Miami Boat Show

Anyone coming? New Venue at Marine Stadium, water taxi to the show.

My booth is in D tent. Come on by and say hello.

Started setting up my booth today. The show is in a beautiful location.

They've built a 400 slip marina and covered hundreds of thousands of square feet with fabric buildings. I wouldn't call these structures tents.

All of this has been done since the end of November.

The show should be easier to get to than the Miami Beach location was. Park at one of the many mainland parking lots and take a free shuttle bus or water taxi to the show. The ride over could actually be fun. The views of Biscayne Bay are spectacular from the top of the Rickenbacker bridge.

I checked my booth in E tent yesterday and was happy to see my crates were there and intact, one less thing!

KD, when are you setting up? What are you selling?

I'm not even in the state at the moment so only going by reports I've gotten from others. I've heard nothing good about the shuttles or the water taxi's today. Persons reporting there are long waits and generally a lot of confusion.

Would love to hear how you're seeing it HopCar and you, KD. Now those I heard from were early this morning so perhaps it's better now. It's only been a couple of people and they're in very bad moods now, so not sure if the situation put them in the bad mood or they were before.

I didn't brave it. But my cousin went and reported just as B&B said long lines and waits.

It takes about half an hour on the shuttle bus to get to the show from Marlins Stadium. At peak times it might go to an hour. They Need more water taxis as people seem to prefer a boat ride to a bus ride.

It was better today than yesterday because they added ten busses and installed a big sign telling people that there was only prepaid parking available on the key.

If I hadn't paid for parking on Virginia Key, I'd park at a Metro Rail Station, take the train to the Vizcaya Station and the shuttle bus from there.

I'm finding the show much easier to get to than the Miami Beach location was.
Yesterday I took the water taxi from the Key to Bayside. It was a thirty minute pleasant boat ride. The trip back required me to wait about half an hour for the water taxi.

The show is spectacular. Much more pleasant to navigate than that damn convention center was. You even get to see water!

Lots of choices in expensive food.

The weather has been perfect.

The first day was pretty rough with wait times and bus ride times. I did not use the water taxi but heard the waits were up to 30 minutes + a 30 minute + boat ride. Today was much better, more organized, best bet is to park in Lot A or B if there is room (credit cards only) my wait time for pick up was 5 minutes at 9am and the bus ride to the show is only 5-10 minutes. Wait time at 6:30 was 10 minutes but bus ride is 15 minutes approx. because the busses U turn all the way back at the toll booths on the mainland.

I don't know if the prepaid parking option is still available, but it is worth it if still available to guarantee a spot.

I think for tomorrow (Saturday) they will have it even smoother. It's not perfect by any means, but Miami Beach wasn't any cakewalk either. The buses from the mainland parking lots are the way some of my neighboring exhibitors came in, report the same improvements, but bus rides were 30-40 minutes because of rush hour traffic. Saturday and Sunday should be much better, no rush hour traffic.

Cabs drop off at the West entrance to the Show, might be a good option considering parking costs. For those so inclined bicycle might be a great way to get there. I imagine you could park at Crandon Park and just pedal in, nice ride except the last mile on Virginia Key because the bike path is being used as a foot path for attendee's.

Plenty of peeps today, attendance was good with good traffic in all the tents I visited. Food, bars, bathrooms are convenient. Some of the tents go on forever. I think the B tent with all boats is a real hike from one end to the next, very impressive. A guy was flying a drone around our tent this afternoon.

If you are prepared to spend some time getting in and out, the Show has everything the Miami Beach Show had and more + an awesome in the water venue.

I went to my first concert at the Marine Stadium, Rare Earth in 1972. Went to many other events after that, a shame how its deteriorated.

Be sure to sign the petition to restore the Marine Stadium!

Glad to hear things have improved. Son told me that Thursday was like a cemetery. Could have been the result of transport issues; plus "VIP and media" day which usually has smaller crowds. We've gone down for the last 6+ years and sure wish I was there now, high temp this weekend in Richmond won't get out of the 20s with freezing rain on Monday. Come on Spring!

Spring better not get here too fast, we're still on the hard doing maintenance!

Home from the show early today. My feet and back gave out. This show is definetly easier to get to than the Miami Beach location was.

HopCar said:

Home from the show early today. My feet and back gave out. This show is definetly easier to get to than the Miami Beach location was.

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How do you think the distance from the Yacht Show is factoring into things? I would see that as a negative to businesses like yours.

I don't know, but we're having a great show.