Gatecon Bus Tour Comments

[Gatecon]

After the following comment, I decided to start a new thread on this topic.

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Original Message
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xst - Junior Member
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Hi Allan, may I call you Allan? I still think of you as "Mr Tok'ra"

The Tour

Did they do a good job? I think they did a poor job. Most of the people on the bus were not from Canada and many have never been to the west coast of North America, so I think the tour experience could have been enhanced by a (even a tiny!!!???) travelogue of the local history and geography. The explanation or description of the areas the bus went through were minimal and almost embarassing and ,occasionally, insulting; for example: "This is Chinatown", not that the Vancouver Chinatown is the third largest in North America behind San Francisco and New York; "This is Gastown", not that Gastown is the beginning point of Vancouver over 150 years ago and expanded from there to be a metropolitan area with a population of 1.5 million people; and "This is Stanley Park, a very big park", not that Stanley Park is the largest original old-growth forest park in North America; and "this is downtown", not that the West End is the most densely populated area in North America at 70,000 people in one square mile. See what I mean????

And the guy had an "attitude"; he disparaged the Vancouver Chinatown; he said that it had stores and restaurants but if you want better stores and restaurants, go to Richmond which has Oriental Malls and better stores (my thought: is he getting a kick-back for this?). He complained that UBC (the local big university) charged too much for student parking ( the guy was a music student; hairy big deal! Don't air your grievances while you at work. It's not professional! And we don't want to know about it!) He said that Coquitlam was east of Surrey and on the south side of the Fraser River, which it is not! Max was incensed!!!!! She is from Coquitlam. And so on and so on. He was not upbeat about my most favourite city on Earth and knew little about it enough to be an ambassador or tour guide. My 15 year old sister could've done a better job.

Was the service good? Yes, they (our tour guide and student tour guide who just moved to Vancouver two weeks ago!!!!) did a good job entertaining us with trivia questions on "what movies were filmed in Vancouver" and "do you know the characters from X-files and Highlander. They did show us a few location shots for X-files and Highlander (Scully's apartment, Highlander's dojo). And it was great to meet the alien actor from "One False Step".

But I wanted a Stargate Tour and promotion of my city. (I love my city! Can't you tell?) I did e-mail to Richard about being involved in a Stargate tour way back earlier this year. Maybe I should have been more insistant? I actually wanted to take a few people in my car for a tour because there are a few places to see that may not be accessible from a tour bus. If you want to do a tour next year, I can be persuaded to participate in the planning.... (Oh boy, just what I need, more commitments in my tight schedule.....)

Feedback, please, Allan......
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Happy Stargating!

 

[Gatecon]

So I suppose my next question is.......


If they had some training and guideance, do you think the same company would do a good job, or do you think it would be better to look alsewhere.

 

[Rowan]

Comment

I didn't get a chance to take the tour Allan, but it was somethng I heard a moderate amount of frustration about. I'm not sure if trying to train the tour company will help... they'd have to promise us to make sure we get the same guides we trained. I'm still wondering if a mixture of their buses and drivers and one or two of our own people [SG fans] who really want to see and share and who have the background and interest in the show, might make for a better compromise.

 

[shadowwalker]

Lynx and I would like to second what xst's comments were. There were three "troup transports" and Lynx and I were on seperate transports. Like xst said our tour guide was less knowledgable and not very complimentary about our city. I was upset that he misplaced Coquitlam (where I live). xst and I were shouting out SG1 shooting locations as we drove past them. An example of that would be the Plaza of Nations where they filmed "Bane". We also pointed out the location of the Phoenix Foundation building for MacGuyver fans. The only location they seemed to know about was the observatory at Space center (not sure if that's the right name. It used to be called the H. R. MacMillian Planetarium.)

Lynx lucked out as she was on the transport that had the alien from "One False Step". Although he didn't have complete information he at least mentioned some Stargate shooting locations and was generally very pleasant.

We think it might be a good idea to use the tour company buses and drivers with local fan volunteers to help set up the tour. A route could be worked out in advance based on any time constraint with the company or convention.

Could the production company provide some site information for us to use?

Anyways we just thought we'd throw in our two cents worth.

 

[Gatecon]

And your two cents worth are appreciated.

I'm sure that we will be able to get together with the Tour company and organise a great tour for next year.

 

[xst]

Next year's bus tour

I heartily agree with shadowwalker's (aka max) comments. In fact, we've been comparing notes of the tour since Sept 22. Both of us knew far more about Stargate shooting locations than the tour guide. Not only should there be a knowledgeable fan per bus (or "troup transport"), the tour guide should give a decent travelogue about my city!!!!

 

[Rowan]

Volunteers

Do I hear some people who should get in touch with Ladytree and volunteer for this prestigeous position?

Seriously... Allan, does this sound like a possible solution if we had a big enough pool of folks to pull from? Just curious... not making/suggesting policy in any way.

 

[mingo]

and don't let people out of the bus unless they have electronic zapping proximity alarms!!!!!!

I was lucky enough to be sitting up front, so we were continually prodding our guide (4th Alien from "One False Step") for information (he had a info sheet packed with SG-1 shooting sites he didn't relay to us) ... but I'm sure everyone on board would have appreciated him using his microphone a little bit more ...

Personally, I wanted to hear "Stargate SG-1" pertinent stuff ... not X-Files, not Highlander, not Jackie Chan ... and I was sort of miffed we stopped at a boat yard instead of QE park ... what was with that????

I agree the local SG-1 fan members would make fantastic volunteer associate tour guides ... don't imagine the XTours guys would appreciate us completely taking over ... 'cause those buses were real comfy!!!!

 

[xst]

But mingo...

mingo,

Buses are just buses for hire. We could just hire ourselves a few very comfy buses and nice bus-drivers and do our own tour. I guess that we would have to work out other details, for example:

1) would we be breaking any city by-laws about operating a tour bus in a non-tour bus part of town
2) do we need to pay for/buy a permit for operating a tour company for a non-profit society

I'm a suspicious, cautious sort of person who assumes that the city would have rules and regs so that property and privacy would be protected and that they could get some $$'s out of it, too!

But, yes, I would be a willing planner of such a tour.

 

[Rowan]

Bus Tours

Allan... are you or Richard in charge of this project? I could do the 'Canada Call' thing again to get the pertanant info, if anyone wants. Once the venue thing is setteled, I have no idea what you folks have planned for me until we start gearing up for 'on-site registration'...

 

[Lynx]

If some of the local fans got together to pool their knowledge of the city and shooting locations maybe we could provide this to the tour company next year if we have to use their tour guides. However, if we don't have to use them, like xst, I would be willing to take part in possibly giving a tour. I have some small experience having given tours to small groups at the Vancouver Aquarium over several years. Max(aka Shadowwalker) would be willing to help with planning the tour.
We just want the city tour to be better next year for all the visitors and residents alike.

 

[xst]

Bravo!

A great suggestion, Lynx. Count me in!!!

 

[richpasco]

The tour

Hi all,

Sorry for my delay in responding to this thread.
My original plan was to go on the tour also to take photos, but duties back at the hotel prevented this. From what I heard after the tour and since the convention I didn't miss much and the tour company certainly didn't take any of the detailed requirements we gave them into consideration.

Based on this we will be looking to use a totally different tour company next year, and we already have a dedicated fan assisting us in this matter. She has already produced a list of locations and we will be looking for the best company to provide the type of tour we want.

That said, she is based in the UK so if there are any Vancouver based people out there who would be willing to contact local companies please let me know.

Personally I was very disappointed that the tour was so X-Files based as that is not what we asked for and I apologise to those who took part on what was supposed to be a highlight of the weekend.

As soon as we have the tour sorted out, with an itinerary and price, we'll let everyone know and see what kind of demand there is.

 

[shadowwalker]

As local Vancouver fans Lynx and I would be willing to assist the dedicated fan in the UK with contacting local tour companies. Have the dedicated fan contact us at shadowwalker@gaters.net if they would like the assistance.

 

[xst]

Shadowwalker, let me know how it turns out. I may be able to supply you with a few other details!

 

[richpasco]

Tour help

Thanks,

any info/ideas would be much appreciated.

However, please don't actually approach any tour companies on our behalf - we have a contact at the venue looking into that for us as we speak and they "may" be able to get the best deal.If that doesn't pan out it would be useful to have a list of tour companies so if you can compile that, it would be great.

But any and all ideas re locations etc would be gratefully accepted!!!!

 

[Rowan]

Person at the Venue

Uh ... richard... anyone I know?