Hundreds of Twilight fans were upset early Wednesday morning when they were turned away from Orland Square Mall in Chicago. Many came prepared to wait in the cold rain for hours, but that wasn’t necessary – mall security decided to sell the wristbands and t-shirts needed for entrance into Rob Pattinson’s presence early to avoid the same sort of fiasco that San Francisco fans experienced, but therein created a fiasco of their own. Wristbands that were not to be passed out until 7:30 that morning were gone by 2 AM.Liz Waters, who we’ve talked to before about her website twilight20somethings.com, was one of the many turned away this morning.
“It was only 1:15 and all these people were arriving and were so excited because there was no line and they thought they were first – but it was already sold out. There were people that had driven 10 hours to get there, and got there at the specified time, and were turned away.”
Security was strict in making sure all of the twi-fans left the premises, telling them that they were trespassing on mall property. Waters was confused by the mall’s change.
“We were told that we could start lining up at 4:30 and that anyone camping out before hand would be arrested. Instead, they gave wristbands to the people camped out at midnight and turned away the people following the rules.”
While anyone can attend the Q & A session with Rob later tonight, only those lucky 500 fans will be able to meet him or get a poster signed.
MY FRIEND ONLY GOT THREE HOURS OF SLEEP! WAITING TO GET A T-SHIRT TO SEE ROB PATTINSON! SHE FOLLOWED THE RULES! THE SECURITY GUSRDS ARE STUPID! SECURITY GUARDS, YOU UPSET A LOT OF FANS AND YOU TURNED AWAY THE ONES THAT WERE DOING THE RIGHT THING! THE ONES THAT CAMPED OUT YOU REWARDED BY LETTING THEM BUY A T-SHIRT EARILY! THIS IS REDICULOUS! SECURITY GUARDS KNOW THE RULES! FOLLOW THEM!
That’s sad to see more “Twilight” fans disappointed. I was in Dallas, the day before Robert hit Chicago. Hot Topic was to open at 6:00 am. My friends and I arrived at 1:00 am. No one was allowed on the galleria property until 5:30, so a line had been formed on a sidewalk across the street, under a bridge. When we arrived, there were about 50 people there. I was pleased, plenty of cops, very organized, and we knew we’d get in. After a few hours, the cops decided to abandon, the nice, structured line we had, and instead told us to pack together like sardines as close to the edge of the sidewalk as possible. No more orginazation. Still, my friends and I were at the front, so we were content, even in the freezing rain. Until 5:10 arrived. Connected to the galleria was a hotel, and suddenly, no less than 400 people walked out of the hotel parking garage. The police ended up opening the doors ten minutes earlier than scheduled, but as soon as they did, they let ALL of the fans in the hotel enter before we were even allowed to cross the street. Thus, the only ones who got wristbands were the hotel patrons. It didn’t matter what time we arrived. We could have gotten there at 5:00, and had as much chance of getting in as anyone. A girl who had been there since 8:00 the previous night ended up in the very back, no chance of being one of the first 500. It was highly disappointing, simply because had the police department been responsible and fair with their “strategy”, the fans who stood in the rain and actually EARNED a wristband would have been rewarded, as opposed to the hotel patrons, who undoubtedly spent the evening waiting in their warm, cozy room, watching television.
My daughter went with friends from Last night, they arrived at the Mall at 9 pm last night all the way from Wolfeboro, NH