Are the calculations correct?

Don't forget 200-500+ for art!

How many days are you counting, and is arrival/departure counted in your
food allotment? That will affect everything except Supersponsorship.

Are you splitting your room with anyone? Even ONE roommate drops the
room-price dramatically. (Thus, more money for the Dealer's Room!)

Keep in mind the breakfast buffet in the Westin is all you can eat, but
it's like $10 for a vegan breakfast buffet and $20 for an everything
buffet. So, 4 days of an everything buffet is $80. On the bright side,
if you can really tuck in for later like a camel (or a veteran congoer),
that's enough for breakfast, lunch and dinner's appetizer.
(With your supersponsorship, I imagine that's plenty.)

Well here are my calculations:

Gas: around $130 (1571 Miles, 40 MPG, $3.25/gallon)
Parking: $40
Admission: $40
Room: $125 (quad)
Food: $80 (plus whatever microwavable crap I bring with)
Misc: $50

about $465

I'm bare-boning it as much as possible, as you can see.

id highly suggest setting something up with someone to share room space to help with the cost. That $600 could be taken down to about $200. get someone to pay about 125 for 4 nights or however you want to calculate it and it would help costs very much.

dont forget tolls on the road, which might total anything from $20-$50 depending on what roads you take. I dont know what area yer coming from, but it could be any number of toll roads.

CJ

Theyain wrote:

My friend Eillo says that, that will not be enough, and i need to recalculate it to make sure... I sure as hope that is not the case...

Well, before I offer my advice - I'm curious to know just what your friend Eillo came up with, calculation-wise, to question your own figures?

Sponsorships and SuperSponsorships are good things; I heartily endorse the concept, and encourage anyone who can afford it to register this way, and thus help to support the convention - but if the primary motive is to save money on food and beverages, I'd rethink that option, if I were you! That additional $130 in your pocket can feed you pretty well, or cover the cost of one day's room bill. And Pittsburgh is a working city, the convention center and hotel are Downtown; there are places to eat almost every block, with fare and prices to match most budgets. All that is needed is a willingness to walk a few blocks for variety.

Mind you, I always try to have at least one meal at the hotel's dining facilities, and I believe that this hotel has...what, three?...including an excellent seafood restaurant, which may offer sushi, something that many furs have developed a taste for, though it can become expensive. There is also a Numero Uno pizza associated with the hotel.

The supersponsor lounge does offer good, wholesome food, hosted by a friendly and engaging woman who spends most of the convention maintaining this little getaway and whose efforts deserve more appreciation than I suspect is paid by many of the supersponsors, but the number of supersponsors keeps growing, the lounge does not serve breakfast, and it isn't wise to count on this as your primary source of meals.

If you can, budget as though you are going to be the only paying occupant in the hotel room; then, be firm with the other folks sharing your room, and make sure to get their contributions - preferably paid up front, before thay have time to loose track of their own budgets and leave you holding the bag at the end of your stay.

Include tips for services in your budget!

Then total it all up, add 20% for flexibility in the face of Life, and you are set.

I think I ended up going with about 350 - 500$ last year. I don't remember exactly, but I was on a very strict budget then.

I took the train, and split my room with four people including myself. I ended up eating some cheap meals, and packed food from home. Cheap meals consist of: A few Pizzas split 16 ways, some Chinese food, sandwiches from home, and bagels from the bagel shop we found. You can still eat decently, without the high price if you know where to look

I didn't buy much there, unfortunately... this was of course limited by money at the time. I got a tail, and a comic or two. I wanted to get some art, but couldn't afford it then.

If gas is tight, or holding you back, consider the train. Also definitely try to room with someone to lessen the room costs.

For 8 days/7 nights, I think that $100 is a bit low for food. Unless you plan on making all of your own meals, I would expect to spend $5-10 per meal, minimum.

Isn't 7 nights excessive, though? Looking at our survey responses from last year, I see that the largest number of respondants arrived on Thursday, with about half that arriving on Wednesday. For departure times, the largest number of people left on Monday. So, Wednesday-Monday is 6 days/5 nights. Outside of that range, there will be far fewer furs on site.

Regarding food, four locations immediately spring to mind.

The seafood restaraunt in the hotel is excellent - but extremely pricey. You won't get away with less than $25 a head there, and it's financially suicidal to drink there. Over $7 for a small carafe of low-end sake. (If budgeting is not an issue, though, they do have an extensive wine list and a huge assortment of delicious fish).

There's a sports bar a stone's throw from the hotel. The caveat is that it's only open during the week. The reason its worth your Thursday or Friday night? Absolutely delicious food for a few bucks a head, and insanely cheap drafts on the local beer. Everything is fresh and delicious and I believe they served their own, fried-on-the-spot chips. Service was extremely amiable.

On par price wise is a little sandwich shop on the next block over sideways, the same distance from the hotel depending on how you exit. Blows Subway and Blimpie away. They had a "Welcome, furries" sign and delicious yet inexpensive food.

There's a really nice place to eat right across from the hotel. Cheaper than the in-hotel seafood restaraunt, but a buck or two more than your average theme restaraunt. Didn't get to eat there, but I had a take-out menu and they have some tempting choices.

And I suck at remembering names of locations.

- Kemeeleon
Umgotts Studios. Producer. OMGWTF! Furries

youve got it kind of easy

i have to get a return flight from england

£700 flight = $1337 approx

As I'm sure everybody knows already, having a costume is not a necessity for Anthrocon. If you're already on a budget, and are coming from a long distance, you might consider going without a costume as from what I understand they can get quite expensive...

I know it's been said many a time, but I thought it deserved to be said once again ^_^

the taxes oh the taxes

Fare Summary
Passenger Type Adult
Base Fare 605.00
Fuel Surcharge 68.40
Taxes, Fees and Charges
Canada Airport Improvement Fee 7.40
U.S.A Transportation Tax 15.20
U.S Agriculture Fee 2.60
U.S Passenger Facility Charge 2.40
U.S. Federal Customs Fee 2.60
U.K. Passenger Service Charge 13.00
Canada Goods and Services Tax (GST/HST #10009-2287) 0.40
U.K. Air Passenger Duty 20.00
September 11 Security Fee 1.30
U.S.A Immigration User Fee 3.70
Total airfare and taxes before options (per passenger) 742.00
Number Of Passengers 1
Grand Total - Pounds Sterling £742.00 or $1411.44

and you know what they forgot to mention, upon collecting the ticket/paying for the ticket you have to pay in the UK about £40 for airport tax

175 for Super (If your budget is a concern you might want to think about stepping down to a sponcership).
100 for Food (I would Increase this to at least $150)
600 to 300 for Westin Inn (Remeber to add 20%)
And 300 for gas
200 for Extra and emergencies (I would take this to $300, because when things go wrong at a convention They go Horribly Wrong.)

As for Ramen, You can use it as a supplement to your diet to pervent expensive snacking (UNO pizza you are my bane Grrrrr). But Don't rely on it as a staple as eating nothing be Ramen will leave you hungry and open to Catching "The Crud".

Don't forget the most powerful (/dasterdly/dishonorable) way to save money of them all!!!
MOOCHING!!
That's right;
MOOCHING!!
Don't allow the sleeziness of it bother you, it's a perfect okay thing to do....at the expense of your friends/family, but hey! it it's worth it it's worth it!

ok im just wondering what this raman thing you guys keep mentioning is?

oh yeah we have that stuff here but its not really popuar, mainly because of the chinese writing. we have something called potnoodle but ramen really is far better taste, texture and well price wise also.

hmmm, maybe my $2000 budget is a little low for the way i spend, should i tack on an extra thou? (the person i'm going with est room and plane total $700). up till this year, i've been going to conifur, witch i spent around 100 on hotel, and under $5 on transportation because it was in the same county, so i have no idea about budgeting for something with as much swag to buy as AC (ps i am a shopaholic)