I agree that there were some with unrealistic expectations regarding being able to attend everything, but I also agree that the organization of the 2011 expo was terrible in many areas. For the Arena events, there were multiple lines in different areas of the Convention Center, and CMs gave different answers as to which line was the correct line to be in. I heard at one point a "standby" line was actually let in before a real line by accident, though I didn't witness that.
Also for some of the smaller panels, there were unofficial lines that eventually became lines, and there were "waiting room" lines that were supposed to be the official lines. When waiting for the DCA Panel, we were told we might not make it into the room for the DCA Panel, but that the line for the Star Tours panel (after the DCA panel, but in the same room) would be forming in the same area, so if we didn't make it in for the DCA one, we'd be first up for Star Tours. Cool. EXCEPT that the CM who told us that was nowhere to be found after the DCA panel filled up, and then the other CMs cleared the waiting room to make way for an unofficial Star Tours line that had formed outside (which of course by then had more people in it than there were chairs in the room). So because of that, we ended up getting to see nothing. If we'd realized they wouldn't let us stay in line for the next panel, we could have split up and put one of us in the unofficial Star Tours line.
Sorry that was convoluted, but that was the essence of my last-day experience at the 2011 Expo. I'm cool with waiting in lines. It's expected, it's part of how it works. I'm not cool with being told to wait in the wrong area or being told I can get into something and then being told I was waiting in the wrong area for nothing, especially when I'd taken care to ask the CMs to make sure I was in the right place.
Bookmarks