Chillounge Night

Really fun night in St. Pete. The band set was pretty short and the entertainment seemed a bit impromptu but overall a fun night.

The two stars are for the beautiful moonlit sky and enjoyable temperature — the best part of the evening. There’s nothing else to add to the previous reviews … disorganization from start to finish, too much time between «acts» of sub-​par performers, a great opening band that should have played longer because they were the best part of the night. The Chillounge founder, Rainer Scheer, is one slick promoter and didn’t miss the opportunity to pat himself on the back during his welcome adulation. Very thankful that I only paid $ 25 for a ticket because those who paid $ 250 got robbed.

I did read the reviews before buying tickets through cldeals, but still this event had caught my eye for some time so I had to check it off my list. I also figured since this event has been going on since at least 2012 that it would have improved.
Check in was disorganized from the beginning! People were running around with their head cut off to check people in with their tickets from their website. Afterwards, I went to the table because they had a separate list for cldeals purchases. The organizers were in quite a disarray.
I made sure to check the FAQ’s on the website which said I could bring one bottled sealed water in. Again, they said no! They don’t read their own website obviously.
My hubby grabbed a day bed real quick. We purposely came sooner and got it. It fell apart right away bc it was not secure. They quickly took care of it.
Now, on to the show! There was a huge stage, but the stage was not necessarily there for the show. They did use it for a band, fashion show, and fire throwers, but all of these acts were done so randomly at different times with no rhyme or reason.
They also had a butterfly girl, two sets of stilt walkers, and people doing twists and turns, but those were in random places in the park mostly the V.I.P section which from what it appeared didn’t seem worth the price for their inclusions.
There was a lot of lull and no acts whatsoever at times. Just music playing in the background.
The best part was the fashion show, the hot air balloon lady doing twists and turns from above, and the fire twirlers.
The show was long and drawn out with really not too much organization in my opinion! The event mainly was so people could pay a lot of money to drink. That is fine, but people also pay money to be comfy on nice lounge chairs, and watch a well put together show! People brought their own lawn chairs, or they watched us like hawks to steal our day beds because there was an inadequate amount of chairs.
I’m happy it was a beautiful night! We got some nice pics and met some great people, but since this is advertised as a special show as well, that fell short.

2016 event. Agree with reviews from previous years. Wish I had read them before going this year because I would not have wasted my money. We ordered tickets online and printed them out but still had to stand in line 20 minutes to get a wrist band to get in. Once in, there was no place to sit because the few lounges, chairs, and tables were already taken. It sounds like this is an ongoing problem with this event. We ended up going back to our car and getting a couple blankets we happened to have so we and our friends could sit and chill. Of course we could not see the stage because the only place to put a blanket was behind the few lounges and chairs set up around the stage. Bringing our own chair as many did would have made things a bit better but I wouldn’t call that lounging. And the entertainment on the stage was nothing to rave about. The circus performances were almost non-​existent. So basically we paid $ 25 to wait in line 20 minutes to then sit on a blanket, under the stars and a beautiful full moon, in a public park and have a few drinks ($ 8 a drink) with a few friends. The only other thing they had was one food booth, one cupcakes booth, and one booth with chocolate. There were also not enough potable toilets.

If I was given tickets I wouldn’t waste our time, the most un-​organized event I’ve ever been to and I’ve been to many. Never again, the worst !
My spouse and I were looking forward to a night out and had to leave due to the mis-​management, rude staff and organizer. The people in charge couldn’t manage a backyard barbecue. Count us out in 2015, ’16 if they make it that long !!!

2014 event. What makes me angry is the fact that we need more events like this in St Pete but that the organizers of these events are so cheap or unorganized they mess it up. You know how many tickets you’ve sold, you should know how to prepare and manage it. If you go to the chill lounge, you will not be chilling — you will be standing on your feet wondering why you paid money to get into this event.
So this year seems better than last year bc this year there was no hidden extra fee to sit on the couches or lounges. However, even though they know they’ve sold hundreds of tickets they have only a dozen maybe two dozen max of lounges. 90% of the seating area was folding chairs! Metal Folding chairs are NOT a conducive to chilling! Again, you know you’ve sold ###s of tickets and the entire point to doing this event is to **lounge** comfortably outside on a sofa or lounge so the event planners should know how many lounges to buy/​rent! Most people were standing around. The lucky few got actual lounges to chill in. Even the unchill folding chairs were all taken up within an hour after doors opened. The rest of was were stuck on our feet the entire evening. We were not chilling in the chill lounge.
We we steaming in the chill lounge. Steaming mad. Not only do the managers not plan for ample seating space, they allow groups of people to use the lounges as their purse or jacket holders for HOURS! Look, I would not be angry if people left their lounges for 15 mins to get a drink or go to the restrooms and returned; but my boyfriend and I were standing with two other ladies watching for over an hour and half empty lounges that groups of rude people would abandoned for hours. There were no managers walking around to assist with the situation like this where the lounges which were in short supply were not being USED by larger groups but SAVED just ’ if’ people showed up. Two hours standing on our feet we sat at the empty lounge chair where the groups were. We were confronted by the group but we told the group the lounges were first come first served and this one was empty for almost two hours. A fight could have broken out but they were Cougars and we were classy — and beating up old people is a high misdemeanor in FL. Needless to say, a manager could have been present to peacefully resolve an issue like this, but there wasn’t, so we had to fend for ourselves. Again, nothing chill about the chill lounge.
So why even give it 2 stars? Well the cirque show idea was cool and had even 50% of us had a place to sit, it might have been enjoyable. They had ample bar tenders and the line into the event went smoothly. Definitely not going next year and risk standing all night.

I’m reviewing the 2014 event, since it seems no one has reviewed the event since 2012 (except Melissa Z who beat me to it). We came to this event with such high hopes, and they were crushed by mismanagement and rude attendees.
I lived in Sarasota for 4 years before moving to St Pete. Every year I would see a chilllounge advertised in Sarasota, but never took advantage of it. This was the first one my girlfriend and I would be able to do together, and it was right in downtown St. Pete between the restaurants and the water and they added cirque du soleil type performances. Everything about this one seemed to be set up for an awesome night.
First problem — they charge $ 25 just for general admission. Doesn’t come with anything. I understand charging a cover to control your crowd and make some money, but $ 25? And for what? It doesn’t get you anything — not a single drink or food or a place to «chill» or «lounge» or «chilllounge.» While we may have done it anyway, just to check it out, we thankfully were able to get 1 ticket through CLDeals for 50% off. The only reason we didn’t get 2 is because I am an idiot, and thought the deal was for 2 tickets. Unfortunately, they sold out by the time I realized my mistake, so we ended up paying full price for 1.
Second problem — You advertise and set this up as a place to relax in the park. Your pictures show couches and lounges set up for people to take advantage of, and then you either significantly oversell the event, or do not have nearly enough lounges. You had plenty of open space to drop some more (though it still wouldn’t have been enough), and instead of lounges, you have dozens of metal folding chairs for everyone else. I say everyone else, but there wasn’t even enough of those. Who in the world chills out in a metal folding chair, and one in a park so it wouldn’t even been sitting evenly on the ground. This was such a racket to take $ 25 from people and then most of those people are lucky just to find a table they can lean on. I actually felt bad for other people who paid for a cabana and got a tent with a table and 4 metal chairs. They probably paid a couple hundred for that.
Third problem — no crowd control. How could the event managers allow people to occupy lounges with a jacket or purse? It’s one thing to do that to save the seat while you go to the bar, but (a) one person can always stay back while the other goes to the bar and (b) when you do that and don’t return for an hour, you’re just freaking rude. We spent an hour+ leaning on a table watching a party that had hijacked 3 lounges and maybe 6 metal chairs and then proceeded to sit in only 1 of the lounges for at least 75% of the time we were watching. And when we dared to just go sit in one of the lounges with another party of 2, these people had the nerve to call us rude. No one at the event should have allowed this to happen. It should have been — no saving seats with clothing; if you want a lounge, then someone has to be sitting in it or someone else is entitled to it.
This was a poorly designed and worse managed event. How dare they charge $ 25 for this. The only reason it gets even 1 star is for the cirque performers. They were great, and it was cool seeing it in an open air venue like a park. Very talented performers (being leered at by some very creepy Floridians). Also, once we managed to steal back a lounge, we ended up having a good time for that hour.
Regardless, maybe I give it another chance next year if I can get another 50% off, but if so, then we go when it opens, grab a lounge chair, and not move the entire time.

Attended in Nov. of 2012 and was fairly disappointed by a night that could have been so much more. I regularly attend charity events and found this one to be wanting. The food options were extremely limited. Food and drinks were both available for purchase. However, there didnt seem to be any real reason to buy tickets to the event, a number of people were standing at the fence watching at the park.

Maybe I just got spoiled by the Unilocal event last week, but I found this event to be a huge disappointment. First off, The check in area was very disorganized. Our names had been left at will call by Unilocal,but they couldn’t find us on the list. I noticed several other people having this problem as well. The list checker finally gave us wrist bands when I showed her our email confirmation on my phone. What did we do before smart phones?
The set up for the event was decent, but again less than expected. There were several smaller lounges set up kind of haphazardly around the park. All of the bigger nicer lounge areas were roped off, but I never saw anyone use them. The massive drink tables and stage were the only real «decoration» other than the lounges and a couple of random paper lanterns. I thought the drink prices were high for a charity event, and the $ 4 beer and $ 6 wine selection was minimal. My husband had a Stella and that was definitely the best beer being offered. I didn’t check out the cocktails.
I was starving, so we went to the tiny food tent in the back. Maybe I read the website wrong, but it seemed as if some food would be included. Maybe some passed apps or something? Instead the menu included items like a $ 10 pita. I really don’t remember what the other 3 items were. By then we had already decided that we would be eating dinner at one of the other top notch restaurants on beach drive.
I will say it was very easy to find a lounge. We sat and had our drinks and a very nice police officer took our picture. We were only there about an hour total before deciding to head to ceviche. Being in such a great location and expecting a nice night out, we weren’t going to hang around eating pitas drinking overpriced crappy drinks.
Overall, our tickets were free and we ended up having a great night out at ceviche, so I can’t complain. Maybe the $ 80 VIP area would be worth it because at least food is included, but I will probably never find out. I think the lounge idea is great and the location was beautiful, but this event is really missing a great opportunity to take a cool concept and make it enjoyable for attendees.

I agree with all the other reviews. .. this was a let down for sure. I’m so glad I won tickets and did not pay for them. If I had not won tickets we wouldn’t have gone. Like others below I thought some food was included and understood there to be a cash bar. I did not realize they charged extra to sit on the couches, in the cabanas and on the swings. The cigar smoke was heavy.
I was so glad we had decided to eat at Ceviche before hand. We got to Chillounge at about 7:15pm and had the same chaotic experience as Ariana as we were in line just behind her. I saw Shanna too and she was tired from a long a day — we’d both been manning different booths at Shopapalooza (which I enjoyed) all day.
I had one glass of $ 6 wine, walked around and left. We’ll skip it next year.