Any Traverse City, MI area DISer's, I need help!(list of resorts on pg. 3)

[decker96]

My dad's side of the family has a family reunion every other year. Next summer (2005) we've decided to go somewhere in the Traverse City area because my gandpa's mom had a summer home there and that's where he used to spend his summer as a kid. He's getting older so my dad and aunts and uncles want him to be able to visit there again.
We usually have around 30-40 people depending on how many of my cousins show up. The age range will be 18 months to 83.
We are looking for a resort that people could recommend. We all stay for a week and prefer cabin type accomodations with kitchens. We would need a variety of sizes of cabins (some people only need a one-bedroom, others a 3-bedroom dedpending on the size of their family).
As far as amenities go, there's got to be a swimming pool and a game room would be nice (we've got alot of teenagers) but not mandatory. A place where we can all gather outside is also good. In the evenings after dinner we all like to get together and hang out which is hard to do if everyone is in a condo. Yard, driveway of someone's cabin, big deck or porch, whatever, we're not picky!
Thanks for any info anyone has and sorry this is so long!!!

 

[tkyes]

Have you done a search on the boards by chance? I swear there was just a thread on Traverse City a week or two ago - or did you post that? If you didn't, you might want to see what that one was about.

I'm sure someone can help you out. It's a beautiful area. We were near it a year ago but didn't make it to Traverse City.

Have fun!

 

[decker96]

Originally posted by tkyes
Have you done a search on the boards by chance? I swear there was just a thread on Traverse City a week or two ago - or did you post that? If you didn't, you might want to see what that one was about.

Nope that wasn't me. I did just now do a search and I found a thread asking about where to stay on the way to Traverse City, but none on Traverse City itself.

 

[tkyes]

got it! I guess I should have read the thread before I suggested you search for it! LOL!! Some help I am! lol

 

[sharbear]

I don't live in Traverse City but we vacation up there. It's a beautiful place with tons to do.

I don't know when you are having your family reunion, but summer is high season in the Traverse City area. June is better than July or August. You should try to find lodging as soon as you have a date. Many people rent the same places year after year.

If you know where your grandfather summered it might make a difference when you would like to be. We vacation in the Sleeping Bear Dunes area but there are many other nice area's to vacation. Some places are more expensive than other's depending on the lake. Glen Lake in Sleeping Bear Dunes is very expensive.

The Homestead in Glen Arbor is a condo community that is nice. Two websites to look at are www.vrbo.com and www.leelanau.com

 

[decker96]

Originally posted by sharbear
II don't know when you are having your family reunion, but summer is high season in the Traverse City area. June is better than July or August. You should try to find lodging as soon as you have a date. Many people rent the same places year after year.

If you know where your grandfather summered it might make a difference when you would like to be.

Forgot to include dates! We've tenatively chosen the last week in July (this is traditionally when we've always gone), with the third week in July or first week in August as a second choice. My dad has called a few places and of the ones he's called, so far none of them will take reservations until Nov. 1 at the earliest and most not until Jan. 1.

My grandpa summered right in Traverse City at a house on the lake that his mother's family owned.

Thanks for the links sharbear!

 

[northern michigan]

Let's see what we can come up with.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Been too long to be of any help here, but Traverse City was one of our stops on our honeymoon trip around The Lake back in '71. A VERY pretty area.

 

[northern michigan]

Just saw your post with the dates. Good choice! We host the National Cherry Festival in early July. In 2005 it will probably run 7-2 thru 7-9. You should miss it!

Most of the cabins in TC have been demolished and replaced with new hotel construction. How many families total are you coordinating?

 

[decker96]

Originally posted by northern michigan
Most of the cabins in TC have been demolished and replaced with new hotel construction. How many families total are you coordinating?

Total families -- 11, but some will share. Like usually my parents and grandparents share and sometimes my sister's family and my family share. The last time we were all present (which was 2 reunions ago), we had 7 cabins. However, we've added 3 great-grandchildren, 1 spouse and quite a few girlfriends and boyfriends since then (all those teenagers are growing up!), so I'm thinking this time it will be more like 9 or 10 cabins that we would need.
Also, the resort doesn't have to be in TC proper. I know there are some smaller towns and other lakes around there that have places to stay as well. I would say we wouldn't want to be more than 1/2 hour from TC.
Thanks for your help! I really appreciate it!

 

[northern michigan]

A Great Wolf Lodge just opened here a year ago. Huge game room and indoor water park. It's not within walking distance to either East Bay or West Bay tho. The Great Wolk Lodge does have a great website with photos! I believe it's greatwolflodge.com.

There's also Traverse Bay Inn which is across the highway from East Bay (no real bay view tho), but it does have suites with kitchens, an outdoor pool, and is a short walk from a putt-putt golf place, etc. They have a link in the phonebook www.traversebayinn.com. They have a sister hotel closer to downtown, but still not on the bay. It's called Traverse Bay Lodge. It's link is www.traversebaylodge.com.

www.sugarbeach.com and www.grandbeach.com are right on East Bay with indoor pool as well. These are three story hotels tho. They look nice from the outside. I believe these have the same owners.

 

[decker96]

Thanks for the links! The Sugar Beach and Grand Beach resorts look really nice, unfortunately no kitchens , which I know we have to have. Personally, I don't mind going out for dinner every night and then just having a cooler for breakfast and lunch food in the room, but it's a cost issue for some families. Being I have little kids, they don't eat much, so dinner can be pretty cheap for us!!
The Traverse Bay Inn one looks like a possibility since it has kitchens. It will depend on how big of a place everyone is looking for which is different every time based on those boyfriends and girlfriends!!
I've been to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Wisconsin Dells. My kids would love that! Hmm, maybe we'll have to plan our own immmediate family vacation there so we can stay where we want! LOL!!
Thanks again for the information!

 

[Robinette]

This is a good site to find info about accommodations in Traverse City, http://www.tcvisitor.com/

We've vacationed in TC a number if times. Really beautiful area of Michigan. I liked staying at Bayshore Resort. Right on East bay, indoor pool, good continental breakfast and they have rooms that are ground floor bay side. Which means you open your sliding glass door and you are right on the sand! We had one of those rooms. The kids went to bed and my husband and I sat on the beach and drank a glass of wine. They also have jet ski rentals. That's always fun to do.

Hope that helps. Have fun planning!

Robin

 

[northern michigan]

My daughter's friend has cabins on Silver Lake. I doubt she has 9 or 10. I'll ask her mom this week if she can recommend any. I'm sure she must know the competition.

Do you like rustic type cabins or are you looking for something more upscale. We went to a casual wedding and reception in Lake Ann that had a lot of cabins. I'll get in touch with the bride for the name of the place. We only went in one cabin and it was quite nice! The lake bottom was not a nice sandy bottom, but they did have a water trampoline, shuffle board, and a place to set up a volleyball net for our use.

 

[northern michigan]

Feel free to ask me about any places you narrow your search down to. You can't always trust the visuals on the internet. We booked a hotel in Mackinaw City thru their visitors bureau boasting a new indoor water park. When we got there, we found out the water park hadn't been opened yet and the hotel rooms were old and dirty!

I'll look around for cabins as I'm driving thru town tomorrow. It's not something I generally pay attention to. Any visitors we have stay with us. I bum around town a lot dringing my kids to and fro school. Do you have a timeframe that you want these booked by?

 

[decker96]

northernmichigan -- There's no definite time-frame, just that we'd like to get them booked as soon as they will accept reservations because I know places fill up fast (this seems like a Nov. 1 to Jan. 1 time-frame for the places we've called so far). As far as rustic or upscale goes, the only thing that really matters is they have working kitchens and that they're clean and neat. Decor is not a huge issue, we've stayed in both older and newer places, as long as they are well kept up and that they have some bigger cabins for the bigger families. Some of the places we've found have only 1 and 2 bedrooms and I'd say we'd need 1 or 2 three-bedrooms.
Oh, and indoor bathrooms with showers/tubs are a must!!!! Don't want to go too "rustic"!
I'll ask my dad for the names of the places he has checked into to see if you know anything about them. Is it okay if I PM you with that info?


Robinette -- Thanks for that tc visitor's site. Lot's of great info on there!

 

[decker96]

Bumping for any nighttime DISers!

 

[decker96]

Bumping again!

 

[Strings]

Sorry I can't hellp with cabin information, but I thought I'd let you know you can buy day passes to the water park at Great Wolf Lodge. It wiuld be something to do on a rainy day. I would just avoid the weekend. It gets really crowded.

 

[condoboy]

Lisa,

Try contacting Crystal Mountain. I am pretty sure they have an extensive condo complex with owners who rent. These would be low rise condos like townhouses. I saw them once about 5 years ago - they were very nice. I think Crystal is within a half hour of traverse city.

Also, contact the TC chamber of commerce and the YES!Michigan website.

I own a private condo I rent during the season on Lake Michigan about an hour from TC. I use the www.greatrentals.com web site. They have a lot of TC listings. You might be able to find a group of houses near each other on one of the bays or on an inland lake. Contact Grand Traverse chamber of commerce too.

A little further afield, but you can try these too:

- There is a place south of Crystal Lake called Watervale Inn. They don't advertise much, but they have a number of victorian cottages, an inland lake (Lower Heron) with a nice swimming area, a Restaurant and Lake Michigan frontage. They are near Arcadia.

- On Portage Lake, near Onekama is Portage Point Inn. They may still have some condos to rent. It is an old turn of the century kind of place that has a variety of rooms, cabins, cottages, and condos.

I have not stayed personally in any of the places mentioned, so I can't give you reviews of personal experiences. I just found the properties interesting at one time or another before we got our own place.

Contact the chamber of commerce in all the nearby counties - Benzie, Manistee, etc. Someone should be able to help you find something, although as an earlier poster mentioned most of the old cottages are gone.

Good luck. Let usknow what you come up with.