The Mystery Tour!

smartblaa

Howya,
It's my first year in UCD, and i'm considering goin on "The Mystery Tour" next week. Can anybody share some thoughts on it.
1) Is it worth the money?
2) What has it been like other years?

and finally

3) Do they really keep the location a mystery??

Cheers

The_Minister

They have it on the same weekend as class rep training AFAIK, so thry could have chosen a better date. I never went, but from what I heard there will be drunken days and nights, with plenty of mistakes all round. You won't make any friends on it though.

Stabshauptmann

Last yr was its first year. Yes it will be a secret. Who can really say if its worth the money without knowing your financial circumstances and what you like?!

Scraggs

I went on it last year and had a savage time, I'd really reccommmend it!
1] I thought it was worth it coz I had such a great time but some of my friends didn't so it depends on your finances at the moment. Bring cheap drink with ya and the clubs ya go to have offers on drink.
2] I had a ball at the last one and would go again this time if I was able to
3] I still actually don't know where we went... Meath perhaps?

valor

The_Minister wrote:

They have it on the same weekend as class rep training AFAIK, so thry could have chosen a better date. I never went, but from what I heard there will be drunken days and nights, with plenty of mistakes all round. You won't make any friends on it though.

what are u on about? its on a thursday

Chakar

Yeah its on Thursday last so you would be back on Friday night very late.

random_banter

Yeah its on Thursday last so you would be back on Friday night very late.

You mean the Mystery Tour? The buses will leave between 12PM and 1PM on Thursday and arrive back anytime between 2AM and 4AM Thurs night/Friday morning. So the event will be around 15 hours (of crazy dancing, boozing, and much bus banter). Needless to say you will be fairly exhausted the next day but its well worth it, imo. And yes, you do make friends on the mystery tour. The stories that come back from the Mystery Tour are pretty much legendary!

singingstranger

You went to Meath, Scraggs. On both tours. One went to Buck Mulligan's in Athboy and another to Rapture in Johnstownbridge just outside Enfield. Honestly, some people...



Meath ftw, btw.

Scraggs

singingstranger wrote:

You went to Meath, Scraggs.

Cheers;)

I remember now I never actually made it home to change or shower and had to give a presentation at 9am the next morning still drunk and as Gaeilge.
I got an 'A';)

Alkers

The first one last year was a lot better than the first. I'd be very put off by the suprise "international act" in the last venue. I'd be well pissed off to spend €30 and end up being stuck listening to The Republic of Loose or something similar for the 100th time in the last 12 months.

Scraggs

Betcha' it'll end up in Carlow... 'international' act Goldie Lookin' Chain are playing:p

jimi_t

I'd rather go on that surfing trip to Lahinch - I'd say that would be a good laugh.
Anyone going to Cork with JazzSoc?

wyndham

Who busted the window on one of the buses last year?

Riamfada

jimi_t wrote:

I'd rather go on that surfing trip to Lahinch

That sounds like a great laugh. Anymore details?

jimi_t

Grimes wrote:

That sounds like a great laugh. Anymore details?

It's with the SurfClub - e90 for the trip, has to be in by this Thursday and it's on from Friday till Sunday. The 90 quid covers transport, accomodation, gear, lessons, food and booze in the evenings. If I can scrape the money together I'll probably go - I'd say it would be great craic and it's pretty good value, you'd easily spend e100 on the Mystery Tour.

Alkers

Anyone got a ticket for sale, obviously at face value, looking for around 4.
Thanks

griffdaddy

i cant wait for this now, if it's anything like last year it's gonna be amazing! is it sold out Simona?

Alkers

It sold out at some stage this afternoon as far as I can gather.
It's Simon btw

Chakar

The Mystery Tour has been cancelled you can get your refunds all day today and tomorrow.

XchampagneX

Chakar wrote:

The Mystery Tour has been cancelled you can get your refunds all day today and tomorrow.

are you serious?

Pythia

Chakar wrote:

The Mystery Tour has been cancelled you can get your refunds all day today and tomorrow.

Who told you that? Or where did you see it?

The_Minister

Chakar wrote:

The Mystery Tour has been cancelled you can get your refunds all day today and tomorrow.

A bit more information would be welome.

Scraggs

Chakar wrote:

The Mystery Tour has been cancelled you can get your refunds all day today and tomorrow.

Jaysus way to leave us in suspense! Where'd you get this info?
Can anybody confirm if this is true or not? There'll be some very disappointed people if it is!

Chakar

Pythia wrote:

Who told you that? Or where did you see it?

Got a text message from Q soc saying that

"Qsoc regret to inform you that due to issues beyond our control the Mystery Tour has been cancelled.Refunds available next Wed all day, Room 5 Stud Centre"

Same message from BL society.

XchampagneX

Chakar wrote:

Got a text message from Q soc saying that

"Qsoc regret to inform you that due to issues beyond our control the Mystery Tour has been cancelled.Refunds available next Wed all day, Room 5 Stud Centre"

Same message from BL society.

i never got any text message!!!

Chakar

XchampagneX wrote:

i never got any text message!!!

Then I guess you're not a member of Qsoc or BL.

XchampagneX

Chakar wrote:

Then I guess you're not a member of Qsoc or BL.

i'm a member of both actually!! Maybe it's my phone..

hullaballoo

I'm on the B&L committee and it seems to be true. Apparently Richard Butler said that the societies weren't fulfilling their duty of care to the students.

That's a legal standard he's using there, so I'd imagine he was given some advice on it. From a legal point of view, I can see where he's coming from because if anything were to happen to someone, it would mean big trouble for the societies.

Even with ambulances and all of the safety precautions, the societies could still be liable. Butler would end up footing the legal bill in such a case (not personally, but as societies officer).

That said, I think that there should be a trade-off between legal risk and allowing societies to entertain students. I think the Mystery Tour is a great event, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't gone already.

Chakar

XchampagneX wrote:

i'm a member of both actually!! Maybe it's my phone..

Maybe you'll get it soon enough.

For people who already bought the tickets you can get refunds on the tickets in the Student Centre next Wednesday in the Student Centre in Meeting Room 5.

XchampagneX

Looks like i'll be going to my lectures tomorrow

gubbie

Actually I think refunds are next week

Alkers

What a load of rubbish, a bit of notice would have been good.

The_Minister

Simona1986 wrote:

What a load of rubbish, a bit of notice would have been good.

I was thinking that after al the effort that you went through that of all people you might be pissed.

Alkers

Yeah, I mean, what was left 'till this minute befoe being organised??? " Due to reasons beyond our controll" - I'd love to hear what they were?:mad:

griffdaddy

ah what a pain in the arse. anyone going to bar instead?

Blush_01

Hullaballoo just stated the reasons. It's unfortunate, but such is life. Societies have huge responsibilities when it comes to their members at events, so I do feel bad for B&L and Q-Soc because the whole thing has been in the works for a lot longer than you've had tickets.

Keep in mind, people have put months of work into organising the event. I'd be surprised if the societies in question didn't lose money on having to cancel the Mystery Tour - they'll have had to pay non-refundable deposits for the buses and venues and might even have to pay cancellation fees, not to mention the costs of the band. You're not the only disappointed ones here.

Spare a thought for the organisers. They're probably a lot more annoyed than you - and in my opinion are certainly more entitled to be. They've put all the hard work in and now get nothing for it.

Sorry to all who're missing out though. It's really not nice that this has happened.

Alkers

I was picking up on this "Apparently Richard Butler said that the societies weren't fulfilling their duty of care to the students." - surely personal liability insurance would be one of the first things organised by the organisers??? I can understand how something could be overlooked (e.g. 2 venues instead of 3) but not how something serious enough to cancel the whole thing outwright wasn't considered before?

The_Minister

Simona1986 wrote:

I was picking up on this "Apparently Richard Butler said that the societies weren't fulfilling their duty of care to the students." - surely personal liability insurance would be one of the first things organised by the organisers??? I can understand how something could be overlooked (e.g. 2 venues instead of 3) but not how something serious enough to cancel the whole thing outwright wasn't considered before?

Richard could have raised the standards nessacery from the first one last year, and they could have been measuring themselves against last years standards. I heard that some of their supervisors got pissed last year as well.

Alkers

Just got a text from B+L - free bar all day tommorrow, free meal and free into Crawdaddy? Does anyone have the details - any limits on the free drinks, can't see how this will work??? Nice one if it does.

XchampagneX

Simona1986 wrote:

Just got a text from B+L - free bar all day tommorrow, free meal and free into Crawdaddy? Does anyone have the details - any limits on the free drinks, can't see how this will work??? Nice one if it does.

yeah i got it too! no idea how, but we'll soon find out!

Alkers

I've aranged to meet two seperate people from the boards at the busses tommorrow - not sure where this leaves us??? Uterly confused, some more details would be good.

hullaballoo

It's simple enough, the tour was cancelled becuase Butler didn't feel it was going to be safe anough.

Insurance and ambulances were all organised, but unfortunately, there are other considerations.

You don't really have too much to give out about given that the societies are offering refunds.

Anyone remember the year Slane was cancelled?

XchampagneX

hullaballoo wrote:

It's simple enough, the tour was cancelled becuase Butler didn't feel it was going to be safe anough.

Insurance and ambulances were all organised, but unfortunately, there are other considerations.

You don't really have too much to give out about given that the societies are offering refunds.

Anyone remember the year Slane was cancelled?

You know that text from B&L saying to exchange your ticket and get free bar all day, free meal etc...is that instead of a refund or what?

Stabshauptmann

How Senior are you hulla in B&L cos one of the top honchos has just told me:
A)It wasnt butler, it was the insurance company who cancelled the event. Apparently some IT (waterford iirc) had a similar thing last week and caused €30,000 damages. The insurance company wanted profession security staff on the buses which couldnt be arranged on short notice. So nothing to do with butler, hes just a messenger

B)The meal and free beer is instead of the refund. Check this quickly ppl but I was told (by a not as senior person as point A) that there is to be no refund. Personally I cant believe this but if you are a ticket holder dont go by word of mouth, be sure.

Alkers

The text said you could hand in your ticket for a free bar all day. This translated into three free drinks. There was never a mention of there not being a refund, it was an either are. Once hearing that you only got 3 free drinks a good 50ppl left the bar (which wasn't too packed) so there would be a lot of very unhappy people if there is no refund.

smartblaa

OK am I missing something or have the Qsoc and BL society strongly defended their people, and then when asked for clarification shrink in to the corner??

I don't know about the rest of ye, but paying E30 and having nothing to show for it, but a blue piece of paper with tin-foil on top is really getting to me.


It's my understanding that there are two types of people affected by this schmozzle:

We have the people who had their ticket and then went to the "free bar" today so that they could get their paltry three drinks(whoo-hoo some session.)

Then we have the people who still have their ticket, and didn't avail of today's bonanza.

We have two questions(I say "we" because i'm speaking on behalf of several housemates in the same situ.)

1) Was this free bar in exchange for the ticket refund?(if it was, then it's a disgrace.)

2) The people who didn't exchange today are still entitled to their refund. Is this still going ahead on Wednesday(Or was this a sly plan to avoid paying out to everyone.)

Sorry if it sound OTT but I am well angry.

mloc

Both Auditors should resign over this one. You're talking €24,000 in money from tickets from what i've heard (from commitee members). That is a serious amount of money.

Whilst Butler had every right to cancel and the decision was his, it could have been avoided through better liasing and organisation by the societies involved.

Scraggs

mloc wrote:

Both Auditors should resign over this one. You're talking €24,000 in money from tickets from what i've heard (from commitee members). That is a serious amount of money.

Whilst Butler had every right to cancel and the decision was his, it could have been avoided through better liasing and organisation by the societies involved.

I think thats a bit much, as long as the money is paid back then theres no need for the auditors to resign. Sh!t happens and sometimes no matter how much prep and planning is put in there's that chance that something will crop up. What is the official reason for the cancellation btw? I'm not in UCD and I'm getting conflicting reports [basically versions of hulla and Kap's]

hullaballoo

I got my information from the B&L auditor. I'm not sure what the official line is though, because it's always way more diplomatic than what you hear on the grapevine.

I would be surprised if all they were offering was the three pints and that's it. I'd be expecting three pints plus €30 in cash. Not vouchers. Not promises of €30 in the future. €30 in cash. In my hand.

Clearly anything less than that would be poor politicking.

singingstranger

smartblaa wrote:

1) Was this free bar in exchange for the ticket refund?(if it was, then it's a disgrace.)

2) The people who didn't exchange today are still entitled to their refund. Is this still going ahead on Wednesday(Or was this a sly plan to avoid paying out to everyone.)

Sorry if it sound OTT but I am well angry.

OK, this is completely a non-affiliated answer but from what Hulla has said here and what I've picked up from home (knowing both of the auditors in question):

1) Yes, it was exchange for the refund - for those who wished to avail of it. Three pints at E4, plus a meal in the bar (I dunno, about another E4?) and free entry in Crawdaddy. Net value of about E22 maybe. Like I said, for those who wished to avail of it and wanted to go on the semi-lash regardless of the tour being cancelled.

2) If you didn't avail, you still get your refund as earlier advertised, next Wed in the Student Centre.

Don't think there's any cause for confusion tbh.

humbert

I can't help but suspect that some of the ticket money was already spend and they're trying to get away with not having to give it all back but I'm a cynic.