What a FUN day I had with Ashleigh and Bridget yesterday!!!
I got tickets to see the taping of Wheel of Fortune here in Portland and since Nick couldn't go with us, I asked Bridget if she could go with me and Ash.
We got to the Convention Center and the line was LONG!!! While we
waited in line I read the back of the ticket and it said that seats are not
guaranteed even with a ticket...oh-no! I was so worried that we were too far
back in the line and we wouldn't get it, but I didn't let the girls know about
my concerns. We went down this long hallway, then up some stairs, then more
hall way, then down some stairs...then through some doors where we had to go
through security and let them check my purse for any weapons. I thought that
was it, but no...we were only about half way through the waiting period. We got
in to a new room where the line was like a serpentine--twisting up one aisle
and down another--8 rows like this and we were the 7th row back. ugh. The
ticket said the doors close at 315pm and it was already 255pm. I didn't think
we were going to get in....the girls started to get worried too...
At 312 we were
finally towards the front of the final row, but I still wasn't sure if we'd get
in. Finally I saw one of the Wheel of Fortune workers who waved us in.
YAY.
The audience was HUGE....tons of seats on the floor and then even
more seats up the back!! We were seated down the mail aisle about halfway back.
Not great seats, but I was just relieved that we got in!
The girls were so
excited the whole time. Bridget said - In my whole life I never thought I'd be
here to see Wheel of Fortune!! Adorable! Ashleigh and Bridget were both
pretty hyper and so excited. They kept jumping up and down and they had the biggest
smiles on their faces!
The show started
with a lot of audience cheers. We did the opening chant of "WHEEL"
"OF" "FORTUNE". We did it a few times! The took a lot of
audience cheering/clapping shots too. We were on camera a couple of times
during the 3 shows that we watched get taped. Yes, that's right....we stayed
and watched the taping of 3 shows!!! We didn't get out of there until about
630pm.
During the 2nd taping a girl from across the aisle asked me if I
would take her (and her friends' pictures) and picture-message it to her. They
have a strict rule about not taking pictures in there so I had to sneak the
picture, but of course, I got caught and this lady yelled at me to put my phone
away. lame. ;-)
BUT...and here's the BEST part....Are you ready for it?
In the middle of
the 2nd show's taping, on one of the commercials Pat Sajak came down our aisle
so I shouted out to him to come see the girls...he said hi, then said he'd be
right back then he went up the back to visit with other audience members.
BUT, when he came back down, he stopped to meet Ashleigh and Bridget!!!
He asked me their names and asked them if they wanted to go up to the
stage with him and meet Vanna!!! Yes he did! :-)
I basically pushed
them to go, but they were both so excited!!! Pat had his microphone on
and he was being filmed so we could see it all on the jumbo screen and we
could hear/see everything that was happening. As they were walking up Pat said
- Didn't your mom tell you not to go with strangers? Everyone in the audience
laughed. They went up near Vanna's side of the stage and she and Pat commented
about how beautiful the girls are. Then Pat said - Isn't Vanna beautiful too?
Ya know, she's almost as nice as she is beautiful! Again, the audience
laughed. Then Pat asked the girls if they have any questions. Ashleigh said -
Can we get your autographs? Pat said - Well ya know, if we give you our
autographs it won't be fair for everyone else who wants one too...then the
audience yelled, DO IT, DO IT. I was so happy and proud!!!
Look closely at this picture below....Ashleigh is on the left, Bridget's back is to us, Vanna's head if above Bridgets and Pat is on the right. :-D
They had only about 30 sec left so Pat said yes and one of the
stage hands brought the girls back to me. :-) They were BEAMING!!! Then
almost immediately the stage hand came back with some swag for the girls!!!!!!
They got Wheel Of Fortune Lunch boxes and inside was a T-shirt that says
SPIN THIS and a baseball hat that says Wheel of Fortune. Awesome!! They were so
excited. The people around me kept smiling at me and congratulated the girls.
They felt like celebrities! During the next commercial break the same stage
hand came and got their autograph books and took it to Pat and Vanna and he
brought it back before the commercials were over. :-) Oh man, it was the best
thing to happen to the girls! :-)
On our way out they handed out these Wheel blinky Pins and we each got one.
