What you think of VOI 8 in Dallas
- Thread starter Schulmann
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NOTTDADZ
Enthusiast
Hey Andras
I thought the event was really well organized, the service at the hotel was brutal. The road rally was average, the track was lots of fun and the price was pretty high (especially driving from Toronto)
All in all a great time, I can't wait for the next one.
I thought the event was really well organized, the service at the hotel was brutal. The road rally was average, the track was lots of fun and the price was pretty high (especially driving from Toronto)
All in all a great time, I can't wait for the next one.
Been my first VOI it was not what i expected at all after all the hype and reading/hearing about previous VOI's, the first day was by far the best for me, parade was excellent. It then deteriorated, main gripes were:
The scenic tour the following day wasn't scenic at all, nothing much to see. I somehow ended up sitting on the last bus a lovely 4 hour dull trip, all the vipers had cleared off, great. As we pulled up everyone drove off
Rodeo Billy Bob can shove his gruel where the sun don't shine, it was like the stuff you see on old world war 2 movies, prison slop swill. Our bus got lost in both directions to, give 'em sat nav. VOI food as others have mentioned was only average nothing special, with no choice on the evenings.
I was also expecting a few more laps in the Dodge supplied viper(s) only a couple runners didnt help matters. Some of our females in our region waited 3 hours on the sunday for a passenger ride, only to have a load of Dodge people jump the queue, then it was to late for them to have a go, to say they weren't happy was putting it mildly. Standing queuing 30 minutes in a 100 degrees for a lap in the neon wasnt much fun either.
On the plus side, the yellow SRT's being handed over, the paronamic pic, and previously mentioned parade was pretty cool, also that the concept coupe was launched infront of the prospective buyers and not the press was a bonus. Seeing the CC's and Viperdays afterwards
I also learn't never to get on a bus again 
Would I go again ?? maybe, just to see the vipers and some friendly faces.
The scenic tour the following day wasn't scenic at all, nothing much to see. I somehow ended up sitting on the last bus a lovely 4 hour dull trip, all the vipers had cleared off, great. As we pulled up everyone drove off
Rodeo Billy Bob can shove his gruel where the sun don't shine, it was like the stuff you see on old world war 2 movies, prison slop swill. Our bus got lost in both directions to, give 'em sat nav. VOI food as others have mentioned was only average nothing special, with no choice on the evenings.
I was also expecting a few more laps in the Dodge supplied viper(s) only a couple runners didnt help matters. Some of our females in our region waited 3 hours on the sunday for a passenger ride, only to have a load of Dodge people jump the queue, then it was to late for them to have a go, to say they weren't happy was putting it mildly. Standing queuing 30 minutes in a 100 degrees for a lap in the neon wasnt much fun either.
On the plus side, the yellow SRT's being handed over, the paronamic pic, and previously mentioned parade was pretty cool, also that the concept coupe was launched infront of the prospective buyers and not the press was a bonus. Seeing the CC's and Viperdays afterwards
I also learn't never to get on a bus again Would I go again ?? maybe, just to see the vipers and some friendly faces.
Venom 1000TT
Enthusiast
Hotel was awesome! Great rooms, expensive food! Billy Bobs was okay, food so-so, but the bull riding was cool! Parade was okay but at a grueling pace. Road rally totally sucked!! Horrible traffic, road construction held us up for 1/2 hour & nothing to see! But if I had to pay $700 just for the Texas Speedway it was all worth it! That was great to run on, to run the neons, autocross & see the drifting and the comp coupes run. Very cool!
ViperGTS
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In Nashville (VOI7) everything seemed to be much better organized.
I am (and I know a lot of the Swiss people too) with Neil about the
...waited 3 hours on the sunday for a passenger ride, only to have a load of Dodge people jump the queue, then it was to late for them to have a go, to say they weren't happy was putting it mildly...
thing. Too much waiting. Not much seat time at all!
HOTEL: OK / FOOD: average / SHOW: below average.
I am (and I know a lot of the Swiss people too) with Neil about the
...waited 3 hours on the sunday for a passenger ride, only to have a load of Dodge people jump the queue, then it was to late for them to have a go, to say they weren't happy was putting it mildly...
thing. Too much waiting. Not much seat time at all!
HOTEL: OK / FOOD: average / SHOW: below average.
CTViper
Enthusiast
Gaylord Hotel was very nice (Not Ritz Carlton -Maui) But large & scenic. Room service wasn't good, but Room service guy would do anything for a tip!!! Very Nice guy! Parking was fine for me, never had a problem. Vendors area wasn't open enough! I heard they weren't happy with Hours either!!Seemed like every time I had a free moment they were closed. Food was Ok, but when your feeding 1200 people what do you expect! The lobster tail was the worst i ever had, it was rotten, mushy (didn't eat it.) It wasn't from Maine!!!LOL. They had plenty of water and drinks at the track, food was normal (Ok!) Billy Bobs was Fun, Loved the bullriding. I didn't go to Texas for the food!!I partied every night, Limos, Clubs, bars etc! Tech sessions were good, chance to talk to the guys who design and make Viper decisions!! I didn't wait that long to drive the track. I went on saturday, again on Sunday! I took 11 turns, awesome fun That was worth $800 to me. We all got a Goodie bag with viper blanket, paperweight, Beer mug, badge, cali Duster, Mopar claening products,Poster, Leather bag with VOI#8 logo Stitched on it. Bag and stuff was worth @ least $200 i bet! Car Transport was about $300 discount, (I checked) I just had another car shipped to me a month earlier from San Antonio. My wife and I met some new friends and we are flying out to AZ end of Nov to see jets game and party with them. When you have people who have money, sometimes they expect a lot, because they are used to a certain way of life. I myself can go fishing in Canada, Races in Daytona & Indy and stay in a average hotel and be happy! I can rough it with the boys if i choose. Some can't! It was great event as far as i am concerned well worth the money! I would pay $1000 to race around Texas Speedway for 3 hrs! I picked up # 22 VCA Special Edition SRT/10. Best way I ever picked up a New Car!!You could have one every 6 months and i would Go. It was my first and it won't be my last!Oh Yeah i have one of the Yellow Diecast Viper center pieces! they only made 120? I have # 22 of 120!!!
A suggestion to VOI staff: For next VOI try to get involved the locale club to supervise organisation to avoid troubles like these below.
What I liked:
Gaylord Hotel was perfect and this saved our trip.
We had a good place to rest at Gaylord
Soft Drinks were widely available at track
Dallas speedway was nice
The main organisation was good but details were really bad.
What I didn't like:
I think a lot of details of the party/service were carried out/provided by subcontractors (or students) and quality really sucked.
Everything related to Billy Bob (except rodeo demo) was poor quality. Food was so BAD! Beef tasted like if it was from Russa. The ribs were so dry that for each chunk of BBQ ribs I had to take a glace of beer to get it down. The bus service was horrible. Our bus got lost on the way back to the hotel. We left at 9:00PM and had a tour in the worst neighbourhoods in Dallas. I don't know who organized this outing at Billy Bob but the person deserve a big kick in his ass.
Long waiting everywhere at speedway activities. I could have accepted that but we had to fight to participate to each event. The organisation sucked (except on the track itself).
Uncooked ground beef (hamburger) at truck on Friday. Several us got sick ...
No surveillance at parking after 11 PM. However hotel security always reacted once I called them.
Not a single staff was able to indicate us directions (maps were poorly written). All staff was from Michigan
We had an accident at the parade with an uninsured, no licenced 85 Camaro and were left alone on the road side for an hour. No help was provided. We called two times 911. Finally back to the hotel we got in touch with great people who helped us to get the police report.
Shopping hours really sucked. Saturday instead of going to the scenic rally we went on shopping. We had bad feed back from people who attended this rally so to avoid new troubles we just skipped it ... Shopping wasn't so great. It was difficult to buy staffs for our vipers (Except t-shirts). At track nothing available just old things ... I and several of my friends had 5000$ to spend on our vipers. We all came back with our money except one of us who just spend 3000$ on his viper.
What I liked:
Gaylord Hotel was perfect and this saved our trip.
We had a good place to rest at Gaylord
Soft Drinks were widely available at track
Dallas speedway was nice
The main organisation was good but details were really bad.
What I didn't like:
I think a lot of details of the party/service were carried out/provided by subcontractors (or students) and quality really sucked.
Everything related to Billy Bob (except rodeo demo) was poor quality. Food was so BAD! Beef tasted like if it was from Russa. The ribs were so dry that for each chunk of BBQ ribs I had to take a glace of beer to get it down. The bus service was horrible. Our bus got lost on the way back to the hotel. We left at 9:00PM and had a tour in the worst neighbourhoods in Dallas. I don't know who organized this outing at Billy Bob but the person deserve a big kick in his ass.
Long waiting everywhere at speedway activities. I could have accepted that but we had to fight to participate to each event. The organisation sucked (except on the track itself).
Uncooked ground beef (hamburger) at truck on Friday. Several us got sick ...
No surveillance at parking after 11 PM. However hotel security always reacted once I called them.
Not a single staff was able to indicate us directions (maps were poorly written). All staff was from Michigan
We had an accident at the parade with an uninsured, no licenced 85 Camaro and were left alone on the road side for an hour. No help was provided. We called two times 911. Finally back to the hotel we got in touch with great people who helped us to get the police report.
Shopping hours really sucked. Saturday instead of going to the scenic rally we went on shopping. We had bad feed back from people who attended this rally so to avoid new troubles we just skipped it ... Shopping wasn't so great. It was difficult to buy staffs for our vipers (Except t-shirts). At track nothing available just old things ...
I and several of my friends had 5000$ to spend on our vipers. We all came back with our money except one of us who just spend 3000$ on his viper.Jay Herbert
Enthusiast
I loved it, but hey, I even enjoyed the Indy Rainfest even though it took me a month to dry out my car afterwards!
I agree on the shopping hours. don't remember the hours at VOI.7.... but whatever they were, they worked better. I stayed for the entire opening banquet, by the time the comedian was done (he was great, that's why I stayed!), only like a half hour left at the shopping, security kicked us out. I'll call that one my fault. I participated in the tour on Friday, shopping was closed by the time we got back.... Finally blew off Saturday afternoons track activities to get to go shopping, everything was gone (somebody must have gone shopping!)and many booths had cars and stuff, but no people... I did buy a nice set of George's (MGW) new low profile A/C knobs for the '94 FrankenViper project.
The track was great, but they did not handle my two driver car properly, and one of us got only track session. I heard later, that the way the two driver cars were supposed to work was one driver went, the car went back to the front of the line, then the other driver went... then the car went to the back of the line for a repeat. In the groups that were handled this way, all drivers of one and two driver cars got at least three track sessions. Regaurdless, it was still a ball to zing around the baked curves. I agree on the track food, My Hamburger was raw, but the yummy cookies made up for it
I like the wide open spaces in Texas, specially the Hill country around Austin and San Antonio, but I guess all the traffic lights and roadwork spoiled this VOI's cruise for me. It amazed me how many stop lights such small towns had! Granbury was very nice, and only two or three stop lights too! It would have been nice to spend a little time on the track at the Motorsports Ranch. (Viper Days will be there in a few weeks for those close enough to take advantage)
I wish there was a way to do a VOI that did not force the price so high based on the hotel food and drink. Food HAD TO BE silly expensive for the event organizers based on the $15 hamburger I bought at the Texas Station Wednesday evening. I was going to buy some finger foods for those attending the Web Site get-together, but at $3 per "hot wing/chicken finger/cheese stick" ($36/dozen), and over a hundred attending, it would have cost $2000 for each person to get enough to know they ate anything.... everyone attending the Web Site Party had a great time without the food, so guess the drinking made up for it
Maybe next time we could do a VOI Cruise? Load all the suppliers and their cars and goodies on board for shopping, food 'till we busted, shows, Viper Seminars, and a few land jaunts to some racetrack on a private island? There has to be a few criuse ships that 1500 or so people would fill the entire ship.
But Seriously, I have enjoyed all the VOI's I attended, and feel they were worth every penny.
Shopping hours really sucked. Saturday instead of going to the scenic rally we went on shopping. We had bad feed back from people who attended this rally so to avoid new troubles we just skipped it ... Shopping wasn't so great. It was difficult to buy staffs for our vipers (Except t-shirts). At track nothing available just old things ...
I agree on the shopping hours. don't remember the hours at VOI.7.... but whatever they were, they worked better. I stayed for the entire opening banquet, by the time the comedian was done (he was great, that's why I stayed!), only like a half hour left at the shopping, security kicked us out. I'll call that one my fault. I participated in the tour on Friday, shopping was closed by the time we got back.... Finally blew off Saturday afternoons track activities to get to go shopping, everything was gone (somebody must have gone shopping!)and many booths had cars and stuff, but no people...
I did buy a nice set of George's (MGW) new low profile A/C knobs for the '94 FrankenViper project.The track was great, but they did not handle my two driver car properly, and one of us got only track session. I heard later, that the way the two driver cars were supposed to work was one driver went, the car went back to the front of the line, then the other driver went... then the car went to the back of the line for a repeat. In the groups that were handled this way, all drivers of one and two driver cars got at least three track sessions. Regaurdless, it was still a ball to zing around the baked curves. I agree on the track food, My Hamburger was raw, but the yummy cookies made up for it
I like the wide open spaces in Texas, specially the Hill country around Austin and San Antonio, but I guess all the traffic lights and roadwork spoiled this VOI's cruise for me. It amazed me how many stop lights such small towns had! Granbury was very nice, and only two or three stop lights too! It would have been nice to spend a little time on the track at the Motorsports Ranch. (Viper Days will be there in a few weeks for those close enough to take advantage)
I wish there was a way to do a VOI that did not force the price so high based on the hotel food and drink. Food HAD TO BE silly expensive for the event organizers based on the $15 hamburger I bought at the Texas Station Wednesday evening. I was going to buy some finger foods for those attending the Web Site get-together, but at $3 per "hot wing/chicken finger/cheese stick" ($36/dozen), and over a hundred attending, it would have cost $2000 for each person to get enough to know they ate anything.... everyone attending the Web Site Party had a great time without the food, so guess the drinking made up for it
Maybe next time we could do a VOI Cruise? Load all the suppliers and their cars and goodies on board for shopping, food 'till we busted, shows, Viper Seminars, and a few land jaunts to some racetrack on a private island? There has to be a few criuse ships that 1500 or so people would fill the entire ship.
But Seriously, I have enjoyed all the VOI's I attended, and feel they were worth every penny.
jwwiii
Viper Owner
Jay;
Your "Viper Cruise" is an EXCELLENT IDEA!
The cruise ships have excellent food (as you mentioned) and most all have a large theatre (or two!). Multiple spots on board all of these big ships have plenty of places for seminars, etc; all while enjoying a wine tasting, etc.
You have a really great idea here Jay. Please present that at your next SRT officer's meeting. NO WAY that trip wouldn't be a success! These cruise ships normally stop every day or two at different islands to let passengers shop/explore while they take on fuel and provisions.
You've got my vote!
Jim W. 
Your "Viper Cruise" is an EXCELLENT IDEA!
The cruise ships have excellent food (as you mentioned) and most all have a large theatre (or two!). Multiple spots on board all of these big ships have plenty of places for seminars, etc; all while enjoying a wine tasting, etc.
You have a really great idea here Jay. Please present that at your next SRT officer's meeting. NO WAY that trip wouldn't be a success! These cruise ships normally stop every day or two at different islands to let passengers shop/explore while they take on fuel and provisions.
You've got my vote!
Jim W.
As much as Jay probably doesn't know this, Steve Ferguson has been suggesting this for years!
A SPECIFIC VOI CRUISE.... maybe some go carts on the top deck (would probably give a new meaning to the term "off track"... or should I say "off ship"), maybe some slot car racing, and of course, Tom Sidlik could bring a vette onboard, and use it as a depth tester during the cruise!!
A SPECIFIC VOI CRUISE.... maybe some go carts on the top deck (would probably give a new meaning to the term "off track"... or should I say "off ship"), maybe some slot car racing, and of course, Tom Sidlik could bring a vette onboard, and use it as a depth tester during the cruise!!
Jay;
Your "Viper Cruise" is an EXCELLENT IDEA!
The cruise ships have excellent food (as you mentioned) and most all have a large theatre (or two!). Multiple spots on board all of these big ships have plenty of places for seminars, etc; all while enjoying a wine tasting, etc.
You have a really great idea here Jay. Please present that at your next SRT officer's meeting. NO WAY that trip wouldn't be a success! These cruise ships normally stop every day or two at different islands to let passengers shop/explore while they take on fuel and provisions.
You've got my vote!
Jim W.
CTViper
Enthusiast
I've been on 7 cruises. But why go without the vipers. Its a car club. I don't need to go with people i really don't know on a cruise. VOI was great Time-- We got to see different cars and drive around the track and FT Worth! JMO
VOI was great Time-- We got to see different cars and drive around the track and FT Worth! JMO
AJT
Enthusiast
Liked:
Hotel was nice
Tech session was good
track time was great
people were excellent
Didn't like
not enough shopping time
Stitching on all VOI8 stuff was POOR
On the duffle bag it was hard to tell what the cars were.
On the hat they used the same color hat as the stitching, again hard for someone not knowing about VOI to tell what was stitched.
Maps & directions were not that great
NOT ENOUGH SNEAKY PETE- I realize Fangs is current logo, but at all the Banquets I think more sneaky pete would have been good. ie images on the walls next to the stages
Overall it was a great experience.
my .02
Andy
Hotel was nice
Tech session was good
track time was great
people were excellent
Didn't like
not enough shopping time
Stitching on all VOI8 stuff was POOR
On the duffle bag it was hard to tell what the cars were.
On the hat they used the same color hat as the stitching, again hard for someone not knowing about VOI to tell what was stitched.
Maps & directions were not that great
NOT ENOUGH SNEAKY PETE- I realize Fangs is current logo, but at all the Banquets I think more sneaky pete would have been good. ie images on the walls next to the stages
Overall it was a great experience.
my .02
Andy
CTViper
Enthusiast
Andy- my wife said the same thing about stitching on the hat! They should have used a different color hat!!I don't think it was me who sat with you. The guy i met was a concrete contractor with his 21 yr old son who goes to TCU and his younger (17 yr old!) He has 2 vipers I think!
VIPER GTSR 91
Enthusiast
Food was marginal, weather great,(for Texas), track- -EXCELLENT. But being from Texas I knew how cheesy the roads would be for the Ralley. Construction is a daily on going thing here, but an unknown gts and myself got up to a buck 75 for several miles. Awesome fun and for you purist freaks there was no other traffic around. 18 months will not come soon enough!!!! OK, time for a quote....
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