Tuesday, January 30, 2018

The Continental is Purchased by Dutch Wonderland

According to this article Dutch Wonderland has purchased the neighboring Continental Inn for a cool $4.7 million.  While the promised renovations might be welcome, that fact they have effectively closed the facility and cancelled all future reservations creates a huge problem for some gamers, as the Continental is a well-known feeder hotel for the HMGS cons at the Lancaster Host.
Even with advanced planning, my traditional "Guy's Weekend" to Cold Wars in March was hitting some snags for the second straight year, but the eradication of my go-to hotel in Lancaster just puts me down in the dumps.  Sure, the bathrooms were nostalgically dated, but in the twenty years my family has used the Contiental, we've had nary a problem, plenty of good breakfasts, and a safe, inexpensie place to stumble to after libations with the guys at the conventions, even if it meant late-night Frogger across US 30.

With the loss of my lodging for Cold Wars and an unknown future for The Weekend in April, my disappointment still doesn't compare to that of my kids.  The retro arrangement of the rooms, the serve-yourself breakfast, and the dual pools were the high points of our trips to Lancaster, far exceeding the two very mediocre and overpriced visits we made to Dutch Wonderland.

The only true positive I can see is that perhaps the hotel could be attached to the Dutch Wonderland parking lot, and allow the use of the traffic light to make left hand turns.
It's sad that I can say this picture was from a simpler time...

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