Paul L

No.....No hotels available for August 23-25, 2002. Hard to believe but true. Last year we stayed at the Quality Inn in Enola (best I could find) which was ....loved the used car lot and rail way across the street. Nice view. Pool was a rusted, empty pit. Food was a greasy dinner off-site. 69er , would appreciate your opinion. The show was about 30 minutes away and a two-hour wait off the I-?? to get to the fair grounds. No non-Corvettes allowed to on-site parking. Tickets from Saturday were not eligible for the Sunday draw for the Corvette of the Show. We just walked through the gates on Sunday without needing to purchase a ticket so were excluded from the draw with our Saturday tickets? Soooooo, don't expect hotel rooms next summer. No more on-site camping in 2002. Just a whine I guess. Won't be going back. Don't need the aggravation and cost. Too bad, years ago it was a grand event.

Steve Straus

I just drove there and back every day. It's only like a 1.5 hour drive for me, but I was driving my 4Runner. Next year I'll have a big block 4-speed 69 Vette on the road, so I may need a hotel too.

FWIW I made reservations at a motel 6 and had no trouble at all. I ended up cancelling them though. Are you picky where you stay?

daniel77350

I wanted to go, but that doesn't seem like the picnic I imagined in my dreams. :eek:

What state is it in again? maybe I have a friend close by. :jester

Daniel

Paul L

Steve,
No, clean and reasonably priced accommodations within a reasonable distance are just fine. The drive from Enola was a bit much, adding the 30 minute drive to two hours on the off ramp to Carlisle. Not fun. Thay took much of the pleasure out of the visit from Canada. And the nine-hour drive. Your Police can be annoying. What is a Motel 6?

daniel77350

a motel 6 is similar to super 8...at least the ones Ive seen.

Daniel

Steve Straus

I got there super early and took the back way in. Didn't have to wait on the ramp :)
http://www.motel6.com

Paul Borowski

I'll always go to Corvettes@Carlisle and for a few years had to stay over in Harrisburg, about 20mins away. Have been real lucky to stay in that Super 8 just North of I-81 and Rt 11 for the last three years. What is nice there is the people let you re-sign up for the next year guarranteeing your room will not be sold to someone else. We've stayed in the same room, literally(#223) for '99,'00 & '01. Close to the go-karts too!!! We also leave about 7am for the fairgrounds so we always have no waiting!!! :seeya

PRNDL

The very early soldout condition is due to the many clubs, groups, and travel agents that reserve large blocks of rooms. You can always get a room thru one of these groups, or just wait; As the show dates approach rooms become available. I stayed at the Camp Hill Raddison the past 2 years. Was thinking about trying to get a little closer this year..... except that we found a really nice bar/restaurant on the river in Camp Hill (Gingerbread Man) that we will want to go back to next year. The traffic was pretty horrible. You have to either go very early or take the back roads. MJ

Chuck Gongloff

I've been going to Carlisle events for 20 or so years...since it started. If you think Corvette Carlisle is bad, you ought to go to Spring or Fall Carlisle. Those events are 10X larger. I live about 1 1/2 hours away, and drive up and back every day. There are a few secrets, the biggest being STAY OFF OF THE PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE. Use the back roads. I've NEVER had a problem with traffic. I leave my house early...6AM, and get there at 7:30. With the Sunday "Give Away", you have to be present to win, and they "draw" the ticket at about 4PM. It's an attempt to keep people there, as most vendors pull out Saturday afternoon/evening. Chuck

Tom454

Used to live 2.5 hrs away. Got the whole family up at 4:00 am to leave by 5:00, arrived by 7:30. Once, we got up late, arrived at 9:30 and learned a hard lesson. Sat in traffic for more than an hour even using the backroads. Only once. Hotels/Motels are always a problem, but as others have posted, there are ways around it. You just have to be persistent. You can make it a good experience with some planning. I agree with the comparison with Spring Carlisle- the Vette event is "small time" compared to that. In fact, I'm surprised that they even bother with a Vettes only show when the other shows are so much bigger. Lucky for us they bother.

Next time you're there, pick up a copy of a Harrisburg map that includes Carlisle. The roads are weird- the map helped us a lot.

I always go on Saturday. Went once on Sunday and found a lot of vacated spaces.... so I don't blame them for the ticket/eligibility thing. The idea is to try to provide an event that most people can attend- thus a 3 day event. When vendors & participants leave early on Saturday, it kind of excludes many people who can only go on Sunday (perhaps because they have to work on Saturday). It's a compromise. I can live with it, even though I will never be eligible for the grand prize. If they let you in on Sunday without paying, must be they were having a real slow day or you arrived late in the day. Anyhow, I would try to get a ticket from the booth if possible under those circumstances if this is a real big iissue.

Below the surface of all of this, it's a money making event.... without a return on investment, there would be no Corvettes at Carlisle. They need to entice people to attend on Sunday. But that's why the USA is called a "capitalistic" entity. No complaints there. We could all be riding donkeys in Afghanistan.

Paul L

We stayed for the Sunday draw and just walked through the gates at about noon. Did not need to purchase tickets to get in. Perhaps because most of the major participants/vendors had left on Saturday evening. We did have our Saturday tickets. At 4:00pm they announced that ONLY tickets purchased on Sunday would be eligible. Needless to say I was not pleased. That did not appear anywhere on the ticket stubs. I may change my mind about going if I can find decent accommodation but the draw was a marketing faux pas and certainly left a bad taste in my mouth.

GaryS

I made my reservations for '02 at the hotel I stayed in this year. I called four days after the event and barely got a room.
Gary

Paul L

Paul,
It sounds as if a hotel room in Carlisle should be part of a person's will ;) .

paso

When I went in 2000 I stayed in Middletown and did the early morning thing not bad. Previous year went to VW show in Harrisburg ?? I Gotta try spring show. Swap vendors must have all make stuff?? :)

Tom454

RE: The marketing thing.. I agree. That would have pyssed me off too.

RE: The Spring event- it's truly amazing what kinds of things crawl out from under a barn.
I can do without all of the trinkets and Barbie Dolls, but you see some pretty rare stuff.
Yes- all makes... bikes cars etc.

Juliet

I was so HAPPY last summer when one of my High School buddies moved to Carlisle. :D :seeya So last year's hotel stay was the last one for me. BTW, sometimes some openings come up last minute - when the bookings of blocks of rooms from clubs are released. ~Juliet

Paul L

Thanks, Juliet. I booked early (March?) last year and got the terrible Enola Quality Inn. I will not go into details. The Wife and I had just come North To Carlisle from a wonderful stay at the excellent Quality Inn Virginia Beach to stay at this disaster. I expected franchise consistency. Well, no. You want basic accommodation. There it is. Com'n 69er, get in on this one. That was a pretty grungy place. Loved the pool :( .

Tom454

Same thing happened to us with the "Quality Inn" near the N. Carolina/S. Carolina border off 95 in S. Carolina. The place was so skanky that my wife made me "unregister" and have them tear up the credit card receipt. I figured the same as you... the "quality" should be the same. But NOOOOOO. Since that incident, we always ask to see the room before we let them touch the credit card. Thinking about it still gives me the creeps, and I used to camp out in the woods with no problem. The place was a major biological breeding lab. Ceiling dripping from the upstairs toilet, baseboard moldings ripped off, black mold everywhere, and stained bedspreads and sheets with.... well.... you know. Yuk.

We also had a bad experience in Carlisle since we moved away and have to use a motel now. It happens.


[Modified by Tom454, 9:11 AM 12/2/2001]

69er

Hi Paul.
We were not happy.
It was bad but who knew.
Although we should have known considering we were able to book rooms for gtr1999(Gary),NJ74 Stingray(Frank),you and me that late.
I knew we were dead as soon as we hit the front desk.
A forum member who lives in Enola said it was ok and it is....from the outside.
The place was full.
Just shows how hard it is to get a room.
I tried a few places lately and found nothing.
When we got there Frank became a plumber and fixed the non flushing toilet in his room.

It seems the only thing to do to sort of guarantee a nice room is to find a high end hotel name and pay the bucks if one is available.





[Modified by 69er, 9:20 AM 12/2/2001]

Paul L

Paul,
Thanks for the tip! I was able to book a room at the Super 8, highway 11, exit 22 off I-81. Now I have many months to re-think whether I should go or not. Much appreciated.