The original plan was to swing by Target, which was supposed to have 60 Wii’s for launch day, at around 5am. We figured that not many people would be camping, and that most would arrive around 6 or 7am. That plan would have failed. Luckily, we used a different plan, and this post is about our successful Wii camping experience.
At around 8pm Saturday night, Jeremy went on a scouting run to the local stores, including Wal-mart, Best Buy, as well as the Target we were planning on hitting. He said that there were already around ~25 people camped at Target. A quick check on www.consolecamp.com showed that there were ~50 people camping at the Target in South Austin. We started to feel that 5am would not be good enough, and decided that we would camp out to make sure we got our Wii’s. The only problem was that Mariko was out at the opera, and I had the kids (upstairs sleeping). O gnoes! Plus I knew that Mariko would most likely be going out with her friend for dessert and coffee… and operas are really frickin’ long. So, I stayed on my computer, IMing with my brother and Jeremy as it got later and later. I had all my gear ready to go: a couple chairs, a blanket, ski hat and fully charged DS. Finally at about 1am, Mariko arrives and I head out to pick up Jeremy. I think I remember Mariko saying something like, “You’re crazy.” I know, but apart from Wii fever, it seemed like camping out might be fun, and it was the weekend anyways. What better way for a couple of geeks to spend Sat night?
When we pulled up to Target, the line looked long. Not too long, but we couldn’t be sure. Our backup plan was to camp Best Buy, which was rumored to have ~90 Wii’s for sale. The information we got about Target having 60 was deemed more reliable, however, so that was our first choice. After parking the ol Sentra, we went to the front of the line, and there was a guy there who had a list. We signed our names at spots #54 and #55. The list maintainer, who had been camping since 2:30pm Sat. afternoon, said that the manager told him to keep the list, numbered 1-60. Whew! We just made it! We were stoked. Back to the Sentra to get our camping gear.
The weather was pretty good, absolutely no wind, and at 1:30am, did not seem too bad. T-zones said it was around 45°F. We parked our chairs next to a group of college age dudes, who were fully prepared. They had set up a sofa, loveseat, area rug, and coffee table, plus had a long extension cord to their truck to power their radio. It was good to have some tunes playing through the night. Their conversations were pretty amusing too. The best line we heard was “You got the munchies, bitch!” “Nah, I’m just hungry.” They had some kind of vaporizer dubbed “The Apparatus” which made an appearance a couple times, and prompted that dialog...
On the other side of us were some other dudes playing RISK. And the oddest was some guy wearing a trenchcoat and Doc’s, who just bagged his first deer earlier and explained the whole experience. We dubbed him “Columbine Kid”. Jeremy later said that he was kind of scared of that guy, and I agreed. The funny thing was, that guy wasn’t going to get a Wii, he was just there with his friends. Sure enough, as soon as the sun rose, he was gone.
At 6am as the sun was rising, a Target manager came out and explained that they would be handing out voucher tickets at 7am according to “The List” and then at 8am, we would be escorted into the store to purchase our Wii’s and games/accessories. He also said that we needed to pack away our chairs, tents, trash, etc. before then. 7am rolled around (not a moment too soon) and we all stood in line. The Target crew walked the line calling out our names according to “The List”, and we got our vouchers! One girl, who was #61 on the list decided to wait it out just in case, and it turns out that one person had left, and she lucked out and got the last spot. Along with the ticket, they also gave us pencils and accessory cards, where we could choose what we wanted to buy along with the Wii’s.
Between the time we got our vouchers and 8am, a number of people drove up and dropped of their kids to get in line. It was kind of sad to tell them that the tickets were all gone. But then again, we froze our butts off all night while they were all snug in their beds at home. You snooze, you lose!
At 8am, we were escorted into the store, and formed a line at the electronics department. Since we were near the back, it took about an hour to reach the register. Before that, though, the attendant took the accessory card and took your extra gear up to the register. I opted for The Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess (as did everyone, I think) and an extra Wiimote plus a pink cover for it for Mariko. Looking tired, but happy, Jeremy and I paid for our Wii’s and left the store, satisfied with our accomplishment!
I am so glad we did it. I mean, it was pretty fun actually! Kind of trippy since everyone got loopy that early in the morning, and a bit surreal at times. I bet the stores will have tons of Wii’s for sale in a couple days, but getting the Wii at launch was kind of cool, and fun too!