Meetups, Travel + Disney-related Updates from Nimbus - 2003

[heiditandy]

No: HPFGUIDX 57864

Just a reminder from Team Nimbus - 2003 that you have a little over 
24 hours to take advantage of the $149.75 registration fee before 
the registration costs go up again. 

If you're new to HPfGU and you're not familiar with Nimbus - 2003, 
it's the first international Harry Potter symposium, and it's set 
for July 17-20, 2003, in Orlando, Florida at Walt Disney's Swan & 
Dolphin Hotel. This Symposium is meant to be a good mix of academic 
conference and "fan-con," and will feature presentations from Judith 
Krug of the American Library Association, Ari Rapkin, who's in ILM's 
special effects department (and who worked on the CoS film), a 
number of the contributors to The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter, 
Roger Highfield, the author of The Science of Harry Potter, and 
dozens of academicians and fans from around the world. You can find 
out more in our FAQ, which is located here: 
http://www.hp2003.org/nimbusfaq.html - or check out the HPfGU-
convention yahoogroup at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hpfgu-
convention/

Now, on to the updates!

1. We know a lot of you are ready to make your flight arrangements. 
OneTravel.com, a collective website made from small travel agencies 
worldwide, has offered a slight discount to travellers making their 
plans for Nimbus -  2003. 

You can access their flight search here: 
http://eair.onetravel.com/index.cfm?action=FBHome&DK=1000010946 
(note: you may need to cut & paste the link - or you can follow it 
right from the travel page at 
http://www.hp2003.org/nimbustravel.html.

2. The Swan's made it possible for you to pre-order discounted 
passes to the parks - you can go here: https://secure.hes-
services.com/wdwticket/swandolphin03.asp. In addition to the regular 
passes, all of which are available at discounts, you can also get a 
very nifty "After 2" pass, which will allow you to get into one park 
per day at a price that's about 30% off the cost of a full day pass. 
And given that the Magic Kingdom is open until after 9 each night, 
and EPCOT and MGM are both open until 9, it's a pretty good deal. 
FYI, the park hours are also now available here: 
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/waltdisneyworld/parksandmore/parkhou
rs/parkhoursindex?id=SEAllParksLocationCrit&date=72003

3.  Nimbus - 2003 has been added to MeetUp.com's listing of Harry 
Potter gatherings worldwide. For those of you who do not know, 
MeetUp.com is a service that connects people through a series of 
monthly meetings, all held in public places like bookstores or 
coffee shops. The Harry Potter MeetUps are on the third Tuesday of 
each month at 8:00 pm local time, and they have other MeetUps for 
subgroups of Harry Potter fans. They'll also be holding a one-time 
MeetUp on the evening of June 20.

We're very pleased that Nimbus - 2003 is now included in the list of 
gatherings that will occur this spring and summer through MeetUp.com.

For more information about MeetUp and the Harry Potter gatherings, 
visit the Harry Potter-focused sections of their website at:

harrypotter.meetup.com
hpforgrownups.meetup.com
seanbiggerstaff.meetup.com
alanrickman.meetup.com
danielradcliffe.meetup.com

And we can't divulge all the info just yet, but we can give a sneak 
preview of the fact that Nimbus - 2003 is thrilled that The-Leaky-
Cauldron.org is going to be a great resource for information about 
OoTP release events - keep your eye on that site (and our links 
section here) for more information!

Any questions?

Heidi for Team Nimbus - 2003

PS - we still have a number of programming sessions which are 
available for sponsorship! Check out 
http://www.hp2003.org/nimbuspgmsponsor.html for more details, or ask 
us about the process at sponsor at hp2003.org!