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 Attending her first Harry Potter fan event, Afshan Azad, who played Padma Patil in the last five Harry Potter films, is thrilled to attend Ascendio! Fans will get insight into what it was like working on Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, Half-blood Prince and Deathly Hallows, alongside Dan, Emma and Rupert.
Afshan will be doing a programming session where you can hear about her Potter experience and ask her questions, plus there will be autograph and photo sessions throughout the weekend. Every Full registrant will get an autograph from Afshan – and from Chris Rankin as well; we’ll be selling tickets on-site for additional autographs from our Special Guests.
Not only that but Afshan, who is a true-blue HP fan, will be sitting on one of our thought-provoking formal programming panels, adding to a discussion of privilege and race in Harry Potter. Read more…
 Just when you thought you couldn’t get more excited for The Quill Track… amazing YA author and Printz award winner Libba Bray will be joining us at Ascendio! Libba is the brilliant mind behind Beauty Queens, Going Bovine and the Gemma Doyle series (witches at boarding school – you can’t go wrong!). If you haven’t read her books (any or all of them!), the Ascendio staff are huge fans and highly recommend them all.
Libba will be speaking about girls in YA, the power of friendship and LGBTQ and diversity in YA fiction. Click here to read more!
The Quill Track is exclusively available to Ascendio attendees and is a unique opportunity to hear all your favorite authors — and new authors you’ll be thrilled to discover — speak on Harry Potter, young adult lit and the publishing industry. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to meet them, get your books signed and ask your burning questions!
Formal Programming Schedule & App now Online
It’s here… Our Formal Program schedule is now available online at http://hp2012.org/?p=2471
There are so many different wonderful presentations planned for this year’s event that it’s going to be tough to figure out which sessions to attend. That’s why we’ve created an Ascendio scheduling app using Guidebook. Download this app for your iPhone, iPad, Android or Blackberry by going to this link:http://guidebook.com/g/Ascendio/
Just two quick reminders – the schedule is subject to change – and we still have a couple of more announcements coming your way!
Night of a Thousand Wizards 2
Have you bought your ticket yet? If you already have a Full registration you can get a ticket for NoaTW 2 now! The price is $140 for all Ascendio registrants. NoaTW 2 tickets are also now available to non-registrant friends and family of Ascendio registrants for $155.
Join a thousand of your friends and fellow Harry Potter fans for Night of a Thousand Wizards 2, HPEF’s next exclusive, after-hours event at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter® at Universal Studios, Orlando.
NoaTW 2 will take place the evening of Thursday, July 12th in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, starting at 8 p.m. and running until 1 a.m. Friday morning. Fans will enjoy extraordinary experiences, seeing Hogwarts™ castle lit up into the early hours of the morning, gallivanting through Hogsmeade™ in full costume (a privilege extended exclusively to our event!) and zipping through lines for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey™, Dragon Challenge™ and more!
The ticket price is $140 for all registrants. Registrants can also add a second ticket at $155 for a friend or family member. Merlin’s Circle registrants already have their ticket included as part of their registration. And keep your eye on Ascendio on Facebook and Twitter because in April, we’re launching a way for your friends and family to get NoaTW 2 tickets without going through your registration.
Each NoaTW 2 ticketholder will get a voucher for dinner that can be used between 8-10 p.m., and after 10, 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! We’ll have a DJ spinning music, and lashings of Butterbeer™ – and Afshan, Chris, the Hillywood girls and Team StarKid will be joining us in the park for all the excitement!
Click here for more information and to get your tickets! See you in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in July!
Team StarKid Update
Want to get up close and personal with members of Team StarKid. Sign up for a special Meet and Greet,open to Ascendio attendees only. A limited number of tickets are still available for this intimate gathering to be held on Saturday, July 14 at 2:30 p.m.
And remember…. Team StarKid be participating in panel discussions, special viewings of their shows, signing autographs and more! Click here to update your registration today!
(Please note that if you are Merlin’s Circle, you will need to RSVP for ticketed events and to get an autograph ticket.)
StarKids on Friday:
3-4 p.m. – Potion Master’s Corner
11 p.m. – StarKid Video with Live Commentary
StarKids on Saturday:
9 a.m. – From YouTube to Hollywood Panel w/Pat Brady
11 a.m. – Lang Brothers Tell All
2:30 p.m. – StarKid Meet & Greet
Artists, We Need You!
We’ve been saying it all along – the Portofino Bay Resort is a spectacular convention space. It looks like Malfoy Manor after Narcissa finished redecorating it after the fall of Voldemort, but with slightly more Murano glass chandeliers. You’re going to be amazed by the space! But it still could use a few touches of wiazarding art to magic up the place, and we need your artistic and creative talents to help us enhance the space!
We’re looking for two kinds of art: (a) 2D and 3D pieces for display in the Ascendio Art Gallery alongside official Mary GrandPre art and special pieces of Harry Potter film concept art, and (b) art that can be used to decorate Ascendio programming rooms and corridors, as well as the Ball. Click here for more info.
Strut Your Stuff at the Fashion Show
Saturday, July 14 at 7 p.m., Ascendio is putting on a Fashion Show on the main stage! Come see some of fandom’s most ambitious and passionate costumers show off their digs, with styles ranging from “traditional” to fun wizarding takes on fashion staples, such as mod, avante garde and more!
The Fashion Show is FREE, included with your registration! More information coming soon, including a call for costumers and models. In the meantime, check out the Fashion Show Facebook Group!
T-Shirts & More…
Official Ascendio gear can still be purchase through our registration website. In addition, we’ve made it easier for you to also track down logo items from past HPEF events or new merchdise with the popular “Keep Calm and Carry Wands.”
For items from past cons, including The Witching Hour, Lumos and Azkatraz, check out our CafePress store at http://shop.cafepress.com/hpefTo buy t-shirts, hoodies, iPhone covers and posters featuring our Keep Calm & Carry Wands imprint go to http://www.redbubble.com/people/ascendio2012/works/8789061-keep-calm-and-carry-wands?p=t-shirtWe’ll have official Ascendio shirts, bags and more available in our Merch Store at Ascendio, but in terms of the Keep Calm gear, we’ll only have the posters at Ascendio — the rest are only available online, because of the range of colors and styles and sizes, and because they’re awesome and we want to buy a shirt in every color! Shout out to Stephanie Schellin, the amazing artist who also sells Doctor Who and HP shirts under the username flyingpantaloons, and Glockgal who created our original Keep Calm & Carry Wands art for Azkatraz.
Hotel Update
At this point, Ascendio’s Portofino Bay Resort is sold out on Tuesday/Wednesday (July 10/11) before the con (although we’re trying to add more rooms on those nights). There’s still a limited number of rooms available from Thursday through Sunday. Make your reservation now by clicking onhttp://www.loewshotels.com/en/Portofino-Bay-Hotel/GroupPages/HPEF - the rates there are the same as if you call. Or call 866-360-7395, or fax 407-503-9258. If you call or fax the hotel, you must provide them with our code – HPEF-ASCENDIO – or you will not be able to make a reservation at our fantastic rates.
Mears Airport Shuttle
The MEARS shuttle offers roundtrip service to and from Orlando International Airport to the Loews Portofino (or whichever hotel you book with). There are many options, but the cheapest is their shared van option. Ascendio has a special coupon deal with Mears: click here for a coupon that’ll give you $3 off the MEARS round trip from the airport to our host hotels. That will bring the $30 roundtrip cost down to $27, which is about half the cost of a one-way taxi ride. |
