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Fontana Thread


rawlins87

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2 hours ago, snot said:

So, @Casper are we staying at Fontana next year?

Or do we want to find somewhere else?

I had a shitty lodge room and experience there this year. I left a day early because I'd rather not give them my money. I stayed at Gateway Inn in Townsend Thursday and can't say enough positive things about it. And it's close to gas and good restaurants and cheaper than Fontana.

 

i know I'm not really part of the group but I won't stay at Fontana again

Edited by rawlins87
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24 minutes ago, rawlins87 said:

I had a shitty lodge room and experience there this year. I left a day early because I'd rather not give them my money. I stayed at Gateway Inn in Townsend Thursday and can't say enough positive things about it. And it's close to gas and good restaurants and cheaper than Fontana.

 

i know I'm not really part of the group but I won't stay at Fontana again

What was shitty about the lodge room? 

We had a mouse and the stove shocked Joel. 

I'd love to find a new place. 

And of course you're part of the group, man. 

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14 minutes ago, Casper said:

What was shitty about the lodge room? 

We had a mouse and the stove shocked Joel. 

I'd love to find a new place. 

And of course you're part of the group, man. 

Rooms smelled like mold mildew. Ceiling in the shower looked like they just painted over black mold. (Vent didn't work and likely hadn't worked in a LONG time).  A/c unit ran non stop. 8sec was longest Gap of "off" time. Room just felt dirty. Asked for a different room and didn't get one.  This morning I went to the restaurant in the lodge for breakfast. Took 5 mins to be seated with no one waiting in front of me (not a big deal). After that waitress brought my drink then avoided me the entire time. After waiting 30 mins to order I tracked down a different waitress to order.  Took forever getting bill.  The place was almost empty. Two other groups I talked with had same experience with service.  After leaving breakfast pissed went to front desk to talk the GM.  "Front desk manager" wouldn't let me talk to gm said they busy. I explained my poor experience this year and "front desk manager" was indifferent to the situation and told me she would just talk to wait staff and that was it.  Feeling like I was getting shafted I told them to cancel my next night stay and I wouldn't be back.  

 

Tl;dr

shitty experience

manager basically told me to f off

 Fontana-never again.

 

And why have wifi if it doesn't work?

For anyone that doesn't know me I travel for work and have been in PLENTY of hotels in the last three years. Worst hotel experience in that time.

 

Edited by rawlins87
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36 minutes ago, rawlins87 said:

I had a shitty lodge room and experience there this year. I left a day early because I'd rather not give them my money. I stayed at Gateway Inn in Townsend Thursday and can't say enough positive things about it. And it's close to gas and good restaurants and cheaper than Fontana.

 

i know I'm not really part of the group but I won't stay at Fontana again

If Gateway Inn is big enough to accommodate about 20-25 riders, might be a good option next time.  Not as much on-site offerings as Fontana, but the only other place I know of with that many amenities in the area is probably IronHorse Inn down 28 in lower Stecoah?

Our Willow cabin wasn't the greatest either, and had it's own issues but was basically just a place to sleep, shit, shower, and have cold storage for our food....that being said, most any larger resort type places would work for us all.    

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I agree @Tpoppa.  We chose our cabin because of it's closer locale to the group, but moreso because the driveway was fairly level.  The topography at Fontana can make it tough for bikers to pick the right place  

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7 minutes ago, Hellmutt said:

If Gateway Inn is big enough to accommodate about 20-25 riders, might be a good option next time.  Not as much on-site offerings as Fontana, but the only other place I know of with that many amenities in the area is probably IronHorse Inn down 28 in lower Stecoah?

Our Willow cabin wasn't the greatest either, and had it's own issues but was basically just a place to sleep, shit, shower, and have cold storage for our food....that being said, most any larger resort type places would work for us all.    

 I'm sure plenty of people have problems with they're cabins. All small stuff which you look over because there's not any hotels closer. But anything other time would be a pita

 

Gateway inn and smaller but I think it could do 20-25. Only thing is would have to book way in advance like usual for Fontana because all the Townsend hotels will be full with grom/ruckus.  Either way that's where ill be staying next time I go. 

 

If if you like riding south of the gap Townsend (Gateway inn and other hotels) are about 1hr from Fontana area. 45min to Gap.

Edited by rawlins87
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Cabin was nothing special but fairly clean. I really didn't spend much time there because the weather was great and I was there to ride motorcycles not watch tv. 

The down side for me was not being able to contact home most of the time and a long way to go for a 12pk of Miller lite. 

Upside is leaving or coming back you get to rip down 28 and being able to bullshit around the fire at night without anybody bitching is pretty cool

Edited by Killer_kaw
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6 minutes ago, rawlins87 said:

Should be said again how it was odd all the OR cabins were spread out and not in a group like past years. Just a minor nuisance having to walk up that damn hill. 

I had to plead a bit to get our cabin of choice, but they originally told me they wont guarantee specific cabin reservations, but do grant the group rate?  Weird policy.  If we have a group and point out which cabin we want, we should be able to reserve that cabin without fighting for it.

Edited by Hellmutt
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12 minutes ago, Hellmutt said:

I had to plead a bit to get our cabin of choice, but they originally told me they wont guarantee specific cabin reservations, but do grant the group rate?  Weird policy.  If we have a group and point out which cabin we want, we should be able to reserve that cabin without fighting for it.

We've had entire cabin sections in the past. All next door to each other and never had to ask/plead for it.

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+ 1 for town send area, quick jaunt down foothills and ur at gap area and can branch from there to other routes. townsend as far as i saw had decent stores/restaurants/ some activities around. Just watch out for the local PD who are strict on speed in and around the town. Me too next time will be staying around there if with family as it seems cheaper safer and not far away from local attractions. 

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Our front door and front wall was kicked out about 3", Joel proved the smoke detectors didn't work,  we had a mouse as big as a small dog that we never did catch (even though we drunkenly chased it around trying to beat it to death with a shovel and ben kicked the fuck out of it) and the stove was shocking. Overall though, best cabin experience at Fontana ever. :lol: 

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We have looked around at several places and so far haven't found anything big enough to accommodate a group of our typical size that wasn't all gravel drives, way expensive and parked on the side of a mountain.  Townsend sounds good but is way close to the touristy bullshit and heavy traffic and a long way rom the good roads. Anyone know of anything big enough near Robbinsville or even tellico?

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32 minutes ago, Isaac's Papa said:

Ok. At work now so I can post. 

It's inexcusable to have standing water in my shower. I also hate the driveways and had my bike fall over two years ago and it sustained cosmetic damage. I dont think there's much else to do about that except pick a better cabin. I will be doing that next season. I don't really care about internet connectivity, but the lack of bbq grills is ridiculous. I like bears and want to let one eat steak from my hand. 

do you remember the name of the place in Robbinsville we stayed with the Bear Jew when it was just the 3 of us? Think Kosmo showed up one or two nights and of course the infamous french asshole hating on the VFR.

I remember it being pretty decent despite the gravel drive but I don't recall if they had enough cabins for this size group.

Edited by Bad324
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11 hours ago, Isaac's Papa said:

I actually think Ben should buy a campground and let us squat whenever. 

I've thought about this for years. If I ever stumble into some money it's on the top five list of things I'd do with it. 

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