JDelekto: What's interesting is that this is so Willy Wonkaesque, but didn't have anyone clamoring for golden tickets. It seemed from the original post that there were more people invited, but only those six
chose to visit
tfishell: (noticed this post going back through the thread) There were also cases where people (I think one or two posted here) wanted to but
couldn't visit, because of reasons like work commitments. (I couldn't get a passport in time.)
What we were told is that some didn't have passports and couldn't get them in time, others couldn't get the time off, and others had personal reasons why they couldn't make it. It was never said outright, but I got the sense that no one actually refused on principle.
In my case, it was a 'hell yes, I want to go', but it was actually a dicey situation at work, since I actually didn't have enough leave to cover my absence. I managed to work out a deal where I'll pay back some hours to my employer by working extra on a few days though. But I can imagine that this isn't an option for some people, so would have prevented some from going on such short notice.
*side note: when it looked like I might not be able to go due to my employer appearing not to be willing to let me have the time, my wife said "well, then quit your job and go to Poland. This isn't something that's going to happen again." She's awesome.