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DEL.ICIO.USTicket 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.
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Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Doug Lambert
November 22, 2005 03:13 PM | Link to this
Apologize all you want but it still reinforces the Olympic notion that Atlanta leadership cannot manage a public event.
By Brick Tamland
November 22, 2005 03:18 PM | Link to this
I love carpet
By Not Surprised
November 22, 2005 03:25 PM | Link to this
Did the organizers not know that this opening was going to be huge? Why are there ONLY 19 people to take tens of thousands of calls?? This is such a poor reflection on planning. How can this city realistically expect to get the Super Bowl when they can’t handle some fish?
By Heather
November 22, 2005 03:25 PM | Link to this
Well looks like I wont be going for a while. Oh well guess I have to wait for all of Atlanta to see it first..
By Jason
November 22, 2005 03:27 PM | Link to this
Atlanta leadership is to blame? The Aquarium is a private entity. All this shows is that private business can misjudge requirements as well as government can.
It is unfortunate that they have been overcome by interest but it is much better than having the opposite problem.
I went to the aquarium yesterday and it was great. I’m going to have to go to the lost and found department to find my socks because the place knocked them off! It is well worth a bit of a wait for anyone who wants to buy tickets.
By Heather
November 22, 2005 03:28 PM | Link to this
I agree with you not surprised. What are they thinking?
By Heather
November 22, 2005 03:30 PM | Link to this
I cant wait to go. Im glad to hear some kind of satisfaction from someone because every comment I have read is just people complaining.
By Scott
November 22, 2005 03:31 PM | Link to this
Poor planning? When I bought my year pass 3 weeks ago I had no problems. Maybe if everyone wouldn’t wait until the last minute…
By Sinclair
November 22, 2005 03:35 PM | Link to this
It appears the Georgia Aquarium is a hit for Atlanta. I look forward to bringing my family to the Georgia Aquarium..
By Mike
November 22, 2005 03:42 PM | Link to this
Good grief! What a whining, complaining pack of fools some of you are. Are you professional complainers, or what? The aquarium is absolutely incredible. Maybe you bellyachers should try going and take some time away from your pity parties.
By Happy None The Less
November 22, 2005 03:43 PM | Link to this
Get real. No matter how great, there will always be complaints from arm chair quarterbacks who have no real idea or true perspective of the scope and technicality of what they are looking at. The Aquarium has been been a fantastic example of an ENORMOUS overall project that has been implemented in record time. It should be expected that there are a few small glitches here and there. What better problem to have than greater demand than you can handle? Wow. It’s tough being popular.
By Heather
November 22, 2005 03:45 PM | Link to this
Call it what you want. Not everyone is on top of things the way you are, sweetie. Some people have alot of things going on to even stop and take time to order tickets ahead of time.
By Lisa T
November 22, 2005 03:46 PM | Link to this
I’m excited to see the aquarium, but as I do with hot movies, I’ll wait till the first rush is over and go during an offtime - probably mid-January, mid-week, mid-day! In the meantime I bet it’ll be super-easy to see some of the other great attractions around town: Zoo Atlanta, Fernbank, the Atlanta History Center, etc…minus the crowds, who apparently will all be at the aquarium!
By Heather
November 22, 2005 03:49 PM | Link to this
Looking for advice. Im wanting to go as soon as possible but my husband wants to wait a while because he says it will be packed. Anyone have an idea of what a good time it will be to go. It will probably always be a busy place though.
By Josh
November 22, 2005 03:50 PM | Link to this
It’s a good thing I got my tickets early
By jim
November 22, 2005 04:12 PM | Link to this
quit your whinning and grumbling about lack of call center help. this attraction is great for the town it will be around for a long time
By Heather's sooo busy...
November 22, 2005 04:21 PM | Link to this
In fact, Heather’s so busy with her life, that not only can she not afford to take the time to pre-order annual passes, but she can only offer two, maybe three insightful comments on an AJC blog… but that’s it, ‘cause she’s super busy, you know.
By Christopher
November 22, 2005 04:21 PM | Link to this
I visited the aquarium Monday, and will say this about the crowds. When I got there at 2, the place was packed. There were plenty of Aquarium employees outside telling you where to go. A tip for you: PRINT OUT A BARCODED TICKET AT HOME. This will cut out the longest line I saw. I walked right past the huge admissions line, a woman scanned my ticket and I walked right in.
Also, when I left at around 4:30, the crowd had substantially thinned out. While it was still crowded, it was much easier to move around in the exhibits.
By Christopher
November 22, 2005 04:23 PM | Link to this
One other thing… download the AJC’s podcasts to your iPod and take it with you. Listening to them as I entered each exhibit allowed me to enjoy it much more!
By Pap
November 22, 2005 04:30 PM | Link to this
Now that IKEA (the last “it” thing to hit Atlanta) has been open long enough for those lines to go away, go hang out there until the crowds die down at the Aquarium.
By Michael Davis
November 22, 2005 04:40 PM | Link to this
Just like any other garnd opening, one has to expect crowds. I bought my ticket 4-weeks ago, online. I had no problem getting in yesterday. In fact, they even changed my reservation two days before hand from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Give it time people, It’s worth visiting!
By bh
November 22, 2005 04:41 PM | Link to this
Neither can Atlanta gov. in Olympic, Nor can Atlanta private business in Aquarium. Atlanta is just a laughing stock. But as popular as they are right now, they have a farm to say NO to you guys.
By Brian
November 22, 2005 04:48 PM | Link to this
Tickets have been on sale for weeks, why has everyone waited until now to try and buy them? For the most part, it seems those having trouble getting tickets should blame themselves for waiting until the last minute with everyone else, not the aquarium for making them available since the beginning of November to accommodate the volume.
By Mike
November 22, 2005 04:50 PM | Link to this
“bh” - What’s that stand for? Butthead? Yeah I thought so. I guess we won’t have to worry about you taking up valuable space at the aquarium. Of course, you sound like some out of towner (or maybe that’s an out of stater) who’s insanely jealous. Probably some jerk from Chicago who can’t stand the fact that the Shedd is no longer the big boy on the block. LOL
By David
November 22, 2005 05:04 PM | Link to this
I got through to the call center yesterday. They told me they couldn’t help me because the web site wasn’t working. How hard is it to get a web site that can handle the traffic the Aquarium is receiving? I didn’t “plan ahead” and buy my tickets early because I didn’t know I was going to be here for over the holiday. What’s the Aquarium’s excuse? Didn’t they know they were going to be in Atlanta for Thanksgiving?
By WILLIAM
November 23, 2005 10:46 AM | Link to this
WE ATTENDED THE AQUARIUM ON MONDAY AND WE HAVE TWO COMMENTS TO MAKE: FIRST, THE WATER CLARITY WAS CLOUDY WITH PARTICLES FLOATING IN MOST TANKS.SECONDLY, THE ONE CAMERA ON THE LOWER INFO CENTER WAS TOTALLY INADEQUATE TO HANDLE THE VOLUME OF PICTUES FOR ANNUAL PASS HOLDERS. OTHERWISE, WE HAD A GREAT DAY!!!
By carl
November 23, 2005 11:22 AM | Link to this
Fish are COOL !!!!
By Sean
November 23, 2005 11:33 AM | Link to this
What a joke! Like most “happenings� in Atlanta the Powers that Be find a way to screw it up! Some old rich guys spends $200 million of his own money for the world’s largest aquarium and then they promote the hell out it so people will want to go. But, of course, Marcus et. al doesn’t spend enough on the website or build a big enough to handle the volume of people who are trying to buy tickets to go. How does one double a call center capacity to 19? Did they have a half a person in there? I hope Swanagan can count the fish better than he can count the # of people in the call center.
After 2 or 3 days of this, they cannot get enough people in there to handle the rush. They cannot expand the # of servers and bandwidth to handle this? Terrible execution - terrible!
I thought Bernie Marcus is supposed to be some marketing genius, but most people make long-standing judgements on their first impressions of a product or service. Our family really was excited to go, but after trying to get passes on the crappy website and after spending roughly 2 hours on hold only to be disconnected by the call center (3 times) - My first impressions: I am going to save my money and not go. Its not worth the effort and aggravation. I hope the aquarium closes by 2007.
By Sean
November 23, 2005 11:44 AM | Link to this
Phone calls to the Call center are answered by a recorded line but after choosing the annual pass option the phone disconnects to a busy signal.
The aquarium sucks !!!!!! Great execution Bernie - I knew you would find a way to stick it to us!
By Sean
November 23, 2005 11:56 AM | Link to this
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.
Swanagan LIED!!! Close the aquarium by 2007!
By DJ
November 23, 2005 12:44 PM | Link to this
The website and phone line situation is horrible and embarrassing, considering the reports that there is such a “WOW! factor” and no corners were cut with the ENTIRE project. Please.
Did your website engineers not do any load testing?
By Jason
November 23, 2005 04:18 PM | Link to this
Anyone get the feeling that Sean applied for a job at the Aquarium and got turned down? Normal people don’t have that much bitterness.
By unique
November 24, 2005 08:11 AM | Link to this
There is always someone that tries to ruin it for everyone. People are known to proscrastinate. Christmas is the same time each year and lots wait til the last minute to buy gifts. So what you couldn’t get online and make a call, if this is all you have to look forward to then GET A LIFE…
By susan
November 28, 2005 11:12 AM | Link to this
o.k so the lines are busy and the holding time is rediculious, so what, that don’t mean get upset and send negativity to the website over a little problem. of course things will be this way at first it’s just like when a new store opens or the after thanksgiving sale hits, people are going to be all over the place but it’s your choice to go or stay at home. you don’t send letters to the papers telling how the lines at walmart are. so can someone tell me, why do it now in this situation. holla at cha gurl.
By dave
November 28, 2005 03:51 PM | Link to this
Sean.. maybe for once in your life plan ahead and get the tickets early when they went on sale at the beginning of November. Its your own fault you had all that trouble. Idiot!! YOU waited tell the last minute!!!