ATTN: Raul AKA Airgate
04-26-2006 | 07:07 AM
#22
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 93,291
Likes: 806
From: Nowhere
Originally Posted by RioStwok04,Apr 25 2006, 06:58 PM
This only pertains to lodging, I had a hell of alot of fun as a whole for the event.
Well, for me, I can say that other than being close to the dragon, the food Saturday night was the best part of my trip. It was clearly evident that they were not ready for the large group this visit. Thursday evening check-in was greated with the smell of glue, paint, and sounds of working. Friday afternoon, I returned home to my room at the Inn unsecured, and the operator said a maid just called from my room and wanted to make a call, but she had no idea who it was that was rude to her. How can you not know your staff, though they assured me they were very honest people. But I am sure if my camera equipment valued at about $2,000 was stolen, they would not be willing to reimburse me for their error of leaving my room unsecured. Saturday morning, I awoke to a stream of water coming from the bathroom light fixture, and an hour after I called it in, they said they see my work order and would get on it. It appeared to be fixed after an awesome day on the Dragon. And as I said above, the dinner was the best for me of the entire stay. Sorry, it was that great, but the rest of my experience was worse. At checkout, they gladly accepted my full payment and said no word to my inconveniences.
I did not like the layout of the village, everything was so far away from the Inn, you had to nearly drive just to go visit friends, if you could find them. Thank goodness for the huge light saber from the latino cabin. I even was asked why I was at one of the cabins from one of our participants. Never had that happen, thanks alot! I think the village works great for those in a group, but for those of us still new to the group, it doesn't work out. You cannot hang out in the parking lot and listen to stories about mods, stories of electronics, and just plain commoradery (sp). My last two events worked much better in town. I myself, like the boring resturants, and cell coverage. I don't know that I will stay with the group if it is at Fontana again, just wasn't a good deal for me.
Everyone has an opinion, flame me if you want, I just didn't think it worked great, but had an awesome time with those that I did get to chat with. I made a few new friends, missed some of the others, but had a great time. My car was off to the shoulder while I was taking pictures, and you would not believe how many people stopped to make sure nothing was wrong. That to me makes this event so great, people do car even if they don't know you. Thanks for the efforts by the whole TEAM that put this together, and all the others I don't know, for stopping to check. Hopefully I got you in my scope as you drove off.
Well, for me, I can say that other than being close to the dragon, the food Saturday night was the best part of my trip. It was clearly evident that they were not ready for the large group this visit. Thursday evening check-in was greated with the smell of glue, paint, and sounds of working. Friday afternoon, I returned home to my room at the Inn unsecured, and the operator said a maid just called from my room and wanted to make a call, but she had no idea who it was that was rude to her. How can you not know your staff, though they assured me they were very honest people. But I am sure if my camera equipment valued at about $2,000 was stolen, they would not be willing to reimburse me for their error of leaving my room unsecured. Saturday morning, I awoke to a stream of water coming from the bathroom light fixture, and an hour after I called it in, they said they see my work order and would get on it. It appeared to be fixed after an awesome day on the Dragon. And as I said above, the dinner was the best for me of the entire stay. Sorry, it was that great, but the rest of my experience was worse. At checkout, they gladly accepted my full payment and said no word to my inconveniences.
I did not like the layout of the village, everything was so far away from the Inn, you had to nearly drive just to go visit friends, if you could find them. Thank goodness for the huge light saber from the latino cabin. I even was asked why I was at one of the cabins from one of our participants. Never had that happen, thanks alot! I think the village works great for those in a group, but for those of us still new to the group, it doesn't work out. You cannot hang out in the parking lot and listen to stories about mods, stories of electronics, and just plain commoradery (sp). My last two events worked much better in town. I myself, like the boring resturants, and cell coverage. I don't know that I will stay with the group if it is at Fontana again, just wasn't a good deal for me.
Everyone has an opinion, flame me if you want, I just didn't think it worked great, but had an awesome time with those that I did get to chat with. I made a few new friends, missed some of the others, but had a great time. My car was off to the shoulder while I was taking pictures, and you would not believe how many people stopped to make sure nothing was wrong. That to me makes this event so great, people do car even if they don't know you. Thanks for the efforts by the whole TEAM that put this together, and all the others I don't know, for stopping to check. Hopefully I got you in my scope as you drove off.
If we do return to Fontana, for one I think we'll all be better prepared. I've been there enough times to know that you won't get a usable cell phone signal outside of Alcoa/Maryville, the restaurants in Robbinsville close early, and that amenities are sparse and expensive. My cabin mates went grocery shopping Thursday night (Friday morning?
) at WalMart and stocked up on food (granted, not an option if you had a room). The only mistake I think we made was not having our radios on a set channel all the time. FRS is really the only way to communciate. For DBR, I think it'd be good to have a primary channel for S2000 owners to communicate.
04-26-2006 | 07:25 AM
#23
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 13,826
Likes: 0
From: New Slowmyrna Beach
We should have a fontana channel. Say channel 5, so that people who want to communicate with others have tha ability to do so. This should be an entirely different channel than the one we use running the roads. Each group can, and will, get thier own sub channles. For example this year the So. FL used 11.1.
Also: I made this suggestion earlier, and it may have gotten lost, but using vinyl letters on the windshield to designate screen names was a great idea and should be adopted by those of us who want to be found. A drive through the village, assuming the cars are facing the road, would give you a pretty good idea of who is where.
04-26-2006 | 09:23 AM
#28
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 9,477
Likes: 0
From: South Beach. Sadly in VA
Originally Posted by Willie Gee,Apr 26 2006, 10:25 AM
We should have a fontana channel. Say channel 5, so that people who want to communicate with others have tha ability to do so. This should be an entirely different channel than the one we use running the roads. Each group can, and will, get thier own sub channles. For example this year the So. FL used 11.1.
Also: I made this suggestion earlier, and it may have gotten lost, but using vinyl letters on the windshield to designate screen names was a great idea and should be adopted by those of us who want to be found. A drive through the village, assuming the cars are facing the road, would give you a pretty good idea of who is where.
The One Channel idea is great, the Mid-A guys used 13.1 and it allowed us to stay in touch, who was doing what where, when, etc. So the whole group can bounce from the main channel back to their own and stay up with everybody.I stocked up on food Thursday night, bought $80.00 worth of BEER, food, snacks etc. Was great to have the kitchen, stove, microwave, frig, so that I could eat when I wanted to eat.
So a little planning and co-ordination would have made things a lot better, and I am sure they will be at DBR.
But I still had a fantastic time and would love to go tomorrow.
Mark
04-26-2006 | 10:42 AM
#29
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 12,003
Likes: 5
From: I live in an ER
*The first two paragraphs may be too boring, blah blah blah so read at your leisure*
This was my first year at the Dragon. About 6-7 hours worth of driving to get there (not as far as some, but a pretty good haul) Upon arriving fairly early I got in line to check in.....to my surprise, not ready "come back in about 30mins"
So I said screw it and we all went to run the Dragon. A few hours later, I again tried to check in....this time my wait in line was 3x what it was when I got their early.....still not ready, then she proceeded to move me to a smaller room etc etc....it all got worked out and I was okay with the room, it was one up for renovation too.
shedrivesit stopped by our cabin Saturday night in envy b/c we had LIGHTS....he said that the ones in his room were terrible.....then he proceeded to brag that he had a fireplace...........that leaked We then reminded him that we too had a fireplace - the leak 
****Begin Rant****
One thing that bothered me was the lack of places to eat. If I would have known what our selections were I would have stopped at Wal-Mart like the others did. Not to mention get a cabin with a kitchen. Hell our room didn't even have a clock.
The layout of the place I thought was pretty cool.....I mean if we would have been in town somewhere the "Corner Party Cabin" would have been broken up pretty quickly. Though it would have been better to figure out where everyone was hanging out or had a central party location.....we just said "F" it and bought two cases of beer and partied in our room.
The only good thing about the restaurant was the bar....Im sorry fellas Fri night and Sat morning was pitiful. Friday night at 11:30 we finally got to set down and have the Buffet.....which included two tubs of spaghetti.....two sauces....and hard toast. Our waiter basically told us that they were out of salad, appetizers, filet mignon, etc and that their Buffet was right there....mistake
Not to mention we never got our drink order taken (thank God for alcohol) Eventually the hostess got our water for us.
The breakfast had a little more variety, but with worse service.
Saturday nights dinner was a 180, I liked it....though some others were less than impressed....
I just can't see why they didn't know or expect to stay open later, have more staff, and more food. How long had this been planned and they could obviously tell that every room, cabin, and houses were rented out......
**End Rant**
Being the first time there I think everything went well - the food situation. Now that we have lived and learned, the TEAM can take the criticism and suggestions and use that to make a better stay
I HAVE NO Complaints about the rest of the trip, Raul and the Team produced one hell of a weekend for us and I THANK YOU for all of your hard work and effort.
I HOPE I get to make it to the Fall Run and to many more Dragon events.
This was my first year at the Dragon. About 6-7 hours worth of driving to get there (not as far as some, but a pretty good haul) Upon arriving fairly early I got in line to check in.....to my surprise, not ready "come back in about 30mins"
So I said screw it and we all went to run the Dragon. A few hours later, I again tried to check in....this time my wait in line was 3x what it was when I got their early.....still not ready, then she proceeded to move me to a smaller room etc etc....it all got worked out and I was okay with the room, it was one up for renovation too.
shedrivesit stopped by our cabin Saturday night in envy b/c we had LIGHTS....he said that the ones in his room were terrible.....then he proceeded to brag that he had a fireplace...........that leaked
We then reminded him that we too had a fireplace - the leak ****Begin Rant****
One thing that bothered me was the lack of places to eat. If I would have known what our selections were I would have stopped at Wal-Mart like the others did. Not to mention get a cabin with a kitchen. Hell our room didn't even have a clock.
The layout of the place I thought was pretty cool.....I mean if we would have been in town somewhere the "Corner Party Cabin" would have been broken up pretty quickly. Though it would have been better to figure out where everyone was hanging out or had a central party location.....we just said "F" it and bought two cases of beer and partied in our room.
The only good thing about the restaurant was the bar....Im sorry fellas Fri night and Sat morning was pitiful. Friday night at 11:30 we finally got to set down and have the Buffet.....which included two tubs of spaghetti.....two sauces....and hard toast. Our waiter basically told us that they were out of salad, appetizers, filet mignon, etc and that their Buffet was right there....mistake
Not to mention we never got our drink order taken (thank God for alcohol) Eventually the hostess got our water for us.
The breakfast had a little more variety, but with worse service.
Saturday nights dinner was a 180, I liked it....though some others were less than impressed....
I just can't see why they didn't know or expect to stay open later, have more staff, and more food. How long had this been planned and they could obviously tell that every room, cabin, and houses were rented out......
**End Rant**
Being the first time there I think everything went well - the food situation. Now that we have lived and learned, the TEAM can take the criticism and suggestions and use that to make a better stay
I HAVE NO Complaints about the rest of the trip, Raul and the Team produced one hell of a weekend for us and I THANK YOU for all of your hard work and effort.
I HOPE I get to make it to the Fall Run and to many more Dragon events.
04-26-2006 | 11:18 AM
#30
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 12,760
Likes: 0
From: ghettoville, abq, nm
I think it's cool to see these rants being handled in a constructive fashion.
A central meet/park area would be great for those that want to hang out/socialize without going back to the cabins. Hotels typically don't like to give out other folk's room info, but if we had a supersized map with our nics posted, along with a noteboard, that'd be excellent
If you need cellphone reception, stop at killboy corner
A central meet/park area would be great for those that want to hang out/socialize without going back to the cabins. Hotels typically don't like to give out other folk's room info, but if we had a supersized map with our nics posted, along with a noteboard, that'd be excellent
If you need cellphone reception, stop at killboy corner