Ever hear about the Polar Express train ride? If not, I hear it is AMAZING and the most fun, coolest thing ever! The whole one-hour ride is set up to be just like the movie, complete with hot cocoa and a visit from Santa. The kids are even encouraged to wear their pajamas. Rudy was SO into the movie Polar Express last Christmas. I attempted to get tickets for the train ride some time in November, but little did I know, I was WAY late. Tickets go on sale June 1 at 12:01 am and sell out by 12:05 am. Seriously. So last November 2013, I set an alarm on my phone for June 1, 2014 at 12:01 am. Having just gotten home with a newborn baby and all, I wasn't quite on my A-game (and still am not!). I remembered I had to get tickets, but I forgot to bring the computer back to bed with me. Oh well.. I could just get them on my phone, right? Wrong. The website to purchase the tickets has a drop-down menu with all the dates/time options (there are only about 10). As one sells out, it disappears. I could hardly pick a date without it being sold out by the time my phone got to the next page. But alas, I had a group of tickets! … and an allotted 8 minutes to complete the purchase before they were released. No big deal.. got my info in and see "Processing…" for 2 minutes… 5 minutes… 8 minutes… 10 minutes… 15 minutes… so I hit refresh and sure enough, my tickets were gone. And wouldn't you know it, no more tickets were available! I was texting a friend through this and she was on an iPad having the same problem. I was so angry! How did that just happen?! I was up! I had an alarm set for 7 months! I should have had tickets!! I was so worked up that I couldn't get back to sleep right away so I started scrolling through Facebook. It only fueled my anger to see moms posting, "Got my Polar Express tickets!!" and "Can't wait for Polar Express!!" etc, etc.
For whatever reason I looked back on the event page again and there were more dates available! I jumped out of bed and ran for the computer… at this point John got startled and asked, "What's going on? What's wrong? What are you doing? Where are you going?" --- sad that he could ask so many questions before I got out of the room, not a very fast runner!! But I couldn't even slow down to answer! I got to my computer and was able to get the tickets!!!
I text my friend again and we figured several people must be having the same problem with their device, which is why dates were showing up available again… so we strategically timed her canceling her "processing…" page and me refreshing for available dates so I was able to get her family tickets as well (her computer wasn't working, so you can imagine her frustration!).
What a stressful 30 minutes that was! The things we go through to make lasting memories… for us parents because our kids won't remember :)
Just wait until one of my kids wants the hottest new toy for Christmas or until we plan that trip to Disney (that they WILL remember!)… I can only imagine how stressful that will be! (oh and fun!)
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