Opening day fail.

[609wood]

The wife and I went to opening day. We arrived at noon and left the gates at about 4:45. We are sitting in line waiting to leave the parking lot. At 5:17.

This blows.


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[609wood]

6:00 to leave the parking lot


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[eloquentXI]

The parking situation/traffic has always been a slight issue....just something I've come to terms with at TRF.

[LadyJessica]

This is why I park on the campground side and hang out for a while.

[JackGonzo, MD]

Just an hour? That's some good time (remembering last year's 3 hour)

[nolekhan]

We left at 7:00 and had no delays in leaving the parking lot. The only delay after that was the Magnolia light, as always.

[Duke of Remington]

So aside from some delays, how was it??? Notice any changes good or bad?

[609wood]

The wife and I had to sleep in it and think about it some. some. It's just really really sad. Where to start?  The lines for most things were long. Particularly beer. The bloody bull was gone so no bloody Mary's. The place that's taking its slot had tomato juice with little flavor or vodka and no hot sauce, pepper or spices to fix it up.  The shows were lackluster and prudish. there were few real serious costumes.  What costumes there were there ran the gambit from steam punk to Lolita, pirate, redneck, tattoo exibitionists and a disturbingly large number of anime.  The foxes were absent as was the ent, oger, centar, just about anyone who was there from years past. The blacksmith beating on black steel, a few other smiths in the park selling poor quality butter knives. Large numbers of smokers which is not a problem except my wife is asthmatic and can't be around them. Any one of these things could easily be forgiven but but together seem to really put us off.

I am deciding if I will bother going again.   


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[Alessandra]

We were there yesterday too and had a blast.  Even with the rain .. we still had a great time.  We left around 4:30 and were out of the parking lot in less than 5 minutes but we did pay the $10 to park closer to the gate - so maybe that factored in. 



We never waited more than a couple of minutes to get food or beer.  We didn't get to see everything though .. because of the rain and we had our granddaughter with us.  The worst part of the day was the horrid humidity.  My husband had to change out of his costume into something cooler because he was drenched in sweat.  But we'll most certainly be going back.   

[*Teach*]

Even with the heat and humidity and rain had a blast. You can choose to mourn the things missing from the past or take joy in the new.
I will always choose the happier path.

*also I had rum, so fun was with me*

[projjywife]

I thought it was pretty good, minus the ridiculous humidity. But I purchased a fan and it made a huge difference.

[DonaCatalina]

We try to go north and then swing around if we stay past 4:00pm. We've actually made better time going out to I45 through Montgomery and then south to Houston.

[KeeperoftheBar]

The Sea Devil has gone down hill badly, I hate to say.  The new stage is great but I think they replaced the entire staff and the new ones don't know their product and are terribly inexperienced (slow).  On Saturday afternoon about 3PM they had 4 people working with lines 10-15 deep in front of each of them.  I waited on the deck (which I find fantastic) for 15 - 20 minutes till a Bar Back came by.  I explained that I couldn't get to the other lines on StudMuffin because of the crowds and he graciously helped me.  Shortly after, I noticed a sign on that window showing it was closed.   With that kind of service and managment, I will have no choice but to find somewhere else to drink and watch the world go by.  And it breaks my heart as I practically lived at the Sea Devil for the last 20 years or so
All I can ask is that someone please bring back Truly and the other experienced bar workers.

[filip]

I had a blast, even with the rain. Good music, good bellydancers, good company, good times!

Parking in the campground made the escape only take about an hour, but that is to be expected.

[Singed]

The wife and I had to sleep in it and think about it some. some. It's just really really sad. Where to start?  The lines for most things were long. Particularly beer. The bloody bull was gone so no bloody Mary's. The place that's taking its slot had tomato juice with little flavor or vodka and no hot sauce, pepper or spices to fix it up.  The shows were lackluster and prudish. there were few real serious costumes.  What costumes there were there ran the gambit from steam punk to Lolita, pirate, redneck, tattoo exibitionists and a disturbingly large number of anime.  The foxes were absent as was the ent, oger, centar, just about anyone who was there from years past. The blacksmith beating on black steel, a few other smiths in the park selling poor quality butter knives. Large numbers of smokers which is not a problem except my wife is asthmatic and can't be around them. Any one of these things could easily be forgiven but but together seem to really put us off.

I am deciding if I will bother going again.   

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I heard they had a hell of a time finding a replacement for Mark at the forge, asked a lot of faire smiths to take over and got declined. 

Big part of the problem is that no matter how big TRF gets, it cannot support multiple similar artisans, there is no way for them to operate, even at a break even.  Especially now that so many of the bread and butter items, things that are pretty quick to make, right there in the booth and sell well are also available, fresh from Pakistan and China, at a dozen or more shops just around the corner.