Thank you all for your patience! We previously announced that Fall Ball would be in Texas, now we get to decide on where Essentially the choice is between the Texas Renaissance Festival near Houston, or a more traditional tourist fall ball in San Antonio. The poll will be open for 2 weeks'ish until April 15 so that we can open registration in May. Here's a bit about our two choices (listed in alphabetical order):
1) Ren Faire-
The Texas Renaissance Festival is one the largest in the US, and incredibly well done! I've been to it several times with Tower people and we've always had an incredible time. If we chose this option, our activity would be to be at the Faire from open until close! I've been looking at group options/discounts, and the possibility of having a catered experience at the faire itself but as always that would depend on final pricing, numbers for attendance, etc. For hotels, there are a couple nearby that also provide shuttle service to the faire itself so you'd only have to coordinate with each other to get to and from the airport. If we chose to go a bit further afield, there are no end of places to stay in the Woodlands which is where we've stayed in the past (TX Tower people). Depending on which weekend we went, the theme would be either Oktoberfest, 1001 dreams, Pirates, or All Hallows Eve. I ran just a quick (very rough!) budget, and including all of your housing, your ticket to the Faire, and either a special event on site or dinner together later, I should be right around $200 - slightly less if we went with dinner as opposed to something at the Faire. And since our event would be centered around the Faire, you wouldn't have any additional costs/fees unless you decided to add extra days to your trip outside of our event. https://www.texrenfest.com/
2) San Antonio -
We've all heard of the Riverwalk and the Alamo. There are so many things to do in this city both on the Saturday of Fall Ball as well as the days surrounding if you were to decide to extend your trip! I've been looking at Hotels, and there are tons of chocies within walking distance of most things we'd want to see, along with possibly cheaper options if we went further out from downtown. For dinner, there are tons of restaurants along the riverwalk and this is definitely the place to go for anything Mexican food which also helps because that cuisine is easily adaptable for just about any food allergy or preference (ie gluten free, vegetarian, etc). There's the Tower of the Americas, incredible BBQ, and weather in October is about as pretty as it gets here on the edge of hill country. If we were to choose to go here, I have a few other ideas about our dinner but I'd need to see what our numbers worked out at first before pushing forward on them. I ran just a quick (and very rough!) ballpark budget and it looks like I should be able to do this event including your hotel, a group room for us there, and dinner on Saturday for under $200/pp which is keeping in line with the last few years. This would not include entrance fees to anything you'd want to go and see/do on Saturday. I used to live in San Antonio, and it's definitely a location worth visiting - especially if you've never been here! https://www.visitsanantonio.com/
Here is the form to vote: FORM
So I think that's it! If you have questions please ask here or email me at naevents@tarvalon.net. If you're from Texas, feel free to comment as well on either location I'm really excited to head back south for the Fall!
1) Ren Faire-
The Texas Renaissance Festival is one the largest in the US, and incredibly well done! I've been to it several times with Tower people and we've always had an incredible time. If we chose this option, our activity would be to be at the Faire from open until close! I've been looking at group options/discounts, and the possibility of having a catered experience at the faire itself but as always that would depend on final pricing, numbers for attendance, etc. For hotels, there are a couple nearby that also provide shuttle service to the faire itself so you'd only have to coordinate with each other to get to and from the airport. If we chose to go a bit further afield, there are no end of places to stay in the Woodlands which is where we've stayed in the past (TX Tower people). Depending on which weekend we went, the theme would be either Oktoberfest, 1001 dreams, Pirates, or All Hallows Eve. I ran just a quick (very rough!) budget, and including all of your housing, your ticket to the Faire, and either a special event on site or dinner together later, I should be right around $200 - slightly less if we went with dinner as opposed to something at the Faire. And since our event would be centered around the Faire, you wouldn't have any additional costs/fees unless you decided to add extra days to your trip outside of our event. https://www.texrenfest.com/
2) San Antonio -
We've all heard of the Riverwalk and the Alamo. There are so many things to do in this city both on the Saturday of Fall Ball as well as the days surrounding if you were to decide to extend your trip! I've been looking at Hotels, and there are tons of chocies within walking distance of most things we'd want to see, along with possibly cheaper options if we went further out from downtown. For dinner, there are tons of restaurants along the riverwalk and this is definitely the place to go for anything Mexican food which also helps because that cuisine is easily adaptable for just about any food allergy or preference (ie gluten free, vegetarian, etc). There's the Tower of the Americas, incredible BBQ, and weather in October is about as pretty as it gets here on the edge of hill country. If we were to choose to go here, I have a few other ideas about our dinner but I'd need to see what our numbers worked out at first before pushing forward on them. I ran just a quick (and very rough!) ballpark budget and it looks like I should be able to do this event including your hotel, a group room for us there, and dinner on Saturday for under $200/pp which is keeping in line with the last few years. This would not include entrance fees to anything you'd want to go and see/do on Saturday. I used to live in San Antonio, and it's definitely a location worth visiting - especially if you've never been here! https://www.visitsanantonio.com/
Here is the form to vote: FORM
So I think that's it! If you have questions please ask here or email me at naevents@tarvalon.net. If you're from Texas, feel free to comment as well on either location I'm really excited to head back south for the Fall!