FUN show winter vs summer

stevepk

The Orlando FUN show is held twice a year; once in January and again in July. Are these shows equal in number of dealers and quality of material, or is one show better than the other? If planning a flight from out of state for two days, does $500 in travel expenses (flight / hotel / car rental) sound reasonable? Any advice for someone would like to attend the show from out of state? This is from a collector perspective, not a dealer perspective. I've never been.

To avoid any 'it depends' answers, this is for a basic hotel, basic flight (planned in advance), basic dining, and basic car rental.

Correct me if I am wrong about being held twice a year and/or timing.

MidLifeCrisis

I have no idea...except that Orlando in January sounds a lot nicer than Orlando in July.

2ndCharter

The two shows aren't even close in size with the Winter show having well over twice as many dealers in attendance as the Summer show. The Winter show is a true National show while the Summer show is more of just a regional coin show.

RichieURich

Agree with 2nd Charter.

The $500 amount seems a bit low, flight will be a couple hundred, hotel will be probably a few hundred, rental cars are expensive too.

But the January FUN show is well worth attending!

TomB

The winter show is the major show, by far, while the summer show is something that you can easily skip.

Desert Moon

@stevepk said:
The Orlando FUN show is held twice a year; once in January and again in July. Are these shows equal in number of dealers and quality of material, or is one show better than the other? If planning a flight from out of state for two days, does $500 in travel expenses (flight / hotel / car rental) sound reasonable? Any advice for someone would like to attend the show from out of state? This is from a collector perspective, not a dealer perspective. I've never been.

To avoid any 'it depends' answers, this is for a basic hotel, basic flight (planned in advance), basic dining, and basic car rental.

Correct me if I am wrong about being held twice a year and/or timing.

2 nights in most hotels near the show will cost $300 or more. Care rentals now are around $100 per day on up. So $500 seems on the low side.

coinbuf

I have not been to either of these shows, in general, reading the show posts of prior shows from members here it seems that the winter show is bigger mostly because so many live in snow bound states and are looking for an escape from the winter weather. Thus, it becomes a vacation of sorts for many, it will be 70 degrees here today and tomorrow, actually warmer here than in parts of FL now, so the vaca aspect is not relevant to me.

And spending $800 to 1K on travel and food to see what I can see looking at most websites seems like a waste of resources that I could put towards a nicer or additional coins. But many other people place a higher value on the social aspect of the show experience than I do.

lilolme

Two days and one night? Or two nights?

Here is the hotel page from the FUN website. The cheapest hotel is point Orlando $92 plus tax (furthest from CC). You might get cheaper using one of the online 'agency' (Priceline...) if that is something you are okay with (rules and all). There is a shuttle from the FUN webpage hotels to show (indicating every 30 minutes on the webpage). So might be able to skip the rental car (shuttle or Uber to and from airport) if not wanting to drive around. There are multiple restaurants within walking distance if you are a 'mobil' person or a short uber ride (if you have that).

I have no clue about the airfare as it will vary greatly depending on where you are located (how far) and available airlines and your choice of carrier if any. Could be 100 or 1000.

https://www.funshowhotels.com/january-fun-show-2023

Home page

http://funtopics.com/index.html

Screen shot of area map. Hotel point Orlando center left and Rosen plaza lower left. Hyatt bottom center and CC to the right. The Rosen center would be across the street from the Hyatt (below) and to the right. (these are the hotels on the FUN webpage). 500 foot scale upper left.

1madman

$500 seems high. Flights to Orlando should be ~$50 each way, Uber to convention center ($30), and 1 hotel night. You can do the show Thursday/Friday and fly back Friday afternoon.

$250-$300 is more sound.

If you do the show only Thursday, it’ll be cheaper. Fly in/out same day. It is possible

Round trip flight and expenses to the Baltimore show at Halloween cost me $150 for the day

BillJones

The Winter show is one of the major events of the year. The Summer version is a regional show that has been growing year by year. I find it well worth the trip, and I stay over for the duration.

Floridafacelifter

I attend both, but the January show is way bigger.

Walkerguy21D

The more recent summer FUN shows seemed considerably larger and busier than they were pre-Covid. But they still pale in comparison to the winter shows. I’m guessing only the ANA show is larger than the winter FUN show .

keyman64

The Winter Show is at least 50% larger, maybe 100%, not sure. There have been some small Summer shows in recent years. So, based on that, it is better to attend Winter FUN. The weather is also much nicer than Summer FUN, unless you like sweating you buttocks off by merely setting foot outside for 15 seconds. Lol. I would make the decision on the size of the event before anything else. That said, I attend both since I am a ~90 minute drive away.

tokenpro

Many rental cars from decent mid-range vendors (Thrifty, Dollar - not the bottom feeders) are about $30-35 a day right now (Priceline & Hotwire). If you want to go the low end route they are $13 - $20 a day. If you have a car you have a wide choice of decent hotels in the $70 - $125 range within 10-15 minutes away (if you don't need a place with 5-ply tp). More questionable choices start much lower. If you can do your flight & food for $250 you will come close to your budgeted amount.

golden

I have only missed 4 Winter FUN shows since 1973. It and the ANA are the best shows of the year. Winter in Florida is good.

yspsales

I did something similar for the Dalton, GA show a few years back.
Was planning to do the same for an upcoming Baltimore show.

Bailed on the 2021 Winter Show, and $1000 seems about right.

Two days of seminar and enough time to visit the show.

savitale

I have been to Winter FUN once, from Boston, as a day trip. I would say definitely go if you want to go. I have heard the summer show is much smaller and I probably would not travel to attend that one.

Not sure how anyone can estimate your travel expenses for you without knowing where you live as airfare is a big variable. For ground expenses like hotel, taxi/rental, and meals, $500 seems reasonable. Orlando is not an expensive place relatively speaking.

DisneyFan

Every serious collector should try justifying a National ANA show or the Orlando Winter FUN show at least once. I cheat by taking my family to Disneyworld at the same time.

Pedzola

I would love to go but I might never make it. The week following the end of a quarter (for example, the first week of January) is an extra busy time at work for me. Having a job really gets in the way of coin collecting sometimes.

winesteven

@Pedzola said:
I would love to go but I might never make it. The week following the end of a quarter (for example, the first week of January) is an extra busy time at work for me. Having a job really gets in the way of coin collecting sometimes.

Hey! Where are your priorities????

Steve

Dscoin

@Pedzola said:
I would love to go but I might never make it. The week following the end of a quarter (for example, the first week of January) is an extra busy time at work for me. Having a job really gets in the way of coin collecting sometimes.

In 2025 the fun show is going to be the second week of January. You can go that year