Shmoocon tickets

Okay, it's January 1st and the Shmoocon tickets aren't on sale. Admittedly, 2007 is only a little over 30 minutes old but advertising is advertising.

This year, when Beetle asks how the con can be improved, I'm willing to bet that there's a loud answer waiting for him.

I'm more than willing to pay the $99 for a tcicket, as I did for Shmoocon #1. However, I can't afford much more than that. $300 for a ticket, $300 for two nights in a used-to-be-5-star hotel, and $22/day parking (not to mention food/drink) is much more than I can afford.

Heidi, please knock Bruce's/Don's heads together for doing this.

Update: tickets went on sale a little after noon today. The hotel appears to have raised their discount rate ($169 this year). It may be worthwhile to check out their other vacation packages to see if they have anything cheaper or more attractive. Last year, Derez (I think) got a room under the Spy Museum package at the same rate as Shmoocon and also got a waiver for parking and a free ticket for the Museum.

Update II: Talk about being in the right place at the right time. I called a friend right after I'd bought a $75 ticket to remind him that they were on sale. He got in and there were no more $75 tickets left... Heidi posted the following on the site:

2007-01-01 17:11:55

The $75 tickets sold out in, oh, 3 minutes.

Good luck guys. See you in March!

- Heidi

Yikes! I'd been dozing in my chair all morning (stayed up late to try to get the tickets at midnight) and had only tried again (at roughly 12:06) after waking up for some unknown reason. I still don't like the new scheme.