We were told to arrive no later than 9 am, and that seating is not based upon first come first serve, so we decided to get there for 8 am. I was immediately thankful that we had guaranteed tickets, as the line for stand by tickets was absolutely huge! It stretched all the way across the upstairs of City Walk!
Within about 10 minutes we were filed through metal detectors and all given a number on our tickets. They had set up The Groove club for us all to wait in, which was a lovely surprise as it meant we could sit down while we waited, out of the sun and with free soft drinks! We weren't expecting that at all, so we felt so relieved that we wouldn't be outside while we waited!
We were able to find some seats, and I loved that while I was sitting there I was able to spot some friends that I follow on Twitter but had yet to actually meet! So it was so nice to actual meet them in the real world after talking back and forth for so long! In fact as they had great seats I am using some of their pictures today, so thank you Omar Elkalyoubie and Brandon M for sharing them with me!
I also got to meet our local news anchor for WESH news Martha Sugalski, who again I had been tweeting with for a while yet not met in person before. I was pleased to see she was just as lovely as she is on TV, and was kind enough to pose for a photo with me before the show!
The staff were very good and kept us all entertained with music and some very funny dance offs! I especially loved the woman who got down and did the worm on the dance floor for us! LOL!
After a few hours it was time, our numbers were called to then go outside and get in the line to be seated. Once we reached the set there were people directing where we would be sat, I'm not sure what method they were using but it became very frustrating as we were moved twice. We were told that there were to be strictly no men on the aisle seats, ladies only on the ends. Which we thought was odd but still complied. However we were moved once again, this time to about 6 rows back! This was very frustrating as we felt we had really good seats in the middle, to then be moved toward seats on the back and to the side! We noticed a lot of people were being told to move after being seated, but no reasons were given, it seemed a bit like organized chaos!
That being said, once everyone was seated it got a LOT better! There was a guy entertaining us with music, and getting members of the audience to come down to the stage to dance. He was giving out T Shirts and generally getting us all excited and ready for Ellen!
The show ran amazingly smooth, I wasn't expecting it to be that way! I expected re shoots and multiple takes, but the show ran all the way through just like it does when you are watching it on TV! The guest that day was LL Cool J, and he even partook in the challenge Ellen did that day for 2 contestants called City Walk The Plank! I don't want to give away all the details, otherwise it will spoil the show when you see it!
The musical guests were Duran Duran, their performance was filmed on a different stage to the one we were seated by, but they showed us the performance on the TV screens for us so we could watch it live also.
Later that day she filmed the second show to be aired Wednesday April 6th. The guests for that show were Eric Stonestreet from Modern Family and a performance from Kelly Clarkson! We could have stuck around to see Kelly perform but we were just so tired we decided to head to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch instead! ( Below see pictures from Brandon and Omar who stuck around for the next show).
Overall I was very impressed in how organized the show was and how much they catered to us, including free water bottles through out the show! The seating didn't seem very fair, but I'm sure that depends on where you sat and who sat you there. I know some of my Twitter friends were lucky enough to be seated at the front and got to touch LL Cool J and Ellen's hands as they walked by! Very cool! I would certainly apply for tickets again next year without a doubt!
Thank you Ellen for an amazing experience!!!!
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