We went to the Orlando Beer Festival with VIP tickets, which were supposed to include early entry,…read morea commemorative glass, a t-shirt, a private VIP area with food, covered seating, bathrooms, and private parking. On paper, it sounded great, but the event itself felt very unorganized.
When we arrived, the VIP parking lot was completely unmanned. I spent about 30 minutes trying to find someone to confirm we were parked correctly, but no one seemed to know anything about the parking or who I could even talk to. Honestly, anyone could have parked there without being checked.
Inside, the beer stations were set up way too close together, which made the flow of traffic feel cramped even though there was plenty of space available. It was a hot day, and unless you were in the VIP area, there was no shade to take a break. The food trucks were outside the event space with no seating, which made grabbing food inconvenient.
The turnout was low, and overall the vibe felt pretty "blah" compared to other beer festivals I've attended. On the positive side, there were a lot of quality vendors, and we had fun interacting with them. I even discovered a few new breweries I'll visit later. But the organization issues kept piling up. As we were leaving, we asked about our VIP glasses at the entrance, and the staff had no idea what we meant. We were sent to the information booth, where my husband was questioned about whether he was really leaving before they finally pulled the glasses out from under the table. There was no signage or clear instructions for VIPs about how to get them.
We did get our t-shirts in the VIP section, but again, nothing was clearly communicated.
Overall, despite some good beer and friendly vendors, the event was poorly organized from start to finish. Between the parking confusion, lack of shade, and unclear VIP perks, it just wasn't worth it. I won't be going back to this particular beer festival.