I'm very glad you put that the way you did. You may remember last year lots of people complained about paying $26 at the welcome dinner for burger and hot dogs that didn't taste good. As a result this year's dinner was $18 and the food was good. My food wasn't cold and there was plenty of it.

The organizers aren't going to Fontana saying, give me the crappiest cheapest food you can. They're expecting Fontana to provide a tasty meal. Now we know the Grill meal was bad. So next year we'll have to make sure that doesn't happen again.

But don't worry, the dinner thing should be much easier next year for everyone.

 

Everyone?

 

Last year was $22

 

This was my first time......and come to think of it, I think this is my first post.....I had an awesome time! I met a ton of new people - what a great group of really interesting people.

No gripes from me whatsoever!

Thanks to everybody who had a hand in all the planning and execution of this unique event!

 

We're with you... And next time NAM hires a "security guard", please give him a uniform, a kart with flashing lights and a taser so we'll be more intimidated...I've seen better temper control from a three year old...way to go yelling at a customer/friend who had vinyls applied to his Mini at a vendors area to, and I quote, "GET YOUR FN CAR OUTTA HERE!!!"

 

This was the first time for me and my daughter. We both had a great time. We stayed off site about 45 minutes away.

We missed the parade on Friday morning , but this was our fault.
I think registration sould have been more centrally located to the event instead of being hiddenaway down in the bowels of another building.

It seemed to me that the white board message never changed.

We did make the Drve-in, Great job. We made it to the group photo at the dam. Again great job. The Ice Cream Run, great job. The Saturday night run was just "Nuts",:impatient I sure would not want to be an outsider stumbling on to that site at the side of the road in Tenn. It looked like a UFO welcoming party.

I thought the vendors did a great job and their location worked for me. But it did tend to deteriorate towards the end on Sturday afternoon. (Rain to blame here). The car wash was a great idea.

I do wish there was more organized rides, not being from any of the attending clubs I did feel like an outsider from time to time. Overall everyone I met was friendly and engaging.

Next year we will have a better idea as to what to do.

Overall a fantastic job.

 

I'll be back next year with the Smoky Mountain Drive again! Maybe something new as well. I found that leading the drive really gave me a lot more enjoyment to the event and I'm looking forward to MOTD 2008!

 

Don't forget to bring mud tires this time, Aaron.

 

One big complaint - I didn't appreciate getting interrogated and told to move my car by MOTD Staff when my car was parked in the vendor area and scheduled for an install. Completely unnecessary behaviour by your MOTD Staff Member and out of character for the event.

 

+1

I had things installed from:

• Way Motor Works
• Custom Mini Shop
• Detroit Tuned
• GrassRoots Garage
• Aesthetic Creations
• Rogue MINIs

So I was in the vendor area for some time. Perhaps there should not be any installs done at MOTD so than Dragon Cop won't have to deal with cars being in the vendor area and threaten to tow your vehicle.

 

I did not do a drive this year, but since Mark will be doing most of the dinners this year, I'm going to try to organize two drive over the four days.

Several folks have complained about the lack of drives this year. Agranger and I hosted them last year and we were both newbies. I have several great ideas for drives but one person can only do so much. If anyone wants to step up and head up a drive, I would be more than happy to help them get it started. And I know Aaron would be more than happy to share his lessons / experience learned from his drive also.

 

A few more rants after reading last nights posts.

• We arrived Thursday about 2:45PM knowing that kick off was at 3PM I expected a mob scene. I sent my wife to register for the event while I checked in with Fontana. To my surprise she was back up before I had my cabin key. No complaints here
• On missing things and not finding things, well shame on you.. All 3 days we grabbed 2 beers and walked down from our cabin to see what we could see. We poked around just about every place we could. This included walking around and stopping to chat with other folks at their cabins. Thanks for the hospitality
• On the dinners. I will not drop a plug nickel if i don't think something is wort it. I did not see any value in the BBQ or both of the farewell dinners. I did enjoy the welcome dinner. At the welcome dinner the chow lines moved quickly and I enjoyed the chicken. I only drank 3 of the over priced drinks then retired to my cabin for the free ones . For Saturdays dinner we grilled prime rib-eyes for about $10 a person at our cabin.
• As I have said before I think the vendors were in a good location and I would like to see more!
• The MINI parade was billed as a slow familiarization run but turned out to be much faster. If we bill it as such we need a pace car to slow it down some. This was our first time, I think I did fine but my wife wanted to walk back
• I would like to see a swap meet but given how full my car was I don't see of others would be able to bring much

In closing, is It April 30, 2008 yet?

h

 

It was my first time at the MOTD and I genuinely enjoyed myself -- even my wife, a non-car nut, had a good time.
I agree with the comments that the Fontana Village may not have the space or the layout to adequately accommodate everything that was attempted. But, with each year of growth creates new problems to be discussed for next year.
I arrived for registration around 3pm and was off perusing the venders, walkin the village and had half my card stamped by afternoon. Most venders were there the first day. And, ended the day with a tour of the Dragon! Awsome.
The vender area did seem a focal point. I did feel that I was just stopping at there booths just for stamps, but I did allow them to sell their wears and did buy a few things. But the scavenger hunt is done for that purpose, to draw attention to them and in turn we get some great prizes. I enjoyed, during my moments of rest, to sit on the porches of the Adventure and Grill buildings and watch people "mingle" and to see the cars. If it is to grow, maybe move the vender area to where the car wash area was?
I enjoyed the Brew Swap, I thought that was excellent!
Yea, the food could have been better, the BBQ was sufficient for me, but the Grill alternative was less than good for an alternative to the banquet, for us who were new and unable to sign-up for the banquet. The food was over cooked, cold in some cases, and meack serving, but that is my biggest gripe!
Yea and I agree, read the emails and either write down the schedule and instructions or print them out. I printed out everything at work. I had so many people asking where and how, and it was all in the emails and the website in plain english!!! More lines are better!!! If they have the man power, you can always voulenteer!
And the speaker going to boring, most of the time! I have been to too many conferences and symosiums to know better, I just hope for a interesting one once in awhile.
I enjoyed everyone there and enjoyed the driving!! With between 400 to 600 car going in and out of a tight little village, I think things could have been worse -- but it couldnt have been easier or better done. Kudoes to NAM, the Clubs and venders and Fontana Village.

 

This was mentioned in the thread about next year starting on Wednesday. It was suggested that since we have an extra day, we can double some of the more popular events. I say we add an extra daytime run, like maybe a waterfall run? We can do an extra event for the Little Dragons as well. I was thinking a pool party would be fun for them. It could be done rain or shine since there is an indoor pool.

I know it's tradition for the midnight run to be held on Saturday as a final farewell, but some people aren't night owls, or they have a long drive ahead of them Sunday, and can't attend. How about a midnight, or even just a "night" run on another night, as well as the traditional midnight run Saturday? I'm ok with midnight, but I know there are many people who skip it because it's too late.

We didn't purchase dinner tickets for our kids because just one meal for two kids (plus the $5 registration each) was over $40, just for the kids. So we didn't get to eat dinner with our kids at all. For the sit down dinners, it would be great to have a kids meal, at a cheap price. Offer hot dogs and chips for $5-$8 per kid, and they'll be thrilled. And offer the kids meal to teens as well, so the parents can choose to get them a fancy dinner, or a cheap dinner. Parents know what their picky teens will eat, and whether it's worth it to pay the price for the nicer meal.

 

A-Men Kamo... agree completely. We actually didn't do any of the dinners because we knew our kids wouldn't eat their weight in food... next year we'd like to do them - and the kids want to come next year, too.

The pool party is a great idea.

 

A kids' meal/pricing is something that has already been discussed and will be looked into.

 

Someone mentioned in another thread about doing the farewell dinner as a lunch - that sounds like a good idea to explore. If not a lunch - maybe an early dinner - like 3 or 4pm - then there can be an activity, possibly MINI Monte Carlo Night, and it wouldn't interfere with Midnight on the Dragon. Just a thought...

Hmmmm, thinking out loud here - maybe a welcome lunch and dinner & a farewell lunch and dinner - the same meals but at different times. Of course, that would require a lot of man power - but that could also be seen as opportunities for other clubs to do an event. If the meals are simple and spaced about 1-2 hours apart for clean up - actually one plan would just need to be implemented for both meals. People who arrive early can go to the lunch and people who arrive later, like after 3pm can go to the dinner. Then the same premise for the farewell meals - you can choose the earlier meal or the later meal. This would also be able to accomodate more people. Something to think about.

 

I think the titles of "Welcome" & "Farewell" are going to be a moot point in 2008. The style preferred by most, and which would allow unlimited people for the meals, is the rotating meal times where people can come anytime between certain hours to grab their bite.

Would there be tables? Of course. Will there be a structure of prizes, speakers, etc. as there has been up to this point, probably not. I think the dinners will become more of a necessity style event (gotta eat) as opposed to a social event.

This isn't a bad thing as long as we have other social events (beyond the Brew Swap & Monte Carlo night) for everyone to gather. And yes we are working on those as well.

 

I agree that Tent City needs to move. It takes so much away from MOTD when you overlook tents instead of MINIs. A thought on this since obviously installs need to be done on a level area but not much space is available like that. How about seperating the installation from the shopping areas? Most vendors have multiple persons at a tent so this should be something that can be done.

The ball field was mentioned but turned down as a place not acceptable to do installs. I would think a portion of it could be designated for shopping tents only while still leaving room for the drive-in on Saturday. If you want something installed then have that done down in the parking area next to the general store. This would not only relieve traffic congestion on the the main road in front of the general store. It would give the upper parking area back to the MINIs, have a place to walk around to look at merchandise without worrying about cars and the install area wouldn't be as packed.

The parking situation this year was ridiculuos. The only option for most to park was on the side of the street. As narrow and dark as those streets are after the dinners let out. It's not very safe for pedestrians or cars from accidently getting hit.

Besides. What looks and feels more like a MINI event?

This......



or this?

 

SB, I totally agree with you on the look and feel of previous MOTDs and this year near the Adventure Center. Having a large tent for the dinners with the Vendor shopping areas circling it has been brought up and is being considered.

However, the install area you suggest cannot be used. As has been posted numerous times, that area floods during rains and renders it a useless area for installs. A drier place is needed.

 

After reading posts on the Midnight on the Dragon ride, maybe it should be renamed to The Wildlife Avoidance Run or Dodge a Deer Run

 

It would be really nice to see this again next year

If the large dinner tent were moved to the old registration parking lot & the vendors along with it... having the dinners by the vendors would ensure that they still get plenty of foot traffic while still leaving us attendees a nice central gathering place.

 

My question would be how much if any do the vendors contribute in money and swag for the event. If it is substantial I would bet that they would be against being stuffed in some out of the way spot at this point.

 

here's an idea that i guess is multiples of everyone's ideas

Do all the vendors on the grass. All sales take place there. Then they would get a receipt for the mods to be done in the lots behind the grill area or down at the old registration office.

Just another thought of how to keep the vendors together, plus give the mechanics flat ground besides the main area where everyone wants to meet.

 

I agree. Why not put the vendors on the next level down and the installers in the area around the General Store and Wash/Detail venue? If that is not an option, what about using the old "Registration Area"? It's spacious enough and seems dry if it rains [no flooding issues or mudslides].

We enjoyed the informality of the BBQ, and even though the food wasn't warm, it was a heck of a lot better than that of the Welcome Dinner, with its impossible-to-cut, tough, grisly, artery-choked "beef" [which I pitched]. The actual Farewell Dinner was good, but my friend had to go to the Grill for his meal. As stated by many, it was a farce and definitely NOT worth the money.

I tossed the Scavenger Hunt stamp card when I found out Saturday that many vendors had disappeared and that it was impossible to fill the card and become eligible for prizes. This just isn't "cool", given the fact that we pay for all this.

Like some, I think a more informal mixers under various tents would be of greater convenience than sit down "dinners". The tents could be used for serving. People could use existing places to sit and eat, or bring their folding chairs, or just stand around like they always do anyway.