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NOTE (added 2/17): This thread is for LOGISTICS planning – attendance, hotels, vehicles, etc. See separate thread for DISPLAY planning.
Some of you may have gotten this e-mail, if you attended PBF this year. It’s a bit early in the game, with the event 5 months away, but that time will fly by! If you’re interested, and ready to commit, you can save $20 on an AFOL (/TFOL) pass by registering before December 1.
Anyone who went this year knows it was a blast, and there were plenty of great MOCs to see, seminars to attend, games to play (and win brick!), and friends to make. Based on what Chad & his guys have done with the Brick Fest Live events, and conversations Tim and I had with them at the BFL Cincy event last month, I think PBF2015 will be even better. One big selling point is that they’re cutting down the public sessions, with just one on Sunday that ends at 4:30 and will give us a fighting chance to be home before midnight (and thus functional at work the next day)! Between that and the promise of a tighter, more organized event, it could be the one con you don’t want to miss next year! (well, I mean, Brick Fair and all the others are also can’t miss, but…you know.)
With our recent display improvements, we should be in great shape to have a fantastic display for the big cons next year – let’s get through the Cranberry & Santa Trolley events (and the rest of the holiday season), and regroup in January to talk details on the plans, but for now, start thinking about attending PBF!
Here’s Chad’s e-mail:
Hello from Philly Brick Fest!
You are receiving this email because attended Philly Brick Fest in the past as a registered attendee, and we wanted to let you know that 2015 registration is now open! See below:
Early-Bird Registration Now Open!
Click here to enroll http://2015.phillybrickfest.com/folreg/ (if you do not want to read the long email below)
Philly Brick Fest 2015 will be our convention yet! Returning to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA April 23-26, 2015. For 2015 we will be expanding to halls A & D for nearly 90,000sq/ft of bricks and good times.
We will be taking the best activities from the 2014 FOL events (April & September) and adding some new twists to deliver a tried and true experience of a FOL convention.
Are you looking for an escape from the ordinary where you can get inspired as well as inspire others to build with LEGO? Then the full registration at Philly Brick Fest 2015 is for you!
As many of you know, in addition to Philly Brick Fest, we also put on an event called Brick Fest Live. We get asked about the difference of the two events, and here is the answer that best describes each:
Philly Brick Fest is a LEGO Convention for Fans of LEGO (FOLs). This is a 4-day private event from April 23 – 26, 2015 consisting of games, seminars, building activities, giveaways, and more. Registered attendees also have the ability display their LEGO creations sure to inspire fellow FOLs as well as the public. Registered attendees also have a chance to meet, mingle, and create new friendships with other FOLs.
Brick Fest Live is the portion of the event that is open to the public. There will be three public sessions: Saturday April 25th 9:00am to 1:00pm & 3:00pm to 7:00pm and Sunday April 26th from 10:30AM – 4:30PM. During the public sessions, attendees will have a chance to see the amazing FOL creations in addition to the hands-on attractions facilitated by Brick Fest Live event staff.
We will be updating phillybrickfest.com with details and the FOL event schedule in the coming weeks and months.
During the closing ceremony in April 2014, I asked those in attendance for a show of hands of those that made new friends and or formed closer bonds with friends that were in attendance. EVERYONE raised their hand. It was a special moment for me, and I hope it was for you too if you were there. That said, I know that the same will be true in 2015.
Registration is $40.00 until December 1st. After that it will increase to $60.00 – http://2015.phillybrickfest.com/folreg/
Registration Includes:
All Access to the Expo Center April 23 – 26 (setup through tear-down)
Space for your MOCs (naturally)
Eligibility to to win a “ROCKY” for your MOC
Swag Bag – Guaranteed to please with your Brick Badge, Event Kit and more
Other awesome surprises!About Philly Brick Fest 2015:
Philly Brick Fest is a 4-day convention which will be hosted at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center (www.phillyexpocenter.com) from Thursday April 23rd through Sunday April 26th.
Public show-time hours (Brick Fest Live) will be Saturday 9:00am – 1:00pm and 3:00pm – 7:00pm & Sunday 10:30am to 4:30pm.
90,000 square feet of space (Halls A & D) will be filled with MOCs, Vendor Tables, Interactive Activities etc.
Sponsors include DK Books, The Brick Show, BrickWarriors, Block Party Bricks, and more to come.
The closest LEGO® Store is located at the King of Prussia Mall, just 12 minutes from the venue: http://stores.lego.com/en-us/stores/us/king-of-prussia-mall/
Event Registration:
Registration: $40.00 for each person requiring access for all 4 days (goes to $60.00 on December 1st)
Link to register: http://2015.phillybrickfest.com/folreg/Hotel Accommodations:
Coming soon
A Little About Me, Philly Brick Fest & Brick Fest Live:
I have been a LEGO enthusiast for as long as I can remember. I truly believe that time I spent as a child building, imagining, and creating with LEGO bricks opened doors for me in life that would have otherwise been closed. Often times, it is our imagination that guides us, and we are all aware that what can be imagined, can be built. Whether it be my first job as an Engineer for Lockheed Martin or creating a family, I have repeatedly used that principle successfully in my personal and professional life.
As many of you know on January 22, 2012 my daughter Jordyn and I started a YouTube dedicated to LEGO. Spending time with her while building our channel opened several doors for us which have ultimately led us to being able to focus on running LEGO events full time.
I mentioned last year that Philly Brick Fest was the next step in our LEGO evolution and our goals were to inspire, educate, and entertain. In 2014 we met these goals with the addition of our touring LEGO event called Brick Fest Live. Brick Fest Live is our public-centric LEGO event which enabled us to share our message with thousands of families.
In 2015, we plan to reach even more people, and it all starts with our flagship event: Philly Brick Fest. On behalf of the entire team here at Philly Brick Fest / Brick Fest Live HQ, we are all looking forward to partying with all of you in April!
Chad Collins
chad@brickfestlive.com
Philly Brick Fest
825 Nina Way
Warminster, PA 18974
908.930.6769
http://www.phillybrickfest.comAre we gonna make this a thing like last year? Like a thing where we kinda plan and coordinate and stuff?
I feel like we should, Dan. Although I’d also support (in theory) the push to go to a more established con (BrickFair, or BrickCon…)
BrickCon? How the heck are we getting there? I’m imagining Matt driving the Steel City LUG van & trailer across the country going something like this:
Re: BrickFair – I was hoping this year to get some of you guys to go this time. After my successful GBC BrickFair this year, and the recent Greenberg show, I was hoping to take both my (new & improved) GBC and my park to BrickFair next year. But my park will look stupid unless you guys bring a town to go along with it.
Re: PhillyBrickfest in April – Because I like BrickFair so much, I’ve been looking for years for another con to go to, with BrickWorld the leading contender, but there were always issues of ‘is it really worth the travel costs?’ and ‘maybe my time would be better spent organizing and building instead of going to another con’, but Philly answers the call nicely for me, esp since it’s likely the only time my nephews will get to see me at one while they’re still little and into legos. I’m all in for April, we should definitely make it a thing like last year.
I only go for brunettes in ‘Vettes. Hey, that rhymes!
But yea, I have family ties to Seattle, so I could totally get into that trip, although I realize not all of yinz are as adventurous as I. 😛
I’d consider BrickFair. I really would. It’s just tough since it’s in early August and I usually find myself taking vaca to go to Washington in July… for some reason, The Man frowns upon several weeks of vacation being taken concurrently…
I thought PBF was pretty great for a first year event (granted, I’d not been to the big ones for comparison), and they took care of us fairly well with the games and prizes and whatnot. It’ll probably be better this year, now that Chad and his boys have a few events under their belts, and especially since they’re catering more to the AFOLs (by having fewer public sessions, with breaks in between, and ending earlier Sunday.)
I’m down for PBF, but I’d rather do what the group is doing (as it’s more fun with friends!) so we should decide soon (because I also like discounts).
Still not confirmed, but it looks like me and my dad will be going to PBF in April.
As far as brickcon is concerned i’d love to go, as a lot of my friend from Flickr go there, but I’m pretty sure my dad wouldn’t agree with me unless I payed for most of the travel expenses, which I really don’t think would be worth it…I’m registered. You have to fill out a bunch of stuff on the Evenbrite page about what you think you’re bringing and how much space it might take up, so I made it clear that I’m expecting to be part of a larger display with Steel City LUG. So if none of you guys go, PennLUG’ll know you’re a bunch of loser dorks.
BrickCon was mostly a joke, Micah – I have family ties out there and could somewhat reasonably combine a trip to see them with the con, but for most folks it’s a bit far – especially to take our big display items (since we’d have to drive 2500 miles with the stuff, or figure out how to pack and take on planes…)
Evan, I think they’ll probably work with us on the price (I believe they did last year, too), but I’m not sure how much. They seem to be able to draw plenty of LUGs and MOCs to the Philly event (unlike Cincy…)
Ben – we’re a bunch of loser dorks whether or not we go to PBF2015… we’re adults who play with toys.
I’m registered! I put down a 4×6 area for me (in 32×32 plates) assuming there will be a significant space build (I’ve got the things from Greenberg and hopefully more).
There’s a recent article about this on brickset.com, apparently the ‘early bird’ deadline has been extended to the beginning of January:
http://brickset.com/article/13354/philly-brick-fest-to-return-next-april
Also, some guy HacimBricks has good things to say about PhillyBrickFest in the comments section.
How about blondes in Subarus! I’m planning on attending. I don’t think it will be a four day event for me though. THinking about just the first two days. Any tips?
Folks, @bricksonthedollar reached out the other day to get an update on Steel City LUG’s intentions regarding this event. Looks like we’re going to have a presence, but we’ll have to flesh out exactly what that means in the coming weeks. Last year, I believe we had a 20×20′ display, with 7 members attending and contributions sent along by a few other members, as well. It’d be awesome to expand on that, and I think we have the manpower to do so, but don’t want to make any assumptions.
Looks like the discounted AFOL registration is still available UNTIL SATURDAY NIGHT. So if you want to pay $40 instead of $60, hit that up post haste. Chris also said that “any form of LUG discount (beyond the discounted admission if you register soon) will come in lodging/travel type expenses”, so we’ll have to see what they’re able to do for us in that regard. I wouldn’t count on too much, but they were able to get a group rate at hotels, and we were able to carpool and whatnot to make it pretty affordable last year. Probably were under $200 / person for the 4-day event.
Right now, here’s our attendance list based solely on this thread:
IN:
1) Ben
2) Dan (Texas Ranger)
3) PaulaMAYBE:
1) Micah
2) Rick
3) MattDisplay discussion on separate thread (it’s easier to keep the logistics of attendance / lodging / etc. apart from the logistics of what we’re displaying.)
@paulamalu – Thing about going the first two days is, they’re awesome, but you won’t see any of the public sessions (which are only on Saturday and Sunday) The first two days will be setup of our display, networking with other AFOLs, ogling their displays, buying ALL THE THINGS from the vendors, attending a few seminars, playing games (like such as Settlers, card games, LEGO games, impaired speed builds…) and general rowdiness. But there’s something to be said for basking in the glory of 20,000 adoring kids and parents. So maybe if you’re doing 2 of the days, do Friday/Saturday, to get a bit of both sides of the event? Your call, ultimately, but one other thing I’ll point out is there’s a lot of potential for cost savings if we plan carpooling, but if you leave early, you might be on your own there. Then again, you’d only be chipping in for hotels for some of the nights, so it might even out.Anyway, yeah. This is a rad event, and everyone should go, so sign up (soon if you want to save $20), and let’s start talking about what we’re gonna build and display!
I’ll be bringing my Lego pal from Detroit, she’s driving in to the ‘burgh then I’m driving to Philly. I caution: We sing every disney song ever created. If we are doing a setup then we can plan to be there for THursday and we’ll probably leave Saturday afternoon. We won’t be there for Sunday, She’ll need to drive home to Detroit that day.
Let me know what I can help do!
And thanks for the fantastic info!
I caution: We sing every disney song ever created.
Oooh, I will totally be in a different car. Brickfest won’t care if you leave early, but like Matt said, you’ll miss good stuff, and BrickFest is unlikely to refund any part of your registration fee (BrickFair definitely wouldn’t). Also if you put stuff on display, you’ll either leave a hole in the display if you take it with you early (which is bad) or you can arrange for somebody else to bring it back to Pgh (which is something we definitely do).
Have we thought yet about whether or not we’re going to take our own tables and if so how are we gonna get them there?
OK kids, update e-mail from BrickFest:
______________________________________________We finally got a hotel block secured for PBF this year. Unfortunately we were not able to get the Hilton Garden Inn across the parking lot like we had in April and September of 2014, and that is why this took so long. Instead, we will be staying at the Homewood Suites by Hilton which is only a 10 minute drive from the venue.
681 Shannondell Blvd.
Audubon, Pennsylvania 19403
You can feel free to book your rooms using this link:
http://homewoodsuites.hilton.com/en/hw/groups/personalized/P/PHLHWHW-BFL-20150420/index.jhtmlThe rates are $109/night or $119/night depending on the room type.
Thank you for your patience and we will see you in April.
This email has been sent to all currently registered attendees. A reminder with the same information will be sent out closer to the event for more recently registered attendees.
______________________________________________As of today, while they may not have gotten a block of rooms, I’m seeing availability at both the Hilton Garden and Hampton Inns right by the convention center:
HG $116/night (AAA rate)
Hampton $122/night (AAA)
(Based on 3 nights – Thurs 4/23 thru Sat 4/26)
I’d totally pay an extra few bucks to be close, unless we think it’s worth it to get the 1 bedroom suites (like we had last year) instead of studio suites (single room; possibly no foldout couch bed). Doesn’t seem like the HG or Hampton have those available at this time, so the Homewood Suites may be the best option if we want to go that route.
Last year, at the Hampton near the convention center, we had two of those suites with a kitchenette, couch, and TV in the entry room, and a second room w/ king bed and TV and a bathroom off that room. We fit 4 people in one room and 3 in the other, and it worked pretty well – yeah, @JoshHall and I had to share a bed, but we’re close friends, so it was no biggie. 😉
If people want to weigh in on this, please do. We may want to move quickly if we want the closer hotels – they seem to be fairly full already.
Based solely on confirmations / interest expressed in this thread, here’s the current attendee list:
IN:
1) Ben (Wiz)
2) Dan (Texas Ranger)
3) Paula
4) Paula +1
5) Matt, The Ambassador
6) TimMAYBE:
1) Micah
2) RickObviously, anyone who wants a private room can make that call and pay for it, but if people want to bunk up, we could probably handle a crowd of 6-8 in 2 rooms, maybe 3 if they’re smaller rooms / people just want more space. Keep in mind, (ballpark) $100/night rooms work out to $25/person if we go 4 to a room, but get more expensive quickly if we only go 3 ($34/person) or 2 ($50/person) to a room – and for those staying all 4 days, we’ll need to multiply those per person totals by 3 (unless you want to drive out Wednesday to be ready to roll first thing Thursday, or stay Sunday night and come home Monday… in which case it could be 4 or 5 nights.)
I’m guessing more people may decide to attend who have yet to speak up – we’ll have to deal with additional rooms for additional people as they commit.
For now, do any of you want to commit to a room at one of the closest hotels and book it? I’d probably rather book now, cancel/modify later than wait until the close hotels are full and have to drive from a further hotel. I’m willing to make a reservation (for either one room or two) if yinz want me to do so.
Me and my dad will be in our own room, and probably in a different hotel than the rest of you (we’ll most likely be in a Marriott that’s about 10 min away from the con).
I really want to attend this event, but making all 4 days is not an option for me. I’m willing to drive up early Friday morning, spending the night, and then leave early Saturday. Do they sell one day tickets on the day the event or do I need to do the full registration? Would it be possible for me to chip in for one night ($25-$35)? I have a sleeping bag and pillow, so I’d only need a spot on the floor.
Micah – sounds good; as long as yinz have your own car, you can stay where you like.
Joe – They have public general admission passes for Saturday and Sunday’s sessions, but for the AFOLs, I only see the “full event” package. If you’re only able to attend Friday, we could maybe talk to Chris and Chad to see if they could work something out for you, but Friday would be strictly the AFOL stuff – setup, games and contests, shooting the breeze with fellow LUGs, maybe a seminar or two, etc. Your call if it’s worth driving 5 hours each way for just one day. But if you do, we can definitely squeeze you into a room for a night.
Joe – What Matt said. I know with BrickFair, they’re very specific that it’s an all-or-nothing deal, presumably because making exceptions for everybody’s situations is not worth the effort. I don’t know if BrickFest will be that way or not (I would bet that they will be). It would be cool if you came out, but if you send stuff for the display, somebody will need to transport it for you cause it’ll be setup before you arrive and taken down after you leave.
I have to figure out where I want to stay also. I don’t feel the need to pay extra to be closer since I’ll have my own car, and we’ve always stayed about 5-10 minutes away at BrickFair and it’s fine. Susie is not making this trip, so I’m thinking of sharing a room with somebody to reduce costs. However, I am definitely a) not sharing a bed with anybody and 2) sleeping in a bed. I did the sleep on the floor sleep on the couch sleep wherever thing when I was in my 20’s, but now that I’m an old decrepit geezer, my old man bones need a real bed.
we’ll most likely be in a Marriott that’s about 10 min away
Which Marriott is that? I will also likely stay at a Marriott and use rewards points. I need to look at what options are close.
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