electricgull20 said:The organization, just like every year, was a total 🙄
masterpiece.
1. That whole thing with the cards? Just a blatant attempt to play people for fools. On the first day, I actually bothered to skim the booklet—and sure enough, buried in the fine print, it says you need your receipt if you want any money back. That’s it. It wasn’t mentioned anywhere else. Now, once a crowd has had a few drinks, nobody's exactly thinking about their paper trail, and then by day two, everyone realizes they’re screwed because they didn't save those receipts. One guy in my group had almost $167 left on his card and zero receipts, so he ended up treating us all until we were absolutely wiped out. (I’m convinced the organizers were counting on that, honestly.) By the next day, even though there are five of us, we don't all need individual receipts—just one works. So they act all merciful, but maybe instead of being "generous," they should just buy us another round with the money they'd save from our lost receipts. Then we’d actually be getting ahead for once. Of course, on the last day, the benevolent organizers announce they'll refund everyone regardless of receipts—how incredibly noble of them.
2. The food and booze prices are offensively high (Jay-Z $6.00, and don't even get me started on the food)
A tiny wok of noodles for thirty bucks. A cocktail for forty.
3. They couldn't even provide ponchos with the tickets, so people end up buying them from street vendors. A complete disaster.
4. They tried to confiscate my umbrella at the entrance, even though it’s barely 10cm wide. People are literally falling off construction scaffolding drunk into the water, and these guys are worried about an umbrella. Luckily, the staff at the gate weren't paying much attention, so I just tossed it into the grass and snatched it back the second the lady turned her head and we could make our escape.
5. The staff is completely clueless about where anything is. I asked four different people where the press center was—which isn't even marked on the printed map in the booklet—and not a single soul knew, not even the info booth.
6. The selective nonsense with security and how they pick and choose what to grab is just petty. One day I walk in with a Walmart camera, the next day they won't let my friend in because of some idiot.
🙄
Regarding the cards, I did see a notice saying you can actually withdraw money without a receipt after all.
As for the prices, they're festival prices. I don't get why everyone is acting so shocked. 🤷
They didn't take my umbrella; it was in my bag. It’s a little foldable one, even though I saw a massive pile of umbrellas being taken at the entrance.
And regarding the staff, everyone I talked to was perfectly polite.
My only real gripe would be that a huge crowd ended up stuck on that dead-end peninsula and had to backtrack because there wasn't a single sign pointing them toward the walking path. It's not like everyone knows Central Park like the back of their hand. They could have at least marked the shortcut to the bus stop, so people wouldn't have to trek all the way to the main station.