Sorry David - only just seen your message otherwise would have said hello.
I went with my daughter and had a good time. Lucky we took some food for the Saturday night though, as nothing available, not even a bag of crisps at the bar.
It was my first VW event, and a couple of observations…
All in all an eye opener, atmosphere really good, some really great vans, and will definitely go to some other events.
I must also apologise to David as whenever we went past the stall it was pretty congested, so I intended to call back when it was quieter; but subsequently we had a problem with one of our purchases and spent too long sorting that out with the trader.
I agree with the comments above, we didn't mind the noise in the evening but we were woken up in the morning by revving engines; and the sound of "music" which fortunately was in the distance so we could only hear the bass notes, I felt sorry for anyone who may have been closer!
As you say, the bar was a bit miserable, but I guess if you are with a group it was a warm place to gather and preferable to sitting outside in the freezing cold. There were only two of us so we didn't hang around long, and headed back to the Cali... fortunately we had stopped off at a Tesco and picked up a couple of curry ready meals which we enjoyed!
Earlier, we had a walk round the hall towards evening when it was fairly empty; it was amazing how hard the traders and organisers had worked overnight transforming the hall, and to think it all has to be removed again after the show.
It was great to see the older vans, particularly the splitties, they seem to have more room in them than the modern vans - like the Tardis. But I can't personally see the point of lowering them such that they scrape the floor, I think it ruins them.
Overall we enjoyed the experience.