Cost of Attending SGDQ

2016-07-07 11:30:19 pm

I'm interested in attending SGDQ next year and I was curious as to how much I should expect it to cost. Would $2,500 be sufficient for 2 people?

Thread title:

presjpolk

2016-07-08 11:30:16 am

HELLO!

Depends on where you live and how long you want to attend.

Your major expenses are going to be travel to and from the event, lodging at the event, and food while you're there.

a99

2016-07-10 12:06:33 am

Ideally the whole week. I would probably book a while in advance to get better airline prices. I know those are generally more expensive, but I've never done much traveling so i don't know how much to expect it to cost realistically.

ryubasteon

Edit history:

ryubasteon: 2016-07-14 05:56:19 am

2016-07-10 09:58:47 am

I don't know about SGDQ as I have never gone myself, but I did go to RPGLimitBreak16 which was in Utah and I live in IL, for just me, Airfare was $460 round trip, and the hotel (I stayed at the venue) was $896 for the week [I had a roommate but paid for the room myself]. Food costs added about another $200, but that involved alot of pizza lol. So, $2500 for two would be fair, but I'd recommend $3000 jus' to be safe. (All depending on the hotel costs though)

Edit: I should have specified that I like to have a little emergency padding, should something come up, or I find something I really really want. That and when my funds get low I get anxious and don't enjoy whats going on as that is all I start worrying about.

ThatKidWithTheRabbit

2016-07-10 12:15:42 pm

I'm monochrome

Welp! Guess I'm not going to GDQ anytime soon!

Guess I'll just have to try for a better internet connection for the stream, and a computer that doesn't threaten to melt so quick. My poor laptop got HOT watching this SDGQ. x_x

a9azn2

2016-07-11 01:15:09 am

This is just my experience from this year, so take it with a grain of salt - but 2500$ for two people is completely doable if prices are comparable to this year's SGDQ come next year (depending on where you're coming from). For most people, if it's in Minneapolis again, it'll be like a 400-500$ flight (coming from somewhere in NA), and about $1k for the hotel for the week. You can easily live off of 100-200$ in food - my friend and I this week bought a toaster oven at Target and used it throughout the week, which saved on some meals that we would've otherwise gone out for, but even if we didn't, you could totally eat cheaply throughout the week at various places. I would say my friend and I cumulatively spent < $2500, even after spending $ on transit and alcohol and going to the Mall of America.

starsarealigned

Edit history:

starsarealigned: 2016-07-11 11:11:38 am

2016-07-11 11:10:43 am

This is all just me speaking from attending a few events in the past (I've been to three GDQs, two of which I flew and I drove to the most current SGDQ), but if you're driving to the event, $2500 is absolutely more than doable for two people; if you're flying, depending on your flight, $2500 still will get you through, including meals (unless you're going to $50+ per plate dinners every night, obviously).

SGDQ's hotel does tend to sway a little pricer just due to the fact that it's held in the summer vs AGDQ which is in the winter, but even so, I think it was only about $15 per night more expensive (iirc, the rooms for AGDQ 16 were $99 versus the $115 for SGDQ 16). Plan to spend about $800 total for a room for the week (that's a Sunday-Saturday stay, so add an additional day if you're staying Sunday-Sunday), and if you're flying, probably about that much for two tickets. That adds up to ~$1600 for travel and room and board, so you've got ~$900 left for food and spending money. If you're driving, subtract out the cost of plane tickets, but add ~$15 per day for parking (the parking vouchers ran out very quickly, so just in case, pretend like they don't exist).

To me, ~$450 each (if you're flying) sounds absolutely manageable, especially if you take advantage of any free breakfast or vouchers that are available, but if you're eating out quite often or attending any events in the area that are going to cost money for admission etc., that's gonna deplete that pretty quick, so as long as you keep track of what you're spending, you'll be more than fine.

Anecdotally, I had about $700 in my bank account for gas, food and "fun money" for SGDQ (I am paranoid so always keep WAY more than I need). At the end, I think I only ended up spending an actual $200 in food for the week, and I really wasn't super conservative with where I ate.

Anyway, that was a huge wall of text, but I hope it's slightly helpful! Smiley

This is all just me speaking from attending a few events in the past (I've been to three GDQs, two of which I flew and I drove to the most current SGDQ), but if you're driving to the event, $2500 is absolutely more than doable for two people; if you're flying, depending on your flight, $2500 still will get you through, including meals (unless you're going to $50+ per plate dinners every night, obviously).

SGDQ's hotel does tend to sway a little pricer just due to the fact that it's held in the summer vs AGDQ which is in the winter, but even so, I think it was only about $15 per night more expensive (iirc, the rooms for AGDQ 16 were $99 versus the $115 for SGDQ 16).  Plan to spend about $800 total for a room for the week (that's a Sunday-Saturday stay, so add an additional day if you're staying Sunday-Sunday), and if you're flying, probably about that much for two tickets.  That adds up to ~$1600 for travel and room and board, so you've got ~$900 left for food and spending money.  If you're driving, subtract out the cost of plane tickets, but add ~$15 per day for parking (the parking vouchers ran out very quickly, so just in case, pretend like they don't exist).

To me, ~$450 each (if you're flying) sounds absolutely manageable, especially if you take advantage of any free breakfast or vouchers that are available, but if you're eating out quite often or attending any events in the area that are going to cost money for admission etc., that's gonna deplete that pretty quick, so as long as you keep track of what you're spending, you'll be more than fine.

Anecdotally, I had about $700 in my bank account for gas, food and "fun money" for SGDQ (I am paranoid so always keep WAY more than I need).  At the end, I think I only ended up spending an actual $200 in food for the week, and I really wasn't super conservative with where I ate.

Anyway, that was a huge wall of text, but I hope it's slightly helpful! :)

CosmykTheDolfyn

2016-07-11 12:18:44 pm

NowOwnsAFreaking Plane

I've made it to a GDQ on considerably less, but that plan involved driving instead of flying and packing enough apples and bread to not have to buy food from a restaurant while I was there. If you don't mind being that cheap, I made it on about $450.

dangodofthunder

2016-07-11 12:57:35 pm

Flight is going to vary, and I can't tell you what your flight costs. For me that's the bulk of my costs since I live on the west coast.
Hotel is around 120-130 a night post tax, you can split with multiple roommates though. My bill was 1,180 or so for a room of four after tax for 8 nights.
Registration is 50 a person if you register early. If you don't it is more expensive. If you volunteer or have a run in, then it's waived.
Food is food costs. If you eat at the food trucks it's like 10-15 a meal per person.

Warden

2016-07-11 09:43:02 pm

Another data point: My wife & I drove to this SGDQ, ~2,000 miles round-trip (as in, we just got home a few hours ago). I looked at the airfare _early_ when the dates were announced at AGDQ, and it was well over $300 per person for us. It just went up from there as the dates got closer.

Registration: $100 for 2
Hilton: $912.87 Sunday-to-Sunday
Hotels going & coming: $172.12 total (it was a 2 day drive for us)
Gas: ~$170

Total other than food: $1,355

We bought milk & junk for breakfast (hey, it's vacation) from Target, which is a short walk from the Hilton. That trick works for any hotel with refrigerators -- we do that on all our vacations. a9azn2's toaster oven idea is brilliant. Our food total, including travel days, was $422. We split appetizer & entree for lunch & dinner at a bunch of the restaurants near the hotel so we could try a lot of different things that we would never get to eat at home. On the other hand, we're not much for liquor, so that's something we don't have to budget for. :-)

Grand total for an SGDQ 2016 road trip for two: $1,777

Another data point: My wife & I drove to this SGDQ, ~2,000 miles round-trip (as in, we just got home a few hours ago). I looked at the airfare _early_ when the dates were announced at AGDQ, and it was well over $300 per person for us. It just went up from there as the dates got closer.

Registration: $100 for 2
Hilton: $912.87 Sunday-to-Sunday
Hotels going & coming: $172.12 total (it was a 2 day drive for us)
Gas: ~$170

Total other than food: $1,355

We bought milk & junk for breakfast (hey, it's vacation) from Target, which is a short walk from the Hilton. That trick works for any hotel with refrigerators -- we do that on all our vacations. a9azn2's toaster oven idea is brilliant. Our food total, including travel days, was $422. We split appetizer & entree for lunch & dinner at a bunch of the restaurants near the hotel so we could try a lot of different things that we would never get to eat at home. On the other hand, we're not much for liquor, so that's something we don't have to budget for. :-)

Grand total for an SGDQ 2016 road trip for two: $1,777

CavemanDCJ

2016-07-14 04:56:49 am

Totally Radical Awesome Game

depending on where you live flights can range from $200 to $2000. Flying from New York I usually have flights in the $400 range.

The cost of your room varies depending on how many roommates you have and how long you stay, (assuming you stay at the event hotel). I usually stay for the whole marathon with a room of 5 so my room generally costs ~$230 per marathon

I usually budget $100 to buy hot ps1 games

$200 for food because I like to eat food

~$100 for miscellaneous costs/transportation

FanaticDreamer

2016-07-14 05:23:36 pm

Let's get frisky.

My budget is as follows:

Drove so it cost me $100 there and back (gas, avoided tolls) - $100
Food (figured 2 meals a day, 15 dollars or so a meal, etc) - $200
Share of the hotel with 3 other roomates - $300
Fun Money (for alcohol, snacks, souvenirs) - $200

So altogether I spent $800.00 and had a great time.