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FA United 2016 Announcement
9 years ago
The FAU 2016 site is live!
www.faunited.org
Join the creatures of mystique and intrigue from around the world at the Beast’s Masquerade. Once a year, under the pale light of moon, beasts and creatures of fantasy gather for a select few nights of intrigue. They dance. Mingle. Create. Dream. Imagine. They come from around the globe - dragons, wolves, foxes, cats and more - to unite for a weekend under the guise of masks, concealing identity to let their intrigue guide them.
Join FAU and our guests of honor,
Patto and 
Lumaberry, for a weekend of fun, mystery and regal memories.
Registration is open for attendees, dealers and panelists!
August 12-14, 2016
Hyatt Regency Dulles | Herndon, VA
FAU is proud to announce our new home in Herndon, VA! A lot has happened since 2015. We’ve moved to a new state, a new hotel and upgraded our con across the board.
Why the move? We’ve been listening to feedback, going over concerns for our previous years and trying our best to improve the con across the board. One of the biggest issues brought to our attention was accessibility for the convention, both for people travelling to the con and travel once at the con. We scoured hotels and options in New Jersey but were unable to find anything that really fit the needs of our attendees.
Our new hotel is five minutes from the Dulles International Airport (IAD), easily accessible by car (no more Jersey jughandles!). Not only that, but Fur Affinity itself is hosted down 5 miles down the street from the Hyatt Regency! Oh, and did we mention room rates are more affordable than ever at just $99? What’s even better? ALL the rooms at the hotel are suite-style? If you thought our previous hotel was nice you’ll be stunned by the Hyatt Regency Dulles. It’s an elegant hotel with large open spaces and incredible convention space. All convention areas are, from Dealer’s Den to the event rooms to the main ballroom, are all a short walk from one another, and there’s ample areas for fursuiters to run, frolic and play. There’s even a koi pond!
The hotel also offers free shuttle service to Reston Town Center, a great outdoor mall with almost 40 options for lunch and dinner alike (from sushi to steak to craft beers to burgers). There’s an incredible amount to see or do in the local area, and it’s all a short (and easy!) drive away.
Q&A
Q: Why did the convention move to Herndon, Virginia?
A: The decision to move the convention was not one made lightly, and it came down to a few reasons. We weren't able to get the dates we wanted from our last hotel, so we had to look for a new venue. We scoured pretty much all over New Jersey (from Cherry Hill to Newark to Atlantic City), as well as Delaware and Philadelphia for other options, but we were unable to find anything which fit our needs, such as access to an airport or affordable room rates.
Another concern were travel costs (both by car and plane) and lack of dining options. We wanted to find somewhere that would be able to accommodate the wants/needs of our attendees both traveling to the con and while there.
Q: Did you try to keep it in New Jersey?
A: Yes. We've kept the convention in New Jersey since 2007. We scoured the state and contacted dozens of hotels. Of the few hotels we could find, many were union (which would have an undue burden on dealers) or couldn't meet price our points (nobody really wants to pay $149/night for con rooms).
Q: Did you just move it because YOU live in VA?
A: Fur Affinity is hosted in Reston, VA (less than 5 minutes from where the new hotel is), and has been for over half a decade. Despite having lived in VA for 5+ years, we’ve kept FAU in New Jersey all that time and and worked to keep it there. While where we live is convenient, it’s not the reason we moved the con. It just happened to work out that one of the hotels that contacted us and met all the convention and attendees’ needs just happened to be in the area.
Q: What makes this location better?
A: The hotel is an upgrade in almost all aspects!
- Our hotel offers rooms from $99/night.
- More convention space (about 25% larger than our previous hotel).
- ALL rooms at the Hyatt Regency are suites!
- Pet friendly (up to 75/lbs).
- 5 minutes away from Dulles International Airport (IAD), one of the largest (and most affordable) airports on the East Coast.
- Over 100 restaurant choices within a 5 mile radius.
www.faunited.org
Join the creatures of mystique and intrigue from around the world at the Beast’s Masquerade. Once a year, under the pale light of moon, beasts and creatures of fantasy gather for a select few nights of intrigue. They dance. Mingle. Create. Dream. Imagine. They come from around the globe - dragons, wolves, foxes, cats and more - to unite for a weekend under the guise of masks, concealing identity to let their intrigue guide them.
Join FAU and our guests of honor,
Patto and 
Lumaberry, for a weekend of fun, mystery and regal memories.Registration is open for attendees, dealers and panelists!
August 12-14, 2016
Hyatt Regency Dulles | Herndon, VA
FAU is proud to announce our new home in Herndon, VA! A lot has happened since 2015. We’ve moved to a new state, a new hotel and upgraded our con across the board.
Why the move? We’ve been listening to feedback, going over concerns for our previous years and trying our best to improve the con across the board. One of the biggest issues brought to our attention was accessibility for the convention, both for people travelling to the con and travel once at the con. We scoured hotels and options in New Jersey but were unable to find anything that really fit the needs of our attendees.
Our new hotel is five minutes from the Dulles International Airport (IAD), easily accessible by car (no more Jersey jughandles!). Not only that, but Fur Affinity itself is hosted down 5 miles down the street from the Hyatt Regency! Oh, and did we mention room rates are more affordable than ever at just $99? What’s even better? ALL the rooms at the hotel are suite-style? If you thought our previous hotel was nice you’ll be stunned by the Hyatt Regency Dulles. It’s an elegant hotel with large open spaces and incredible convention space. All convention areas are, from Dealer’s Den to the event rooms to the main ballroom, are all a short walk from one another, and there’s ample areas for fursuiters to run, frolic and play. There’s even a koi pond!
The hotel also offers free shuttle service to Reston Town Center, a great outdoor mall with almost 40 options for lunch and dinner alike (from sushi to steak to craft beers to burgers). There’s an incredible amount to see or do in the local area, and it’s all a short (and easy!) drive away.
Q&A
Q: Why did the convention move to Herndon, Virginia?
A: The decision to move the convention was not one made lightly, and it came down to a few reasons. We weren't able to get the dates we wanted from our last hotel, so we had to look for a new venue. We scoured pretty much all over New Jersey (from Cherry Hill to Newark to Atlantic City), as well as Delaware and Philadelphia for other options, but we were unable to find anything which fit our needs, such as access to an airport or affordable room rates.
Another concern were travel costs (both by car and plane) and lack of dining options. We wanted to find somewhere that would be able to accommodate the wants/needs of our attendees both traveling to the con and while there.
Q: Did you try to keep it in New Jersey?
A: Yes. We've kept the convention in New Jersey since 2007. We scoured the state and contacted dozens of hotels. Of the few hotels we could find, many were union (which would have an undue burden on dealers) or couldn't meet price our points (nobody really wants to pay $149/night for con rooms).
Q: Did you just move it because YOU live in VA?
A: Fur Affinity is hosted in Reston, VA (less than 5 minutes from where the new hotel is), and has been for over half a decade. Despite having lived in VA for 5+ years, we’ve kept FAU in New Jersey all that time and and worked to keep it there. While where we live is convenient, it’s not the reason we moved the con. It just happened to work out that one of the hotels that contacted us and met all the convention and attendees’ needs just happened to be in the area.
Q: What makes this location better?
A: The hotel is an upgrade in almost all aspects!
- Our hotel offers rooms from $99/night.
- More convention space (about 25% larger than our previous hotel).
- ALL rooms at the Hyatt Regency are suites!
- Pet friendly (up to 75/lbs).
- 5 minutes away from Dulles International Airport (IAD), one of the largest (and most affordable) airports on the East Coast.
- Over 100 restaurant choices within a 5 mile radius.
...I find it very hard to believe there was not a single hotel in NJ that could accommodate the convention. This seems more like a move for the convenience of people in charge.
I honestly think being the 3rd furcon in VA is going to make drumming up attendance much more difficult. And now there's nothing in Jersey. Needless to say it looks like I won't be coming all that way down for a 7th year, at least it was nice while it lasted.
I've been doing the convention from Virginia for 5 or 6 years now, and the drive was never the issue. I always tried to keep it in New Jersey. However, we couldn't secure the dates we wanted for 2016 so we had to find a different venue. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any conventions in the New Jersey area to host the con that really met our needs. We looked in Philly, we looked in Delaware... nothing really worked.
Virginia, however, was able to meet our needs (and more!).
i agree with Junia that it really seems strange you couldn't find a single hotel in New Jersey or even Westchester and Rockland NY or suburban philadelphia or allentown, or even wilmington and northern delaware, that would host FA United.
Edit: Fixed a typo.
And for the record, my little Toyota gets 31mpg on the highway
Your car gets better mileage than that, so you'd be paying even less in gas.
I work in food service and despite working in a corporate dining situation which gives me much more wiggle room to take time off. I cant justify the amount of time id need to take off from work + gas and tolls + needing to work it out with others who ususlly attend with me since their jobs arent as flexible as mine for a 2 day con.
Im sorry to sound crass but the way it seems is that attending cons is quickly becoming less for lower income people and more for people with better paying jobs than myself.
Im sorry to see fau leave nj. I feel a little bitter to say the least. I know its nothing personal. Its just a shame to see it go.