Anybody else take Feb 26th off work?

[TT120]

It took me about 5 hours last year and I did it from work. The boss was not amused. That's why I took the day off this year. I don't know how this new vendor will do but I'm not taking any chances.

[Monkeystyle]

I gave myself the day off too. I'm the chef at my restaurant, sometimes its nice to be the guy making the schedule

[remi]

Just realized I accidentally signed up for a first aid course today through work. I already have my first aid, but wanted a refresher. Now, since I dropped out last minute, my company doesn't get reimbursed for my no-show. Oh well.. I can still take first aid in the spring.. tickets will take priority for Wed.Feb.26th, 1PM MST

[TT120]

I'm actually a little excited today. Today is the day it gets real, one way or the other.

[Monkeystyle]

Is it wierd that my heart has beeen racing for the.last two hours, to top it off i just sent.a.text.to my.best friend, whis ticket im also buying, and he said he forgot to book it off. Its going to be a three week trip for us....

[trilobyte]

Relax... deep breaths. Speaking personally (and not in any official capacity), and having gone through busy on-sales for more than a thousand events and shows in my adult life... you'll probably survive.

Know what to expect, and the experience will hopefully have less stress and more excitement.

For newbies as well as veterans who haven't bought tickets in a while, historically the day tickets go on sale is filled with frustration and disaster. This isn't necessarily all the ticketing provider's, or Burning Man's fault... it's what happens when tens of thousands of users all simultaneously hit the ticketing servers. In any other part of the internet, they'd call that a distributed denial of service attack... but that's the nature of how ticket sales for popular events works.

In the past (with Burning Man's previous ticketing provider), the gates would open, things work seemingly well for the first few minutes, and then things would get ugly. As their servers got crushed, all kinds of things happened. It wasn't just the agony of having to wait from 6 to 12 hours to be able to make your purchase, but it was getting kicked out of the queue and all kinds of other incredibly maddening things. Last year they did a better job than they had in the past - things were fully crushed for nearly 4 hours, and tickets sold out completely in just over 6 hours.

This year, Burning Man is working with a new ticketing provider that has a much greater capacity, and a system that we believe will handle that inevitable crush much better than people have experienced in the past. I still expect there to be some kind of server crush - because that's generally what happens when a popular event goes on sale. I've seen it with the biggest ticketing providers (who have huge server resources), and consider it to be something that just happens. So expect some mayhem - but remember that it's part of the process. Don't freak out. Stay tuned to the boards, I'll try to keep people posted on the progress of the sale and pass along vital information.

From what I'd seen with the Directed Group Sale a couple weeks ago, once the gates open up and you've gotten through the initial crush you'll land in the 'waiting room' and you'll see a notice to that effect in your browser. That's a good thing - be patient and hang in there. The page will refresh and as you get through the virtual queue, you'll land on the ticket sales page to be able to enter your info. It's a pretty straight-forward process. My understanding is that there are still plenty of Vehicle Passes, but please buy only what you need.

My experience tells me that increased capacity will mean two things - 1) it will be easier to get tickets 2) during a shorter period of time than in previous years.

Take a few deep breaths, and don't forget to put your victory drink on ice. Good luck!

[Canoe]

AND
if you haven't seen it viewtopic.php?f=367&t=68437

including...
The emails confirming your registration and reminding you about today's sale contain
your UNIQUE promo code and a link directly to the sale. Use that link!

Your Burner Profile page will also contain the sale link and your UNIQUE promo code, ... but why risk getting bogged down logging into a site that you don't have to log into? If you've got that either the confirmation or the reminder email, you can save time as well as free up server bandwidth for anyone whose email got lost.

[TT120]

Ticket shenanigans seem like just another part of the experience, like the entry line, or exodus. An excellent adventure always includes some bad stuff to deal with.

You can't deny being a little excited right now.........

[FIGJAM]

[media]

[FossaFerox]

Not going to lie, I'm a little nervous/anxious/excited.

[fernley1]

Yeah, me too.

[Monkeystyle]

im starting to calm down and accept my fate but that might just be the tall cold glass of mead talking for me....

[Spadge63]

Got out of work early. All bodily functions taken care of and waiting for the big moment!

[theCryptofishist]

Cathed and all?

[fernley1]

Good luck all.

[Spadge63]

Took a pot from the kitchen

[tahiti_treat]

Not going to lie, I'm a little nervous/anxious/excited.

Me too. My 2012 experience taught me that even if I don't get tickets today, it's not a big deal... still going one way or another, so I'm trying not to be too nervous. Good luck all!

[trilobyte]

Well said.

[trilobyte]

Well said.

[ZaphodBurner]

Here we go. I feel like a sperm in that Monty Python movie. Ready... two minutes...

[trilobyte]

And we're off - good luck!

[mgb327]

I am watching from afar, as I got mine early. Had to do it this year, just had to take a year off from the stress of ticket day. I am rooting for all of you! Hit it!

[Monkeystyle]

this 30 second count down that keeps coming is even worst then something saying I'm number 21000 in line lol

[FossaFerox]

Way worse. I feel like the people who get in are going to be totally random now...

[trilobyte]

Believe me, stuff was singificantly more random than the previous system. Being told what place you were in the queue only actually serves a purpose if the servers don't kick people out at random intervals. This system is so far handling the traffic well, no signs of fires or explosions (good - let's save that til the playa).

[TT120]

30 bottles of beer on the wall, 30 bottles of beer.....
You take one down, pass it around....
29 bottles of beer on the wall.......

[Wrath]

Done.

[Psycho]

Called in sick just so I wouldn't be bothered with work...

Refreshed at 11:59, got ticket options, sent to Ticketfly, made the purchase, had the confirmation Email at 12:04... Never even saw a queue or countdown. No idea what the hell I just bought tickets for that fast...

Now I have to find something to do with my whole day, thanks a lot.



Seriously though, I'm impressed... It was just like buying normal tickets.

[Monkeystyle]

30 bottles of beer on the wall, 30 bottles of beer.....
You take one down, pass it around....
29 bottles of beer on the wall.......

I don't know about beer but I'm one glass of mead and one Michelob ultra down

[Maizie]

It was exactly like buying tickets for a regular show - fantastic experience!!