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| Twins suite on my birthday last year |
Of course there weren't any weekend games available as they were sold out for the pre-sale (they save a bunch for the general sale). So I settled for some weekday games. I wanted to get some games bought before the general sale on Saturday so I wouldn't have so many to try to get in a short time frame.
Saturday was the big general sale day at 10 am. Adam was working, so I got up at 9 with the pug. I took Chester outside, fed him, got him situated with a bone on my lap, and then got the computer going. For some reason it froze, so I had to restart. In the mean time, I had been checking the site on my phone, and noticed the Virtual Waiting Room was open. AHH!!! I quick got on it a few minutes later on the laptop, so I had two going. This was at 9:25/9:30. This virtual waiting room didn't say anything about being taken out randomly, just that you would move on based on the order you entered. I liked this much better. It's much more fair - the longer you wait, the sooner you should be let in to buy tickets.
At about 9:56, my phone took me to the Electronic Line. This was a new thing they didn't have for the pre-sale. In theory it sounds really cool. You're a little stick figure in a line of like 10 boxes, and when you reach the first box, you are the next up to get tickets. It said you would never go backwards in line, only forwards. I was immediately put in the first spot. I thought, "Great! When it hits 10 am I'll be able to get on right away." Au contraire.
At about 10 am, the laptop entered the Electronic Line at spot #7. I couldn't believe a few minutes made such a different in the placement. My little man remained at spot #7 and #1 until about 10:35. Then #7 moved to #5. #1 stick man was still at spot #1. UGHHHH. How does this work?! FINALLY, at 10:40, my #1 stick man got in and was able to buy tickets. Of course this was on my iPhone, so that was interesting. It was hard to click through the calendar, pick different seats, do the captchas, and get all the games I wanted in 15 minutes (or they would have been released).
At the time, I was annoyed with all the waiting, but after reading about some people's experience of waiting for hours only to have the site crash and lose their spot, I was thankful. I was able to get tickets for all the games I wanted (including opening weekend and the Yankees on a weekend), and even found better seats than I got in the pre-sale for a game we're taking Christine to in August (Detroit on a Saturday).
I know a lot of people don't start trying to buy tickets until 10 am or a few minutes before, not realizing that the Virtual Waiting Room starts earlier. Big mistake. The virtual waiting room seems to open randomly anytime between 9 and 10. I just kept checking it. I think those were the same people still waiting to buy tickets 6 hours later...
So yes, I spent about 2 1/2 hours or so getting Twins tickets online. Oh, the things I do for my husband.
As an aside, we bought tickets to see the Twins in Kansas City in June the day Royals tickets went on sale (Feb. 26). We were on 3 different computers/devices, but hardly waited at all and got great seats. Of course, the Royals aren't exactly in high demand. It'll be a fun road trip for us though. We'll be going to the Friday and Saturday games at the recently renovated Kaufmann stadium, where the All Star Game will be played this summer. We're excited to check out a different stadium - last year's new stadium for us was Progressive Field in Cleveland. We hope to visit a different one every year to see the Twins. We're also looking forward to some great barbeque. I can't wait for summer!!!
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