Really like this event - used to love it when it was smaller and less commercial but I suppose it has to move with the times .... and make a profit in order to continue. Generally, a really friendly event, although one of the male car park attendants has no common sense - making my son in law (on crutches, with a broken, newly operated on leg) go to the bottom of the disabled car park with a fair old way to hop rather than letting us park nearer the mobility scooter side (where other cars were already parked). On the Sunday, a young blond girl, helpfully, actually told us (without asking) to park near the area where you collect mobility scooters and where the little buggies park. Thank goodness for someone with some common sense. Again, relating to mobility issues, the buggies running to and from the car park are great but it would be good if the buggy drivers had a central call system so that you could ask one of them to radio in to send a buggy to someone needing it. (The man I asked was great as he completed the "ferry" he was already doing and then went to collect my son in law (whose arms and hands had become extremely sore! He was waiting at one of the official collection points, but none of the buggies were going there to collect passengers)). It would help if some of the buggies went to the other collection points, not all lining up next to the Pavilion.
I think may be it is good for one of us to have mobility issues on occasions .... we see what other people face on a day to day basis!!!
So ... on the whole, this is a great event with things for the whole family. My grandchildren loved the hawk displays, the Shetland grand national and the Portuguese riders, and I found Jonty's display and story inspirational .... and it is good to see him doing so well.
One small criticism ....PLEASE .... can you ask a "proper" ice cream seller to attend ... the Whippy stuff is terrible! (Glad there are more food sellers than that first year after Covid!!!).
Relaxed atmosphere for dressage; wonderful shopping
Overall the event was very good …
However one or two things in my opinion missing to make the event complete ..
The main item missing was the availability of an event program!
Yes , you tried very hard to make the Blenheim event ‘APP’ workable and give the information. But the lack of signal especially when awY from main arenas/trade stands was no existent! Therefore keeping track of riders etc was impossible.
Ticket purchase in the first instance was easy & website good to follow for booking. However we were sent both printable tickets at ‘home’ and through the post .. making your sustainability options negative!
The tickets we did print at home for the Show Jumping seat allocation .. did NOT have a QR code on them so the stewards
were unable to scan the ticket ? But they did let us in !!
A little more homework needed to iron out these few creases ( especially helpful to those who do not not have phone/ipad/computer usage would be greatly appreciated
Friendly,good shopping, but no programmes expected to get app, not good, couldn’t see it cause too bright and didn’t want to keep staring at my phone,was a print out of running order if you knew where to get it
Super weekend, great staff and service
Easy to get in and park . Very well organised from that perspective.
The free facepainting for the kids was amazing .
As a first time visitor I don’t know what to expect but on reflection I would have liked to have seen more horse related activities.
Felt more a shopping focussed event. That said having been to lots of other types of shows with shopping options there didn’t seem to be too many show specific offers.
Disappointed the Defender activity was booked out almost immediately. Potential to expand this out maybe to increase capacity ?
All in all, we enjoyed the day ( weather helped) but would I come back ? Not every year that’s for sure . Would depend on other alternatives for the bank holiday.
Had a super day a bit spoilt by the endless wait to get out if Burghley. Took 2hrs. Why was everyone directed in single file for miles and miles?
Friday 11th - both the 2 phase and speed class was like watching paint dry. Having charged people to watch the majority of starters didn't even try. evan achieving time faults in the speed class! The commentator Evan sounded fed up having to say " saving it for tomorrows class". To say you were going to see a top class competition was fraud.
The most fantastic show I have ever been to
Apart from the cold damp weather a great experience. Only attended Friday but would loved to have attended more days. Great shops, clean toilets, good paths off the mud. Would liked to get a drink at the end but all shops closed before the finish of the day. More coffee shops in the middle of the shopping area would have been lovely for older less mobile attendees, rather than the walk to the food area.
My First time at Badminton this year 2023/7th May 2023 XC DAY. Arrived in Badminton at 9.30am 3 miles from the grounds for parking and it took my 4 hours in all the traffic , i got parked on a field miles away from the entrance at 1.37pm which waisted most of my day and i missed half the horses/riders.
Needs a lot more better managing of entering and parking for the volume of tickets sold on XC day.
Traffic management was worse than usual this year. Why oh why not have more than one entry and exit for the public? The Saturday queue was interminable.
The members enclosure was too far from the action on both dressage and show jumping day.
You really must do better.
I love this event, and it literally is the best weekend all year. However, I gave three stars due to the rude employees/volunteers who worked on the grounds this year. This being a spectator sport where spectators have to walk to get anywhere were constantly being yelled at to move out of the way for the golf carts. The people driving the golf carts were no better. Driving fast and reckless. The grounds people in general were just rude.
Dog owners need to be respectful and clean up after their dogs also. I hope in the future that dogs are not allowed at the event. People were stepping in dog poop all over the park. The focus is on the horses and their riders, leave the dogs at home.
Excellent opportunity to view top horses and riders. Good food choices. I especially appreciate the addition of shuttles from distant parking places for those of us with compromised knees.
Wonderful event, worth the trip
Disappointed with the “vip peppermint grove” lounge this year, went to this event in 2019 & I thought was a lot better then. I bought a 3 day pass, so works out at $266 a day. In my opinion the food & viewing wasn’t worth it. There was a judges box for the dressage plonked on the vip side of the arena, so you couldn’t get a whole view of the dressage test, the heritage stand would have had a clear unblocked view. Outside of the undercover marquee they had iron chairs to sit on which were extremely uncomfortable & low chairs so you could barely see over the fence. Cross country day we went to the water jump area early to secure a nice viewing spot of the grass (within the pep grove site), in which we were not allowed in as they were still setting up bigger formal tables. According to the digital program (which was also disappointing we didn’t get a hard copy) cross country started at 9:30, however it had changed to 10am, this meant we stood outside in the sun from 8-10am waiting to get let in. I thought this was ridiculous, we just wanted to go to the grass section which we told security however it was a no go. The formal tables for lunch were so crammed in here our table was literally on a slope, it didn’t feel like vip, it looked like let’s just cram another table in for another sale. No room to walk around, let alone the prams that were also brought in. The buffet was a shambles, I don’t know why they call it a 3 course meal when it was just a buffet, then some small slices/sweets after. It took AGES to stand and line up for the buffet, this happened on the Sunday as well.
The 2019 event was by far better value, I believe there was also a World Cup show jumping qualifier running at the same time, so there was some night show jumping to watch & a lot more jumping on the Sunday. They also had a vip lounge members “walk the course” with Andrew Hoy, this was excellent, more personal. The Sunday time table really didn’t have that many combinations, just 11 riders in the 5 star & similar in the 4 star.
Positives out of this event was there was a big screen at the water jump to watch the rest of the course (didn’t need to be in the vip lounge to see this), handy to have toilets close by, the vendors were nice & helpful, & I met a few lovely people to enjoy the day with. However when you are flying down from Brisbane, paying $266 a day for the lounge (I’m also a non drinker, it’s a shame we can’t get a different coloured wrist band & not have to pay for the alcohol), then for the people drinking alcohol they put a “4 drinks only” sign up. The event was under done & definitely not the value for food/viewing.
Hoping that 2024 will have more to watch, I doubt any of this feedback will be taken on board, so I would definitely re consider the lounge for the 3 days, it’s not a vip experience.
Amazingly as always so grateful to everyone responsible for organising and completing in the event
Friendl Volunteers. Great be able to walk the courses.
All good except parking I paid for 3 days giddy up club that was ment to include parking .
But badly trained parking attendant's
Stuffed up this
An international quality event, where you can see some of the best riders and horses in the world compete in a world class setting in the Adelaide Parklands.