So, someone there must be on line,whats going on?The rest of us are talking with mature content,showing some adult photos,and not hiding anything with a baseball coverl

 

Are you kidding, lotsie Why would they be online while in Vegas Too many other things to do like gambling & dancing girls

Lois

 

Just got back! I was going to drive but at 4pm on Friday, and not having left my house yet, I decided to cash in a free ticket and take the hour flight....much better idea!

great times! I took some pix. i'll post those in a bit. they're all still up there having a laugh I presume

the palace is a terrible, terrible hotel. i really wish the organizers didn't decide on that place, but other than that, lots of hot MINIs!! and one of our own AZ owners won the raffle for a vacucam so expect to see lots of vids from us soon!

 

At least one moderator must have gone on-line. I posted a baseball comment on the "mods are in Vegas" thread sndwave started. The thread disappeared.

I will be good X 100 times on the blackboard.

I get no kicks from the new mega Vegas but enjoy the historic sleaze factor of the old strip. The Golden Gate Hotel is my recommended place to stay. But if I were in Vegas, I'd hop in the car and head to the Grand Canyon.

Hope all are having a good time.

 

Same here, ini The sleaze is great to gawk & laugh at but I prefer a nice drive to the desert or a peaceful ride on Lake Mead:smile: However, you can do some nice shopping in Vegas But then that's a girl thing Our time share is in Vegas but haven't been there for several years. Much prefer Florida or Hawaii:smile:

Lois

 

Cheap flights and lodging are the primary draw for me. I actually got a $15 room at one of the newer casinos off the strip once. I like to absorb the neon sleazy excess for one night only coming and going to the beautiful areas in nearby N. Arizona. The contrast adds to my appreciation of the natural beauty.

Of course the cheap rooms are a ploy to get more $ from the slots. I was certain I could resist them, but gave in and won the first time. Oh how I wish I'd quit then. I coulda been a contender that beat Vegas instead of the lousy broke tourist I was.

 

Haf, I thought that Palace was ok, I stayed there Thursday and Friday.

The main reasons we went with Palace were that they gave us a great room rate (compared to the other hotels reasonably close to the Strip) and they really were happy to work with us on the whole parking situation.

We don't know if we'll go back there for next year. We're going to explore hotel options every year I think. The same way we're going to try to change up the drives every year. We want people to keep coming back, and that only happens when it's not exactly the same as last year.

I think that part of why other hotels were less generous on room rates may have had something to do with the fact that NASCAR weekend in Vegas is usually the 1st weekend in March. They didn't realize that NASCAR is here THIS weekend this year. NASCAR weekend, you have trouble finding a room at ANY price if you leave it too late.

But when the survey is on the website, please respond, tell us what you didn't like about the hotel It may have been something unusual that only hit a couple of people and wasn't representative. Or email me at AMVIV2@gmail.com

 

Get OUT, Haf! The Palace was fine! I was in the Tower and liked it a lot! It was easier than dealing with the Strip, close to the freeways, and we had fun there! I'd go there again!

**moving this thread from Off Topic to AMVIV-2005**


Clover

 

I, personally, think Palace Station was a great location. The rates were the best, the parking can't be beat, and the access to the freeway is convenient. Best of all, you avoid the traffic on the Strip.

There is a difference, however, in the Tower and Garden rooms, which is why we offered the choice. Some need to have the real nice room, others don't care, cuz they aren't going to be in the room anyway.

I have only heard a couple negative reviews of Palace Station. Overall, I think people were pleased with the hotel and the location.

My 2 cents.

 

The access from the hotel tower (we were on the "14th" floor... LOL ...overlooking the top of the parking structure which allowed us to watch people hanging out with the MINIs [and detailing them morning, noon and night]), was awesomely easy! Our tower room was VERY nice and the elevator was FAST!

I saw the garden rooms, and they were very basic, in a rather maze-like layout, meaning that I would have had a hard time finding my room amongst them! Maybe they are the only ones that Hafid saw???

Clover

 

I thought the Palace was a good location personally. I couldn't imagine staging all those runs from the middle of the strip. Hafid, did you have a Tower or a Courtyard room? The view from the Tower was great

 

I thought Palace station was great, for location, pricing, security, parking and Tower room was GREAT!

Last year I chose MGM with Clover and Richard, but just to get parking took at least a mile of walking, Palace was much convenient for us. Buffet was much better than I thought, and thank you to SCMC club for providing VIP card for Buffet, I didn't have to wait in long line

 

Sorry to jump in late here, but I agree. I really liked the Palace Station and wouldn't mind it being held here next year. I stayed from Thurs to Sat night (left Sunday morning), and ate at the buffet most of those days. Come on, $7 for a buffet??? OMG, that's unheard of in Vegas these days. And the quality was very good!

The parking was also equally very good. I loved being on the 10th floor overlooking our MINI's. Access was very easy as well.

As Cafemoc mentioned, we stayed at the MGM last year, and I felt like I missed out on more than half the event. IF the runs start late, or schedules were changed, you still would have to battle traffic to get to the starting point, if you don't stay at the host hotel, you miss out on so much. That's why this year I made sure to stay at the Palace Station.

Also FWIW, this was my first time staying there. In all the times I've been to Vegas, this wasn't one I had considered, but now I feel differently.

Finally, great work to Donovan and Andrew for securing this hotel. I can say from experience with the Hofbrauhaus that it is NOT easy to find a location is willing to work with you, that suits everybody, and yet offers a great price! That was the main reason we worked with the Hofbrauhaus, because unlike other venues, they seemed to be willing to bend over backwards to accomodate us.

Heh heh, the reality of that turned out a bit different than what they promised, but that's a different story.

Anyhooooooooo, great work guys!! Can't wait until AMVIV III! And definitely, add some new events, start promoting AMVIV earlier, and get NAM to be a major sponsor!!!

Oh and keep the Poker Rally as hard as it was--OMG, that was insanely difficult. I got stuck on Card 3, regarding Liberace. OMG, I drove for hours trying to find that card. It wasn't until I was at a stop light a block from the destination that I saw a Liberace Museum Bus turning into the gas station across from me--and that's when it hit me "You can't spell his name without an ACE".

 

* note: Richard edited his posting above. The below quote comes from his original posting, prior to his editing.

Hmmmmmmm....


1. Last year only one fun-run started late and that was the Red Rock run.. Those of us who were there on time for the Red Rock run saw that many of the people who were on the Valley of Fire run-run were still not back yet. We took a group vote and decided to wait. All other fun runs were on time per the schedule.

2. Last year's schedule NEVER changed once it was set weeks prior to the weekend. So if you downloaded the schedule from the web site prior to leaving for Vegas, you had the schedule. All events on the schedule occured on the day and time they were advertised (other than Red Rock...see 1 above). Please tell us what schedule changes happened to you last year.

3. Last year there were not starting points, there was only one starting point. The Mt Charleston fun-run started from the Stardust's parking lot. The Valley of Fire fun-run started from the Stardust's parking lot. The Red Rock fun-run started from the Stardust's parking lot. The Strip cruise started from the Stardust's parking lot. The Hoover Dam fun-run started from the Stardust's parking lot. This was done for convenience so there was no confusion as to which place to meet up. Please tell me the different starting points you remember from last year.

 

Hey Dominic,

That's what I was referring to. I didn't stay at the host hotel, so it was a lot harder to get to the Stardust hotel at the appointed time. Maybe everything ran like clockwork, but my point wasn't to say that things weren't run properly or weren't on schedule, but rather, if you don't stay at the host hotel, it's not as much fun, and is a lot more stressful. Also, I recall groups of people deciding to do things on their own at the last minute--going to eat, etc..., and you would miss out on that as well, if you weren't there.

As for the changed times, I was referring to the outdoor parking lot event which I thought the run before that had ended later than scheduled. I just remember, and I admit, my memory ain't the greatest , that I was trying to get to the Park, and I couldn't find it--and I ended up going North on the 15, to a Condominium complex with the same name. Was it Oak Park?? or something like that?

Of course all of that could be wrong as well. After being stuck on the 15 for over 8 hours due to 2 sig alerts on my way to Vegas last year, I barely made the dinner event on Friday, and I remember that took a lot out of me for the rest of the weekend.

 

I have to chime in that I thought the Palace worked out very well do mostly to the close proximity of the parking. These days i rate hotels as to if I have a view of my parked car. I was able to look out my 5th floor window and straight into the front windsheild of my car. The Palace gets a A+ from me

Randy
M7 Tuning

 

I agree with Randy, althought not directly on the strip, the Palace Station we a MUCH better place to stay than The StarDust. In no order of preference, below is my bullet points on why I think so:

* Covered parking!
* Very easy access to the Freeway!
* Parking is close to the rooms!
* Friendly staff and friendly security.

What could have been better? Well, the maids need to learn how to read English. When a sign on the door says "Do Not Disturb", that means no entry and also don't knock! That's truely my only gripe with Palace Station.

 

I'll chime in too. I was in the Tower. I liked the room but hated the location. While those that live in Vegas may want to avoid the strip, many of us had never been there before and would have loved to have had more convenient access to the strip. Yes, we could drive our Minis there but if you are a responsible person, driving after "enjoying" the strip is not a good thing and paying for a taxi to and from can be expensive. Yes, they had courtesy vans, but they were full a lot of the time so it is hard to get a group there. Further, if the hotel is right on the strip, it makes it easier just to go out exploring for an hour. I found it too cumbersome to get to the strip in between events so I did not see as much of Vegas as I'd like.
One more point regarding "enjoying" Vegas. Please do not do 8:00am runs next year. Some people are morning people and some are not (creatures of the night and insomniacs). Those that are need need a little more time to get up and find breakfast.

 

I liked the hotel. I was one of the few with a garden room. I saw the tower rooms and as far as I could tell the only difference was a bath tub, a safe and a view. Oh I did leave out the fact that it was a half mile hike through a maze of rooms to get from the lobby to my room!

Guess that's where the cheaper price comes in. The furnishings and everything else looked identical in the tower rooms and the garden rooms.

I loved the parking and was happy to be off the strip.

Oh also I agree that the 8am runs were too early and I'm a morning person!!!

Huge thanks to Sin City for their great planning! You guys did a great job

 

I am a morning person, and I am fine with 8 AM run. That way I can make at least 3 runs a day at Vegas

I am a Vegas regular, I don't have to visit another casino on Strip,
and I would rather stay away from Strip anyway, Palace station was perfect.

 

While 8AM was early for me, especially after having worked all night for the AMVIV dinner the night before, I think it's ok also. In order to get enough runs during the weekend, you gotta start early. Since I missed that 8AM run, and went for the Poker Rally, but wanted to be at the Boot and Bonnet show as well, that only left one more run for me before leaving the next day!!

I actually thought the Sunday start time of 9AM was kinda late. If it had been earlier, I might have gone on the run before leaving for home. :smile:

re: Strip
I'm certainly not a regular to Vegas, but I much preferred being off the strip. There is just too much traffic there, and being away but still close to the freeway was great!

 

The reason for the 8AM Red Rock Run start was to get as much in on Saturday as we could. I, personally, do not think 8AM is too early. Before moving to Vegas I used to come here once a year for the National Association of Broadcasters convention. They used to host parties until the wee hours of the morning, then schedule seminars starting at 7AM. Traffic is also another concern. You don't want to have to sit in traffic when the point is to be motoring. There are 5 'rush hours' a day in Las Vegas, 7 days a week. You don't want to get stuck in it.

Based on how well-attended the Red Rock Run was, it didn't appear as though the start time was an inconvenience. Never-the-less, we will continue to put alot of consideration into scheduling events next year.

 

I can't believe I'm the only person who didn't like the Palace Station. Who knows. I stay in hotels every week so maybe I was expecting more? Listen, I don't stay in anything fancy or more than $125/night usually which basically means the nicest thing may be a Courtyrad or SpringHill Suites. Our corporate rate normally makes the majority of these hotels around 99/night for the price.

The Palace to me was just disgusting. I have no problem saying this. Our shower was cracked and had a poor shower head. It was set to about 5 ft high so lower half of the body was clean and that's about it. The room smelled, the hallways were dirty...I could go on but what's the point, it was awful.

I just feel you need to give options for people when they go to Vegas. I can speak of a few people who were turned off by it being hosted at that hotel and decided not to go. I'm not one to blow away a lot of money, but I think the option to stay at a better hotel might be a suggestion to consider in the future. Yes, it breaks up the pack a bit, but it's not exactly a pain to have a bunch of Minis cruising up and down the strip to meet up for events!

 

My tower room was immaculate! The showers were clean and had lots of water pressure. The $89 price was fair IMO.

As for the complainers, I can also tell you about the number of people who complained to me about the parking situation at the Hofbrauhaus, and the long lines to get food, and the number of people (fortunately I can count them on one hand) who chewed my head off and my associates because they weren't happy because of this and that. The bottom line is you can't please everyone. All you can do is make the best decisions that will hopefully be satisfactory to the majority.

As for giving options, everyone is welcome to stay anywhere they please. Offering a group discount is NOT easy to come by though, and I would think that if Donovan or Andrew tried to break the group up into more than one hotel, it would be much harder and maybe even impossible to offer a group discount, much less special parking options. I know this from experience!

Just my 2 cents.

 

People had the choice of staying anywhere they wanted. The options are virtually endless. I know of many who stayed at other hotels. I have only heard 2 complaints about Palace Station, and naturally I am pleased. It was our objective to make the event accessible to everyone, and $59 and $89 rates seemed to do just that. I do know, however, that there are going to be those who are not happy about the accomodations.

To those who decided not to come because Palace Station was the host hotel, we hope to see you next year. There are 150,000 hotel rooms in Las Vegas... you can stay anywhere you want.