I'm planning on going for the first time, gonna drag my old man along. We'll be flying commercial and driving in like a couple planeless goober wannabes, how embarrassing. I have a couple questions for the Airventures veterans:

1. What's the best option for commercial destination? Ive got a few Southwest tickets from miles, so is Milwuakee my only option?

2. Should I bother camping at Camp Whatchamacallit with the other unwashed masses, or just get a hotel?

3. I prob can't do the entire week, so should I aim for the beginning, middle, or end of the week?

4.. Who wants to meet up and party?

I've been to Oshkosh thrice: Once commercial, camping at Scholler, and twice flying myself in and camping with the plane. You'll have a ton of fun!

When I flew in commercial, I flew into Madison, which is pretty convenient. Fun town, too. I rented a car there and drove in, camping at Camp Scholler. It's nowhere near as fun to camp there as with your plane, but it's still a fun time. It's *huge*, as is everything about OshKosh. It's like a city unto itself. The campground has plenty of showers, and you're not too far away from the flight line.

Oshkosh is amazingly well organized, but the on-campus food is pretty much atrocious. Bring your own food and drink if you can. There are stores around outside the area, but it's a haul so shop accordingly. I got acute food poisoning there the first time, which was not fun.

Wear comfortable shoes, good sun protection and carry plenty of water. You'll walk more than you think, and you'll be out in the sun most of the time.

If you have a chance, go check out the floatplane area, which is about a half hour away by bus. It has a much more laid back vibe, and it's nice to cool off by the lake if it's hot.

I'm jealous! I haven't been since 2006, and we're hoping to fly there again soon.

Have fun!

I have not been to Oshkosh in 10 years now. I do have a lot of buddies that go nearly every year. From What I hear, no matter your chosen option of hotel or camping, you need to jump on some firm reservations for both car and hotel. 100,000 people in attendance each day. The weather can be dry or can be a flooded mess at times. Camping in a tent you run the risk of foul weather. Hotels are nice if one can be found, to take a private shower and have all the nice features of modern life! Bring some comfy walking shoes! You will walk miles in tongue dragging stooper, and only after the day is over you realize how tired your feet are!

Good luck and have fun.

I'd say middle of the week is the best balance. You can see more stuff and the crowds will be a little less, but all the display stuff and late arrivals will be there. The big finale airshow, F-15 and Blue Angels noise orgy actually becomes a distraction IMHO for the true airplane addicts who want to see the stuff relevant to them.

I stayed in the college dorms which was surprisingly OK and convenient. Oshkosh totally has their shit together in terms of local transportation, It's amazingly well done. Scheduled bus service to the dorms and hotels running all day. The week long city bus pass for $25 is a great deal, and will save you many hundreds in car rental and parking nightmare.

Trust me, bring 100% DEET mosquito spray and plenty of it. Also bring your own food or schedule bus trips into town to the restaurants... $6.50 for a hot dog and then $4 for a 12 oz cup of soda gets old, queasy and infuriating after about one day. There is a serious "Al Capone" aspect to their food and merchandise sales which annoys the crap out of me. There's no competition among the food vendors, it's all the same company and same products.

Research any/all of the forums, talks, presentations etc. ahead of time and figure out what you don't want to miss and what can be forsaken.

Zane - I have been at least 10-12 times. I always flew and camped at the airplane. You have plenty of time, maybe someone will offer up one of their wings for you to set up a tent??

...but the real fun is across the lake. For the last three years, I have been going to the supercub.org thing at New Holstein. It is beside a grass rwy. They do things. Have fun fly-outs and contests. They have breakfast and dinner on site for however many meals you choose to pay for. There is a daily bus that takes you to OSH for a fee. I have had such a good time, that in those last three years, I only took the bus to the OSH show one day! And the campfire stories are priceless. However nose wheel planes are discouraged. if you fly in a nose wheel airplane you have to park on the otherside of the airport on the ramp. jg

Zane,

Finding a hotel room withing reasonable distance from EAA at this time of year may be tough. The dorm rooms are a possibility, but if you don't mind camping, Camp Scholler is right on site. There are a LOT of evening things that go on, some really fantastic, and by staying on site, you'll have access to that stuff as well.

The only time I went there commercial was through Milwaukee. That was easy, and not a bad drive, and the last 10 miles or so, you'll drive under the conga line of airplanes headed in to the show, a show in itself. Make SURE that you reserve a rental car SOON, and double check it. There will be NO rental cars within a 200 mile radius by the time the show is about to start.

Everything is spendy at the show. Too bad, but get over it. It's Oshkosh. The food is expensive and it's what I call "Fair food", meaning state fair food. As they used to say about mess hall food in the service....the food'll make a tu*d.

If you have wheels, it's easy to get into town and shop or hit some local watering holes, some of which are a lot of fun as well. It's definitely "pilot week" in Oshkosh.

Most of all, have fun. There's lots of that to enjoy.

MTV

I've been three times and have always flown in and camped. My friend uses the dorms and considers them a great deal. Shuttle buses are frequent and there are restaurants walking distance from the dorms, to help with the on campus food complaints--which I don't really share.
It is bigger than life ! And easy to spend a week there.

I've done all the above lodging options and have found renting a room in a local home the best balance of convenience and cost. $80 a night for what amounts to a B&B.

Just follow the links to the visitor bureau site from the airventure site.

I camped in the Homebuilt campgrounds last Oshkosh. For the most part it was just normal under wing camping in a tent with the exception of next wing neighbors doing the same. The one thing I wished I had was a pair of flip flop sandals to wear to and into the grounds shower trailer. There was not a dry spot to be stepped on from entrance to exit. Hope I didn't infect anyone.

I think the showers are clean, my athletes foot infection never gets any worse when I am there.

robertc wrote:I think the showers are clean, my athletes foot infection never gets any worse when I am there.

Between you and me, we just filled the dorms and emptied the campgrounds. Good work. Lots of choice spots available this year.

Make sure they know you are a VIP and treat you acordingly.

Have fun!

I've flown in twice, once camping and once stayed at a hotel. The hotel A/C and shower was nice, but we ended up walking much more and I felt like I missed the total immersion experience. I plan on camping this time in the 170 area with the association, which I expect will be the best of all worlds location wise. Maybe you could camp under one of my wings or in the trees nearby (which is what many who fly in to camp do). Mid-week is best for a less crowded experience...
--
Rick

I've been twice, best place I stayed was a single dorm room at Ripon College that included breakfast. You do need a rental car since it is about a 20 minute drive but it worked really well and was very cheap. They also have doubles and quads. Ripon is a nice little town w/nice restaurants.

If you are flying Southwest another option would be to go to Midway. I'd guess the drive from Midway to Oshkosh would take 3 hours. An advantage to using Midway is that it facilitates spending some time in Chicago, which is loaded with great restaurants, museums, incredible architecture, two ball clubs, etc. It's a really great city and well worth a visit if you haven't been there / been there in a while.

The supercub.org New Holstein fly-in takes place at the same time as Airventure. New Holstein is directly east of Oshkosh, 45 - 60 minutes away by car. Roughly 60 - 80 supercubs show up, and it's a great way to make new friends or catch up with old ones. You can camp there (shower in the high school adjacent to the airport) or stay at the Starlite Motel (roughly $70/night). The Starlite is a great alternative when the weather gets crazy hot or the bugs are overwhelming. The fly-in has fly-outs, a pig roast, and short landing contest, so there's plenty to do. Oh, and they run a bus to Oshkosh every day.

Eric

How feasible is the drive-in and camp under your friend's wing option? It seems like one of those things that any event management would put the kibosh on... just because that's my luck.

Also, how long of a hoof would it be to get from parking to said friend's campsite?

Thanks for the info, everyone.

I believe they limit it to one camping unit/tent per site/plane. The hike to a plane from parking could be measured in mile(s). So don't know if they allow overnight parking in the daily fee lots.

I don't know where you could end up parking but once on the grounds there are tractor drawn shuttles on all the main routes. Seems like parking would have some of those too. I camped in the Homebuilt area which is closer to the main grounds than the other areas. Even from the back row it was only about 3/8's of a mile to get to a shuttle route. Sometimes Utes and Gators would come by the planes just to look things over and they would also pick up or drop off those that needed a ride. My plane has two wings too and you and your dad are welcome but I just can't be sure yet if I will be there or for how long.

Each camping airplane is permitted TWO tents. You have to ask for the second tent permit at check in. I've done this a couple times with friends. Once, the security at one of the gates let us drive in with my friend's pickup, but there are LOTS of folks running around in golf carts, etc to hook a ride with, and most everyone is friendly. Management has a number of rules while camping, but seems like the primary one they enforce is quiet after 10 PM....a VERY good rule.

Parking in the lots overnight doesn't seem to be an issue either, and in any case, there's a back lot where the exhibitors park all their trailers, trucks, etc. and there are no parking permits there. A friend parked there a couple of times....no problem.

Camping on site offers access to the evening events at the Theater in the Woods, and there are some GREAT programs there. One year, they had five gents who'd flown the SR-71, including the commanding general of the 9th strategic reconnaissance wing, who'd flown both the SR and the U-2. Another year, they have five pilots who flew the Misty FAC mission in Viet Nam, including Dick Rutan. Those programs are really great, but if you stay at the dorms or off site, you'll miss em.

MTV

I've gone to OSH 3 times, camped the first year, stayed in private houses the next two years. What I really liked about camping onsite was being able to get up and look at airplanes before the crowds arrived, or looking at stuff after they left. It's really cool there at night. Plus, if you don't camp there, you miss being awakened by yodeling.