Hilton, your wife is terrific and I enjoyed chatting with her and getting to know you both better. And thanks for sharing that very smooth whisky.

same goes for you Kim. Hopefully on our next trip we can finally come by your place to play.

I definately out kicked my coverage with my wife. Bautiful, smart, talented, AND loves pinball!

It was more like six, but who's counting?

In reality though, I didn't do much. Dan, Donavan, Basil, Kevin, and others, did the real work. I was just around for the beer and bourbon.

It was a great weekend and a really amazing place. Thank you for pushing me to go Hilton. I've wanted to for years. Hopefully we can see everyone again next year.

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

Don't forget to book your spots for next year. They weren't allowing reservations during most of last year's event, so they're still not fully booked for 2017.

????

I booked my same 2 spots as last year right when I checked in and got the email confirmation and credit card transaction was complete.
I then got an email after I got home and was told that the CO crew has opted to rent the entire campground and my transaction was cancelled. I was told by the staff that the CO crew wants this to be a Colorado ONLY event for onsite camping and I would need to find other lodging if I wanted to attend.

Obviously not a whole lot of lodging options outside of the actual campground and I have to say it left me questioning coming to support at all. To be treated like that after we drove 16hrs with 2 great games and Rob managed to bring 4? other games back to life so the event could go on. Now you are telling me there are actually cabins still available? What is going on?

We had a blast at last year and always enjoy hanging with the CO pinballers. We left the event committed to return and support. What gives with having our place cancelled and now there a spots available again?

Ugh, that's terrible. I definitely want you to be able to attend. Touch base with Steve Trujillo. PM me If you need contact info. Maybe he can help. Worst case scenario, there's a bunch of nice casinos a few miles down the road.

That's fucked up Hilton, sorry to hear that.
Thanks for the reminder Russell, I thought it was all booked up and was out of luck because last year they said it was already all booked for this year. Just booked the same tent site I had last year, all the way at the top of the campground.

Thanks, I have tried to reach out to him via FB as I was instructed before and never got a reply back. I don't think we are going tommake it this year. Maybe another time. Had a ton of fun but I don't want to feel like we are crashing the CO party. I fully understand that there are limited cabins, but just a sour taste on how it all went down.

Maybe we will come and just grab a airbnb nearby and not bring games? Gonna play it by ear.

It is unfortunately true. My cabins which were fully reserved and charged on my card were cancelled and refunded shorthly after getting home last year. I called and spoke with the staff. I am paraphrasing, but they told me the organizers wanted to control the cabin rentals/event and apparently made some sort of deal to take over the whole process. My cabins were cancelled.

I later reached out to the main organizer, sorry can't remember his name right now, and did not here back till after getting word all cabins were allocated. I was offered a tent spot at that time and declined. About a month ago i got the heads up via phone call from oganizer that i could have one cabin. Unfortunately we needed the two cabins and have since made other plans.

I love the whole colorado crew! No hard feelings at all and i completely understand the need to take over the organization to ensure those locals get first dibs on the desired space. Stung a little to have it all happen how it did, but i am over it.

I am sure we will be back in the future. Such a fun event and crew!

The goal was to book the campground exclusively for pinball participants regardless of where they come from. That was in the works for years prior to this, so it's nice to finally see it come together. I'd imagine next year it will go much smoother.

So what's the plan on this for 2017, Colorado only get cabins?

have fun all!

Wish we could have made it. Maybe another year when we can secure cabins again.

Had a great time at Dory Hill 2017. Congrats DNO.

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Thanks to everyone who came! Special thanks to those who brought games, especially Russell for bringing a NIB. Definitely the "star" of the show.

I am bummed that I didn't make it up... Does most everyone stay there at Base Camp or do a lot come up for the day and not spend the night?

is there a list to get on to try and grab a cabin?

The real deal is, those that had a cabin/spot this year will get first dibs on that same cabin/spot for next year, if someone does not pay for there cabin/spot within 30 days of Jan 1st then it will be posted to the campers from 2016 if no one opts to change spots, it will go to a list that consists of 3 people at this point that showed interest at the 2016 event. If you would like to be added to the list contact me through PINSIDE or facebook HIGHONPINBALL. Thanks to all who participate each year. Sorry we cannot accommodate all who would like to come and camp, but you are all welcome to camp or stay elsewhere and come and enjoy the tournament and the event in general.

Why change it up again?

Honestly really sucks. We would like to attend again and put in quite the effort to support when we came in 2016 (bringing 2 games over 17hours, helping to fix multiple other games that went down, giving out free parts from the arsenal we brought just to keep things running) then only to be treated pretty poorly for 2017 by having our rooms canceled out from under us after we paid for it because it was decided the locals need first dibs.

After 2017 I was told it was going to be a first come, first serve and like Kevin said over a month ago...

We put in for the time off already (jobs require us to book out at least 6 months; and 1 year to assure dates) and now it is all changing again.

I really wish you would come up with some sort of fair and better plan for the event. Hell, do a lottery to allow people to get cabins and draw names in December so people can reserve on Jan 1. The current reality is it seems you have more people wanting to come than cabins and what happened to us for 2017 was just plain shitty way of handling things. To add insult to injury, it really sting when we were contacted 2 months before the event for 2017 and told there was a single cabin available (sorry, too late as our vacation was already F'd up once from having stuff cancelled and we made other plans).

I hope you can see how this all stinks from an outsiders perspective that really put in a large amount of effort to support when we came.

Trust me, I have looked for any/every possible location to try and emulate the awesomeness of Dory... They just dont exist locally. WI has lots or RV camper parks but nothing with enough cabins to make it happen. Sad but true. If there was an option then I would put in the effort to try and make it happen

In regards to how things were handled for 2017, sorry but we had paid for and reserved 2 cabins a full year out. We put in PTO and planned accordingly. We had our cabins cancelled out from under us. I am not blaming anyone for our job requirements or scheduling needs, but it was plain and simple very shitty to do that and added insult when we were later offered a cabin 2 months prior to the event. Keeping in mind we did not come to freeload in 2016 and actually put in effort to support the event. Just providing feedback that it was a crappy way to treat Rob, Heidi, and I. We love the event and would love to come back and support it again. My feedback is to please figure out a way that allows supporters to have fair shot at the cabins and ability to plan accordingly.

If I was local and it was possible to come with an RV or drive in for the day and pitch a tent then I would. Coming form 17hrs away with the family makes that unfeasible.

Looking forward to Dory 2018 and hoping there is a way we can reserve a cabin/ 2 so the whole crew can come again.

https://blackhawk.ameristar.com

yeah, not driving 17 hours to leave my games on someone elses porch while I have to drive to a hotel, lol.

Also, I would bring the whole family again as that is part of the fun of the event

I have looked for airBNB near but not much around.

Good tip! Thanks! cabin reserved and days submitted for PTO!

Excited to come support/play again in 2018 w the CO family! Thinking as of now I will bring TNA to share.

I just called. They said they're not yet taking reservations for Dory Hill. I was told this will all go through Steve.

Odd, i called and made a reservation first thing this morning like kevin suggested. I assume it is stillthe weekend after labor day? We are staying for some extra days to do some hiking and relaxing up there. Should be a fun vacay.

I double checked my confirmation email and it shows I have a cabin for Sept 6, 7, 8, 9th. We are going no matter what now since PTO has been submitted and solidified.
Sure hope there is not more funny business this year. Going to be pissed if someone pulls some BS to try and cancel my reservation a second time around.

I did exactly as kevin suggested and made a call on Jan 1st to try and get a reservation. I assumed that is what everyone else was doing also. Seems odd that they would let me reserve but tell you no.

Plan is to be there for a week and do some pinball and hiking if anyone else wants to head up a day early to set up.

This was posted on the facebook page for Dory hill, https://www.facebook.com/High-on-Pinball-J-S-Coin-Operated-Services-LLC-181701325222016/?ref=br_rs

Please do not try to make reservations for this years pinball campout. Negotiations are still in progress. Highly likely event is changing venue.. i will post more once ready to take reservations.
Thank you

thanks for sharing.

That stinks, but hopefully this leads to something that means even more cabins/space so the event can happen and everyone can go that wants to.

Wish I knew this before booking, lol.