My first WDW, and as a Ducati fan I have to say I was disappointed. If I'd wanted to see new bikes, and a few old race bikes I could go to my local dealer or classic event. €45 entry was taking the piss if it was supposed to be a thank you from the factory. A burger in a dry bun for €6 really made me feel valued. Also, if your Ducati broke down at WDW they wanted €35 an hour to look at it, surely they could've swallowed the labour cost. You could've done the event in a few hours, not three days. The fun for me was the ride down and catching up with old friends plus meeting a few more. So, 65,000 punters at an average of €45 a shot is €2,925,000. I don't know what Misano costs for a few days in the closed season, a couple of hundred staff, and some marquee's, but I bet there was a nice profit in it for them? I wonder how much the sponsors chucked in? Let's just say my arse felt sore, and not only for the ride back. Not sure I'll bother again, so much for the thank you for 20 years of brand loyalty?
Went in 2010, enjoyed it for what it was but like you it's a day at best the journey and company was what it was about for me, WDW was just an excuse to do an epic euro jaunt
I went to 2002 and really enjoyed it, we had access to the pits and chatted to Troy Bayliss and Ben Bostrom. Neil Hodgson and JT came to the brit area. The riders were around all weekend. We did factory/museum and saw RHCP, Muse and Chemical Bros at Imola on saturday night(instead of Santana organised by factory on Sunday). I went again in 2010 and was disappointed, as Nick says the food/drink rip off, the constant theme tune over the sound system, the doo-cat-eee chant got a bit much. WDW lost its magic for me, perhaps I'm getting cynical in my old age but its all a bit OTT. Not being allowed to visit the museum the week before due to a booking mix up after we had booked 2 nights in an expensive hotel didn't endure me to Ducati either.
It was a first for me and maybe my expectations were too high but I have to say that I too was disappointed. The organisation was pretty poor, queuing for drinks only to be barked at for a ticket that I had to join another queue for before returning to the original queue to get the drinks. I had to ask 3 different stands where to go for the gift bag and got a different answer each time, the gift bag contained the programme with the map on it which was handy! No stickers though, what's that all about? Got a t shirt, a cloth badge and metal pin badge. The shop did have some great bargains which is just as well as it took a couple of hours to get in, 99 euros for a ladies leather Monster jacket and Arai helmets for under 200. There was limited space for spectators of the drag race and stunt shows, managed to hear the drag race but couldn't get anywhere near to see it. There was a screen to watch it that's just not the same and not what I travelled all that way to do. Had a starting issue with one of the bikes as we were about to leave and to be fair the guys at the Ducati service stand who were about to go home, they sorted it with no charge and offered to take the bike the following day and give it a thorough check (This I'm fairly sure would not have been free). I had booked the full 3 day package but in all honesty found that we had done all we wanted on day 1, the programmes for the following days were pretty much the same apart from different rider interviews, the evening entertainment and ride outs. Would I do it again? Probably not, I'm glad I went and it was great to see so many Ducati's of all kinds in one place as well as other bikes, Vyrus which I hadn't seen in the flesh before parked next to a BMW R9T. Had a look at the new Scrambler which was also interesting. We did do the factory tour a few days before which was very good, it was just a shame that it was so rushed, would have liked to have spent a little more time in there, 45 mins went by very quickly. The museum was also good and no limit on time in there or restrictions on taking pictures.
First one for me too. As I mentioned to a few people down there, I travelled nearly 1000 miles to meet my mates in a beer tent All in all, for me, it was a holiday. I wasnt too sure what to expect, but I expected a little more than what in fact, no bigger than a BSB event. I enjoyed the event, caught up with friends and made many more. I think for me its fair to say that WDW week was the rest between two long rides and I enjoyed my time there. Yes there were problems, the queuing thing for food/drink was a bit annoying, but I only had to be told the once and from then it wasnt a problem. The service area was a life saver for many riders who attended the event and bloody cheap too. 35 euros an hour which went to charity to have a fully trained mechanic check and then fix the bike. Stickers. Yeah I wanted some too, mainly one for my screen. Could Ducati have given out free water? Personally seeing as Italy was in the midst of a heat wave, that would have been good, but thats probably asking a bit much Officially Ducati are claiming it a success and, well, they would be dumb to say otherwise, but maybe you take it for what it is, enjoy it, the weather and the company and move on.
I'll take back the service charge gripe if it was for charity. Looking at the constant queue of broken down Dukes, at €35/hr the charity must be minted! Some good points Alf, we also tried to see the drag racing, but there was no room. Like you we watched it on the telly, I could've done that at home! It's not great that the only negative part of my European trip was actually attending WDW! The rest was great, Ducati need to take note, but if they care much about the punters they'd have put on a better show.
