Ok I’m going to chime in as my first meet was the latest meet in 2019.
1. You do not need to be a member to access all hall for your FIRST time. Some of the info out there is incorrect in this regard so just call the office and they will sort it out. After you go once you’ll probably join anyways, but it saves you a bit of $.
2. We didn’t even make it through all the halls in the three days as we enjoyed the display layouts and took our time. We also went back to orange hall more than a few times.
3. Bandit meets: just like the show itself each vendor is hit and miss. However my son and I found a fellow within 5 minutes of arriving at the Wyndham parking lot who was going with HO and selling all his O gauge. My son got the exact Marx loco he was looking for and I bought a whole bunch of stuff. I would’ve bought more from him but I was “holding out” for the “real show”. His deals were the best we saw all week and I regretted (just a bit) a few items I didn’t buy from him because I didn’t want to blow it all the first day. On the flip side I bought a set of passenger cars on the Saturday and got a great price because the vendor said make me an offer so I don’t have to pack it up and take it home! What I learned ... you never know when you’ll find the deal you were looking for, and as others have said, if you see it, buy it!! I learned that the hard way too. Back to the bandit meets, the outdoors ones in particular were some of the most enjoyable and memorable moments of the whole week, I wouldn’t miss them. We will be there all week to soak it all in!
I’ve started my list already for this year including a parts list for the parts guys!
Can’t wait.....
G - here is a pic of my dad and my son on the first morning at Wyndham prior to going out to Strasburg
