HP7 Midnight Mania About This Page:

[tkmom1972]

my walmart had a line but but not a very long one. i was getting a few things and was standing in line to check out had DS in line for the book was out of the store by 12:30 only because my cashier was slow. got to chapter 20 but 4 am finished the next day reread it to day and packing it for my trip on wed to reaqd it again

[stonewall]

Our local Borders really had a PLAN this time! When we arrived at about 8:40 AM, we were about the 15th in line and when the store opened at 9AM the line moved into the store and we were given wrist bands (there were about 50 per color)- of course, being early, we were ORANGE, which were to be first in line that night.
In the evening, we were unaware that we were going to be placed in line according to the microscopic number printed on the bands ( ) so DS began getting antsy by
8 PM and I finally agreed to leave at 10. The store was PACKED!!! People everywhere with a butt parked on each and every horizontal surface in the place (including most of the floor), with still more in a line snaking out of the store, down along the front and around the building!!!! Folks had brought their DVD players and were watching HP DVDs or on their laptops looking at HP websites. I was surprised at the number of people in Costume (did EVERY senior graduate and keep their black gown this year? I thought many schools had colors! ). Wouldn't you know it, but the combination of the packed store ( I KNOW they were violating fire code ) and the buildup up of heat combined with the time, and my new medication decided to wear off, leaving me pale, clammy and about ready to pass out- I haven't felt that bad for a long time and was really wondering how I was going to drive the few miles home- my 13 1/2 yr.old son DID volunteer, but . 11:15 and the call came over the speakers to "LINE UP" and those with the orange bracelets were placed near the front of the line, behind the 7 winners of the costume and other contests. Everyone was wonderful and let me perch on the table that was supposed to be reserved for "the book" and many immediately began offering me candy, water and whatever else the had with them- I even met several neighbors from the next street over that I had never seen before! A bunch in back of us began singing the music from "Jekyll&Hyde", which they luckily forgot after 2 songs, and then moved on to the score from "1776", which my DS knew, so he joined in! One older man became really nasty with the store associates, complaning that they had not started the raffle when he thought they should and he became quite vocal about his displeasure, yelling obscenities until a father standing in line with several young kids hustled the guy over towards the door and the crowd just helped him right on out! The girl at the front of the line-she'd been there ALL DAY ) appointed herself "TimeKeeper" and let us know when each 10 minute period had passed! FINALLY- it was 11:55 and the store managers came to tell me that I could stay where I was and they would distribute the books right up next to the front desk- how nice , and then they rushed off to deal with the registers, 2 of which would not work at all. It was amazing how fast every clerk in the store took their places at the registers or handing out books and a cheer went up as the line began to move, bracelets were checked to see how many books you had ordered, they were handed out, oaid for and out we went, wondering if all of those people in line outside without bracelets would get into the store that night! A deep breath and a chance to get some much needed air and then...Home to read

[JaimeandChad]

Wow, I went to Barnes and Noble at 12:25 (my best friend had to work and that was the earliest we could get there) and we out the door by 12:40. But my oh my there were alot of people there!

[jimmymac]

I went to my local B&N firsdt thing Saturday morning. There were 5 people ahead of me in line, all with HP7

[Cam22]

I got to our Books-a-Million about 11:55. I did the same thing for Book VI, but was very shocked to see that the shopping center parking lot was very full. I ended up parking half way down from BAM and standing in line outside. The time before I had walked right into the store and joined the line at the back. But the last book must have brought more folks out. Many were dressed in costume and almost every kid had a lightning scar on his/her forehead. One kid stationed himself at the door and announced to each person exiting with their books that Harry Potter dies. One poor little girl in line behind me was getting so upset. Several of us reassured her that the boy just wanted attention. About 12:12 I made it inside the store. A short distance up, one of the Muggle Crew (they had the cutest t-shirts with Muggle Crew on the back) told us to move down the first aisle, which took me right to a checkout lane. Sort of felt like a Dinsey FastPass. By 12:18 I was back in my car with my precious cargo.

[Carousel96]

I knew we would be on vacation so I tracked down the closest B&N and preordered a copy. But I didn't ask when they were going to start handing out wristbands so we didn't pick ours up until 6 pm and had the gold wristband/pink flyer combo -- rather late in the que. Anyway, I had smuggled DD's Hermione costume into the car, packed her a couple of surprise treats and DSIL had embroidered her a Griffindor shirt to wear. So we did the party in Springfield IL -- they had wandmaking, a fortune teller, a magician and a photo booth. Probably needed a few more activities for those of us who were there the whole time, but it was still fun. We finally checked out with our book at 1:06 a.m., went back to the hotel and slept.
I can't read in a moving car (otherwise we would have bought 2 copies!) so DD7 got first dibs on the book. She read the first 200+ pages on the way home Sat afternoon. Now that we're home I've sent her out to play with her friends so I could read hte book!

[Jody]

I took my mother to the Books-A-Million store by my house. We got there for the Harry Potter party around 7:00pm. We were very early so we got the nice comfy chairs and we chilled out.

They have a Joe Mugs coffee shop and they were serving Butterbeer Frappes and Steamers. I got a steamer and it was absolutely delicious. Some younger girls around middle school age sat at a table next to my mother and I. They had ordered the frappe and had the following conversation that left me scratching my head. I mean, they were early teens.

Girl 1: "Wow, this is good! No wonder Harry and Hermione like them so much."
Girl 2: "I wonder how they knew how to make them? I mean, what goes in them?"
Girl 3: "I know, I don't remember the recipe in the books."
Girl 1: "It must really be a drink in London or something and that's how they knew."
Girl 4: (obviously an older sister), "Do any of you morons think that they possibly just made it up?"

Anyway, we sat in the chairs until after 12:01 when they started selling them and even until the end of the line passed us by. There were about 600 people in the store. They really had the process down. You could pre-order the book clear up until 11:30pm. They gave you a really cool voucher/book mark that you presented at the counter in order to get your book. There was 2 different vouchers-1 for the book, 1 for audio. This is the only thing they excepted at the counter. We were the last people through and we had our books and audio at 12:14 am. It took them 13 minutes to get approximately 600 people out of the door with their books. I was very impressed. Those who did not pre-order the books had to wait for us to leave to order it. This was a very unwise decision for 2 reasons - 1 they had to wait until we were done, 2 the books were 40% off with an additional 10% off if you belonged to their club. This was not good after 11:30pm.