Hershey RV show Sept 13-17, 2017

[PaHunter]

The time is drawing near, and once again it will be here. The largest RV show around. Time to look at new campers, and check out vendors, etc.
Who will be attending this year ?? I will be, I will be there the morning of Sept 16th.

 

[peg110]

Maybe this year will be the year we actually make it there. Of course the Drive for you know, Chris, will be significantly LESS then it used to be.

 

[PaHunter]

Maybe this year will be the year we actually make it there. Of course the Drive for you know, Chris, will be significantly LESS then it used to be.

Yes, it is a bit shorter of a drive then it was in prior years. Was a 2 hour 15 min ride before, now it is just about a 30 min ride over. Of course this also means if I want to attend the show any other time and well Sat also, the trailer needs to be ready to travel, as I will be leaving the morning of the 17th to head to the Fort.
And Paul, it is not that bad, I can make it to my parents, about 10 mins from your place in two hours. That brings me right by the exit for the Farm Show, and up 81. So should only take you about 1 hour 30 mins, maybe 1 hour 45 mins at most. 81 is not so bad now that they have finished up the large construction project around the 100 mile marker.

 

[FtW Mike]

My DW Lucille and I plan to attend but more than likely will go before the weekend hits. Looking at Pinch Pond CG as place to stay

 

[PaHunter]

My DW Lucille and I plan to attend but more than likely will go before the weekend hits. Looking at Pinch Pond CG as place to stay

We may go during the week also, but on Sat, the DW and I will actually be working a booth there from her employer.

 

[kmccain]

I will be there! We are going on Friday the 15th. We are about 2.5 hours so we go down on Thursday and make a weekend of it. We are staying at Jonestown KOA this year for the first time. Have see traffic is mostly from the south on Saturday so staying to the north so we wont have trouble getting to the outlets on Saturday..

 

[RowdyPiper]

Who is attending? My wife and I will be there Saturday. It will be my first show and we will be entering the camping world.

 

[PaHunter]

DW and I will be there Saturday from show opening until about 230. Then home for some much needed sleep and on the road headed for the Fort.

BTW there is a Hershey Show thread started back in July on the Camping Community Board.

 

[2goofycampers]

Merged these 2 threads. This show is on my bucket list.

 

[topiney]

We will be there but not sure which day. We only live about 45 minutes away so we can either hop down on the weekend or go after work. Hope everyone enjoys their time at the show!!!

 

[PaHunter]

Well stopped over at the RV show tonight, and we will not be returning. Yes we will be there Sat, I made a commitment and will honor that.
The RV show has decide to put up metal detectors prior to entering, under the farce of public security. The check point is manned by unarmed civilian rent a cops. They would not even let an off duty LEO in with his weapon. So in future years we will not attend, sadly.
Last year it was completely open, I have a CC permit and took mine in no problem, so not sure why it is such a big terrorist target now.
So if you plan to attend be aware, pocket knives, etc are not permitted. So all you old boy scouts, leave them at home.

 

[sirenia88]

Going to the show on Saturday. Staying over locally for Sunday at the park. We have tickets for there too. As for the metal detectors.... wow....

 

[PaHunter]

Going to the show on Saturday. Staying over locally for Sunday at the park. We have tickets for there too. As for the metal detectors.... wow....

Stop by and say hi at to the DW and I. We will be in the PA State Parks booth until 230. Enter the arena, make a left and the booth is just up on the right, not very far. We like to meet our fellow Diser's and campers.

 

[RowdyPiper]

So excited to be going!

 

[SamRoc]

We went yesterday and finally purchased the Retro 177se that we have been looking at. Saw the 176s here in Jersey a few months back and our dealer said to buy at the show as the prices were so much better. Met him there and he was completely right! We really love the red and white retro and can't wait to get it in 6 weeks!

 

[PaHunter]

Going to the show on Saturday. Staying over locally for Sunday at the park. We have tickets for there too. As for the metal detectors.... wow....

Was nice meeting the family today. I know it was crazy there today, but very nice to put faces to names and to meet in person.. hope the rest of your day was good.

 

[sirenia88]

Was nice meeting the family today. I know it was crazy there today, but very nice to put faces to names and to meet in person.. hope the rest of your day was good.

Same here. I hope you trip is going well to the land of the mouse as you should be somewhat in the middle of your journey. We left the show around 5:30 PM. It was hot and exhuasting. I was kind of disappointed for the size of the show and really the lack of models we were looking at. I would have really thought with how large the show is there would have been more than 27 million Fifth wheels and 28 million small trailer types. Here are my thoughts.

1) The metal detectors was really gimmicky. I didn't see any real preventive measures. At least when I go to Disney there is some really friendly Orange County Sheriff officers with some friendly Disney security folks. They did have a security person who was notifying everyone to leave the knives and other weapons back at the vehicles.

2) Crowds. Granted we got ther around 12:30 PM on Saturday. There was just tons of people both inside and out. It looks likes it translated into a pile of sales. Lots of sold stickers on many units and notes saying they have access to more than what was at the show.

3) Sales and manufacturer reps. This shocked me. We went through I would say at least 50 percent of the outside areas. We saw a couple of sales reps. Honestly, we didn't get many hellos or HIs. Don't know what was up with. Manybe some tireness or met sales goals mentality. Manufacturer reps seemed to almost be MIA. We did see a few here and there. Just shocked. However I did get some attention when the family and I walked though some $100k toy hauler and we walked out I jokingly said I would take 6 of them to the wife, there was a sales rep at the door and his eyes opened super wide and said I help with you will anything? At which point my wife said he was just joking we just walked through. Really young kid. Must have been his first show. We spent some time at Grand Designs. I was spending some time with one of the units. Checking out the under side and all the exterior. There was a manufacturer rep there and he saw me doing a real walk around. He started coming over and some people started talking to him about some thing or another. My wife and I were tired at this point. SO we started heading out. My wife put the nix on looking and talking to anyone else at that point.

4) Buyers. Two incidents stood out. The first one was while we walked though the Jayco model. I don't know the what was going on. However, I mentioned to my wife about the "high quality" of trim and doors. There was a sales rep basically pressuring in a guy in buying the trailer today for 30 grand! He should sell his trailer since the dealer would not give him any money for it. I hope the buyer came to his senses. Another trailer which seemed to have to seem to have somre really interesting alayout and features. There was a a buyer in there that was being well impossible. He wanted to trade in his trailer and the sales rep wanted to know what the layout, model info, amount owe, etyc. He it think model age and such. and then it went back and forth. I left the trailer to check out the outside, and my wife said it got worse inside as he started talking about hitting objects at a certain speed and if the trailer would handle the impact! She said 2 other on lookers basically looked dumbstruck to the way this guy was acting. My wife thought the person started acting a bit stranger than normal and left the trailer to look for me on the outside.

5) Best booth was really the PA State Parks. Super friendly workers wanted me to visit the state parks. Liked to talk about the Fort.

 

[RowdyPiper]

It was a great experience as we are looking for out first purchase. We were walking around in our purple Jersey Junkies shirts.....
Now I am looking for some input

I like the Keystone Passport/Premier/Elite and Winnebago wifey likes the Heartland North Trail and Jayco

Looking to get into a sub 29 foot travel trailer...give me your thoughts

 

[PaHunter]

It was a great experience as we are looking for out first purchase. We were walking around in our purple Jersey Junkies shirts.....
Now I am looking for some input

I like the Keystone Passport/Premier/Elite and Winnebago wifey likes the Heartland North Trail and Jayco

Looking to get into a sub 29 foot travel trailer...give me your thoughts

We had a Keystone Bullet RB251. We liked it, would have liked to gone with the Premier. AC was a bit loud and located right over television. Other than that was a good unit. We decide on a little fifth wheel this year, so we upgraded.

 

[2goofycampers]

It was a great experience as we are looking for out first purchase. We were walking around in our purple Jersey Junkies shirts.....
Now I am looking for some input

I like the Keystone Passport/Premier/Elite and Winnebago wifey likes the Heartland North Trail and Jayco

Looking to get into a sub 29 foot travel trailer...give me your thoughts

Get the one you love. It is more expensive to up grade than to buy it first.