Driven off our Oktoberfest table by the waitress

Maybe that is what the management want deep-down? Or not so deep-down...cash is king.

Go to the Löwenbräu tent and offer the waitress 100 yoyos for a table. Secretly film the proceedings with a camcorder. As she seats you tell her what fantastic service and ask her name and number and what is the number of the table you are at. When she brings the first round play back the handing over of cash on your laptop. Tell her the 100 yoyos is for the beer and food and if you get any bother you are calling the management. At most she might spit in your beer that's all.

i think the tent owners would like nothing better than to have all seats reserved twice a day. Guaranteed sales and the ability to chuck them out at an agreed time to let the next batch in for more. the last thing they want is people blocking tables and not ordering cos they've had their fill.

Twice a day? Wake up and smell the moolah, Ammer (for example) has no less then 8 reservations slots! Ok, small tent etc. but it's becoming standard.

if it was becoming standard most of the large tents would have 8 reservation slots. they don't. "Standard" (at the moment) is two reservations per day since most tents operate this way.

There is however movement towards the idea of three shifts a day. Read it in the local rag a couple of weeks ago.

Beg to differ - that depends entirely on the tent you're in and the crowd you're with. Nothing against large TT meetups at Oktoberfest, but get out there in a small group and join a German table, as I've done a couple of times this year and had a great time - plenty of local feel.

And according to some bloke on the microphone in the Braeurosl (I think it was the head of Hacker-Pschorr), 69% of Wiesn attendees last year were from the Munich area...

I'd love to know how he measured that one.

I've been going in both large and small groups of mixed nationalities, local and foreign, for the last decade. Each year has seen an increase in attendance, barring 2001, and a decrease in any sort of 'local' feel to the event in any of the tents I've visited, large or small.

From speaking to the comittee members of clubs that reserve tables...it is a BIG issue.
IF this Verein gets its arse in gear next week, maybe we could do a joint TT signing?

Do you mean a petition?

Well, this is quite old, but lists 60% from Munich, 12% from elsewhere in Bavaria, 13% from elsewhere in Germany, and 15% from the rest of the world. So even allowing for the skewing of these statistics by the Munich Toytowners, there are still plenty of locals there.

While I agree that the Fest feels more crowded than it used to (remember when you could leave the tent, look around, do some rides, and then just go back on in?), the statistics don't confirm that either.

Matt, those stats don't mean a thing. Firstly, they are "estimates" (in other words, just made up) and secondly refer to the number of people at the Wiesn as a whole and not just the number of people in the tents.

During bad weather, for example, you can have low numbers of visitors to the wiesn but those that do go stay in the tents so they get crowded quickly.

They can't have it always, the Oktoberfest makes billions for the local economy, so its a little bit churlish to moan about it not being local enough. The last time I saw as many people in one place was the Epsom Derby in the early 80's, quite a sight.

It's supposed to be a continuing wedding celebration for heaven's sake, something traditionally Bavarian, and judging by the numbers of visitors in tracht some things are improving but wearing tracht is as much a ploy to get in to the tents as it is paying some sort of tribute to Bavarian tradition. I'm tending to agree that it's becoming more and more commercial. You can buy a mass bier in Munich city in a (albeit grotty) bar for just over €5 but this year's de facto price at the Wies'n (including [s]bribe[/s] tip) is €10. If it's becoming inevitable that you have to bribe your way on to a table as well then it's a very sorry state of affairs. It's getting ridiculous.

And there's no doubt it's getting busier - Ten years ago you could walk in to almost any tent at almost any time, I even stumbled in to Schottenhamel on the first Saturday totally unaware of what that bloke with the barrel was up to - try that today and you'll have to fight for position from 5am. From next year we will tell our friends from out of town that if they want to come then either they go alone on the Saturday or come with us on Sunday. Saturdays are just far too much stress now although other times are much better, but should we locals really be expected to take time off work just because we want to enjoy the Wies'n?

70% Bavarian is the oft-quoted figure, but I'm not sure how old that figure is. It wouldn't surprise me if it dates back to the 1990s. Considering that regional Volksfeste (even the million-visitor-strong Gäubodenfest in Straubing) have about 99.9% Bavarian visitors, there's no doubt that the local feel is missing at Oktoberfest. But that's inevitable at an event that's known throughout the world. I think they've actually done a fairly good job of keeping it relatively traditional in the face of such international recognition.