Alderwood opening this weekend!

KulshanGirl

Hello Seattle and I-5 corridor Bricksetters! Everyone going to Alderwood this weekend? =D I will probably be there during the first hour or so on Saturday morning and would love to say hi to whoever else will be there. Maybe we can meet up for a post-purchase caffeinated beverage. (Also this will be my first time ever in a Lego store, at 41, wheeee! Wallet says what?)

Chooch

I will be there in spirit and utilizing an avatar for opening weekend (read "My brother in law is making the trip for me"). I wish I could be there! I know your pain - hit my first LEGO store in Oregon in May at age 40.... Have fun!

grey

I'll be visiting this weekend, but not that early!

Polynices

I'm trying to figure out how early would be too early to show up. Are there enough Seattle-area AFOLs to make getting there hours ahead of time a good idea?

KulshanGirl

I'm not going too early, I'm going in just a little bit before it opens at 10 but I could be earlier if people are going to meet up. Lucky for me I'll be staying Friday night about 10 mins from the store at my folks. Yeah! I'm not counting on anything there, I'd love a promo set but mostly I just want to behold the store.

LegobrandonCP

I'm visiting Seattle and coincidentally the store is having its grand opening ceremony. But might be a little late since we are going to visit some friends. :/ Is the store actually 4x larger? :D

Oh and, I read the details on the mall's website and it seems like they are actually using the idea of tickets. So it does not end up like Vancouver with many people being unhappy and you can go shop around while you wait. :)

KulshanGirl

Yaaargh! 6AM?!? I suppose I will try to get over there super early and get my ticket and then come back later when the store opens. I didn't know it as going to be like that. Only 300 sets to give out? I'm not going to get my hopes up. :)

Jenni

^ someone gave a similarly low number for Nashville but we bought our LEGO store about 1 pm and there had been hundreds of people

KulshanGirl

I am mostly going because I'm excited there's a Lego store opening that I'll have such easy access to when I'm in Seattle. The free set ... I'm not going to fret about it too much. I hope I get one! I will get up at oh-dark-hundred and get a giant latte, and see what's happ'nin 10 minutes away at the MAWL. :)

KulshanGirl

Gosh, crickets chirping in here! I'm imagining some giant secret AFOL campout in the parking lot now. I know you're all going! *dramatic swoon*

Well, I just posted in another thread that I'm going to stick my Blue Yuck Avatar on my jacket, so if you see me say hi. :) I am going to go as close to 6AM as I can and if the gods are good the Starbucks in the mall will be open.

Chooch

Good luck - my brother-in-law invoked his right to bail if its too overwhelming... :-)

Gamer

Do you think crowds will be less on Sunday?

KulshanGirl

I would bet that Sunday would be less busy, but they're not giving out the nice Promo Lego Store set that day.

LegobrandonCP

Wait, whats happening on Sunday? Is there a holiday in the US I don't know about?

Gamer

Well I want the Minifigs not the set.

KulshanGirl

Sunday is part of the Grand Opening too - Promo minifig 3-pack I think? The thought of Lynnwood inspired minifigs makes me gigggle a little bit. It should be 80's rocker chick with huge bangs for one. LOL!

Gamer

Lmao I bet they will be Seattle ish themed.

LegobrandonCP

The Vancouver figs had nothing to do with Vancouver. At all. A pirate? Seriously? lol

Gamer

Have you been to Vancouver? Pirates everywhere!

LegobrandonCP

I live in Vancouver. LOL

LegobrandonCP

So how was it today? Was it a success?

Polynices

Stopping by at 9am (store doesn't even open until 10am) got a ticket for "group 10" and was told to come back around 1pm. They estimated that they'd be up to the 400s by then so probably no free set. They started giving tickets out at 6am. I guess the ease of getting a ticket and not having to actually stand in line for hours made for lots of people coming by early.

Gamer

Ugh I don't want to go at 6 and just hang around.

devilhead

I had no idea about the whole ticket thing so I arrived at 9:45 and ended up in group 15. It seemed like a lot of gave up by then as groups 12-14 were vere small in the waiting area. Didn't get the free set, but figured I'd pick up a set since I made the trip up... twice.

KulshanGirl

I went in just after 6am and got into group 5. The woman manning the table said people had been there in line since 2am! Fess up, which of you nutsos were there? Hehe. I got two free sets as I brought a buddy - my good old dad. :) As we were leaving the store at around 11:30 I overheard a store employee say that the sets were only going to last about another half hour - I don't know how far through the numbers they got.

Gamer

Holy...

KulshanGirl

It was super busy but really well organized. We actually went home for four hours or so and then went back in time to get in with the others in group 5.

There were all kinds of Star Wars costume characters there too - including Boba Fett dragging around Slave Leia by a chain. LOL!

Gamer

Were they just random people or Lego hired people cosplaying? I want the minifigs tomorrow but I'm not going to wait around all day.

KulshanGirl

They must have been brought in by Lego - the costumes were amazing and there were a LOT of them.

I don't know how many of the minifig sets they're going to give away, but we pretty much nailed it with our timing - if I were going to do it again I'd probably aim for 5AM instead of 6 though since we were probably among the last to get the promo sets. You can grab your ticket and take off and come back later when the store opens.

They give out the tickets in groups, group 1, 2, 3 and so on. Each group is around 40 people or so. You don't have to even get in a line until it's close to your group's turn. They had the front person of the waiting 2 groups hold signs that says what group it is so you could see where they were at any time.

And only two groups at a time even get to line up, when we got there group 1 was in the front queue waiting to go into the store, and group 2 is in a pen a ways back. No group 3 assembling anywhere. They let group one go in all at once, moved 2 into that area, and 3's started filling the pen, first come. THen as people left, they let group 2 dribble into the store, and once their area was nearly empty, they let the 3's into the front queue and 4s started into the pen, and so on.

I think we got in the pen (close to the front of the line for our group 5) at 11:10 or so, and we were out of the store and on our way home by 11:45 or so. Grand total time in a line was 20 minutes tops. We did come in at 10 just to see how things were and we just wandered around and kept an eye on the pen.

Hope that helps! I would advise a 5-6am arrival to get a ticket, turn around and leave and go to breakfast or go back home, come in 15 minutes before opening and enjoy yourself. :)

Gosh that was long.

LegobrandonCP

By the time I got through the border, I arrived exactly at 10am. Got tickets for group 17 and was told to come back at 4:30. Left the mall and never came back. :( So didn't get the free promo set. But I already have one so no big deal. I hope all the others got one!

But the store was much larger than I expected or have visited before. I like that it is deep and narrow, much better than walking around in Bellevue or Vancouver.

Btw, I filled my first PAB cup at Bellevue today. It was so much fun! :)

Brickarmor

Wow, the discrepancies in grand opening stories are enormous! Vancouver was chaos, Nashville was a breeze, MA had store sets all day Saturday (right?)... I was hoping this WA store would reassure me that I could get to Atlanta after dawn! Yikes.

Do like the ticket idea. I wonder if that was the manager's idea or word from TLG HQ?

LegobrandonCP

I actually called the Vancouver store up and told them about the ticket idea. I'm sure other furious customers did too.

devilhead

I was the first in line for group 2 today. Much better than yesterday, but I wanted the store a little more than the figures. Oh, well... nothing to complain about.

Gamer

I'll buy anyone's fig set. Got sick and couldn't go :(

grey

I did not aim to go early, I figured I'd just go when it made sense. I got there at about 3:00PM on Saturday. The store was overly crowded, all of the special sets had been sold out since 11AM. They were clearly selling alot... for some reason? Considering there is already another store less than 30 minutes away and there were *zero* specials to be had (they didn't even have the mini-Sopwich Camel), my wife and I left and went to the smaller but much more relaxed Bellevue location. Can't say I'll be going to any other store openings. :\