Travel Tips - Check here before asking!

She said no.

Any specific reason?

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My wife is a hotel GM

I'm a hotel snob by experience/knowledge, not because of pretentiousness.

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Which chain of hotels does your wife work for Gonch?

I need to find me a woman with a high paying job. Any tips Gonch? :) *** Edited 4/6/2004 3:52:29 AM UTC by Chitown***

Gonch - it's the magazine I work for, but it doesn't surprise me she has not heard of it. We cater to travel agents.

Ah, I see, Moosh. Cool.

Chitown - She's currently at a Springhill Suites. It's her 3rd GM position in 7 years with her current company. They own 30 or 40 hotels in both the Marriott and Hilton brands and manage a handful of Choice hotels (mainstay suites, comfort inn, sleep inn, etc)

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I need to find me a woman with a high paying job. Any tips Gonch? :)

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Most of my tips aren't suitable for an all ages forum ;)

No need to explain.

You stud you. :)

I remember the best advice I received from anyone, ever:

"Marry above your station."

*** Edited 4/6/2004 1:12:00 PM UTC by Brian Noble***

Hey there -

Actually, I'm not a newbie - I've been registered here for over a year and I've posted things before. I actually started a new forum topic within the past week inquiring about Six Flags Over Georgia.

I didn't think it would be such an irritation that I posted inquiring about how the park was doing. I have no concept of how it's doing, as I'm in Maryland. Furthermore, it's a trip that's a surprise for my boyfriend, who is not familiar with coasters like me and hasn't been to a six flags ever. You can understand why I inquired. It has alot of significance for me.

I appreciate that someone took the effort to post that huge resource of information at the top of this listing, but I feel unfortunately a bit patronized and that perhaps I'm being a pain by inquiring as I did. I just wanted people's thoughts about the park. Maybe even start a thread discussing how SFoG is going to be this year and how it finished last year. Instead, I've found that my thread has disappeared - can't find it - and I see this informative but general posting that implies it's the end all be all of inquiries such as mine.

I'm sorry if my posting frustrated anyone by being similar to others. I did in fact search coasterbuzz's forums and found a whole bunch of threads but nothing focused on SFoG for 2003/2004. It just seems that there can be a whole bunch of repetition of other topics, but I can't ask some advice about a park that's 11 hours drive away? I can understand how it may not matter to others, but I thought my inquiry might appeal to the SFoG fans, at least.

Again, I'm not a newbie and I understand the constraints of disk space. But I didn't think I was so out of line. And I appreciate the huge posting that began this thread, but I'm sorry - You did not answer my question. I know we don't have psychic powers, and I know that weekends are more crowded than weekdays, and I kno it gets more intense when kids are out of school, and I know about rcdb.com. I guess I just won't come to coasterbuzz for advice on specific amusement parks.

Obviously if your questions cant be given answers by either checking the park's website or by checking out some of the links that were given to help with general information, you should inquire about specifics in the forums. There is no harm in trying to exhaust all of the other leads first then asking here and no one is suggesting that this be the be all end all.

This forum was made so that people here did not have to answer the same stupid questions that can be found easily doing some research.

Please ask if your questions cant be answered by this forum, by checking our trip reports, or by checking the park's website.

"I did in fact search coasterbuzz's forums and found a whole bunch of threads but nothing focused on SFoG for 2003/2004."

Did you do a Google search? Did you check other coaster forums and news groups? Those tips are suggested in the first post.

I can't speak about the disappearance of your post, I'm not a moderator. Sounds to me like you had started a valid topic. But here's something else you need to understand: the park has only been open a few weeks...perhaps it's just too early to get a good picture of how this season is going to be?

You shouldn't feel like you are being patronized by what is said in my travel tips post. I started it as a one-stop shop of travel tips and hints. I've learned a lot as have others. No where did I say people shouldn't ask questions, I merely suggested they do some research first.

You said you did research and I believe you. That being said, it took me about three minutes to find these 6 trip reports about SFOG so far this season:

Report #1.

Report #2.

Report #3.

Report #4.

Report #5.

Report #6.

mOOSH

*** Edited 4/13/2004 4:00:30 PM UTC by Mamoosh***

Erin,

The mods moved your post from the "Trip Reports" forum to the "General Buzz" forum. It was not deleted...

http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=37480

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Richard Bannister said:

Can someone point me to a few example hotels that have a no-under-25s policy?

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No so much a hotel policy, but it's been mentioned here a few times that the City of Sandusky has a law restricting hotels from renting to someone under 21. Perhaps this is common in heavily touristed areas to curb underage alcohol consumption as Jeff mentioned. *** Edited 4/14/2004 8:04:53 PM UTC by Draegs***

No one has mentioned where to get discount tickets for various park. This is the other question that pops up on a frequent basis.

Example:

I just picked up a Six Flags America VIP Card from Mid-Atlantic Federal Credit Union for up to Buy One Get One Free.

Spring: Save $15 thru 5/31/04
Anyday Summer: Save $13 thru 9/6/04
Any Monday-Friday after 4pm: Buy One Get One Free
Fall: Save $15 10/1/04-10/30/04.

However, you must have the VIP Card.

I'm planning on renting a car and was thinking of picking it up in Charlotte and driving it to Atalanta, but apparently there's a sizable drop charge for doing so (with Alamo). Anybody know of a company that doesn't have such a charge or is it standard procedure? One without a large under 25 fee would be ideal.

That's pretty much a standard, industry-wide proceedure, Andy.

coasterguts - Thanks for the tip. I updated the "Saving Money" section with the credit union suggestion ;)

Another thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is Preferred Service memberships with car rental companies.

I travel about 6 times a year for my company so they signed me up for Avis' Preferred Service (free through my employer) and now I use it for all personal travel too.

Not only do you get a discount code that is normally at least 20% cheaper than the normal rates from their web site, but the perks are great. You never wait in line, the shuttle drops you off directly in front of your car, there are never any errors with the type of car you reserved, there are never any errors with the billing, you never get hassled to buy extra insurance or upgrade to a different class. I'm always out of the rental lot in 3 minutes with no hassles. And even if I find a cheaper rate on the web site than the standard corporate discount (such as when Avis runs specials for weekend rates), I still get the Preferred Service perks.

I used to have all kinds of problems with other rental companies when I had to go through the counter to pick up the car, but have had nothing but positive experiences since I got signed up for the membership, plus it's usually cheaper.

Obviously this may not be an available option for everyone, but if you work for a decent-sized company, I recommend asking your HR department about it.

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ErinGoBraugh said:
but I feel unfortunately a bit patronized and that perhaps I'm being a pain by inquiring as I did.

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Erin...You should feel honored to have received the official Coasterbuzz welcome.

wink, nudge, snicker, poke

If you want a good resource for SFoG, visit www.playride.com

Sean
-who doesn't understand why other enthusiasts should be a last resort for help-

Great little secret I just learned (having just booked my room in Muskegon for June 22 over the phone!) --

If you're booking over the phone, check with the representative and make sure you ask her if that particular chain offers any special discount rate rooms. I know for certain that the Best Western chain has a program like this called BestRates. The catch to it is that the representative will book you at the standard rate unless you specifically ask for the BestRate. The standard rate was $99 a night, I asked her about the BestRate, and the price got knocked down to $69 a night.

Even if they don't have such programs, it doesn't hurt to ask and see if a lower rate is available just for the taking -- you never know if you'll end up saving.

I'm posting again just because it's completely unrelated to my last one.

Draegs-- Sandusky absolutely does have a 21-or-over age restriction on booking hotel rooms. I booked a room at the Howard Johnson across from the Causeway and they asked me if I was under 21. I was allowed to reserve the room under my mom's credit card, but they wouldn't give me confirmation number unless someone in my party was over 21 (which, fortunately, one was). Oddly enough, when I booked Muskegon, they didn't ask me at all. And when my girlfriend got a hotel room in Somerset, NJ in September (just after her 18th birthday), she was allowed to reserve the room even though she was the oldest person in the room. Go figure.

I used to drive from Michigan to my Aunts in vermont at least once a year. On two occasions I personally rented rooms in New York when I was a mere 17 years old.