So we just went to the 1940's Ball at the Boulder Airport June 15th after getting our hopes up for…read moreover a year after my fiancé's friend went and told him about it. He's a huge history buff so we went all out on buying a suit and accessories for him, a dress and accessories for me, plus the time and effort putting it all together. I don't know if this is how it is every year and I'm aware it was sold out, but for what we paid we felt pretty let down. First, I'm disabled and nobody knew where to tell us to park for ADA parking, we had to ask 5 people and make 2 circles before someone directed us somewhat correctly. And a guy in a hi-vis vest basically told us to park where we were at which wasn't super accessible but we made it work. I'm not wheelchair bound yet but it was a good walk from where we parked. There seemed like there was no planning for ADA parking. I couldn't imagine having to navigate that area in a wheelchair or even with a cane. Upon entry, we noticed the crowds and how tight it was trying to walk around there. You were bumping into people everywhere you turned. There were booths to sell things in a portion of the area and even that was crowded. And it didn't seem like there were very many of them. And you pretty much had to wait in line to get to the booth and actually go in or see their offerings. Every single thing from the atm, to drinks, to photos with planes or scenes, had a line of at least 50-75 people, or more in some instances, often times having multiple long lines for things like each side of the planes or alcoholic drinks. Or lines for drink tickets to go stand in another line for drinks. We opted out of drinking after seeing the process. Even if you bought drink tickets in advance, you'd have had a really long line. And then lines were running into other lines, and in the middle of the line about every 15 minutes they had to split the crowds to get their little trash carts around. We tried to walk around to things but everything was so full there was no room to enjoy it, couldn't even find room on the dance floor or anywhere near that stage. The other dance area in the hangar was packed full and you couldn't get in. We were able to find a spot to stand and hear a few Hawaiian songs, the group was really good. Afterwards we got a few pictures and decided maybe the lines would die down if we grabbed dinner. When we found the dining area the tables and chairs were basically squished together so badly that you couldn't get to the only available seating. I don't know who set this thing up but the tables were set up where there was maybe 2 ft of room between each of them, add some folding chairs on each side of this narrow isle and people and you're practically on top of one another. After standing around and looking for 15 minutes we finally found 2 spots, having to climb over 3 people to get there. It took about 10 minutes at the atm, another 30 for 2 lemonades, and another 30 for 2 burgers. By this time we were less than impressed but we were keeping our seats and waiting for the advertised flyover at 735ish. By 830 it still had never happened. We never even knew why it didn't happen, if there was an announcement, it was not audible. It was still on the website as a scheduled activity at 730. It was a big disappointment especially since it was one of the reasons why my fiancé wanted to go. It was getting dark and they started the "drive in movie" which was just short clips, like trailers, for everything Bob Hope had ever been in. No actual movie at least while we were there before we gave up and left. We got one single picture of us with one plane. That line only had like 10 people. We Didn't get to dance, didn't get to do any of the other activities, and I feel cheated after spending a total of almost $700 between the tickets, food, clothes, and accessories. I'm really glad I didn't spend money to get my hair or makeup done. It's like somebody thought "how many people can we cram in here for at least $100 each?" Like did vendors or certain activities bail out? Like is this how this event is? Looking around we weren't the only people who looked miserable. It wasn't a "Ball", it was like a crammed flea market with 20 booths a few classic cars and armed forces equipment and a few planes and long lines everywhere to see it more than in passing. It felt thrown together and seemed like we paid $200 to stand in line for dinner and to watch some movie trailers from the 1940s.

Such an incredible event. The entertainment is u paralleled. The vintage vendors are so amazing…read more The airplane static display... next level. Just a unique experience all around.