Wheel Of Fortune

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.

 And I got this final shot of the whole audience...it was the only picture I could take as they had cops and security everywhere yelling at anyone who pulled out their phones to take a picture of the set. Oh well.
 

It was just such a great day!!!!!  I'm so glad I could share this with my daughter and my niece. It was awesome!!!