VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Hershey PA.

Need some advice from the pros.I would like to drive to Hershey for the swap meet in October.For me this is about a 9 hour drive only stopping for gas and coffee.Because of my job I can not book vacations anymore than 2 months in advance.Would I still be able to book a hotelroom this close to the event or should I book now and and take my chances on getting time off.What is parking like there.Or do hotels offer shuttle service.

Dan,
Book now! We book ours as we are leaving on Sunday for the next year as do most people. It is like anything else the closer you get the more the room cost, I know the Hershey hotel is around $300+ a night, but out near Harrisburg they are in the $100 range. As far as shuttles I don't think there are any. Parking can be expensive (and that is coming from a New Yorker!) and goes up in price as the week goes on. Do remember that there is no admission cost so the parking cost is somewhat offset, and $40 to park is not all that bad if there are four guys in the car. I am lucky it is only about a 4 hour drive for me, so if it rains I head for home. The show is Saturday, and just standing on the side of the road watching the cars going on to the field is worth the trip. One of the biggest thrills I had was driving my car to the field and receiving all of the compliments.
There is a VCCA tent for people to gather, last year the wind got the best of the tent, and the Keystone Region hosts a picnic for VCCA Members on Thursday evening, you meet members from all over the world. I will guess and say that there were well over 100 members and guests there.
It is well worth the trip, but check the weather first, cause if it is raining it is not much fun, and not much to see
John

Thanks for the info John.Can you tell me how far it is from Harrisburg to Hershey. This will be a first for me, how much walking can I plan on when I get there.

About 10 miles give or take, a lot of us (VCCA guys) stay at the Howard Johnson in Harrisburg. As far as walking that is all up to you, but there are miles to cover!
John

Definitely book your hotel reservation now. You may have difficuly finding rooms available but don't give up. I stay near Harrisburg and the drive to Hershey each morning is fine if I leave early enough to avoid all of Harrisburgs traffic. By holding the motel room with your credit card, if you have to cancel, the hotel/motel will easily be able to fill any cancelled reservations. Check their policy on room cancellations. The Hershey AACA Eastern Fall Meet has often said that about 250,000 prople visit "Hershey" each year. I used to put on a pedometer to see how far I walked each day. My reading was usually in the 10 to 11 mile range each day. I gave up wearing the device because it made me too tired. Figure on between 2 to 3 days if you are going to see every vendor. Definitely buy the official Hershey program for about $3. That way you can see who is listed as selling what you might be looking for. The program also gives you great maps of the vendor fields. Without the directory/maps, you could be somewhat lost at Hershey. In years gone past, when it rained, the swap meet was usually over. Now if it rains early in the meet, it just might still go on as scheduled. Virtually every swap meet field is on blacktop. Blacktop is great for rain cause there is no mud, but you can become a little tired with walking. Wear comfortable walking shoes.
Hershey 2007 will be my 37th year. Hope to see you there on Wednesday October 3rd thru Saturday October 6th, 2007. Stop by the official VCCA spot and say "hi".

I drive from Norristown, PA (just outside Philadelphia). I always time my travel so that I'm in the parking lot no later than 6:30 am. That way I always get a good parking spot. Last year was $10 and I was up against the fence to the swap meet, and across the service road from the Hershey store entrance. Yowsa!!!

Note: Depending upon the day and weather, a lot of vendors don't open up their stalls until 8 am or sometimes 8:30... so we just snooze in the car for a while and then head over to the Latte stand!!!

Dan, have you thought of going the rented RV route (no pun intended)? There must be some really nice RV parks up there and if you pull a small car behind it for local transportation it might solve some problems and be the way to go (again, no pun intended) and it might be less expensive, maybe?

I don't have an RV but my brother does and he loves it and the flexible it give him on trips.