How's the Zoo? :)

Confirmed my trip details today, need to purchase tickets tonight. Flying up thursday monring the 19th, going to the car show on the 19th, maybe the 20th if it's worth going back, then going up to Caro to see some snowmobile racing (we don't race those down here in florida :) ).

Dave, have you booked a hotel yet? Consider looking into one of the nicer hotels in downtown [as close to the Renaissance Center or Cobo Hall as possible]. If you're not familiar with Detroit, there's a halo of ghetto surrounding downtown, while the tight downtown is nice and the metro area past 8 Mile.


A pre-release meet sounds good! :) Since I live here, I can put together a dinner and/or cocktails location; there are tons of fantastic restaurants if you know where to look. Let me know how much local color you want and the budget that works for everyone.

I planned on trying priceline later for both downtown and dearborn (not sure how ghetto dearborn is though). I'm originally from Toledo so I know some parts of Detroit's ghettos but I'm far from having any in depth or current knowledge so your input on areas to stay in is extremely welcome. Might as well post suggested areas in here in case anyone else is planning on coming into town and booking rooms.

Thanks!

I was there recently staying downtown in a buddys apartment on woodward (near grand) and got some breakfast at a place in a hispanic part of the city :) He moved to Columbus Ohio though so can't stay there :(

Dearborn is fine...there are some nice hotels within sight of Ford's Glass House HQ, especially the Ritz-Carlton.

In downtown Detroit, the Westin Book Cadillac and Marriot at the Ren Cen I can personally vouch are legit nice; and within walking distance to Cobo. Keep in mind that it'll be super ridiculously cold and a blizzard, just like every year during the auto show, so pack and bundle up accordingly.

After that, you'll end up waaay out of Detroit up in the 'burbs like Southfield, Madison Heights and Warren.

I would have to say that Kzoo hasn't changed all that much lol. However it's Michigan, so the weather is starting to turn crummy.

I read a few post down that you were originally from Toledo, how familiar are you with Kzoo?

A buddy of mine lives in the zoo. I've been there a couple of times over the years but not for awhile.

Flights are booked. Downtown hotel bids rejected on priceline so far, I'll try again tomorrow night/thursday. Might not have great luck due to the autoshow itself of course :P

OK finally got a priceline deal on a hotel in downtown.

Westin Book Cadillac for $95/night.. for any coming in try that for name your own price, 4 star, downtown detroit. NAIAS also has a deal for the Marriot and Ren Center for $149/night that has easier access to the People Mover (in the ren center instead of walking a block) but I'd rather save the $55...

Not bad pricing for downtown for sure. I will just drive over for the day and then back to Kzoo. What I should do is plan the Auto Show around a Red Wings game :D

What day you planning on going to the show?

Red wings game on the 23rd that I'm planning on going to :)

I'm going on Thursday the 19th at least, and maybe the 20th depending on how the 19th goes.

Against the Blues, should be a great game.

hmmm not sure when to go if I want to hit up a Wings game. Saturday the 14th against the Blackhawks would be awesome, but the show would be so packed. So Monday January 16th against the Sabres would be the most logical choice to go to the Auto Show and finish it off with a Wings game :D