So, I am starting the budget talks with the finance officer here at home and was wondering what folks are seeing as the costs associated with MOTD attendance (not counting any costs associated with getting to and from).
Registration is 10 Bucks. Dinners such as the Welcome and Farewell are optional and run about 20 bucks. If you have never been it is worth it just to get an idea of whats going on. T Shirts are like 20 bucks a pop too, again, all optional. I will state that for you Scott if you attend in 2015 an event and Donuts T are on me. Meals can be had on the cheap if you cook your own. Often a group sharing a cabin will do that. At the lodge it ain't cheap. It is a resort after all. But breakfast at the round table is not to be missed. Lodging is going to be shared at this point. I'm not up on the latest costs. Gas is a little higher there too. Not terrible, but remember this is an out of the way area not real close to interstates. Looking forward to seeing you there this year.
Approx. 100 bucks a night if staying at Fontana unless you share a cabin or camp. Rooms in Bryson City are bout $68+ tax/fees and up. Cabin is probably cheaper in the long run if you want to save money on food and eat in for meals even though the cabins cost alittle more per night. So roughly 100 night plus 10 for each meal plus your "extras"- group meals, t-shirts, vendor row, raffle for who pisses off who first!! etc. etc..
Thanks all. This is actually planning for next year, just needed an idea of what folks were paying while there. I am hoping to share a cabin with Dave.o as I am sure he wouldn't' mind me sleeping under his bed each night........ So if I budget $750 for the stay plus whatever it takes to get there and back I should be safe?
Scott you'll need to keep a hand on your wallet while walking among all the vendors. Better budget for some parts & services. :yesnod:
If you get a room at the lodge, expect to pay about $100 per night, plus tax after their Dragon discount. Most rooms are doubles so your nightly cost each should be around $50, minus the tax. Meals are expensive at the lodge, but there is a great café down in the vendor area and as stated earlier, meals can be had on the cheap in the vicinity. Of course, cooking for oneself is economical and there is a great grocery in Robbinsville.
Scott, you could always create a Go Fund Me for this. People do them for all kinds of BS reasons. Why not to get the world to help you go to MOTD. I'll put in a buck.
Wow. I'm going to direct the next kid who comes knocking on my door asking for funds to go to Disneyland to this website.
I need to set up a fund raiser to get the 1.8 RMW stroker under the hood of the Rat! You can do the Dragon cheap if you camp... I found a nice little trail off of Hellbender last year in the Jeep, you could tell people have camped there before with the fire pits and beer bottles, and a stock height R53 "could" go up it for a good ways... So theres free lodging! If your camping it, bring a propane grill and a cooler! You could survive on a few hot dogs or something along those lines for $5-$10 a day! (Not counting beer, you can spend a lot on booze down there ) Gas is always going to be up there on the $$$ list, and there is no real way around that unless you park the MINI and just run around on a bike, scooter, or the trusty old shoebaru's. So if you really get to pinching pennies, you could probably stay the week at the Dragon for around $300 and be semi comfortable... Unless you are driving a giant brick of a lifted Jeep 1300 miles to get there, then it will cost you about a grand just for gas!
Hmmmm......gotta put the thinking cap on this one so I can come up with a helluva good sob story. :biggrin5:
I budget a grand; that said, we come up all week long, stay in a cabin (single) , buy at least 3 shirts , bring food for at least a few meals (pizza in the Grill at least once while there) and "sometimes" (depends on the Casino and the booze) have a little leftover to throw in next year's pot
A big part of the budget is lodging. If you stay at Fontana and split a cabin with a group its not bad maybe $550 (per Person) *that's my cost after the 3 way split for the week. We pay off our whole week in advance so we don't have to deal with it when we are there. Our group has two cabins and we bring our own food (Dinners) and have group meals so we really do not buy any food except when we take a day drives and stop for lunch. After $10 registration + any event t-shirts you buy its just fuel and whatever you want to spend your money on when you walk down vendor's row.
Don't forget to budget an extra $500 for when you walk into the Helix tent and get light-headed with all of the stuff you need for your MINI. Remember, we do lay-away.
If gas prices continue on the trend they're on now, this year might be the least expensive to go in history, with gas under $2 you can pay for your lodging with the savings! At 5000+ miles roundtrip, gas would have been around $800 - $1,000 alone, at less than half that at current prices you've just paid for most of your lodging! We have a local club member who's done MTTS twice now - the whole thing - 11,000 miles and two weeks on the road, wonder what he spends?
Ya...the costs of travelling to and from is known, just didn't know how much folks were spending once there.