Originally Posted by
Marathon Man
This year, crickets. It was kinda quiet! I couldn’t put my finger on it as we stood there wondering why it was so sedate. Then one guy got up to chug one and security hauled him out. Another bloke half way across the tent did one and same thing. so less amped up over all because none of this was happening now. When in previous years you might see 50 people do it from 10am to noon, now maybe we saw 3 and they got taken.
Asked waitress about this and she said its always been against the rules. I said I had been to Oktoberfest many times and never seen em take people out. Weird. Maybe she worked for Marriott who also says things have always been a certain way when clearly, with the merger, they have not.
She was actually right. Chugging down a whole Maß is normally the quickest way to be kicked out of tent. You might get away with it when the tent is very full and security is very busy.
Originally Posted by
Marathon Man
They stopped me and promptly said show me. I scrolled through. They said delete those. I did. Then they said go to the delete folder and empty it. I did. Then they asked, Why would you do this? I said, sorry, just trying to capture all the fun everywhere in the fest. They determined I was not a drunk idiot and moved on. I did of course sneak a few other pics in of the hill, but the point is, I guess it’s all about not being a drunk idiot too much.
Yes, security is not amused when people take pictures of "helpless" drunks at the "Kotzhügel" (translates to vomit hill)
Originally Posted by
Marathon Man
This year was 50% busier than I have ever seen it. Places that had been baron at 10am were mostly full, crowds in the streets were full, by noon or 1 most tents were packed, one night at one tent you physically could not move, and on Sat am, we got to Hoffbräu at 9am and it looked like 5pm. Same at Hacker. We ended up getting a table that would become a reserved one at 4:30 so we stayed from 10-3 at Augustiner tent and when we were leaving, you could see out the now closed front door a sea of people 10 deep and 20 wide waiting to be let in.
On that Sat am I was in the lobby of my hotel early and 5 American dirndls who said a friend told them how and when to do everything told me they were headed to the tents at 7am and people had waited for them to open from 5am. When we got there at 9, which on a Saturday in the past would have still had room, the whole place had beers and was full. I had no idea of this and I wonder what happened. Band was going in all tents by 9am or before. Never seen that. We know Saturday is tough but 7am? Really? I guess next year we will have to rally and be there!
Saturday is always the busiest day of the week. Normally tents do not open before 10am. But 9am is early enough I would say if you are not more than three to four people you have always good chances around noon. Only exception is the first Saturday when the Wiesn official starts. You need to be there by 5am to get in line and to be one of the first people on the festival ground by 10am when it opens but only if you want to join the "O-Zapft is" ceremony by noon. Best days for a Wiesn visit is during the week. It also helps if there is good weather an people can sit outside. I personally avoid the Wiesn on Saturdays.
Overall the Wiesn was a regular Wiesn and not a record setting one with about 6.3 million visitors. It was also a safe Wiesn with only 914 criminal offenses (less than last year). This is not much for a a festival with 6.3 million visitors.