Guess I wasn't crazy after all about the rooms.
This boils down to:
Well run, fun, play for pride tourney
vs
Spend 500-1000 dollars for a good time.
I see both sides on this one and know quite a few players that have given this a try. Pretty much everyone says this tourney is very well run.
I may try it someday when I have more time. I think for players like me, that just play a couple events a year, it's nice to have something to play for. It would be cool if they could run it along side a team event or something. But I suppose if it's not broke don't fix it.