Fosters and Smith Tours- IMPORTANT

[sunfish11]

DFS has changed their format and has decided that they will not be doing individual club tours any more. Rather they will be holding 4 open houses throughout the year with 60 slots per open house. You must sign up as individuals in advance to get a slot for the open house. I would advise signing up early for the one you would like to attend.

Happy New Year and hope you enjoyed your holidays. This year we are holding 4 Open Houses at the Aquaculture Coral & Marine Life Facility. I have included the link that explains the new Open Houses. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you or your group.


Aquaculture Coral & Marine Life Facility Open House Information

 

[Jhildebrand]

That.......really blows.

 

[mark_molly]

should we all plan on signing up for one of the dates (or at least try to all sign up for one of them) ?

 

[siropa]

wow that really sucks. plus there is no info on their site about the swap anymore and I read elsewhere that they were stopping that too.

 

[kesslerkid01]

times are tough for every one I am sure they are feeling the crunch also so cutting back on hours for the employees

 

[kesslerkid01]

I say we should try and sign up for say the first one? I was reading on a club from northern wisc. that they are having the same issue are also tring to sign up

 

[ken_wied]

Well, I don't see why they are doing this - I spoke to staff 2 weeks ago and they said groups are welcome still. This must have been a VERY recent change.

 

[siropa]

times are tough for every one I am sure they are feeling the crunch also so cutting back on hours for the employees

that would make even less sense then because I know our club has dropped some serious cash up there the days we've visited.

 

[mark_molly]

the first date looks good to me. I wish there was a way to see how many are currently signed up for each.

 

[jandlms]

Our club may have dropped a bunch of $$$$ but that doesn't necessarily mean all or even most clubs do during the visits. Plus factor in the salaries of all the employees they had for our visit and I can see them needing to gross 2 or 3 thousand in coral sales alone just to break even on corals. I know they grossed that easily for our group but I'm sure that some groups are too small . I'm surwe this was just a business decision like dropping the Frag Swap (or holding it every other yearas I have heard).

 

[Fishcrazy06]

I personally think this will bring them more revenue from coral sales! If you think about it its now open to all people as long as you sign up! Think of the people that are not in a reef club whom do have tanks and see the option on their home page? I am thinking they saw the possibility to make more money by opening it up to everyone and not just reef clubs. As it does suck that you need to sign up in order to go and its on a first come first serve basis. With that being said they did set 4 dates aside. I am sure most of us could get in. It just depends on if we could all do it on the same date or not.

 

[sunfish11]

They will not be having a swap this year...maybe next.

 

[kesslerkid01]

I signed up for april 17 th and just got a conformation that i am on the list so there must still be room!!!!

 

[siropa]

I signed up for june 19th and also got on the list.

 

[sunfish11]

I think this may actually work out to be positive. Last year we had people who were on a waiting list and couldn't attend. Also, for some the date didnt' work. This may allow everyone to go and for some very motivated folks they could go 4 times.

Lisa