Ascendio 2012

Check out the Park Hours for Ascendio Week here!

Universal’s Islands of Adventure^® is open from 8 AM til 9 PM each day during Ascendio week! This means:

1. Guests at any of the Loews hotels, including the Loews Portofino Bay Resort, can enter The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ starting at 7 A.M. (admission ticket required)
2. Night of a Thousand Wizards 2 actually begins after 9 PM, when anyone without a NoaTW2 ticket has to leave The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™. You can still get NoaTW2 tickets online through July 9 here, or buy yours at the Registration Desk in the convention space at the hotel from 10 AM to 6 PM on July 12.

Remember, the Welcome Feast on Friday starts at 10 AM, and formal programming at Ascendio doesn’t start until 11 AM on Friday and 9 AM on Saturday, so if you have a full-day ticket for either or both of those days, you can enjoy  The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ for a few hours in the morning. And if next week is anything like this week, the temperatures overnight (as in, during NoaTW2) and into the morning will be in the high 70s. Lovely!

The International Quidditch Association is getting Quidditch-fit for Ascendio, and we now have the signup forms/waivers/permission slips on our Quidditch Page.
Here’s the IQA’s Ascendio schedule:
FRIDAY:
Brooms Up! A Day in the Lives of Quidditch Players 12:30-1:30 PM
Pick-up Quidditch 2-3 PM
Pick up Quidditch 4-5 PM
Quidditch Through the 21st Century (It’s Not Just for Wizards!) 5-6 PM

Saturday
Demo Match starts at 12 PM
Pick-up Quidditch thereafter until 3 PM or so

We wanted to do something special to mark the moment, so for the next 2000 minutes (in other words, until 11:59 PM on June 5) you can take 2000 pennies (that’s $20) off a Night of a Thousand Wizards 2 ticket for you or a friend! Just use the code N1K2K when you register for Ascendio or modify your registration to add a NoaTW2 ticket.
If you’re already ticketed for NoaTW2 and don’t purchase another ticket for a friend or family member, we’ll have a special surprise for you next week, so stay tuned for it!

Longtime HPEF-convention presenter John Granger shared his memories of our events going back to Nimbus – 2003, and his thoughts on Ascendio, on his website this week. John is going to be hosting a discussion of all things Potter in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter during Night of a Thousand Wizards; tickets are still available here, and we hope to see you there!

Don’t forget to get your tickets!  Click here for more info

Ascendio will host our third Craft Faire as an opportunity for amateur crafters, artists, writers, or musicians to display and sell their products to other attendees on Friday afternoon.  Craft Fair sellers must have annual income from sale of such wares that is under $5000. Craft Fair sellers agree not to sell wares elsewhere at the Symposium, but may discuss/hand out printed material throughout Ascendio, and further agree to sell only works that do not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property rights.

There’s a sign-up fee of $25, which only applies to people wishing to display and sell, not to attendees wishing to shop! Fansites, groups and individuals can all participate, and anyone with a Friday, Full or Merlin’s Circle registration can add it to their registration within the registration system.

Anyone who signs up by April 15, and gets us a 50 word summary (plus a url and etsy/tumblr/twitter usernames) by April 20, will have their info included in the Ascendio Program, and on the website.

At Infinitus, we had over 30 creative fandomers participate in the Craft Faire, and hundreds of shoppers enjoyed the browsing and buying experience! Won’t you participate this year?

In case you’re not following us on Tumblr, here is week one of Ascendio Facts!

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