The Director

Join your fellow Corvette enthusiasts November 7th-9th, 2003 at the fabulous Biltmore Estate in beautiful Asheville North Carolina for a very special Christmas season cruise. The Biltmore Mansion and Estates will be decorated for Christmas, the weather will be cool, the scenery will be awesome, and there will be Corvettes galore. :cool:

Many folks cruised with us to the Biltmore last year and remember the fun we had - over 100 Corvettes cruising up the interstate, through the Smokey Mountains and into the gates of America's most famous castle home and estate. This year we are doing it again bigger and better than ever. Here are the updated details!

The Biltmore Trip is now a 3 day event - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I will be getting there on Thurs. night to coordinate with the Biltmore folks and John C., help set up our area near the hotel, and meet and greet everyone.

The Hampton Inn and Suites are offering a special discount - rooms are normally $119.00 and we are getting them for $69.00 per night! The Best Western is offering special rates at $49.00 - $57.00. Also, the Biltmore Estate is giving us a special discount price on admission.

Here is what you need to do:

1. Call the Hampton Inn at 1-828-255-9220 for hotel reservations. Make sure you tell them you are calling for the Corvette Caravan Rate for November...any problems ask for Randy. OR Call the Best Western at
1-888-230-1228...any problems ask for Rebecca.

2. Call 1-800-543-2961 for tickets to Biltmore House. This is a automated on hold service...you may have to wait for 5-10 minutes at the longest to talk to someone. Make sure you say you are with the Corvette Caravan and are supposed to get a year round pass for $46.00 per person. This is so you will have unlimited access to the Biltmore House, grounds, and facilities for the 3 days we are there...and 362 additional days as well. If you were to purchase one day passes for 3 days it would cost WAY more. :thumbs:

Events are planned starting Friday around lunch and will continue until Sunday around lunch at which time we all depart and return home. Travel to the Biltmore is in whatever fashion and time you like but there will probably be caravans assembling as the time draws near.

Schedule of Events:

November 7th
-12:00-5:30-
Blue Ridge Parkway Tour: Meeting for lunch at one of the local restaurants and then we will leave at 1:30 for a scenic drive up the parkway. Our drive will last approx 2 hours at which time we will return to Asheville NC.

-7:30-
Dinner at a local restaurant

November 8th
-9am-
Breakfast at the Biltmore Estates Inn
-11am-11:30-
Meet in parking lot of the Inn for the “Around the Biltmore Estates Car Cruise”
-11:45-
Meet at front of the Biltmore House - Special Parking will be Provided for fabulous photo ops.
-12:00-
Start tours of the house at your own speed - Special Tours will be avail such as Winery, Behind the Scenes (this one is incredible), Audio, etc.
-2:00-3:30-
Lunch on the grounds
-3:30-
Resume the tours of the grounds and home
-5:30-
Meet at the parking lot for police led escort/parade to dinner
-6:30-
A very special dinner and car show at Crest Mountain Lodge

November 9th
-10am-
Breakfast at the Biltmore Inn
-12pm-
Departure

YOU DONT WANT TO MISS THIS ONE! Call NOW and get your tickets.

Then please email me at jimmck@alltel.net or John at biltmore@johncrowe.com so you can be added to the list of attendees. In addition to the events listed above, there will be some special surprises so don't be left out!

Just to whet your appetite here is a pic from last years Biltmore event.




[Modified by Jim McK, 1:48 PM 8/20/2003]

GB Vette

Kudo's Jim for keeping this cruise together :cheers: :cool: :cheers:

I'll see you there :thumbs: :party:

The Director

Heck, I'm just a cog in the process...trying to be of help wherever I can. :cheers:

Sully C5

:iagree: :thumbs:

jlsru

I was kind of worried about this event from reading other posts.I thought maybe it wasn't going to happen.I have my room reserved and tickets bought.I'm ready!

MHFontaine

I'm STILL in !!!!

BTW, here's a link to the original (now archived) post...

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=596021

Marvin :seeya

GoatVet

Jim

thank you


Mike

HTWHLS

Wait..what happened? I know that the Biltmore cruise is still on but what happened?

I have my room and my tickets..

what's the scoop?

64VETTEMAN

Rooms Booked and ready to go. :hurray: Anyone going up Friday Morning from Atlanta that would want to caravan?

joecaver

I am so glad that this is still on. We have the room booked and will be up there on Friday. This should be great. Thanks Jim for keeping it going. :cheers:

woosch

As we get closer to the date we should plan some meeting points so we can caravan up. Last year we had a nice group head up.

barkingowl

Its nice of you to step up to the plate like this Jim. :thumbs:

The Director

John from the Dark Side and Jim in the Light just did a count. We have nearly 150 people signed up, 7 Vette clubs represented, and people from 9 states and 5 different Corvette Web sites. And heck...this is only August.

The Biltmore folks are providing us with a very special gathering and parking place that overlooks the mountains, has great views, and is perfect for showing our cars, taking photos, enjoying camraderie, and who knows what else. This is gonna be one very cool time! :cool: :cool: :cool:

VERTAGO

Thanks to all that are involved in this! :thumbs:

Several of the SMC'ers are meeting at Cracker Barrel Exit #435 in Newport, TN around 9:00 a.m. if anyone wants to joins us for breakfast....or hook up and caravan on to Asheville!


Look forward to seeing/meeting everyone!! :party:

RVers

Sounds good to us. Looking forward to this great event.

:party: :D

Nunya

Jo and I will be coming up ear;ly on Saturday and meet you guys for breakfest at the hotel.

Sully C5

:lolg: :lolg:

The Director

- UPDATE, PLEASE READ -

I will be posting updates like this for ease of reading as well as adding the info to the main post.

- The Special Dinner -

Saturday night, Nov. 8th will be a very special dinner and car show at the Crest Mountain Lodge. This is an awesome facility just a few miles from the Biltmore with magnificent mountain views.

We will be having a lavish dinner combo of Prime Rib and Cajun Turkey. We will also have a facility that houses 10-12 cars indoors, a stage area for special presentations, and a private parking area overlooking the Smokey Mountains where we will do an "everyone's included" car show.

John and I would like to get at least one or two show quality Corvettes of each model type (C1-C5) for the indoor display. Please Email or IM me if you would be interested in displaying your Corvette inside the facility. :cool:




[Modified by Jim McK, 2:29 PM 8/20/2003]

HRZNHIZ

Jim,

What all is involved with displaying our 1991 ZR-1 inside?

-Maria

Lissa

Add Ken (aurik) and I to the list! FYI, the Baymont wanted $69 for two doubles and the Best Western wanted $52 for two queens. Needless to say, we're at the BW. Already called and got our tickets as well. Yay!!!!


[Modified by Lissa, 9:54 AM 8/21/2003]