price of a NoaTW ticket remains the same.

After 10, NoaTW2 ticketholders will have exclusive access to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, where we’ll be featuring an extensive menu of dessert and beverages on the streets of Hogsmeade - and they’re included with your NoaTW 2 ticket! And don’t forget – NoaTW is the only chance you’ll have this year to wear costumes in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

And don’t forget all the excitement of our Quill Track with awesome YA authors and literary agents, Theatrical Shows, Wrock, Programming Sessions, Cast Member Meet & Greets, Hillywood Show panel, StarKid panels & meet&greets, cosplay events, our Ball with themed drinks, and so much more!

Every wrock concert, formal programming session, pick=up Quidditch game, costuming event, craft faire shopping experience, HP film cast member autograph session, Common Room meetup, Art Gallery viewing, sponsor-hosted reception, fanfilm, fanvid, fanfic reading, fan-performed show (except WXWXW) and dance is included with a Full registration – and so are two feasts! If you missed the menus when we posted them earlier this week, you can check them out here – but we can’t be responsible if you read them while you’re hungry!

We’re looking forward to Ascendio with a sense of joy – and with some sadness as it’ll be our final HPEF fancon. Some of us started working on our first HPEF event ten years ago this month, when we started planning Nimbus – 2003, which took place in Orlando in mid-July of that year. As we close the door on this aspect of our Harry Potter fandom experience, we want to share it all with you.

So register today (or tomorrow) and we’ll see you in July!

We were onsite at the Portofino Bay Resort and Universal Orlando this week, finalizing details, room assignments, and most importantly, meals!

We are pleased to announce the menus for the Welcome and Leaving feasts – please note that there will be gluten-free items available at each meal.

The Welcome and Leaving Feasts are included with all Full and Merlin’s Circle registrations; register through Monday, June 25 to guarantee that you’ll have a seat at the feasting tables.

If you have a Day Pass for any day, you can purchase a ticket to the Leaving Feast ($65 per ticket); if you have a Friday Day Pass you can purchase a ticket to the Welcome Feast too ($45 per ticket)! Just click on the REGISTER link to the right and register, or modify your registration to add the ticket – or if the menus have tempted you into upgrading from your Day Pass(es) to a Full registration, please email ascendioregistrar@gmail.com for the code.

What’s on the menu? Click to find out!
Read More…

Online registration for Ascendio is only open through June 25; we will not be selling Full or Merlin’s Circle registrations, or add-on meal tickets to the Feasts or Keynote Luncheon, on-site, although Day Passes and tickets to Special Events like Night of a Thousand Wizards in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and the Live DVD Commentary with members of Team StarKid, will be available at the Registration Desk from Thursday through Saturday (or, technically, Thursday through whenever the event is, give or take a few hours). Check out out Chart about what’s included with each type of Ascendio registration!
Ready to register? Click here!

If you were planning on picking up a Full Registration for Ascendio, there are less than two weeks to do so at our $225 rate! The price of a Full Registration will increase to $250 on May 1, and remain at this price until the event. What better way to use your tax refund than make your Ascendio attendance official?

Read more about Registration levels or REGISTER NOW!

A Full Registration is the most popular and extensive registration level, save for Merlin’s Circle (which literally gets you *everything*!). Not only do you get access to all programming on Thursday (including Wrock on Thursday), Friday and Saturday, but you get to partake of yummy meals at our Friday Welcome Feast and Sunday Leaving Feast. Plus, you get access to the Vendor Room, Common Room, Art Gallery and all the informal programming — Quidditch, fan meet-ups, film screenings, musicals, the Ball.

And Formal Programming is chocked full of goodness! We have an entire track on publishing and YA literature called the Quill Track, plus programming sessions featuring your favorite StarKids, Quidditch players and fandom figures. MarkReads, Hillywood, the IQA, Chris Rankin and more will all be hosting sessions as part of Formal Programming.

REGISTER NOW!

Applications are now open for the 2012 Eric Bowling Scholarship, which will provide one qualified individual with a Full registration for Ascendio, a ticket to Night of a Thousand Wizards 2 on July 12, $100 towards travel expenses and a mention in the Ascendio program.

The day after Christmas in 2009, HPEF’s longtime friend and member of the Infinitus Formal Programming Vetting Team lost his battle with pneumonia; his loss  touched all of us, and in his memory some of his friends endowed a scholarship for someone who manifests Eric’s devotion to volunteering and the Harry Potter fandom, to attend Infinitus, and now endow a second scholarship for someone to attend Ascendio.  Eric can’t be there in person, so this is our way of helping someone else come who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it.

Please pass the information about the application & scholarship around; the scholarship is a terrific chance to be a part of an amazing Harry Potter fandom event.

Click here to apply!

The price for a Full registration will increase to $250 as of May 1, 2012; isn’t an Ascendio registration (and a ticket to Night of a Thousand Wizards 2) the perfect use for your tax refund, an early birthday present to yourself, or a pre-summer treat? With a full registration, you can add on extras like a ticket to Night of a Thousand Wizards 2, our StarKid Meet-Up or film showing, a place to sell your arts and crafts at our Craft Faire or a ticket to Saturday’s Keynote Luncheon, “Generation Potter” or Saturday night’s Wands By Wands By Wizards revue.

One of our recent registrants told us a little trick – she wanted to use VISA Gift Cards towards her registration, but within the main RegOnline system, you can’t split your registration onto two or more credit cards. So she purchased a bunch of gift certificates here, then used them towards her Registration (but you can also use them towards any add-on). It’s a nifty way to use up gift cards, and pay for your Ascendio registration!