We were originally supposed to go to the Hershey RV Show Sept 10-14. We decided to change it so that we were only there for the weekend. Glad we did!
We drove up on Friday, Sept 12 and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn in Hershey. It was about 2 miles from the show and not on Rt 39 or 322, which was great. Once checked in, we drove over to the Giant Center to figure out how to get over there. We got a little lost going around the circle, but figured it out.
On Saturday morning, we woke up around 6am & got ready. The website had said that parking would open at approximately 7am & that the parking attendants would advise on where to go. This was probably the only hiccup of the day. Around 7:15, there were no parking attendants out. We drove around a few hundred times and then decided to try the normal parking lot. Thankfully, we were able to park in there.
Around 8:20 or so, we decided to head over to the tent to get our tickets and check about a bathroom. Turns out the closest bathroom was next to the car. So, back there we went. Then we got our Camelbacks (smartest decision ever!) and headed back to stand in line for tickets. We were a bit early and were 3rd in line. Here's what we could see from inside the holding area:
Once they let us in, we made a beeline for the Winnebago section. We knew we wanted to see the Brave/Tribute. I had read that they had the newly introduced 31c (not even on the website yet!). We walked into the 27B first. We liked it. Then we walked into the 26A. We knew it's definitely not the floorplan for us. We walked through the Moody Blue with the blue interior. It's beautiful. We finally went into the 31C. It felt perfect. Sigh.
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| 27B |
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| 27B |
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| 27B |
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| Moody Blue (26A) |
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| 26A |
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| 26A |
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| 31C (Kind bed standard - short at 75" long) |
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| 31C (Cherry Cola cabinets in bedroom) |
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| 31C bathroom |
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| 31C shower |
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| 31C (residential fridge standard) |
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| 31C dinette - tv moves up & down |
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| 31C kitchen |
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| 31C |
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| 31C |
We went through a huge list of other units before lunch, but apparently I stopped taking pictures. Lunch was inside the Giant Center to get out of the rain & off our feet for a bit. The number of vendors inside was crazy! These were just the ones on the floor of the arena.
We spent the rest of the day narrowing down options & crossing things off our list. We also had a couple of things added to our list! As much as we like the idea of a 5th wheel, they're huge and by the time we bought a new truck & the 5th we'd really want, we might as well get a class A. (Hello Tribute!!!) We saw the Cruiser RV Enterra travel trailer and really liked it. We also liked the Tiffin Allegro Open Road class A.
After we got back to the hotel, we started going through the brochures again and got everything down to what we really liked. It was amazing how many brochures we took because we liked units and then decided later that we JUST liked them and didn't LOVE them.
After day 1:
Travel trailer: Kodiak Express Ultimate & Cruiser RV Enterra
5th Wheel: Winnebago Latitude
Class A: Winnebago Brave/Itasca Tribute & Tiffin Allegro Open Range
Day 2
On Sunday, we went back & took pictures of everything we liked. We decided that we liked the Enterra over the Kodiak. Mostly because of the white leather and when you walk out of the bathroom into the bed (quite literally) in the Kodiak.
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| Kodiak |
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| Kodiak |
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| Kodiak |
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| Kodiak |
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| Kodiak |
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| Enterra (316RKS) |
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| Enterra (316RKS) |
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| Enterra (316RKS) |
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| Enterra (316RKS)(though, it looks like you may walk into the bed here too!) |
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| Enterra (316RKS) |
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| Enterra (316RKS) |
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| Enterra (317RES) |
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| Enterra (317RES) |
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| Enterra (317RES) |
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| Enterra (317RES) |
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| Enterra (317RES) |
We didn't bother to go back to the 5th wheel. We like it, but figured that the cost will be able the same, or more, than a Class A, so we decided to nix it.
I already gave pictures of the Brave/Tribute, so I won't do that again. We headed over to the Tiffin area again to get some pictures of the Open Range.
After visiting the Tiffin, we visited Winnebago one last time. We felt the urge to buy, but decided we needed to sleep on it and really talk about what we want over the next few years. I think the Brave/Tribute will be wonderful for us in about 2 years. Right now, we're still in travel trailer territory.
Overall, it was a super productive trip. We learned a lot, saw a lot, and had a great time! I highly recommend a trip to the show - unless you can't resist the urge to buy... then don't go!
