6GC florida meet!!! UPDATED!, Magnolia Park, Apopka 02.20.10 Options

[samir0189]

WHEN:

02/20/2010


LOCATION:
Magnolia park, Apopka, FL
Google map

EVENT:

Meet and greet fellow FL 6GC'ers, a little cookout on the grill? Overall just hangin' out. A ~30mi cruise afterward on a wonderful road. Open to changes.


CRUISE:

Cruise Route: S Binion Rd/Avalon Rd


BRING:
-Your 6GC DUHHHH! (if possible!!)

-Food! Burgers, chips, soda, plates, charcoal, etc, etc, whatever!! alcoholic beverages are prohibited at the park.
-Cameras, camcorders, etc.

This post has been edited by samir0189: Jan 18, 2010 - 10:51 PM

[SwissFerdi]

1. Samir
2. Ferdi

If you can do Orlando, it's pretty central and not far from me. I'm down.

[samir0189]

WOO. yeah, i dont wanna seem biased to orlando cause i live 20 mins away from "real" orlando, but it is the most central to everyone in fl. I think we have some tallahassee peeps, and some miami peeps. and it would be unfair to make them drive clear across the state for a meet in either of those locations, imo... itd take the whole day actually. lol.

This post has been edited by samir0189: Nov 6, 2009 - 6:01 PM

[SwissFerdi]

Yeah, Florida's pretty big. Took me 8 freakin' hours to drive from Naples to Jacksonville because of traffic.

Orlando works...and if we're doing something like grilling, I'll provide the burgers...provided that I can get them there with a few hours of unrefrigerated driving.

[samir0189]

there are walmarts in orlando too. lol. We could all chip in. i think a cook out would let us have a better time than a restaurant..

[SwissFerdi]

For sure...there's no reason to go to a restaurant, especially now that the weather's nice out. Cooking out will give us time to kick it. I'm just saying, I'm down to make burgers for everybody (my onion burgers are delicious) rather than having to buy a pack of frozen patties.

[97toyotacelicagt]

this sounds cool,i live in green cove close to Jacksonville,i can do Orlando no prob

[Axel04]

I'll be down for this, but I dunno if my car will be done or not because I still need a clutch lol, but if it's not I can alway's bring the teg.

[yarik83]

After going to a few car meets up north and those that you have to drive to for excess of 4 hours... a few things.

#1 ratio of people who said that they will come vs those that actually show up.
#2 ratio of people who said that they will come in a celica vs those that end up showing up in a different brand car.
#3 location location location. There needs to be lots of place to cruise around, park cars, take photographs and not get lost and or split up.
#4 time of day and time of year.
#5 and probably most important law enforcement. Not attracting extra attention vs keeping order between those that have come to the meet.

With that off my chest let me elaborate.
Many people sign up for just about everything just in case. Unfortunately even with advanced notice some feel that signing up for such event does not mean that they have to actually commit to said event. Of course some show up in hondas, oldsmobiles, mustangs basically to have fun but that kind of negates a purpose of having a "celica" meeting. One of the most important things for people is that they do not want to drive more than an hour. Destination must be picturesque and easy to find and easy to navigate through. Ideally away from traffic. Trust me we tried driving through newark in new jersey with a caravan of 15 cars. Only 4 made it. Others got lost along the way. All we had to do was drive out of the state park, make a right, drive 2 miles and make 1 left. Police "loooove" following us around hoping to issue tickets so that is why some people choose not to come. Heck almost every single meeting I went to ended up in someone getting a ticket on the way to or from the event. Also.. some people tend to show off at the meetings. And yes I forgot his name but I swear next time I see that red celica owner with c-one kit that went with us to lsp meet.. I will punch your lights out. He had fun... almost ran 2 other celicas off the road and while passing me on a busy 2 lane road he merged into my lane and slammed on the brakes because he was about to rear end another celica pulling into gas station. When I skid for 20 feet I literally stopped my car about quarter of an inch away from his rear bumper. He thought it was funny. My flat tires, burned brakes and bruised ego did not. Unfortunately it was not an isolated incident. So... there needs to be a safety meeting prior to anything else taking place. Also florida winters are obviously warmer than north states but our days are shorter. Right now sun sets at 5:45 where I live so meeting would have to be early in the morning like 12am giving time to talk, take pictures, cruise and have fun.

If you ask me I don't think that Orlando is a good area for a car meeting. It is really easy to get lost there.

[samir0189]

I know what you are saying yarik, where in FL are you from anyway?

I know orlando is a very poor area for a meet, the tourists are hellacious ANY time of year, there is NOTHING scenic. and it overall is lame, i cant even begin to think of a place to hold this.

It does not help me that i have no prior experience creating a meet, never been to one either.. so i don't even know what this entails, which is why i am asking for help!

The only reason i suggest orlando as i mentioned before is cause it would be horrible to ask some of these guys from extreme ends to travel 4-6 hours for a meet.

There is a NICE looking park down US27 @ Okeechobee, called john stretch park, they have wonderful scenery, and an area for barbecue (pits provided), but i think it would be unreasonable to ask of our jax/tallahassee folks (if they wanted to come) to drive that distance. Free admission too. It is also in the middle of nowhere, but there is plenty road for cruising, and the nearest town is Clewiston at about 15 minutes away N, with a 24hr walmart etc.

EDIT: I Forgot to add i have no problem with people bringing other cars, or friends or family, but lets not turn it into a everybody in FL meet, id rather that the dominant cars are 6gcs and just mainly us board members..

Ive also been to John U Lloyd park in Dania, a great beach! And also great facilities, cooking area, good for photos i think, but $6/car to park, and once again, a long ride for some of these guys...


http://www.co.palm-beach.fl.us/parks/locat...johnstretch.htm
google map of park

This post has been edited by samir0189: Nov 7, 2009 - 4:26 PM

[yarik83]

I live in Lithia, FL (about 20 miles south of Tampa).

With respect to organizing meetings. I don't think there is a "pirate's code" to organizing anything really. Just announce time and place and have your fingers crossed that people will show up.
People usually tend to show up if there is some really good reason to. For example if there was a gt-4 in that meet I bet you people would be driving from as far as Tallahasse in the middle of the night with bloodshot eyes and 9 gallons of coffee to keep them awake. If there was a dyno event then more tuners should show up especially if the price is right. In some cases this could be a scuba diving event so more people could show up or it could be something like watching a shuttle launch. Regardless of what it is... it must be something so spectacular that it would compel folks to get off their butt and spend time and money driving to that event.

I am personally afraid to go to car meetings. It only adds to my pain of having to keep my objectives in mind. Seeing completed projects or projects in progress will only make it that much harder for me to sell my car come Spring but I guess I could attend pending there are more than 3 celicas showing up if you know what I mean.

[samir0189]

LOL, with my non-experience of meets this will fail big time then. Idk what to do on a small scale and you're talkin bout some shuttle launches. lol.

Anyway, this is just a "feeler" -- if no one but 2-3 people are gonna show up its not gonna be worth the effort imo. And then with the flakers, it'd be just me! lol

[SwissFerdi]

Downtown O-town is obviously a stupid location...but a little ways south, like that park up there, looks fine. I'm with you samir...if five people and five 6GC's show up, it's worth it.

[yarik83]

Here is my suggestion #1. 1 week getaway trip marathon from everglades to Key West. Sometime in summer (well by that time I wont have my celi I dont think). 1 day trip to Key Largo... a day's rest. Trip to John PenneKamp park for those of us who are scuba certified or those who would like a trip on a bottom glass boat. Half of day trip to Key West. Spend evening enjoying sunsets and photo shoots. 3 days worth of driving around, having fun and on final day a long haul back home. It usually takes me 6 hours to get to Key Largo from Tampa Bay area and then another 3 hours to Key West. That is why I always break it down with a morning worth of diving and pleasant afternoon trip to Key West. There is plenty to do there.

Suggestion #2 Since there are no mountains in florida aside from Gypsum stacks in Bartow area, our only option is one of lakes here in the middle of the state somewhere or the everglades or one of our national parks. That could work out if we all travel to location on Friday evening, hang out on Saturday and drive back on Sunday.

[SwissFerdi]

Sorry man, I'm not really down for a week trip. I can do a saturday/sunday for sure, but a week trip is just not feasible. A cruise down Highway 1 would be awesome though, there are beautiful roads down there. But then there's the problem of navigating the turnpike for those who don't know it, very easy to get lost that way.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Nov 8, 2009 - 3:41 PM

[yarik83]

I meant a vacation vacation rather than a meet. That way you can kill 2 birds with one stone

[samir0189]

yeahhh im not for the week long thing either. even a 2-day is pushing it for me.

[SwissFerdi]

I meant a vacation vacation rather than a meet. That way you can kill 2 birds with one stone

It sounds like a good idea, and don't get me wrong, but I'm good on vacationing with a bunch of strangers anyway.

But really, a day or two is the max.

[yarik83]

What if I mentioned that there will be girls in bikinis driving around with us? ;-p He he he

[samir0189]

What if I mentioned that there will be girls in bikinis driving around with us? ;-p He he he

lol. would be NICE, if they are hot**, lol!

sorry i didnt explain myself earlier, lacked time.

I was trying to keep this on a budget really, i know times are tough and for one i know i am tight on cash, so i was thinking 1 day max really. For myself, i really can't afford a vacation, not even for one night, nor can i afford that amount of time not working.

I also think if we asked so much of people we'd have even less of a turn out, imo. a quick one day get together was all i really had in mind... a tank or two of gas to get wherever, and $10-$15 on food from each person and we'd probably be able to feed ourselves 2x in that meet.

This post has been edited by samir0189: Nov 8, 2009 - 9:34 PM