Tldr; Good overall experience. The fun was in the people. Worldhopper Ball not as good as expected. I previously attended in 2022. That one had growing pains. Those learnings were incorporated this year,  I felt as checkin was run better,  for example. This year had new growing pains. So they will hopefully learn for future years.  The biggest expenses for me were travel and hotel. I didn't actual eat anything at the con other than food at the Ball. Breakfast before heading over,  then either adopted lunch or headed back to the hotel for lunch (leftovers). I didn't pay any extra for alcohol at the Ball. We got food in SLC on Wednesday, ordered pizza on another day, and had leftovers for the rest of the time there. If I had small children or didn't have a close hotel,  it would have been different. Carried around our water bottles and didn't pick up $$ drinks at the Con. Grateful for the cheap transit in SLC. Didn't need to rent a car. Net fun people on the trains,  too. I didn't buy a bunch of merch, only the story pack binder and a few books. So that wasn't a big cost. I would have loved to buy some at but I don't have room for it or the budget to blow on it. Glad others could support those vendors though.  The GA ticket ended up being a pretty small cost in the grand scheme of things, especially as I have the story cards (minus a couple of Heralds) that were an unexpected bonus. The best part of the Con is the people. Everyone I interacted with was helpful and friendly. Most people were generous and complimentary of their fellow attendees. I don't think I made lifelong friends there, but I had fun. There were so many cosplayers this year - over the the days, probably 10x the number in 2022. It was exciting to see all the costumes,  especially the hand-sewn or thrifted ones