Carlisle '09 Survey

How was your stay at the Hotel Carlisle?

Review Caddy Shack:

Review All Star Cafe:

Review Sunnyside Restaurant:

Suggestions?

How was your stay at the Hotel Carlisle? It was ok. They didn't seem particularly friendly, and the rooms definitely need some work, but the overall facilities are well suited to our group.

Review Caddy Shack: Excellent, as always.

Review All Star Cafe: Ditto.

Review Sunnyside Restaurant: They handled us a WHOLE lot better this time than the last time ('05, right?) The food was good, although last year's was better.

Suggestions? Make May happen twice a year.

What Lane said.

Concur with Lane. Good summary!!

Hotel Carlisle: I enjoyed it as always. Getting to be a little outdated, but I like it better than any place we've stayed so far...
Caddy Shack: didn't go
All Star: didn't go
Sunnyside: food and service was great

Found Hotel Carlisle to suit the occasion. Embers restaurant sucked for breakfast, only one waitress and she was doing the best she could but she really needed help. The rest of the places were super, specially the company, the SOCer's group was fantastic, thank to everyone.

Did not care for the allstar cafe. Food was too generic for my spoiled taste buds. I'm married to a now Amish southern Italian who can cook her but off. The place is also not so quaint being in a strip mall. Maybe we can give Mickey an her a kitchen and they can whip up somthing we can take to picnic.

Marty

Hotel Carlisle's getting a tad old, but there's PLENTY of room for the cars and trailers, it's WAY off the highway and we had space to get together and hang along with the hospitality room (even though Alan had to hassle them for it, but that was a hotel internal problem). I never get breakfast there, but then that's just me.

Caddy Shack was great as always, although it might be nice to visit there with the sun out as we did a few years ago ;>)

All Star Cafe was good once again - I think we kind-of overwhelm them with a group that big coming in all at once, but they did well to handle us all as quickly as they did.

To Marty's point, I had thought of doing a cruise somewhere and then having a catered picnic at the destination, but it quickly got complicated. Maybe next year?? We might be able to do a catered thing on the show field (the Audi folks do every year) but then you worry about rain....

Sunnyside - I had my apprehensions going back there not because of the food or service (it's always been better than good) but just getting the Citroen folks out before us has always been tough. this year they were very good and timely and when Bruce Meyers requested an amplifier and microphone, Nick, the owner, personally went and got it to set up. No complaints from me, for sure! I was on some potent anti-biotics which rob my sense of taste. How was the food at the Sunnyside? I got no complaints afterwards........

Something you folks never see which has VASTLY improved this year was the service of Carisle Productions themselves. This year we had a pro-active event manager (Ed Brieczewski - he contacted me last November to start planning our group event for this year, he brought the cherry picker truck to the photo shoot and arranged for me to contact Bruce Meyers for the dinner) and Valerie Stewart who handled all of the on-field stuff, as well as local logistical stuff as needed (like a list of every restaurant and caterer near Carlisle that could handle a group our size). BOTH of these people took an interested, proactive approach to dealing with us and made my job of organizing some of this stuff a whole lot easier. And it's those little things that people often notice and make the difference between a show and an EVENT!

Let me contrast the Carlisle service with that of the AACA museum: I found their event manager on their website and gave him a call. On the third call, leaving voice messages each time, I got him in person and gave him all of the information to pass along to the front desk (I never trust Voice Mail). He told me it was OK to let everyone pay individually when we arrived and that he would augment the front desk staff and guides for a group of 60 people. NONE of that stuff happened, I was unable to contact him for two weeks before arrival (many phone calls, although his admin always told me he "was in") and when we arrived we were a complete surprise to everyone involved - they never knew we were coming.

BTW: That really great tour guide that we had (no sarcasm there - he was really good) was one of the founding members of the museum. We're lucky that we got him!

So that's it.....IMHO this was the best non-car-building Carlisle yet! (Plus, Wild Bill got a new throttle cable out of the weekend, and we all got to stand around watching Henry Reisner do a parking lot Weber rebuild. In the rain. In a Tornado watch. With lightning flashing all around).

gn

Speaking of broken throttle cables, I have been wondering about coating the cut end of the cable with epoxy. That might strengthen it where it gets squeezed by the screw at the linkage.

The wife and I enjoyed it all to the max, with one "exception"....
The slab that formed the hotel floor was neither level nor smooth, causing the sensation of having been on a two day drunk.....Took all of the first day to figure out what was going on....Good laugh!!!

Mike,

A little trick is to slide a small straight cotter pin next to the cable and allow the set screw to squeeze against the cotter pin.~Alan

And now back to the survey.....

Hey Alan, the cable is a lot smaller than the hole with the setscrew, right? Go to a Hobby Shop, planes, trains, etc. Go to the K & S rack, and grab the appropriate sized brass or aluminum tubing. Slip a short piece on the end for the setscrew to grab, and tighten away. Should look nice and tidy, almost like a factory end. If you are really adventurous, silver-solder it on. To cut the tubing, roll it under an Xacto knife while pushing down smartly. Then snap it off clean, no burrs. DO NOT use a hacksaw, you'll hate yourself.

Back on topic, with apologies. Hotel Carlisle was OK, could have been cleaner, but parking and room is excellent, along with lowered cost this year. My room was plenty big, bed was comfy. The one experienced(I am trying to be nice) woman at the counter could have been nicer, and that is an understatement. But we did get a hospitality room, albeit too small and warm. So overall a plus over the Ramada.

Caddy Shack was good, and I am with Marty on All-Star. Do not order steak there, stick with pub grub/bar food and you'll be ok. I enjoyed the Sunnyside, Jen's and my food were excellent, but it seemed they couldn't wait to get us out of there(half-hearted dessert and coffee offer). Rillos was the standard other places should aspire to, and even Hotel C was pretty good in 2006 when we had the banquet there.

Suggestions:
Keep Hotel Carlisle if the price can be kept in the same ballpark.

Keep Caddy Shack.

Maybe look for a new place on Friday?(brewpub nearby, hint-hint WB!)

Sunnyside or Rillos on Saturday, but a little earlier(Hot-foot wants to cart it up!)

Move entire event to June or later(like that will happen!)

Ahhh the wicked bitch at the hotel desk was priceless, she must have missed more than a few classes at charm school. I was ready to have us as a group stand around the front of the desk if need be to get us a place to hang out. I still need to pen a letter to their Mgm't after I get more responses on this survey .

I have a possible upgrade from all Star in mind for next year.

Rillo's will not take us on that weekend as the local prom kids dine there that same night.

I liked everything. Yes, the hotel Carlisle does look like it's getting a little long in the tooth, but is certainly acceptable at the price we paid this year. It never would have occured to me to eat breakfast in the restaurant; I had Dunkin Doughnuts and great java the first day. And oh my yes, Saturday....and Sunday were egg sammich days. My cholesterol count went up by scores after those wonderful fixes.

Caddy Shack was great, except for the rain and especially the rain and fog on the way back to the hotel. I like All Star. I have since the first time I went there back in '05. It's kind of a tradition and I have always enjoyed it. No, it's not a place for fine dining, but one look at the place should tell you that. I vote for keeping it. Sunnyside did an adaquate job. We could go back or not for my 2 kroner.

All in all, a great event. Thanks Gordon, Alan and Bill for your good efforts. It was, once again, a great, great weekend.
Hoss

Alan, Andy and I were satisfied with the hotel and the dinners. I agree that meeting at a strip mall for dinner didn't fit well for the cars, but the pub grub was just what we expected. I liked the hotel arrangement with parking. It was nice to be off the road and have space for parking and for trailers. Getting together with the other owners is the most important part of the weekend, so having a hospitality room is quite important. I missed dealing with the wicked witch of the desk somehow, so I have no comment about that.

I was actually able to elicit a (very) small smile from the wicked witch. The act looked like it hurt.

The only hotel employee I saw smile was the waitress in the restraunt.....

The whole event was well organized and smooth as far as I'm concerned. Thanks for all your hard work Gordon, Alan, Bill, Dan, Teresa and enyone I may have missed.
Hotel was fine for the money. Parking was good for what we had going on there. Trucks, trailers, cars, repairs etc. (next year I may bring our 10x10 pop-up tent for Henry)
Sports Bar food is the same every where I've ever been and it was all ok. The bars were interresting and they seated us together and gave seperate checks, which I'm sure is a pain for the wait staff.
We both had great meals at the Sunnyside and sat with a fun group that kept the jokes comming non-stop.
We went for the people and cars and were not disappointed. The only food I was really looking forward to was the "egg sammiches", which were world class.
Maybe next year a raw bar or stuffed clams for Friday night happy hour if they make it through the Winter.Thanks for making us feel so welcome. It wouldn't bother me if we did it all the same way next year, except for the rain.

I'd like to see at least twenty posts to give us an accurate survey... Tnx. ~Alan

How was your stay at the Hotel Carlisle? No complaints. I travel so much that it takes a lot to truly disappoint. Having the rooms and cars all togteher and close is cool. Seemed like plenty of parking. All fine here.

Review Caddy Shack: Noisey, but where is it not? The adventure could be improved only by offering some variation, i.e., just trying another spot. There must be several taverns to choose from.

Review All Star Cafe: Agree about slamming the kitchen there, we waited a REALLY long time for food. Only way around this one I guess would be to go to a place that has a buffet. Don't know if there is such a place. The parking lot that allows a nice line-up is always appreciated -- good to show off the cars.

Review Sunnyside Restaurant: very nice, but agree an earlier start would help -- I have yet to do the cart thing, and would enjoy the chance, weather permitting. Also, to speed things up, is there a way to order ahead of time? That can help the kitchen and the attendees too.

Suggestions? aside form above ideas, just add a little variety to the haunts. Maybe when you include the other visitor traffic, local prom night, etc. one's options get limited -- I do not know the area, so can't really say. The idea of a catered lunch, like on Sat at he field sounds kinda neat, but maybe expensive??

The hospitality room is a good idea, but that room was too small and too hot. A little more space would have been nice -- not sure how to affect, nor costs involved.

Overall, I found the whole weekend to run very smooth, so cudoos to Alan, Bill Gordon and ??? for doing their thing so well. Looked to me that Gordon did not work himself into such a frayed state as may have been seen in the past. Or maybe he is just so good and well practiced at this sort of thing he makes it look easy. Whatever the case, all the effort is very much appreciated.

More seating in the hospitality room would have been nice.

I agree with most about most of the stuff.

I actually like the All-Star Cafe, as long as you realize that it's bar food, and not a choice restaurant. I like that we can be ourselves there and don't have to get "gussied up." But I'm not opposed to trying somewhere new.

I don't think anyone's mentioned it, but I really like the Soda Jerk for Friday's lunch. Let's keep that one! And lots of fun roads in that area ...

There's something about the way Sunnyside doesn't really do well at catering to a large crowd. They should have put menus out sooner and had more food-runners to do things like drinks, so that the servers could take our orders. I'm not *really* complaining though ... it is all about the [SOC] people, not the food!

Perhaps we can kart on Friday night, instead of Saturday (since the raffle, awards and speaker all try to be crammed into dinnertime). Saturday's dinner won't have to be so rushed because we'd just be going back to the hospitality suite for socializing.

Thanks to everyone who made the weekend completely AWESOME!

Forgot about the Soda Jerk - yeah, let's keep 'em. Both service and food were excellent. I think they enjoyed us, too.

I must have called over 20 restaurants in the area to find something new. Most can't handle a group as large as ours unless we drive all the way to Harrisburg, Hershey or York. We'll keep trying, but the Soda Jerk was top notch in my estimation, and the wait staff was the best I've seen anywhere in years!! I had hoped to eat right at the AACA museum (third floor is a restaurant) but was pre-empted by the Chrysler 300 club. Still - I think we got a better deal at the Soda Jerk!

Kelly wrote: "Looked to me that Gordon did not work himself into such a frayed state as may have been seen in the past."

Honestly, I delegated a LOT more this year, as my health has been sucky since January and I really didn't think I was going to make it to the show this year. Had everything under the control of others, just in case, and it all went GREAT. THANK YOU to all those who helped out (you know who you are...)

Oh, and massive amounts of antibiotics, Mesalamine and Prednisone tend to make me a little more "mellow". Having Kathy and Jack Russells along helped a lot, too! BTW: Kathy was amazed at how nice everyone was and she had the best time she's ever had at one of my "car meets".

Thanks, everyone!

gn

"Kathy was amazed at how nice everyone was..." What? Did she think we were all like Vince?

No.....like YOU!

I

All your comments will be considered for 2010 however one thing is clear, in the future Karts will be on Friday night!

I'm on for karts! WHoo-hoo.

And I too forgot to mention the Jerk, which was, as all have said, perfect. That's a keeper, and I see they are no strangers to fine shiny cars. Wish it were closer.

OK, I see a "throttle cable" departure from the survey. So I have to share a VW throttle cable story.

Mexico City, late 1980's. On our way to Manzanillo. Flew into MC the night before with a flight out in the morning. First time I ever paid $150,000 for anything. Thank God that was pesos. Next morning, MC airport completely fogged in. Departures and cancellations all over the place. Hooked up with another couple and their two kids. Best we could do was a flight to Guadalajara, figured we'd rent a car and drive the rest of the way, about 6 -8 hours.

Ha!

Flew into G airport okay. Only rental cars were subcompacts. Luckily, one cab driver was driving an old VW MicroBus. We tell him where we want to go. Negotiate a price, about $50 USD per couple. Load up the MicroBus and head out across the countryside. But first, we stop at the driver's house so he can pick up his wife so he wouldn't be driving home alone. Think about that! Husband comes home, says to wife, "I need you to drop everything and head out for a 12 to 16 hour drive!" Like that would go over well in my house!

A few hours in, engine revs drop to idle. Driver costs to the side of the road. He and I go under the hood. Sure enough, broken throttle cable, luckily, close to the carb.

Bunch of laborers on a nearby farm are bailing hay by hand. Driver goes out into the field, borrows a foot or so of bailing wire. Uses the set screw and coupling off the carb to splice the bailing wire and the broken cable. Then ties the bailing wire to the carb linkage.

Off we go!

God bless the VW!

And now back to our regularly scheduled survey.

With permission from Mr. Merklin (he always made us call him that at New Jersey Replicar Club meetings), this humble MG TD owner is posting his feedback. (Hey, it's not a Speedster, but it is VW powered.)

I like the Hotel Carlisle (although I still call it the Embers). Location is great, past all frantic action of the main strip. Also nice being back off of Route 11. Parking is great. The prom girls are (mostly) cute. For the ladies, maybe the prom guys are too. I didn't notice. I like having a bar on site (although SOG seems to bring more than the USA per-capita consumption for a full week, forget about a weekend!). Apparently, the Kareokee access is a "positive" too. Maybe I'll sing next year!

Even the front desk staff were nice to me! And Sunday morning when I checked out, the front desk was staffed by a lovely young blonde.

I saw a few comments about the rooms getting "old." Well, that'll be the case up and down the strip.

I've been going to Carlisle since the early 1990's. And now I go twice a year, attending the Chrysler weekend too. My Mopar club stays at the Howard Johnson's. Actually, the back half is now a Travel Lodge. We think Apu One sold or gave the back half to his cousin Apu Too. Probably to help him stay in the USA. Anyway, same deal with the rooms. They are "getting old" too. But they are clean.

The only way you will get a "new" room is if you go back to the Ramada Limited (limited must mean "no trailers") or stay at least a half hour outside of Carlisle. NJRC did that one year and trust me, it's no fun adding that to the drive to and from the show field.

I thought the service at Sunnyside was much improved. The food was good too. Hey even Rocky didn't bitch too much! If they can guarantee the same kind of service and on time seating, I would go back.

No strong feelings re Friday night. I drive out Friday, sometimes after working a half day. After the drive, I'm usually ready for a simple burger and beer. All Star fits that bill. And no dressing up!

One other feedback note...Thank you for making the TD owner feel welcome. You are a good bunch of people!

Paul Mossberg
New Providence NJ
1983 Classic Roadsters Duchess MG TD
1965 Plymouth Satellite Convertible
And two Volvos, six guitars and one mandolin. :)

Thanks "President Mossberg" aka Former Pres. of the NJRC.
Now all we have to do is get you & Gloria into a speedster! ~Alan

Always a pleasure to see you each year Pres. Mossberg!

I had a great time!
Hotel in my opinion was a bit run down but for the price I can't complain. I was actually treated very well by the front desk who gave me the group rate even though I had no reservation...

My only complaint was my entre at the Sunnyside. The service was outstanding as where the apps...
The company at my table was great!

Thank you to all involved.

Mr. President, that was the kind of colorful automotive story I like to read.

Hey Cory, this is off topic (again)...

But I gotta thank you for my latest fifteen minutes of fame. Turns out a Carlisle photographer was there last year when I had my chance behind the wheel of hoopty. That photo made the banner of Carlisle Productions web page for the 2009 Import/Kit Car-Replicar Nationals.

Thanks man.

PS: The car looks way better than I do!

PSS: And here's what the NJRC looked like in 1999. Not as many as the Speedster owners get now. But not a bad group for a small club. You'll recognize Rocky & Linda Cimbrec, maybe yours truly. I do not know where Al Merklin is. That's the nose my old Mercedes on a Chrysler in the foreground. Man I miss that car.

http://www.kitcar.com/articles-kitcar/carlisle99/carlisle99-NJRCC-groupshotb.jpg

http://www.kitcar.com/articles-kitcar/carlisle99/home.html

AH-HA!
At long last, the Mystery of the Mysterious Driver is revealed.
Happy to help you with that 15 minutes!
(Lambros, of course, is already world-famous. Everyone from here to Thessaloniki recognizes him in that photo!)

Interesting waltz through history, Paul. I saw the picture of ECB's car sans numbers and racing equipment. Very different look for it.

I was selling ( surprise! ) my 1953 Corvette Replica in the car corral that year ... ~Alan