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Thread: New parking arrangement for 2018 - going backwards?

  1. #1

    New parking arrangement for 2018 - going backwards?

    Hi all. I'll try to make it quick!

    Arrived yesterday to AirVenture as we do every year. Drove around the museum going towards to the blue lot, only to see it get closed a few cars ahead of us. No big deal I thought, and proceeded to head around towards the green and orange lots. Traffic was really slow, and there seemed to be a LOT of confusion by both drivers and attendants. Finally got to the green lot, but it was full. I thought that was interesting. A while later we finally got to the orange lot, to find out that it is permit only! I asked where I needed to go, and the guy had no clue, and offered the museum.
    Drove back around not knowing what else to do, and ended up parking off site near the blue lot (first time ever).

    After looking now, both the green and orange lots are now permit only. The best I can see left is the grey lot. How do they plan on parking all of the people? It seems like to they took away half of the parking!

    Half of my frustration is not looking ahead at potential changes to the parking (which maybe I should have), but the other half is the feeling that many events and airports are going backwards to an "us and you" mentality (meaning "us" important pilots and people, and "you", the rest). Airplanes behind caution tape at fly-ins, purchase-only EAA Aviators Club, and now this parking thing at AirVenture. It has me concerned.

    I was wondering if anyone else feels the same? Or maybe I'm missing something? I have always admired the parking system at AirVenture, and it was something that I never ever worried about during the event. I hope that continues!


    Ryan

  2. #2
    I noticed those changes on the map. I'm really surprised they turned the green and orange lots into permit only; that's a lot of parking. To compensate, they expanded the gray lot, which eliminated a lot of campsites in Camp Scholler (not ideal, obviously). I see a gold lot way out by the ultralight area. Does anyone know if that's just normal daily parking? Quite a hike from show center.

  3. #3
    Sirota's Avatar
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    I gave up on EAA parking years ago. SOS Brothers is only a few dollars more and usually just as close. We end up there most days anyway so we don't have to walk to our car from SOS.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sirota View Post
    I gave up on EAA parking years ago. SOS Brothers is only a few dollars more and usually just as close. We end up there most days anyway so we don't have to walk to our car from SOS.
    Honestly, I don't know a blue lot from a green one or a brown one or a blue one or a chartreuse one. All I know is what Sirota knows and does. We too have been parking at SOS for years, it's the same 10 bucks as the EAA lots with much easier and faster entry and exit. Wouldn't think of parking anywhere else unless I had some special VIP PASS that would get me a spot by the church ladies food tent.

  5. #5

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    Yeah, they've taken away a lot of the parking over the years. I almost always park off-site now. I got to the Blue Lot yesterday about 0730 because I was meeting someone near there and it was already half-full, and it's about half the size it used to be since they keep expanding the vendor areas. Since they took away the red lot several years ago for additional aircraft parking there is no convenient parking lot for warbirds. I keep expecting EAA to try to take over the homes near the museum like they did years ago with the houses along the flight line.

  6. #6
    PaulDow's Avatar
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    I know last year there was a huge backup entering the grounds on the weekend. The block of Waukau / Foundation / Knapp / Poberezny just couldn't absorb the traffic, especially after the prime blue lot fills up by 8:30. It looks like they tried to spread out parking to create more paths coming in. The yellow and grey lots really spread things out, but that's quite the spread.

    I often park in brown, and take the bus over. It doesn't even look like there's transportation provided from the yellow lot. An approximation from the big online advertising company's Earth program shows center of grey to the big airplane plaza is about 5,400'. Center of yellow lot to that point is about 4900'. That's walking along roads, not as a jetpack would fly. Center of the old orange lot is about 3200', and from center of blue lot is 2700'. The farthest is brown at 6600', but that's rarely walked. Although I did do that once when a TitW program was cut short due to thunderstorms coming. The buses stopped running. My sneakers didn't dry out for the rest of the week. I would think quite a few buses would be needed at peak times. Even tough it's a short trip, the capacity of those is quite restricted with the load / unload times. Even from the bus park, it's still about 2800' to the plaza.

    I guess we can complain to Garmin. They sponsor the parking. I know EAA tries to make money every way they can, and I do appreciate the annual dues are lower than similar organizations, but a sponsor for $10 car parking? I think one of those Hyperloops would be the best solution of getting people from parking to the convention.
    Last edited by PaulDow; 07-25-2018 at 12:20 PM.

  7. #7

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    There are way too many permit-only lots now, especially the G lots. Who gets all of those permits? It really does seem like the average civilian is being discouraged from coming in. Where are people supposed to park?

    PaulDow, I remember back in the day when traffic got backed up on 41 for miles because the traffic flow was so bad. Then for quite a few years, there were no traffic jams because EAA improved the traffic flow and direction and had plenty of parking. Last year I attributed the Saturday traffic jam to the bombers and Blue Angels, but tonight, as I was heading north on 41 just before the storm hit, southbound traffic getting off on 26 to try to park for the night airshow was backed up all the way to the 44 overpass, over a mile. Hope EAA does something next year to improve the parking...like reduce the permit-only lots.
    Last edited by BeagleOne; 07-25-2018 at 08:56 PM.

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