Open House Tel Aviv - בתים מבפנים - Stay Home!
I have attended the annual Open House Tel Aviv (a weekend of open houses) for the past several years. What was originally a wonderful and well-run event has become a very unpleasant experience as the organizers fail to grapple with expansion. First, there are the venues which require registration one week prior. The website provides the date that the registration opens but fails to provide the time (roughly 7:00 AM). The event organizer let me in on this little secret when one year I stayed up until midnight the day before to register; according to the event organizer, the time is not disclosed on the website in order to prevent the website from crashing (not sure that her answer is the appropriate solution to the problem). Even with the knowledge that registration begins at 7:00 AM, rarely anyone will succeed in registering for anything. Events closed out so quickly that I actually am starting to wonder if the system is rigged. Then, there are the "open events' where one can just show up and wait on line. The lines literally can run around the block. However, more aggravating is that holders of the Maximum Tel Aviv card are allowed to jump to the front of the line. This is acceptable if one or two do that while the regular line continues to move, but at some point I realized that the regular line had come to a standstill as every few minutes one or two cardholders showed up and were allowed to jump to the head.
Some of the venues are open to the public year-round so there is no reason to visit on the event day. And any enjoyment from the venues that only open to the public on this particular day is negated by the horrible logistics and lack of proper organization. The event organizers might take a page or two from Disney amusement parks which have perfected the science of lines and crowd control. Until then, I will stay in my own comfortable house before attending another Open House!
Some of the venues are open to the public year-round so there is no reason to visit on the event day. And any enjoyment from the venues that only open to the public on this particular day is negated by the horrible logistics and lack of proper organization. The event organizers might take a page or two from Disney amusement parks which have perfected the science of lines and crowd control. Until then, I will stay in my own comfortable house before attending another Open House!
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