>>4392526It's worth it though, especially if you pre-reg early. This is how I justify it-
Otakon is $65 minimum ($75 at the door/ last minute). You get from about Noon-1am Friday, 9am-1am Sat, and 9am-3pm Sunday. So it's less than 3 days, and you're kicked out of the convention center at night. Unless you get invited to a private party, the con dies at about 2/3am.
If you pre-reg for DragonCon it's the same price ($65), and goes up every few months until it peaks at $100. The con runs from 11am Friday until about 3pm Monday. Programming is just about 24/7 (maybe a gap between 5am-9am), and you can basically hang out in any of the host hotels 24/7 as long as you've got a badge and you're not using the hotel's public spaces to sleep in.
So for the monetary value, I go with DragonCon, though the travel can be expensive if you're not local.