WEG logistics: an amazing piece of work

[poltroon]

I am so impressed with the incredible attention to detail at WEG. So many people have done so much right. The effort is amazing.

• The shuttles worked great!! Our group was able to separate with no worries that we could get back. On our final day we moved the car and shuttled back to a hotel that was closer to our airport, to minimize transport time. Worked a treat.

• The volunteers were incredibly friendly and helpful. I didn’t come across anyone irritable or anything less than cheerful. There were people EVERYWHERE to help. There were even people stationed at trash cans to help people sort recycling. Having a volunteer at every shuttle stop made people much more confident that they were in the right place at the right time. They knew the best ways everywhere.

• Many of the temporary buildings for vendors were nicer than my house.

• The vending is spectacular. So many great places to shop.

• The demos are cool.

• The food was not spectacular, but the logistics of getting it were very well planned and they made a game effort to offer salads and other choices. Although many people complained, I was satisfied (perhaps because I’ve eaten far worse in Kentucky in years past).

• When I first heard about the grounds pass I couldn’t understand why it would be worth it. It’s totally worth it.

• Jumbotrons in all kinds of great places would let you watch the action even without an event ticket.

• I know the instant scoring isn’t new with WEG, but it’s super cool and I can appreciate how much goes into just getting that together.

• the live feeds! Very neat.

Only a few downsides:

• The announcers in the stadium are not audible if there is any crowd noise. Generally we could hear the names of horse and rider, but when they made longer, more freeform announcements, they often were impossible to understand. Perhaps the sound can be adjusted or perhaps bullet points can be put up on the screens.

• The bathroom in the stadium could have used a dedicated attendant to monitor supplies and functionality. It ran low on toilet paper a few times.

• The portapotties near the entrance were vile and out of toilet paper; the need for those was underestimated.

• Portapotties accessible to the food area outside the stadium would have been welcome.

I wonder if the issues pintopiaffe was having getting help for her disabled companion were resolved. I saw many people getting assistance, but I’m not sure everyone who needed or wanted it did.

I am curious how non-english speakers are finding the experience, since I didn’t see any translations of any materials available.

[oldernewbie]

Yes!!

As for non-English speakers - there was a translation service available. All volunteers were trained to contact them ASAP if anyone had language issues. I realize that this doesn’t cover printed materials, but help was available.

I agree with you on all other points. I signed up to volunteer over 2 years ago and I was worried about things because they seemed to be messing around with our status constantly. Thankfully they got it all together this year by the time we got to the first training session.

I had a great time volunteering and being a spectator. Wish I was still there…but duty (job family horse!) calls! :sadsmile:

[poltroon]

On the stadium bathrooms, they WERE smart enough to “reflag” at least one Men’s room as a ladies’ room, aware that there was a distinct gender tilt to the audience.

[Plumcreek]

[QUOTE=poltroon;5137574]
On the stadium bathrooms, they WERE smart enough to “reflag” at least one Men’s room as a ladies’ room, aware that there was a distinct gender tilt to the audience. :-)[/QUOTE]

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=31565&id=100000995721553#!/photo.php?pid=224092&id=100000995721553&ref=fbx_album

[poltroon]

One more thing that could be better was that I really could have used a bullet point list of “All the stuff you can do at WEG today.” Perhaps it exists somewhere, but I never knew where.

[BeeHoney]

Amen! I too have been incredibly impressed with the organization and presentation. Volunteers have been so helpful and cheerful. Personally I thought the food was great for a sporting event like this and I was super impressed by how the food tent by the main stadium moved people through FAST so we didn’t waste hardly any time getting our food even though throngs of other people were getting food at the same time.

The layout of the whole place is great…enter, have a leisurely stroll through the vendors, then head to see the competition. Though a bit of walking is necessary, it is laid out so that there are no “long boring walks.” Instead, along the main routes are interesting things to see and fabulous shopping to be had. PLUS, all the walking is along clean, paved areas…no walking through dirty or dusty areas.

The tents and displays are fantastic. And Alltech took the opportunity as sponsor to set up a really beautiful area for people to relax, not just learn about their company.

I did wish that there had been a hand washing station somewhere near the food area. And although there were hand sanitizer dispensers in the porta potties, they were for the most part empty. Minor issues, IME.

[MimsEppi]

I was actually kind of disappointed with the shopping… I don’t have $4k to drop on a saddle, and for basic stuff like halters, hair nets, and boots it was Bit of Britain or nothing. (And not even then… The halters were nearly gone)

[yaya]

In the main food tent, there were hand sanitizer dispensers right at the end of the line before you picked up your food.

I beg to differ about the shuttles. They were supposed to be running every half hour. The first day, we waited outside our hotel for an hour and a half to pick up the shuttle to get to the Horse Park because the buses kept filling up before they got to us. They should have staggered the departure points instead of always starting at point A. Same thing going home after the freestyle - they should have had more than one bus waiting at the horse park since there was such a large number of people leaving at once.

[poltroon]

[QUOTE=BeeHoney;5137802]
The layout of the whole place is great…enter, have a leisurely stroll through the vendors, then head to see the competition. Though a bit of walking is necessary, it is laid out so that there are no “long boring walks.” Instead, along the main routes are interesting things to see and fabulous shopping to be had. PLUS, all the walking is along clean, paved areas…no walking through dirty or dusty areas.

The tents and displays are fantastic. And Alltech took the opportunity as sponsor to set up a really beautiful area for people to relax, not just learn about their company.[/QUOTE]

Yes indeed! The most boring part of the walk involved the causeway next to the lake, where you could ogle the view and the floating Land Rover. I was pleasantly surprised when I went into the “Alltech Experience” expecting it to be a marketing nightmare. It was neat.

But it’s weird to learn that the company that makes my horse feed (LMF Senior) also makes Dippin’ Dots.

[poltroon]

[QUOTE=yaya;5137835]
In the main food tent, there were hand sanitizer dispensers right at the end of the line before you picked up your food.

I beg to differ about the shuttles. They were supposed to be running every half hour. The first day, we waited outside our hotel for an hour and a half to pick up the shuttle to get to the Horse Park because the buses kept filling up before they got to us. They should have staggered the departure points instead of always starting at point A. Same thing going home after the freestyle - they should have had more than one bus waiting at the horse park since there was such a large number of people leaving at once.[/QUOTE]

Ah, I can see that would have been an issue. Great idea to stagger where it started. We were lucky and unlucky enough to be the first hotel on the route, so we always had a seat, but we had to plan for a longer trip.

[poltroon]

[QUOTE=MimsEppi;5137823]
I was actually kind of disappointed with the shopping… I don’t have $4k to drop on a saddle, and for basic stuff like halters, hair nets, and boots it was Bit of Britain or nothing. (And not even then… The halters were nearly gone)[/QUOTE]

There were quite a few vendors selling other items, just not on the scale of BOB. But, it was hard to find them or to know what they would have. I know I did not find every vendor.

[retento]

I have to say we were pleasantly suprised at how well everything ran. We have been planning for a year to take a demo horse and every month something would change for the worse. One month ago I was ready to quit. Turned out to be much easier and more well planned out than advertised!

My husband is in a wheelchair and uses a mobility scooter and we had absolutely no issues with accessibility or catching a ride to the Equine Village from the shuttle area. He can hop up and down the steps of buses so the shuttle bus to Frankfort was easy for him to get on and off. Not sure how it would work for someone who is absolutely wheelchair bound though.

The volunteers were absolutely wonderful only found one grumpy one!

The only issue we had was leaving on Wed evening, it was dark and everyone was basically gone. We had to search to find our way from the EV back to the shuttles. By Friday we had it all figured out.

Enthusiastic thumbs up!!!

[pony4me]

Everything except Spy Coast parking seemed to be going well when I was there. As people have mentioned, there were plenty of parking attendants when you arrive, taking your money and parking your promptly and efficiently. And NONE when you were departing. To further complicate things, the rows were unmarked, with no EXIT signs, arrows, or people directing traffic that I could see. So unless you found a way to memorize where your car was when you parked, you were SOL when you returned and tried to leave. A cone with a letter or number by each row would have helped a lot. I saw many lost souls yesterday, and they didn’t look too happy. The set up made it easy to create gridlock. Shuttle service was good when I was leaving.

I found only one map listing the trade fair vendors. It would have been nice to have more maps posted, or maybe available in the trade fair area. Venue maps were posted in various places, but not all had a “You Are Here” dot, so they were not as helpful as they could have been. The cheeseburger I had was good, and had I found a place to sit down and enjoy it, it would have been better. Every volunteer I encountered was friendly.

The American Saddlebred Museum was very nice, including nice warm permanent restrooms. People had pretty much figured out the weather, and had layered up. Everyone seemed to be having a great time.

[MimsEppi]

[QUOTE=poltroon;5137890]
There were quite a few vendors selling other items, just not on the scale of BOB. But, it was hard to find them or to know what they would have. I know I did not find every vendor.[/QUOTE]

I know I’m looking forward to shopping at Rolex… More options, I think. The Ariat tent was sorely in need of more checkout lines too, but on the whole things were fantastic and if I could, I would happily go back this week!