"Thank you for your inquiry. Our price for two days of service would be $ 475.00 per day, a total of $ 950.00. Please let us know what we can do to earn your business. Thank you."
... he SCORES!!!
It looks like we have our winner. They'll give us 475 per day to use the bus from 10am to 5pm, which is about 50% better than everyone else.
What this means:
* I'm setting a hard cap of 30 people on the MMT, to fit the bus we've found!
* We'll split the costs evenly for the tour, but given this price I feel confident that the per person cost will be absolutely no more than 40$ for the full tour (i.e. 2 full days of bus access) per person not counting any admission costs. If it ends up being less due to the # of people who signup, we'll split the difference evenly between everyone going. If all 30 people go, it'll end up being $31 per person.
* Tomorrow, I'll send out an E-Mail to everyone currently pre-registered on the MMT website so that you can secure your spot(s) as soon as possible. I'll give you a week to secure your spot using the instructions in that E-Mail: after that, I'll open it up to anyone else who hasn't (that way people who did things like participate in voting can secure their spots).
By the end of next week I should be done talking to all of the places we're going, Im working on finding the lowest possible prices I can find for everything.
If I do it right, I can get one lump sum for everyone that should cover all attractions.
Bell in Hand and Fanuil hall not counted because theyre eateries/free roam areas on the trip.
Okay, one more possibility before I put out that E-Mail... I got a message this morning from another bus company that was offering 900$ for both days combined, and that would include the price of gas and tax (which I hadn't thought about before, yikes!) I've got to confirm with him that this does definitely cover gas and tax while getting us to all the sites we want to go to (he mentioned it on the phone, but the papers he sent me via E-mail did not mention them)...
However, that bus only seats 25: which may be okay, I was a bit worried that we might not hit the 30 person limit anyways. I'll try to get absolute confirmation from this new company about what they're offering - in writing - before I make my move. I've also got to talk to the first people who made the offer and see if they were including tax and gas costs as well. I'll take care of that tomorrow when they're open.
Okay, I think we're going to go with the 25 seater... they're 900 including tax and gas, I got it confirmed. That's potentially a significant savings compared to the other one. Means we'll have 5 less seats than I was hoping for, but it should be easier for us to hit our target mark: and as a side benefit, we'll have a nice bus instead of school bus as well.
I'll get that finalized and send out that E-Mail when I get home tonight!
The E-Mails are out! Location voters, check the E-Mail address that you used to sign up on the MMT page for an E-Mail coming from me (EdgarVerona@gmail.com) for final registration! Signup spots are limited to 25 (and I already reserved one for me, my wife, and Zero who is graciously donating his time to help with logistics for the Tour... which I'm terrible at ), so there's technically only 22 spots left already!
If the spots aren't all taken by March 1st, I'll be opening up registration to all: so keep an eye out here for updates!
Um... I should point out an error in my E-Mail. For some reason, I called ZeroHourHero ZeroDarkHour or something like that. I'm not sure how that ended up getting converted in my head, but I was talking about ZeroHourHero. I think in IRC I usually just call him "Zero", but I'm not entirely sure where the other words came from.
Just as a quick update, there are now officially 15 seats left! Those of you who got the early E-Mail, send them in quick if you want a spot: I'm opening it up to everyone March 1st!
We've had a few more seats taken up, I'm guessing at this rate there'll be about 5 seats left at most when we open it up to everyone. I'll keep you guys posted, it's still a few days until the 1st!
Between all the Sam Adams i've had in the past, and the hangovers i get the next morning, i believe they owe me. So if theres any trouble getting in, i'll call in my favor!
On an unrelated note, since I see so many Bostonians here, if anyone knows anyone who has a place I can can crash for a few days after pax let me know.... Army has kind of screwed the pooch and left me in boston from the 29th until 9th without a place to sleep.
It is 40$ currently: if it ends up that the bus becomes full enough that the per-person cost is actually less than 40$, I will be refunding the difference to you on the Magical Mystery Tour! So reserve today!
* If you're bringing multiple people with you, be sure to purchase one seat per person coming with you.
* Please put your screenname in the buyer's notes so that I can get a hold of you before the MMT, and preferably your mobile phone number so that we can communicate during the tour if we get split up. If you don't have a screenname in the Penny Arcade forums, provide some other good way to contact you!
* Hurry! Only 25 seats are available on the bus, and it's first come first serve with no exceptions! They won't let us put more than 25 people on this bus, so once we hit 25 we're done. (As of now, 13 seats are still available!)
* The cost of the spot on the bus *does not* include admission to any tours, museums, etc... that we are going to! This is just for your reserved space on the bus for both days. ZeroDarkHour has graciously volunteered to research possible group rate or city pass options, but that will be discussed in the forum. If you don't want to get a city pass or group rates end up being infeasible, be sure to bring money with you for admission to the various locations! The cost of these locations is also being researched by Zero at the moment, and will be available on the board in the coming days.
* If you are only coming on the MMT for one day, you will still need to reserve the spot for two days. If you find someone who can sit in on the bus for the day you miss and you arrange to split the cost with them, that works fine by me as long as you give me their contact info: but for us to stand a chance of paying for the cost of the bus, we need to do it this way. Most people who can only go one day will likely only be able to go on Thursday, and if the majority of our bus seats are taken up by just Thursday we're going to end up with an empty bus on Wednesday and a whole lot of debt: so please, if you can only go one day, pay for both and/or make arrangements on your own for someone to split the cost with you so that they can take your seat on the day you won't be there.
Have the places been distributed over the two days? I'm only flying in on Wednesday, so I'd only get one day of the tour, and given that I'd rather know what I'll miss if I split a ticket.
baelion on
Masters Degree Student: PLEASE TALK TO ME ABOUT NERDCORE Twitter
Lord help me, I chose !Squirtle
Suggestion: Everyone whos going on the trip for both days: Get a City Pass, It will be cheaper in the long run than group rates, and then pick up tickets for the few places not included.
Also, you can go to the sky observation deck with it.
We actually haven't gotten anyone else on board yet since I opened it up publicly, so there's still 13 seats left. It makes me a bit nervous in truth. lol
Well if there's still tickets left by monday i might buy one anyway, even if i don't find someone to split with. would be good just to meet people.
Although I have to be back for the pre-pax dinner :P
baelion on
Masters Degree Student: PLEASE TALK TO ME ABOUT NERDCORE Twitter
Lord help me, I chose !Squirtle
We actually haven't gotten anyone else on board yet since I opened it up publicly, so there's still 13 seats left. It makes me a bit nervous in truth. lol
I thought that might happen. An extra 40 on top of the museums and such... I mean, that's a release day DS game!
Well, if you look at it this way: 40 is only a little bit more than what you'd pay for a much shorter tour with less time (if any) spent at each location, and without a large group of fellow gamers with you! The latter has always been the biggest pull of the MMT from my experience with it in PAX Prime, at least. We've always had a great time!
Admittedly, this is the first time I've tried to get a bus for it... but it went pretty well with Nomad last year. Hopefully people will decide to join up on it... I'll be running the bus either way, but if we fill up the bus I won't lose a lot of money and hopefully we can give everyone some refunds on that 40$ to boot! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Tentative schedule created! I tried to optimize the time to enjoyment ratio... take a look below, and let me know if you have any issues with/questions about it!
10:00am - Harvard Museum of Natural History
11:30am - Lunch - Bell-in-hand
12:30pm - MIT
1:30pm - New England Aquarium
3:00pm - Harpoon Brewery
5:00pm - Drop off bus, optional after hours touring begins!
Thursday, March 25
10:00am - Museum of Fine Arts
11:30am - Lunch - Faneuil Hall
1:00pm - Sam Adams Brewery
2:30pm - Museum of Science
5:00pm - Drop off bus, optional after hours touring begins before the Pre-PAX Dinner and Pub Crawl!
Some of the times are fixed due to the business' schedules. For example, Sam Adams' Brewery has 45 minute tours, but only until 3pm. Harpoon Brewery has free beer tasting, but only between 4 and 5pm, and so on.
Oh, no worries! I got notification! Send me a PM with your phone number/some way of immediately contacting you though, in case we need to get a hold of you because we get split up or what-have-you! And welcome to the MMT!
Ah, I should make it clear though just in case... I'm not sure by your last post. The cost was just for the bus seat, you'll still have to either get a city pass or buy tickets to the museums itself. The brewery is free though! If you can't find anyone to take over for you on Wednesday, let me know and we can talk about working something out to lessen the cost! I'd rather not drive people away if they absolutely can't find anyone to take over for them on the day that they won't be there... though preferably from a breaking even perspective, hopefully everyone will find someone to split it with
im about 98% sure im going. i just need to talk to my boss today to see if i can move around my schedule next week. it shouldn't be a problem. so once i talk to him i'll be able to confirm later and most likely buy my ticket!
Sweet! Aye, snag your tickets and you'll be good to go!
Gelu: Shoot, you're coming late into town, d'oh. =( Fear not! Give us a call in advance, or let me know where you'll be at 1ish, and then I can try to make a determination as to what bus/subway/etc... you can hit to catch up with us on the bus!
WHOA! An important thing I didn't realize to mention before!
WHEN WE MEET THE BUS AT 10AM, IT WILL BE IN FRONT OF THE CONVENTION CENTER ITSELF!
If for some reason the bus people tell me this is a no-go, I will give instructions on the location ASAP (and call/E-Mail/twitter people as needed to make sure everyone knows), but so far I've gotten the green light from the bus people.
Speaking of which, if you didn't give me any of those already (E-Mail, Phone Number, Twitter), give as many as you're comfortable sharing with the group to me via PM ASAP! I'll be making a contact list!
finally got my ticket. after the ticket fiasco of last week i was a bit discouraged and more wooried about finding a ticket to pax east itself. but now that everything is taken care of, i'm good to go.
are most people getiing the city pass? or is their an idea for the cost of the museums and whatever else?
I'm getting the city pass personally... ZeroHourHero did some calculations, and found that it was much much cheaper to get the City Pass. I encourage everyone to get it!
Supposedly most of the places we're going to actually sell them, I think... I'll double check tonight!
Posts
"Thank you for your inquiry. Our price for two days of service would be $ 475.00 per day, a total of $ 950.00. Please let us know what we can do to earn your business. Thank you."
... he SCORES!!!
It looks like we have our winner. They'll give us 475 per day to use the bus from 10am to 5pm, which is about 50% better than everyone else.
What this means:
* I'm setting a hard cap of 30 people on the MMT, to fit the bus we've found!
* We'll split the costs evenly for the tour, but given this price I feel confident that the per person cost will be absolutely no more than 40$ for the full tour (i.e. 2 full days of bus access) per person not counting any admission costs. If it ends up being less due to the # of people who signup, we'll split the difference evenly between everyone going. If all 30 people go, it'll end up being $31 per person.
* Tomorrow, I'll send out an E-Mail to everyone currently pre-registered on the MMT website so that you can secure your spot(s) as soon as possible. I'll give you a week to secure your spot using the instructions in that E-Mail: after that, I'll open it up to anyone else who hasn't (that way people who did things like participate in voting can secure their spots).
If I do it right, I can get one lump sum for everyone that should cover all attractions.
Bell in Hand and Fanuil hall not counted because theyre eateries/free roam areas on the trip.
I have it all punched up in excel.
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
However, that bus only seats 25: which may be okay, I was a bit worried that we might not hit the 30 person limit anyways. I'll try to get absolute confirmation from this new company about what they're offering - in writing - before I make my move. I've also got to talk to the first people who made the offer and see if they were including tax and gas costs as well. I'll take care of that tomorrow when they're open.
I'll get that finalized and send out that E-Mail when I get home tonight!
If the spots aren't all taken by March 1st, I'll be opening up registration to all: so keep an eye out here for updates!
Great job with this.
Um... I should point out an error in my E-Mail. For some reason, I called ZeroHourHero ZeroDarkHour or something like that. I'm not sure how that ended up getting converted in my head, but I was talking about ZeroHourHero.
That is all.
Reserve your spot on the Magical Mystery Tour by clicking the PayPal link below and ordering your spot on the bus!
It is 40$ currently: if it ends up that the bus becomes full enough that the per-person cost is actually less than 40$, I will be refunding the difference to you on the Magical Mystery Tour! So reserve today!
Click here to reserve a spot on the Magical Mystery Tour! ... but first, read the important information below.
** IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER: **
* If you're bringing multiple people with you, be sure to purchase one seat per person coming with you.
* Please put your screenname in the buyer's notes so that I can get a hold of you before the MMT, and preferably your mobile phone number so that we can communicate during the tour if we get split up. If you don't have a screenname in the Penny Arcade forums, provide some other good way to contact you!
* Hurry! Only 25 seats are available on the bus, and it's first come first serve with no exceptions! They won't let us put more than 25 people on this bus, so once we hit 25 we're done. (As of now, 13 seats are still available!)
* The cost of the spot on the bus *does not* include admission to any tours, museums, etc... that we are going to! This is just for your reserved space on the bus for both days. ZeroDarkHour has graciously volunteered to research possible group rate or city pass options, but that will be discussed in the forum. If you don't want to get a city pass or group rates end up being infeasible, be sure to bring money with you for admission to the various locations! The cost of these locations is also being researched by Zero at the moment, and will be available on the board in the coming days.
* If you are only coming on the MMT for one day, you will still need to reserve the spot for two days. If you find someone who can sit in on the bus for the day you miss and you arrange to split the cost with them, that works fine by me as long as you give me their contact info: but for us to stand a chance of paying for the cost of the bus, we need to do it this way. Most people who can only go one day will likely only be able to go on Thursday, and if the majority of our bus seats are taken up by just Thursday we're going to end up with an empty bus on Wednesday and a whole lot of debt: so please, if you can only go one day, pay for both and/or make arrangements on your own for someone to split the cost with you so that they can take your seat on the day you won't be there.
Click here to reserve a spot on the Magical Mystery Tour!
Twitter
Lord help me, I chose !Squirtle
What is it that, in particular, you don't want to miss on Thursday?
How full of the 25 seat bus are you now?
Twitter
Lord help me, I chose !Squirtle
Also, you can go to the sky observation deck with it.
Although I have to be back for the pre-pax dinner :P
Twitter
Lord help me, I chose !Squirtle
I thought that might happen. An extra 40 on top of the museums and such... I mean, that's a release day DS game!
I'm looking forward to the tour.
Admittedly, this is the first time I've tried to get a bus for it... but it went pretty well with Nomad last year. Hopefully people will decide to join up on it... I'll be running the bus either way, but if we fill up the bus I won't lose a lot of money and hopefully we can give everyone some refunds on that 40$ to boot! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=d48jp9ktokhcbf3k51j9mqlph8%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York
Wednesday, March 24
10:00am - Harvard Museum of Natural History
11:30am - Lunch - Bell-in-hand
12:30pm - MIT
1:30pm - New England Aquarium
3:00pm - Harpoon Brewery
5:00pm - Drop off bus, optional after hours touring begins!
Thursday, March 25
10:00am - Museum of Fine Arts
11:30am - Lunch - Faneuil Hall
1:00pm - Sam Adams Brewery
2:30pm - Museum of Science
5:00pm - Drop off bus, optional after hours touring begins before the Pre-PAX Dinner and Pub Crawl!
Some of the times are fixed due to the business' schedules. For example, Sam Adams' Brewery has 45 minute tours, but only until 3pm. Harpoon Brewery has free beer tasting, but only between 4 and 5pm, and so on.
Let me know what you guys think of this schedule! And please, please please SIGN UP! We still have 13 seats left!
Seriously, sign up now if you've been thinking about it!
Would anyone like to buy my wednesday seat? I wouldn't get out of logan airport until around 3 on the wednesday.
Twitter
Lord help me, I chose !Squirtle
Actually £27 isn't bad for 2 museums and a brewery tour. Shame i don't get even more bang for my buck though.
Ticket bought!
EDIT: Being a silly goose I forgot to put anything in buyers notes. I can PM you the transaction ID or whatever?
Twitter
Lord help me, I chose !Squirtle
Ah, I should make it clear though just in case... I'm not sure by your last post. The cost was just for the bus seat, you'll still have to either get a city pass or buy tickets to the museums itself. The brewery is free though! If you can't find anyone to take over for you on Wednesday, let me know and we can talk about working something out to lessen the cost! I'd rather not drive people away if they absolutely can't find anyone to take over for them on the day that they won't be there... though preferably from a breaking even perspective, hopefully everyone will find someone to split it with
it'd just be nice to meet people.
currently my phone number's going to be british. i'm looking into getting an american one when i'm over, but that won't be until at least wednesday.
i'll pm you shortly with my number.
Twitter
Lord help me, I chose !Squirtle
Just a reminder to everyone, it's less than 2 weeks until the Magical Mystery Tour!
If you have been thinking about signing up, you might want to do it now!
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
By the time I arrive for this I'll have spent 10 days finding my own way to everything, going to be useful having someone else do it.
Signed up.
so i should probably be downtown around 1-ish.
How can i meet up?
do you have a number?
Gelu: Shoot, you're coming late into town, d'oh. =( Fear not! Give us a call in advance, or let me know where you'll be at 1ish, and then I can try to make a determination as to what bus/subway/etc... you can hit to catch up with us on the bus!
WHEN WE MEET THE BUS AT 10AM, IT WILL BE IN FRONT OF THE CONVENTION CENTER ITSELF!
If for some reason the bus people tell me this is a no-go, I will give instructions on the location ASAP (and call/E-Mail/twitter people as needed to make sure everyone knows), but so far I've gotten the green light from the bus people.
Speaking of which, if you didn't give me any of those already (E-Mail, Phone Number, Twitter), give as many as you're comfortable sharing with the group to me via PM ASAP! I'll be making a contact list!
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
are most people getiing the city pass? or is their an idea for the cost of the museums and whatever else?
I'm getting the city pass personally... ZeroHourHero did some calculations, and found that it was much much cheaper to get the City Pass. I encourage everyone to get it!
Supposedly most of the places we're going to actually sell them, I think... I'll double check tonight!