2008 MINI Magical Mystery Tour

[zied]

We are in the planning stages to have an early fall event in San Francisco next September (2008) over a long weekend (Friday through Sunday). We are planning on this being a local REME event but it may mushroom into a National Event if interest arises. If so, then we will need cooperation from the three other Bay Area Mini-MINI clubs, Chamber of Commerce, vendors, and others.

Ideas for activities include:

• A Midnight run through San Francisco including a drive down Lombard Street, the Broadway Tunnel, The Presidio, Coit Tower, Twin Peaks, the Golden Gate Bridge, Treasure Island, Ocean Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, Scenic 49 mile drive, and possibly an early breakfast at Mel's Diner.
• Non-Driving activities could include a visit to Angel Island, Alcatraz, Ferry Dinner Bay Cruise, cable cars, Fishermens' Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, watching Sea Lions, BBQ dinner and car show on Treasure Island, Russian Hill, picnic in Golden Gate Park, visit the Cliff House, midnight beach bonfire, etc.
• Giants Baseball Game at the AT&T ballpark or visit to the De Young Museum, the Exploratorium, The Metreon Theater at Moscone Center, Palace of Fine Arts, etc.
• Walking tours could include Golden Gate Park, Golden Gate Bridge, Russian Hill, China Town, Japan Center, Fisherman's Wharf, Muir Woods, and Jerry can guide us through the Haight-Ashbury district.
• We could have a couple of drives including Marin Headlands, Stinson Beach, or Bolinas (where Hippie is still spoken).

General discussion for this event will be primarily on the REME MegaBBS although updated information will be posted on this forum.

[Goonery]

Depending on circumstances , air tickets, rental cars yada yada yada, ........ have you room for a couple of Brits ?

Missing the Argonaut and its vibe like crazy and would be good to catch up with some USA long lost buddies in SF SD and LA etc.

[zied]

We have room for everyone on any of our runs! If enough show interest perhaps we will be able to convince the 4 Northern CA MINI dealership to rent their used cars. There are only a few MINIs for rent currently in the SF area through regular car rental agencies.

[pappillon]

I'm in No 'ifs'... no 'buts'

Will probably fix it so this weekend rounds off a coast-to-coast drive across the States, so please post up dates as soon as you have them Might even start a thread for our trip



Edit: Here's the thread
http://www.mini2.com/forum/general-d...ml#post3122363

[humph]

Good luck with this Zied, sounds great. San Francisco is such a fabulous city, I would recommend a visit to anyone, and what better opporunity than this event.

Like the REME website by the way, your members have some stunning cars.

[AprilWhine]

Add Fuzzy and me to the list of attendees, love the Bay Area!

[zied]

We are planning this event despite not knowing if and when MINI USA will be having MINI Takes the States. We are only waiting to find out the Profeesional Baseball schedule so that we can plan on watching a Giants game at the new AT&T baseball stadium.

[pooper]

If MLB does not make a decision in the next week, we will select a date anyway. We do want to have a "Baseball game" available during the weekend for those attending this MINI event. I don't think it reallly matters who is playing or who wins, it is quite an experience to see a game at AT&T Park. Just going to the park is worth the admission price.

If MINI USA decides to combine MTTS 2008 with the Magical Mystery MINI Tour that's great, if not, we plan to proceed with our plans for a BIG SF Bash anyway.

We are proceeding with all the other plans in either case.

The only change I see is that we will have a "sunrise" drive through the streets of SF on Sunday morning vs. a "midnight" run after a BBQ dinner & concert on Treasure Island Saturday night. This drive would include a Sunday AM breakfast "bonfire" on Ocean Beach, then a drive (aka "Steve McQueen's Bullitt) through SF, with a drive to Santa Cruz or a game at AT&T Park. This will allow many of us to "sober up" after a long night of partying Saturday night before driving the SF route.

[Sejanus]

Just out of curiousity do you have to reserve the sites for bonfires on Ocean Beach these days?

[pooper]

Dates are set for MMMT 2008 (Magical Mystery MINI Tour 2008). Mark your calendars for September 5-7, 2008 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) in San Francisco.

Magical Mystery MINI Tour 2008 in San Francisco will be a great Mini gathering. Including such events a BBQ dinner & concert on Treasure Island, a Sunset breakfast, bonfire, and run through the streets of SF on Sunday, runs to Marin Headlands, Mt. Tamalpias, Santa Cruz mountains, Fisherman's Warf, a baseball game at AT&T Park and much, much, much more......

[Sejanus]

Quote: Originally Posted by zied (original)

We are planning this event despite not knowing if and when MINI USA will be having MINI Takes the States. We are only waiting to find out the Profeesional Baseball schedule so that we can plan on watching a Giants game at the new AT&T baseball stadium.

You may know this already, but according to the tentative schedule the Giants passed out at the game today they are at home playing Pittsburgh on the weekend of the 5-7.

[pooper]

We just found out on Saturday what the MLB Baseball/Giants schedule is for 2008. That's why we picked this weekend. There may be many that don't want to go to a game, and there is plenty of other things to do in San Francisco, but we thought it would be nice to have this available. AT&T Park is a great place to go and spend the afternoon or evening

[pooper]

Update to the plans:
Magical Mystery MINI Tour 2008
San Francisco California
September 5-7, 2008 Friday – Saturday – Sunday


We are looking into using one of the SF piers or a location at Fort Mason for the event headquarters. We hope to get a spot where we can all park our MINIs. We hope to have 24 hour security with "in & out" privileges. San Francisco has plenty of public transportation so it would be easy to park the MINI and get around SF via cable car, bus, Golden Gate Ferry, taxi, bicycle, tugboat, rickshaw, BART, etc.
This would also provide a place for vendor booths. It will also provide a visible spot of a large banner with the corporate sponsor’s name. This could also house a “live broadcast” radio station. We would likely use stickers on the Minis and wrist bans for the participants for identification and entry into the venues and activities

Chinatown, Ghirardelli Square, Fisherman's Warf, Coit Tower, Broadway, AT&T Park, Pier 39, the Ferry Building & Terminal are all within walking distance.

A Saturday nightcatered BBQ dinner followed by a concert on Treasure Island. This will provide quite a spectacular back-drop with the San Francisco nighttime skyline in the background. Should make for some awesome photos.

We are considering having a Sunday early morning "sunrise" run in leu of the midnight run. This will allow many to "recuperate" from Saturday nights "party" before engaging in a drive through the streets of SF. This would also be a good time for a beach bonfire and breakfast before the run. The streets of San Francisco will be fairly empty early Sunday morning which should make for a smooth run.

Daily MINI Driving Events:

We have MINI runs planned: Saturday morning to the Golden Gate Bridge, Marin Headlands, Mount Tamalpias, and the Marin Coast.

Sunday afternoon: A run through the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Friday/Sunday: A run to the Sonoma & Napa county wine country is also very close for those that wish to pay a visit to the wineries.

We have looked into this and there are MINIs available for rent.


Non-Driving Activities:

Giants baseball game at AT&T Park. The Giants will be at home for this weekend. They will be playing the Pittsburg Pirates. They have games scheduled for Friday, Saturday, & Sunday.

We have spoken with the Giants sales staff and can arrange a MINI Cooper group. Since I have season tickets and REME has been a group ticket buyer the past two years, we will be moved to the front of the line as far as available seating and preferred seating. The Giants can provide us with special “picnic” or banquet areas in the park. These would be either in center field behind the scoreboard or on the club level.

Other Non-Driving activities will include visits to Golden Gate Bridge, Angel Island, Alcatraz, Ferry Dinner Bay Cruise, cable cars, Fishermans' Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, watching Sea Lions, Pier 39, Russian Hill, picnic in Golden Gate Park, visit the Cliff House, Beach Blanket Babylon Show, the De Young Museum, the Exploratorium, The Metreon Theater at Moscone Center, Palace of Fine Arts, Golden Gate Park, China Town, Japan Center, Muir Woods, and the Haight-Ashbury district.

Publicity and Promotions:

Press:
We will contact all the local radios TV, and newspapers. We will see if we can get a radio station to provide “live” broadcasts from Treasure Island and our headquarters.

We will have T-shirts, CDs, hand bills and posters made up to commemorate the event.

Hotels and accommodations:

We are working with Marriott Hotels and Argonaught Hotels to provide enough rooms for our expected visitors. They have several hotels on or near the San Francisco waterfront. We are working to get group rates.

We will be talking with local SF restaurants/bars and will try to set up some “Beer Fest” or meals for our group. Gordon Bierch is a local restaurant which I think would be receptive. Also MOMO’s across from AT&T Park. Other possibilities: Hard Rock Café, Bimbo’s, Buena Vista near Fisherman’s Warf next to the cable cars.


Again this is in the planning stages but we are making progress. Hope to see you all in San Francisco in September (make sure to wear some flowers in your hair). This is the best time of year in SF, warm, clear, sunny, with beautiful clear starry nights.

Cheers,

Norman Nelson (Pooper)
Redwood Empire Mini Enthusiasts
email:norm@redwoodempiremini.com

[AprilWhine]

Wow, you guys do things right!

[Sejanus]

Wow is right. I'm not missing this.