2016 Creation Entertainment Stargate Convention - Chicago September 23-25

[taris-eirien]

From Creation Entertainment's Website

updated:
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Fri., Sat. & Sun.
September 23-25, 2016*
The dates of the 2016 STARGATE CHICAGO convention have now been changed.

Fri., Sat. & Sun.
August 12-14, 2016

The Westin O'Hare Hotel
6100 River Road
Rosemont, IL.

Creation Entertainment's
Stargate Chicago 2016: our last Stargate show!
All good things must come to an end unfortunately, so no more polls and such, this is the absolute last time we’re presenting The Official STARGATE SG-1/Atlantis/Universe Convention. We thank everyone for all the great memories as we go out in style with one last great convention gathering! Already booked for 2016, our finale show, is Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, Joe Flanigan, Alaina Huffman, Torrri Higginson, and more to be announced. Make your plans now to be with us a we bring down the curtain on The Official STARGATE Convention Tour!






THIS SHOW IS NOT YET ON SALE. MAKE SURE TO BE ON OUR FREE MAILING LIST ON THE SUBJECTS YOU ARE INTERESTED IN AND WE'LL LET YOU KNOW WHEN THE CONVENTION LAUNCHES SO YOU CAN GRAB THE BEST SEATS: JOIN OUR MAILING LIST AT : http://www.creationent.com/email.htm

[ComtessedeBussy]

I REFUSE TO LET THIS BE THE LAST YEAR! I think that, in all my years of going, this year was possibly the best (or second best compared to my very first Stargate con). I'm really excited for next year's lineup...Amanda Tapping is always awesome, and I bet she'll do photos with Chris. And Alaina Huffman is just badass (especially in Supernatural). I'm betting with this lineup of stars they'll get a lot of ticket sales right off the bat (which is good for the con and gives it hope, in my opinion).

(Also a quick addition of shameless self-promotion: if you're also sad about this being the last con, I'm trying to convince creation to keep these going. Check out this page for more info, and please "like": https://www.facebook.com/savethestargatecon?ref=hl)

[Looney]

I've never been to this, but I've always been curious. In recent years I've blown through my convention budget by August. What does a ticket usually cost and what does that get you?

[beacon]

These were the costs for this year's con...likely to change for next year

Gold - $419 ($479 for front row)
Included autographs from Joe Flanigan, Rachel Luttrell, Paul McGillion, Sharon Taylor, and Michael Shanks; entrance to the Friday Cabaret and the Saturday dessert party. Autographs are done row by row so Gold waits the shortest time.

Silver - $269
Autographs from oe Flanigan, Sharon Taylor, Rachel Luttrelll and Paul McGillion; entrance to the Friday Cabaret and karaoeke.

Copper - $165
No autographs. Entrance to the cabaret and karaoke.

General admission weekend - $100
Non-reserved seat, access to the vendors area

Single Day Preferred
Friday - $45
Saturday - $60
Sunday - $60

General admission
Friday - $20
Saturday - $40
Sunday - $40

They have announced with the convention rate for the hotel will be for next yerar - $145/night flat rate and discounted parking rate of $15 day/night.

[ComtessedeBussy]

This is the page from last year's con, which lists all the ticket prices and what comes with them: http://www.creationent.com/cal/sgchi.htm#sch

Like beacon said, the more money you spend, the more autographs you get, and the sooner you get them (if they do autographs in the morning that also means you have to get up earlier for them). Also you obviously get better seats as gold (closer to the stage), silver is further back, and general admission doesn't even give you an assigned seat - you're guaranteed a seat, but it might be in the very last row. You can also buy additional autographs and photo ops (the prices are listed on the page I linked as well). I personally love the cabaret so much - it's really really fun; I believe you can buy tickets to it if you're not silver or gold. The celebrity guests perform and it is always hilarious and amazing.

And yeah, usually the hotel gives a 'discounted' rate, though we've discovered in the past that that just appears to be their normal rate. The con is near the airport, though, so it's in an area that is CLOGGED with hotels if you wanted to get a cheaper one literally across the street or ten minutes away.

[Looney]

WOW! THANKS FOR THE QUICK RESPONSES ! ! ! !

I noticed the Photo Ops have prices listed, but the Autographs seem to say "Nominal Fee". Any ideas on an average or are they all the same?

[ComtessedeBussy]

No problem.

The nominal fee usually ranges between $20-$30 - so not much. However, a lot of the celebrities don't have card readers, so you have to pay cash, unfortunately (the hotel has an ATM, but who likes ATM fees?).

[ComtessedeBussy]

Forgot to add - the price of the "nominal fee" really depends on how big a star is - i.e. a supporting Atlantis character like Andee Frizzell (Wraith Queen) vs. Rainbow Sun Francks (who was part of the main cast for a while). Andee's was $20, Rainbow's was $30. But I don't think I've ever seen it higher than that, and a lot of the celebrities include a photo with their autograph so you don't have to bring something to sign (these photos go for $6 in the vendors' room if you want to get them from Creation so that's a good deal).

[beacon]

No problem.

(the hotel has an ATM, but who likes ATM fees?).

The hotel ATM also tends to be empty of cash by early Saturday and will be like that the remainder of the weekend. I recommend bringing cash if you know you're going to want to get autographs from any one that Creation is not selling tickets for/including in admission.

[ComtessedeBussy]

The hotel ATM also tends to be empty of cash by early Saturday and will be like that the remainder of the weekend. I recommend bringing cash if you know you're going to want to get autographs from any one that Creation is not selling tickets for/including in admission.

huh, I haven't run into this problem before; I could've sworn I got cash from the ATM on saturday afternoon. I know there's also a Chase atm in the Blue Line station (about a 10 min walk) and probably in a bunch of the other hotels around the Westin, but yes, bringing cash ahead of time is a good idea (which I never do anyway because I hate carrying cash and I always illogically hope that they have card readers). I do wonder why so many stars were offering their autograph directly at this con rather than via creation? Perhaps they got paid less by creation to attend in exchange for full profits they'd make off their autographs and photos?

[Vecturist]

From the correspondence I've had with Creation, they likely mean this is the last con for several reasons - primarily they feel that con-related costs have gone up and the con is attracting fewer people.

[ComtessedeBussy]

From the correspondence I've had with Creation, they likely mean this is the last con for several reasons - primarily they feel that con-related costs have gone up and the con is attracting fewer people.

I'm intrigued by the correspondence you say you've had with Creation. Can you say more about that? I don't doubt that there are costs associated with having a con and there's always the worry about breaking even, but I doubt they've been operating at a loss - and I think they'll have a pretty good profit margin next with the guest lineup they already have. I've been going for a few years and I don't think the number of people attending is dwindling - it seems to me that it's remaining quite steady....but if a CEO says a profit margin just isn't high enough, there isn't much to be done about it except ask "how much money could they possibly want?" From my point of view any profit they make should count as a good profit, considering how long this show's been off the air...but people who run cons don't think like fans, they think like businessmen, which is a shame.

[discodiva]

From the correspondence I've had with Creation, they likely mean this is the last con for several reasons - primarily they feel that con-related costs have gone up and the con is attracting fewer people.

Probably because they know that Stargate fans won't pay out the stupid amounts they're asking the fanatical SPN fans who seem to continue to stump up ENORMOUS ticket, auto and photo op prices for these Cons...the amount of SPN cons they're holding and the prices for the Top seats are astronomically horrendous imho and personally the "stars" of this show are not worth that amount of money...it's pure Greed imho...

Deeds xx

[rkgardner2003]

I've never been to this, but I've always been curious. In recent years I've blown through my convention budget by August. What does a ticket usually cost and what does that get you?

We've only been twice. The first year I was trying to be thrifty and bought GA for Fri and Preferred for Sat and Sun. However, I found the Silver Tickets we got the next year were worth it when you added in the autographs and not standing in lines as long. It took us 4 hours to get through the Sat night autographs the year before....I also bought them as soon as they were available and had the first row of silver, nice seats.

[ComtessedeBussy]

Probably because they know that Stargate fans won't pay out the stupid amounts they're asking the fanatical SPN fans who seem to continue to stump up ENORMOUS ticket, auto and photo op prices for these Cons...the amount of SPN cons they're holding and the prices for the Top seats are astronomically horrendous imho and personally the "stars" of this show are not worth that amount of money...it's pure Greed imho...

Deeds xx

I agree, the prices for Supernatural are ridiculous. Their "silver" is the same as Stargate's gold, and the SPN con honestly charges the same prices for seats (or even higher ones) than their Star Trek conventions. STAR TREK!! Not that I want to say anything bad about the female fans of Supernatural, because fangirls get enough flack as is, but Supernatural is one of those shows where the actors are male and very attractive, the fandom is primarily female, and the combination equates to ridiculously high ticket prices. I mean, I think Jared and Jensen are fantastic actors and fun people, but I think their attractiveness is part of what drives the prices up..and there's so much other crap that's always going on at Supernatural cons. There's always fandom factions fighting, questions being censored, the actors being given inappropriate fanart to sign....it's such a mess. I've been to Creation's Stargate and SPN cons, and Stargate is SO different - everyone is more friendly and welcoming, there isn't crazy fandom politics going on, photo op tickets don't sell out months before the con, questions don't get censored....it's a breath of fresh air compared to SPN cons. But, alas, SPN has this sort of cult-ish quality about it so those ticket prices are unfortunately going to stay that high.