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Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Tickets as rare as fish inside
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s easy to get into the Georgia Aquarium as long as you are Matt Lauer or a whale shark.
But if you are one of the many metro Atlanta residents who tried to buy a ticket on Tuesday you already know that getting a ticket is no swim in the park.
I know. I tried it myself. My bosses, facing a flood of e-mail and telephone calls complaining of the difficulties of buying tickets online or by telephone, asked me to check things out.
I started, like most of you, with the Web site: www.georgiaaquarium.org.
I was greeted by a stalled site and the unwelcome news that it was “experiencing a high volume of traffic.”
OK. That made sense. So I tried again. This time I actually got to the part of the site that offers to sell tickets. I hit the enter key. After a couple of moments of grinding, the Web site had more bad news for me:
“An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current Web address.”
Don’t you hate it when that happens?
In an attempt to be helpful, the Web site said I should “review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated.”
I try not to review stack traces when I’m in a bad mood. And I was. So I decided it might be easier just to telephone for tickets.
I dialed 411 to get the number. The automated software couldn’t decipher my Southern accent when I said “Georgia Aquarium.” But soon I was transferred to an operator who speaks my language.
Armed with the number, I call.
I had already been warned by an editor that many of our readers reached one of those maddening menus only to be disconnected before being able to place a ticket order.
Those are the lucky ones. I never reached a menu. Instead, the phone rang and rang. But there was no answer.
Aquariums have been unlucky for me since I was in the second grade and my guppies died.
Visitors’ cash flows freely
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Acworth mother Deryl Heflin, 47, opened her arms, and Georgia Aquarium T-shirts, plush versions of aquarium mascot Deepo, a stuffed beluga whale, magnets and stickers spilled out onto the gift shop counter.
“She’s already got two bags in her hand,” Heflin’s husband, Bob, 57, noted before handing over his credit card to add $66.69 to his tab.
“This is our second trip,” Deryl Heflin said gleefully.
From $10 parking to $6.99 Deepo toys and $2 bottled water, patrons have been plunking down fistfuls of credit cards and cash since the world’s largest aquarium opened Monday. Already, about 28,000 visitors have experienced Atlanta’s newest attraction and spent untold thousands of dollars there.
“Hey, we gotta pay for the place,” joked Dwight Friday, a 55-year-old chiropractor from Smyrna, as he entered the aquarium’s gift shop. “It’s like Disneyland — maybe a little bit high, but I guess you have to pay for the ambience.”
Although philanthropist Bernie Marcus and some of Atlanta’s elite corporations have funded the construction cost, annual operating expenses estimated at more than $40 million will be covered by ticket sales, ballroom rentals and a percentage of souvenir and food sales.
Between marveling at otters, whales, sharks and other sea life in the $290 million attraction, thousands of visitors are shopping for souvenirs and stopping for lunch.
On Tuesday, Suwanee mother Jessica Brumer, 39, carried a tray of two cheeseburgers, french fries, three drinks and two desserts through a crowd as son Max, 8, followed with his own tray of fried chicken fingers, an orange drink, two Oreo ice cream bars and a lollipop.
With a 20 percent discount granted to all annual pass holders and the novel approach of buying only kids’ meals for herself and her husband, Brumer paid only $20.91 for lunch.
“That 20 percent was quite a savings,” Brumer said as she sat down to eat with her husband, son and daughter. “But I was disappointed that it was $10 to park.”
An aquarium spokesman declined to say how much of the money generated by concessions — which are operated by outside vendors — is returned to the aquarium. Judging from the long lines at Cafe Aquaria and the Beyond the Reef gift shop — which everyone must pass through on the way out — few seemed concerned about where the money might be going. After all, many already had spent hundreds of dollars for annual passes and the chance to view the attraction before the general public, who will be able to visit the aquarium starting today.
Mohamed Khan, a 42-year-old hospital nurse from Kennesaw, paid $324.50 for annual passes for himself, his wife and four children. He spent an additional $100 on movie passes, lunch and souvenirs Tuesday. “We’ll be back right after Christmas,” he said.
Randy Grimes, a 45-year-old UPS manager from Kennesaw, pulled out $14 from his pocket to pay for tickets to the aquarium’s 3-D movie before he and his sons entered. But after Mitchell, 6, and Jonathan, 8, said they didn’t want to wait in line for lunch and neither found much in the souvenir shop, Grimes walked out having spent only $31.50. “I had anticipated spending 100 bucks,” he said.
Most families were planning to pay for parking, lunch and souvenirs during their first visit to the facility, and few were complaining about the somewhat elevated prices.
“It was worth it to me to get to share this place with him and Amanda,” Alpharetta resident Linda Stovall, 65, said of her daughter and grandson Ben, 5, who was clutching two plastic whale sharks Stovall had bought for $15.98.
“You just kind of pull out all the stops when it comes to spending time with your family,” she said.
Of course, some people did leave the aquarium empty-handed. Tom and Greer Broadwater of Tyrone said they didn’t have any grandchildren for whom to buy presents. Besides, Greer Broadwater, 56, said: “We don’t need any more junk.”
— Staff writer Jim Tharpe contributed to this article.
Fish fans go wild to get in
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The good news for the Georgia Aquarium — it’s the hottest ticket in town. That’s also the bad news.
Callers and computer users overwhelmed the aquarium’s call center and Web site Monday and Tuesday, stranding thousands of people trying to buy tickets to get a peek at the world’s biggest fish tank in downtown Atlanta.
“We’re taking calls all day, but the problem is the volume,” Jeff Swanagan, the aquarium’s executive director said Tueday morning. “You might have a better chance with a lottery ticket than trying to get in right now.”
By today, he said, officials plan to increase the call center’s capacity by adding a hired subcontractor. And they will quadruple the capacity of the Web site. The call center had already doubled its original capacity to 19 people for the opening, but that proved inadequate, Swanagan said.
“You can’t build your church for Easter Sunday,” he said. “But now I’m thinking that might have been a good idea.”
The overload hit Monday — the facility’s opening day for annual pass holders — after NBC’s “Today” show broadcast from the attraction. The Web site (www.georgiaaquarium.org) also was overwhelmed.
The crush abated Monday night, but resumed Tuesday.
The 8-million-gallon aquarium, which holds more than 100,000 fish and other animals, has been the focus of intense publicity on local, national and international stages. CNN and CBS will broadcast from the aquarium today, its official grand opening.
Mark Chute, a telecommunications worker from Dallas, Ga., — on the fringe of metro Atlanta — said Tuesday that he had tried for two days to buy tickets on the aquarium’s Web site for his wife and 12-year-old daughter.
“We’re looking forward to going,” Chute said. “We’re very proud of it. But we can’t get to the information we need to get inside.” Visitors who bought tickets before Monday apparently had little trouble, Swanagan said.
About 14,000 season pass holders toured the aquarium Monday and Tuesday as part of a controlled or so-called “soft opening” intended to work out kinks before today’s grand opening.
The aquarium is using a “time ticketing” system that requires visitors to book their visit in advance with a specific arrival time. They can stay as long as they like once they arrive.
General admission ticket holders can visit beginning today, but they, too, must book their visit ahead of time.
Swanagan said officials are surprised not only by the volume of ticket demand, but also by the geographical reach of the demand. “People are buying annual passes from Texas and Michigan,” he said. “It’s amazing.”
Aquarium spokesman Dave Santucci said the aquarium’s time slots are mostly booked through Thanksgiving weekend.
“We expect another huge number of calls after all the publicity with the grand opening,” he said. “We’re asking people to please be patient until all the media attention dies down a bit.”
Swanagan said it took him three tries Tuesday to get through to the aquarium’s Web site and four calls to get through to the call center.
Ticket demand had been building for weeks, he said. The $290 million aquarium had sold 80,000 annual passes by the time its doors opened. But it was the “Today” show broadcast Monday that blew the lid off, he said. The show reaches 6 million domestic viewers and millions more overseas.
“We’re going to start forwarding all foreign calls to Matt Lauer,” one of the “Today” hosts, Swanagan said.
Ticket lines, Web site jammed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Callers and computer users overloaded the Georgia Aquarium’s telephone lines and Web site for a second day today, frustrating those who want to get tickets for a peek inside the world’s largest aquarium.
“The good news is we’re the hottest ticket in town,” said Jeff Swanagan, executive director of the aquarium. “But right now, that’s the bad news as well.”
Swanagan said the aquarium’s 19-person call center was overloaded Monday — the aquarium’s opening day for annual pass-holders — after NBC’s Today show broadcast from the big fish tank. The Web site (www.georgiaaquarium.org) was also overwhelmed.
The overload abated Monday night, but resumed today, he said.
Swanagan said officials hope to have both problems resolved by Wednesday. He said the facility is subcontracting with a call center that has unlimited capacity. And he said technicians are working to quadruple the Web site’s capacity.
“We know it’s frustrating for people trying to get through, but all of those problems should be fixed very soon,” he said.
The aquarium is holding a two-day controlled opening that permits only annual pass-holders inside. The facility is also using a “time-ticketing” system that requires visitors to book their arrival time in advance. They can stay as long as they like once they arrive.
The aquarium’s “grand opening” is Wednesday, when some general admissions will be allowed. However, those ticket-holders also are required to book a time slot in advance.
The aquarium has received massive publicity from local, national and international outlets.
Even when the telephone and computer problems are resolved, don’t expect to immediately visit the ship-shaped facility at the north end of Centennial Olympic Park.
“We’re pretty much booked for the first five days,” Swanagan said.
