The first year I attended, I was disappointed with the entire event. There were huge crows which meant you couldn’t get anywhere near the cars you were attending just to be able to see, there were young kids running around like wild animals that escaped a zoo, and parents who were screaming at their kids. And forget about taking pictures, unless you wanted a picture of everyone crowding around a little object you would never recognize in a picture. Overall, I was left wanting much more. Luckily for me, the event is in one of my favorite cities so I was able to enjoy the rest of the day once I was away from the car show.
The next year I attended, I learned about their Members Express Club which provides you with the following Benefits: Early Entry to the Show - Enter one hour before the general public on Fridays and Saturdays! This is a truly unique experience and one that will appeal to people who prefer less crowds or who just like standing out above the crowds. VIP Lounge - Access to the exclusive Members Express Club VIP Lounge at the show! Open 11:00am to 7:00pm on Fridays and Saturdays. I was a little skeptical, but I figured it was worth a chance. Let me just tell you, I wasn’t let down! That extra hour was like heaven! Almost the entire show is empty, no screaming kids, no crowds around the cars…it was incredible!
Unfortunately in 2009, the entire Members Express membership left me feeling extremely let down. Not only did I purchase the membership for the club, but I also purchased tickets to the show. Since I had purchased the membership less than a month before the show, I was told to pick up my membership card at the will call. Well, wouldn’t you know it; my card was nowhere to be found. Luckily for me, I had printed my confirmation and was able to get into the show early. You should know that I’m not one to complain about such a little snafu, so there is obviously more to my disdain. Since there are more than one level, I went around the bottom level for about 10 minutes (my favorite cars are on the upper level) and tried to leave to go upstairs. Well, that wasn’t possible. You were not able to leave because the hand stampers weren’t there. Without your hand stamped you could not gain admittance without having another ticket. So I waited about 10 more minutes for the hand stampers to arrive. Once they got there, I got my hand tamped and proceeded to go upstairs. Well, wouldn’t you know that their ink was dry! I had to go back downstairs and plead to have my hand restamped. By the time I was finally allowed to go upstairs, I had wasted about 25 minutes on nonsense. I was livid! I quickly went around the top level and wasn’t finished by the time those without the early access were granted admittance, it was like a tidal wave of people coming at me! So I left. I didn’t let this discourage me though.
I decided to attend again this year. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they revamped the way everything was done! You just need your ticket to enter the show…no need for hand stamps to go to enter the different levels! I was very happy with the outcome. The exhibits were done extremely well this year, same as usual.
Overall, this was the best year I have experienced with both the show and the Members Express membership.
Here are a few pictures from the event. I also included a picture from Top OF The Rock (www.topoftherocknyc.com) because no trip to NYC is complete without a visit there!
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