The Chevy Equinox and The Festival of Lights

Previously on Fandads, I posted about how I attended a Chevy/Klout event for the new Chevy Volt.  One of the cool things that happened at the event occurred as I was getting ready to leave.  I met Stephanie Hoey who works for MSL Group and told her about how I run a blog and wrote about trying out the Volt for 3 days.  She then proceeded to tell me that her company does week loans of vehicles and if I were interested in loaning a car for a week.  Knowing that my car was going to go into repairs and my fall break was coming up, I thought this couldn't happen at a better time.  I told Stephanie yes and gave her my card and she told me she would contact me in a few days to set everything up.



To her word, Stephanie contacted me within a few days and told me that I could choose any car from the GM family of cars. That meant any Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, or GMC.  If I were younger and single I might have chosen a flashy sports car, but I wanted something that was suitable for my family.  After carefully looking through all the cars I decided on the Chevy Equniox.  I emailed Stephanie and told her the dates I would like to have the car and after a few emails back and forth, a date and time were set.

The car arrived on time and I couldn't have been happier.  This car was a great size for my family and there was plenty of room in the rear seats.  The dashboard and control panels didn't feel clunky or were too hard to read.  One of the big pluses for me was that the car had the Latch system in the back seat, which, as a parent, is something that I always look for.  Having the car for an entire week as opposed to only a few days gave me a real experience of how the car would be useful in everyday usage.  I was able to run my daily errands with the car and really appreciate all it had to offer.  

Well, what does the car have to offer you may ask?  The model I was given was a 2013 LTZ and it was decked out with all the trimmings: MyLink radio with navigation, rear view camera, and remote start.  I had fun using the navigation maps.  Even though I knew where I was going, I used the maps just to see how well they work and what routes they would give me.  The rear view camera is a great tool to use and I think more cars should come automatically equipped with this.  One of the features that my wife really liked was the ability to push a button to close the rear lift gate .  While this may not sound like a big deal, it is for people who can't really reach the lift gate to close it.  

My wife and I have been talking about buying a new car by year's end and the Chevy Equinox has jumped to the top of our list.

This story doesn't end here, as a thank you for testing all the Chevy cars I've had and writing about them, Fred Ligouri of MSL Group, invited my family to be guests at the BMO Harris Festival of Lights parade this year and that was an awesome experience that we will never forget.  Here is a quick run down of the day, but I will follow it up with a more detailed post later.

We started the day with breakfast with Disney characters.  The face on my little girl when Mickey Mouse entered the room was priceless.  After breakfast we walked around Pioneer Plaza and took in some of the booths that were on display. Luckily we got in the Garrett popcorn line, before it got too long. 

One of the perks of being invited was we had the option to get tickets to the VIP seating for the concerts that were taking place throughout the day.  We got tickets for the Radio Disney show which showcased Olivia Holt and Shane Harper.  My little girl enjoyed herself dancing to their music and then we walked around until it was time to get in line for the parade.

I've gone to parades before and they are a lot of fun, but this was the first time that I was actually going to be in the parade.  We were assigned to a Chevy Malibu which was pretty cool, then we were told that our car was going to be one of the two in front of Santa Claus' float.  When we were told that our heads almost exploded.  This was our first time at the Festival of Lights, we were going to be in the parade, and now we are going to be in front of Santa?! How can that not be the coolest thing ever?  I mean being part of the procession and having thousands of people waving at you was an experience that we will never, ever forget. 

I want to thank everyone who participated in the event and made my family feel so welcomed: Fred Ligouri,for inviting us down to the event, Isra Baig, although it seemed like she had a million and one things to do, she still made sure my family was taken cared of,  Matt, our driver in the Malibu who was super awesome, Kate and Matthew, who braved some of the crazy downtown post parade traffic to get my family back to the parking garage where our car was and Stephanie Hoey for giving us the loan of the Equinox that led to this amazing event.