Considering going to a Twilight Convention?

A lot of people ask me - Is it worth it?

Well, I went to my first Twilight Convention in Seattle [Creation Twilight Tour] last weekend and although I did not attend all events, I can give you my feedback and opinions on the portions I was involved in.

Read on and decide for yourself if it's worth it or not....

First of all this event is as expensive or inexpensive as you want it to be.

There are day passes available for aprox. $25 and basically that gets you into the event and you can enjoy yourself plenty. Depending on how many people are in attendance it may be worth it to save the money and mingle, or if it's packed, you may get stuck standing since this general admission ticket doesn't reserve you a seat.

You may have to stand or find an empty extra seat but you do get to see the stars do the Q&A, listen to all the panels and discussions in the main room, shop in the vendor room, submit Questions for the Q&A in the ballot boxes, participate in the trivia contests, bid in the auctions, watch the exclusive videos, come and go as you please, interact with other fans, and [if it isn't sold out] purchase additional autographs and/or photos *IF* you wish. You can get the same deal for all 3 days at about $70.

You can add on various items such as autographs ($20+), photos ($40+), vampire ball ($70+), friday night concert ($15+), and such or you can get a package that includes some of these things.

There is the option for preferred seating. This is similar to the day pass except it gets you a reserved seat that is yours all weekend. It costs about $40 a day or if you do the preferred weekend it is about $160 and is all 3 days with your reserved seat as well as one autograph from each cast who attends.

You can still purchase more autographs if you wish / if not sold out as well as photographs if not sold out. You get a pre-registration also.

Finally, there is the GOLD PACKAGE. You get preferred, reserved, assigned seats starting in the front rows. The best seats for Q & A's. The autographs are included (one per cast) It includes a ticket to the Volturi Vampire Ball (Otherwise it is about $80) and the Friday Night Concert (Otherwise about $15). If you want it all this package is the way to go. Early Bird Prices can be about $250 but they go up to over $300 I believe.

The Volturi Vampire Ball, I did not have the opportunity to attend but hope to go in Vancouver. It is a fancy event where everyone dresses up, there is a centerpiece contest, costume contest and a Vampire Court. Winners of trivia contests in the day win a make-over and join the vampire court. (Includes a special treat at the ball, I've heard a dance with cast or photo or meet are common surprises, but I guess you just have to win to find out eh?)

Friday Night Concert varies from city to city, in Seattle we had Reggie and of course Candace Charee' who was amazing.

Sunday Morning there is often a Wolf Pack Brunch & Silent Auction. I didn't attend the Seattle one, but it is about $70 and is supposed to include a continental breakfast. Some people who went said it was just coffee, tea, water and 3 different flavoured muffins... Cast in attendance apparently enter and you can snap photos, after which time they will come around to each table and you are asked to not take photos (No clue how this is enforced but that's what the website says) Someone who has attended said they got about 5 minutes with each attending cast mate (at their table)

There are often guest speakers such as fan sites or other people with some kind of interesting presentation that will speak in the main room. We have Twilight Lexicon in Seattle discussing the red carpet, on set happenings and how to deal with all the gossip. Also Lana Veeker discussed audition scams and Lauren from the official Twilight facebook group spoke. Sadly, I missed much of those presentations because of shopping, helping out Candace or not being there that day (I missed Saturday evening and all of Sunday)



Side Notes

Autographs are about $20-$30 depending on who

Photographs are between $40-$70 depending on who and how many (for example if it's 2 wolf pack or 2 volturi and you it's about $65, just you and 1 is $40, dependson who is at that particular convention and if it's a single or paired photo)

All photos are professional and you get an 8x10 print as well as the option to purchase the .jpg which I think is about $10 more but I may be wrong.

Pre-purchasing saves money, if you wait for the day of it is $50+ instead of $40+ Same with autographs I believe.

Cast scheduled to appear may change... so it's something to consider also. If you can't go to all three days, for example, and you purchase a photo op with one cast member but they end up appearing a day you can't make it, you are basically out of luck. So weigh your options carefully and be sur eyou can be there the day/time the cast is... and also be prepared that schedules may change last minute.

Autographs are called row by row so the preferred seating / gold packages are great for that. Photos in Seattle were first-come-first served, so after the Q & A session you wold go line up outside the photo room. Some were smart and cut out a few minutes early to line up.

Vendors include lot's of people selling Twilight Merch. some cool stuff like the Hillywood group (who also host most of the events, introduce the talent etc.) In Seattle we had a cool make-up artist, awesome contacts for sale, and much much more.

Auctions. They auction off the banners that line the stage, autographed by the cast who attend, they also have a ton of cool merchandise and autographed posters, banners, etc they auction so bring cash or credit card if you want in on this. One awesome item was a banner of the cast that you could take to the front of the autograph line to have autographed personally... totally cool!

Creation also does other conventions such as Supernatural, so they had cool stuff from other franchises in the auction also.

Bring your own item to have autographed, or you can buy something from the vendors.

So, that is how it works. Check the website for specifics on your city as prices, cast attending, schedule etc likely varies slightly. Many cities sell out quickly so be sure to plan ahead and purchase early.

Personally, I would buy basics... a day or weekend pass, then add on things if you wish. But I don't mind standing or finding empty seats.... Otherwise, if you want to ensure you get it all, go Gold. It includes the most and then you only have to add on the brunch and photo ops (if you choose)

I feel like they should be paying me for posting this eh? They aren't... sadly... I'd love to be a part of a convention of this type, with my passion for Twilight and my experience in hosting, public speaking and event planning it wouldbe awesome... but no I am jsut posting this because I think readers would be interested in hearing about how it works.

I do plan to be at the Vancouver Creation Twilight Tour Convention and Hope to see you there.