Reno, here we come! (in 2011, that is)

The 67th WorldCon in Montreal just ended, and it's now official - the 69th WorldCon is being held in Reno, Nevada from August 17-21, 2011. I knew that Reno had been running unopposed, but I didn't know their bid continued to remain unopposed after Seattle dropped out of the running. The husband and I went to WorldCon when it was in Anaheim (as L.A.con IV) in 2006, and we had a blast. It was definitely something we wanted to do again, but it had to work geographically for us. When I heard about Reno, I thought that would be perfect. It's not a very long distance to travel (just over an hour by plane, if I recall), we've been to Reno before so we won't feel cheated out of visiting the city because we'll be spending most of the time inside a hotel in meeting rooms and such, and best of all, we can attend panels (or "classes", as we ended up calling them) all day, room hop and party all night, and then when we're done, hit the casinos, and then start all over again! How much fun is that going to be?

The con is being held at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, and the main hotel will be the Atlantis, with the second hotel being the Peppermill. When we went to Reno a couple years ago, we stayed at the Peppermill but went to the Atlantis as well, and we enjoyed both hotels. I think I might want to stay at the Atlantis this time since it's just walking distance to the convention center - we'll just have to make sure we have a room that's not near the main party floors. However, I do want to go to the Peppermill for dinner one night - the White Orchid restaurant was terrific.

We expect to purchase our memberships (meaning, admission tickets) soon, though we have until April of 2010 before the price changes. The prices are cheaper the earlier you buy the membership, even more so if you purchase a membership while it's still in the bid process, before it gets accepted. So yeah, you could end up buying a membership for a bid that ultimately doesn't get awarded the WorldCon.

The 68th WorldCon will be held next year in Melbourne, Australia. As much as I'd *love* to go to Melbourne, I would so not be happy with just hanging out inside a hotel, no matter how much fun it'll be. If I'm going to Melbourne, I'm going to see the city.

So far, the only bid submitted for the 2012 WorldCon is Chicago, and that will be voted on at next year's WorldCon.

I'm so excited that we'll be going to another WorldCon!!!!