The quest for our Wii has finally come to an end!
After being greatly disappointed that every store in Tucson and all of the reputable online stores were sold out of Wii’s all last week, Lauren and I tried one last-ditch effort to find one this past weekend. We were quite lucky that, on Saturday evening, one of the clerks at Target tipped us off that they “may” be getting around 10 in that night for release on Sunday and that we should check the adds in the paper to be sure.
On a whim, Lauren and I decided to at least try to see if we could score a Wii based on that tip, so we got up early (for us, on the weekend, any time prior to 8 or 9am is considered early) on Sunday and drove over to Target prior to opening. To our surprise, there was a line of at least ten people already waiting there twenty minutes before the store even opened and a number more that joined all of us crazies after we took our place in line! I’ve told myself, in the past, that I’d never be one of those people to queue up before the release or sale of a new movie or hot new devices, but never thought I’d have to do that for a console system that’s been out for almost two years.
Just before opening, at about 7:55 AM, one of the employees came out and passed out tickets to buy a Wii, Wii Fit, and/or one of the new Mario games. We were, luckily, there early enough to get one of the only 14 Wii’s that were in the store, but couldn’t score one for our friend Steve, unfortunately. Though we were intending to get one eventually, we initially passed up getting a ticket for the Fit thinking that we could always pick one up later on and spread the cost out along a few paychecks. That plan quickly changed after talking to one of the other Wii-seekers in line revealed that, at least at the individual store we went to, Target won’t be stocking the Fit until closer to the holiday season after that shipment sells out. A 6 month wait to get a Fit…wow… that wouldn’t be cool to have a Wii and not the Fit for that long, so Lauren went to go look for the ticket lady again to see if we could get one for the Fit. We lucked out a second time when Lauren returned with the very last ticket for a Wii Fit.
Once inside the store, after a 15 minute wait for all of the people in front of us to pay for their systems, we were given the opportunity to lighten our wallets by a few hundred bucks buying the Wii, the Wii Fit, a second remote and nunchuck (they are like chips, you can’t have just one), rechargeable battery packs, the Zelda crossbow blaster and game, and the Zelda: Twilight Princess game. Score! It was well worth the effort and trouble hunting it down. After returning home with our new-found plunder and treasures, we ventured forth to Best Buy for it’s store opening to see if we could repeat the luck and get Steve a system as well; unfortunately, they didn’t get any in and the only other place in town that did sold out in less than an hour, from what we were told later that day.
Thought we’ve only had it for a few days, we’re already planning the next few bigger purchase for the Wii: we will certainly need to get two more remotes, Lauren’s set on getting DDR for it, and we are thinking about getting either Rock Band or Guitar Hero (the 2-guitar Guitar Hero: Aerosmith pack at Target was calling her name while we were in line waiting for the Wii originally, but we fought the urge to buy it then and there). One things for certain, we better get lots of use of of this thing!
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