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!

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 just posted an exciting update about Night of a Thousand Wizards 2!

Each NoaTW 2 ticketholder will be able to enter Universal’s Islands of Adventure® starting at 2 PM on Thursday, July 12, and will also be given a $20 voucher for dinner that can be used that evening. 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! We’ll have a a DJ spinning music, lashings of Butterbeer, and so much more!

Click here to register, or to add your NoaTW2 ticket to your registration!

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!