Welcome to Disneyland - Munich

Today got back the letter from Schottenhammel about our yearly reservations. Not only that they now startetd to bleedin do two shifts like most other tents to, they now are offering me a freakin table at 5pm for the Anstich. WTF do I need a table on Anstich for at such a crap time!?! My family was having their table on Anstich for like a gazillion years and now, and not only that they start doing that shift shit and not respecting the wishes and peferences of their long time traditional customers, they also get cheap on the other reservations. Always had tables for the Saturdays and now they only wanna give us some tables during the week on freakin tuesday... HELLO!!! I WORK AND LIVE HERE AND AM NOT ON SOME FUCKIN PISH HOLIDAY!

God that really annoys the hell out of me! Not only that the tents are selling out their tables big style to tourist agencies, so the non reserved seats are getting less and less every year - now they start to fuck over the local long-time customer on top of that.

I live and work here and used to go there every year, same as my father and grandfather (eventhough at his time there was no reservations needed). Will I have to "book" my tables in the future through a "travel" or "booking" agency? FFS!!!

The Wiesn is getting more and more a freakin joke and tbh they should just put up a big fence around it and charge entrance on everyone going there. The entrance-fee will be something around €50,-- and includes a silly Maßkrug-hat, a silly "I went to the Oktoberfest..."-shirt, an HB-Miniature Maßkrug that plays "Ein Prosit" and a pair of these hillarious beer-googles...

Make it all a freakin theme-park, fire all the Bedienungen and replace em with Hooters girls, bring in light beer and jelly shots in the tents, knock down the Bavaria and the area behind so we can build a fuckin theme-resort there looking like bloody Neuschwanstein, so premium customers who book the "Black-Card-Package" can be granted a 24/7 access to the festival and since we're at it, why stop after two weeks? Open all year, which makes the newly build more level "tents" with gambling area, toddlers park, different restaurants and spa way more profitable and only close down for the Walt freakin Disney memorial day... oh and of course bring in search and destroy teams who simply take out anyone who dares carry tobacco on him within a perimeter of 50km around the festival.

Fuckin hell...

If you're so bent on tradition, shouldn't you be also vouching for horse races, dancing floors, drinking only from Steinkruge and keeping the Jews out?

I actually didn't ask for these things if you would care to read more carefully. There was a certain time when Jews were kept out, but it didn't last 1,000 years as we all know... and just a small hint: you're pissing up your own tree here.

Ok then, what experience running an Oktoberfest tent do you have that makes you qualified to comment on how they should run their business?

Well, there are hundreds of Volksfeste held throughout Bavaria every year, so maybe it's time to try another one. The atmosphere outside of Munich is just as good and there isn't an Australian or Italian to be seen. Here's the Volksfest Calender for events in Bavaria (excluding Franken).

I realise that the Munich Oktoberfest is the big one, but it's not the oldest – not by many centuries. And the Gäubodenfest in Straubing gets over a million visitors each year.

Not only all that, but a Maß is going to cost over €8* this year!

[sup]
*Which they strangely fail to mention on the English version of the website![/sup]

I'm just saying, things change, get over it, if you don't like O-fest anymore (or just the Schottenhammel), vote with your own two feet.

EDIT: yeah, what STB said.

HelterSkelter - do you wear a Pinocchio hat by any chance. Please don't insult Disney. Disney is first rate run organisation not like the Oktoberfest drunken pissup.

I know - the best ones actually are the "Stadlfeste" on the small villages outside of Munich. It's just very annoying to see how drastically the Wiesn is changing. Schottenhammel was one of the last tents still trying to keep the whole thing a bit real and it wasn't known for being the "Munich" tent for nothing. I'm from Munich so to me it means a slight tad more to me for just letting go like that and it's always kind of painfull to see good things go to shreds... because even though the picture I painted above is a bit to over the top, the truth is, if the Wiesn turns into nothing but a big playground for tourists, it'll not only loose it's identity, but it'll slowly kill itself at some point and that would be very sad.

Reservations for Schottenhamel on a Saturday? You lucky bastard! Frigging lead me to them, according to their site they just don't DO reservations on a Saturday at all, at all.

And if you think this year is going nuts, wait until 2010. Not only do we not have an extra day as 3 October is a Sunday, it's also the 200th anniversary.

Like your Dad and Opa, I remember when it was all fields around there and you could walk into any tent and sit down on one of the chairs (!) placed around a round table (!). And yes, before you include me in your diatribe, I earn money by reserving tables for people who don't have the time or language skills or contacts (and the latter should not be necessary) to do so themselves. I am also in constant contact with the tents and get refused tables because "we exclude a certain percentage of our tables from reservation to ensure seats for non-reserved guests". It's not a lower percentage every year, the city forces them to stick to the same number.

As regards Hooters waitresses, it's the female guests that wear porno-Dirndls. The staff may have eye-jolting color combinations but at least their uniforms are serviceable. Stick them into Hooters outfits and you can't tell the two apart (hell, even I have been taken for a waitress - shoulda said "Cash up front!" and disappeared).

I really understand your frustration, although from a different point of view. Try again for your accustomed table and tell them your family history. You are, after all, a "langjähriger Kunde" with priority rights. Good luck!

I find it also a shame that more and more of the locals are getting pushed out of this event due to the large amount of tourists... The extortionate beer prices also means that a lot of the locals can no longer afford to keep going... :-(

It's also a joke trying to get in the tents these days... Maybe they should consider expanding it and using the rest of the land there??

Maybe they should hold two events, one just for tourists and another closed event for those who can prove they live here? :-)

Still, Frühlingsfest soon... :-)

i'm with HS and you got me worried. i am still waiting to find out the result of my reservation request at schottenhamel. last year it wasn't a problem, i only sent in my request in feb for a sunday eve, this year i faxed in november and i still haven't heard. sent them a fax yesterday (no one seems to pick up the phone) and i am still waiting.

sadly, i think that ofest will get more and more commercial and us, münchner, we will find new places to celebrate and enjoy our (own drinking ) culture.

Why do the tents prefer reservations anyway? The place fills up regardless, and a reservation doesn't cost anything, you merely have to buy two mass and a half a chicken, which I imagine almost everyone would do anyway.

I'm thinking it's to do just what everyone argrees is part of the Wiesn - to ensure that natives and regulars can sit down and have two beers and half a chicken. Of course the tents would be full anyway. I assume that reservations have a regulatory effect as well; you don't have 500 people milling around the entrances waiting for an empty table, you have 500 people gathering in an orderly fashion and [s]goosestepping[/s] proceding to their reserved seats.
If the Wiesn lasted three or four weeks and had twice as many tents my bet is that they would be just as full.

Ok, so why if it's just for locals are they screwing people over in the manner HelterSkelter suggests?

I've got nothing against your business getting people tables, but maybe they should only allow reservations for people with addresses in Munich and at the same time reduce the amount of reserved space so that the tourists have a chance to get in still. Tourists are always at a distinct advantage anyway because they are normally here on holidays and don't have to work like the rest of us and can therefore get there early and get a good place.