NYC 'WFE' Premiere - Part 2: The Longest Night

Blog contributor Cindy is back with the second part of her New York Water for Elephants premiere experience. She shared the first part of her trip with us a few weeks ago. Here's what came next:

I thought I would be meeting some friends for dinner and attending the H20 - WFE Cocktail Party. Little did I know how this particular Saturday night would end up being the "longest night of my life!"

I met my friends for dinner close to Ziegfeld’s when I got a call that the line for the premiere was already forming. My friend Rebecca who called me was #10 and she suggested we get there quickly. As luck was on our side we ended up being #15, #16 and #17 in the line.  We met the first people in line (Marny and Drew) who traveled from Atlanta, GA to attend the premiere. I have to give”kudos" to Yvette because she came out to join us for awhile even though she received a press credential for the red carpet. She really does care about the "fan experience" when it comes to events (aww, thank you for all your work Cindy). We decided since she only had one pass I would cover the fan area for the blog while she covered the red carpet for the premiere. 

At first, we were told the arm bands would be distributed at midnight. The line begin to grow in no time and the group around us in line agreed to help each other out and to save spots, etc. We were then introduced to “Carlos” (You'll hear more about him at the premiere) who would be one of the guys in charge that night. The theater management decided to move us to the barricades closer to the street. When Carlos made the announcement to move a lot of  the people made a mad dash to run around the barricade to be first in line. The group of us in the front of the line was thinking “Oh no”. This is when Drew from Atlanta became our hero that night! - He calmly but quickly walked to the front of the barricade and moved it and motioned for all of us to come over and enter there. We ended up in the order we were before the move. WHEW!

Drew and Marny 

As we stood in the line wondering what’s next? The rain started pouring really, really hard. I had my umbrella up but the way the rain was coming down it did not help much. At one point the storm picked up and I think everyone in the line screamed all at the same time. I thought to myself "what in the hell am I doing?" Am I seriously going to do this? But I knew in reality this would be the best shot to see Reese and Rob and I did come all the way from Florida for this.

Then we received such a nice surprise when the one and only, Sara Gruen came over to see all of us fans. She signed books, took pictures and talked to everyone who approached her.  She ended up getting soaking wet

like the rest of us but stayed as long as she could (She actually ended up very sick and lost her voice at the premiere). 

At one point she had a “Twilight umbrella”…which we found very amusing. My hat is off to Sara for taking the time to see the fans in line in the horrible weather and letting us know she cared and was grateful for us waiting for the wristbands. She has me as a fan of hers for life!

Rebecca and Sara Gruen

Photo Credit - www.color.com/waterforelephants

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During the night we sang "Happy Birthday" to one girl behind us that was from Ireland in "Ireland's Time Zone and ours. I have to give a few shouts outs, one of the "Ireland Girls" who went for coffee, food and ponchos for us all. I also received text messages from my friends in Florida and Liz my "Water for Elephant's" buddy in Chattanooga that keep me going during the night. I received a few notifications on twitter and my good friend Skye who runs Twilight Over Baton Rouge was "thinking of me and hoping I was ok" and from Cody Wood (Actor/Singer - also in WFE) who told me to "Hang in there" (Ladies - check out Cody's site - I promise you won't be disappointed)! Between my friends at home, online and the girls who were with me, I knew I could endure this night and it would be worth it in the end. 

Thank God my friend Eryka came prepared and had two folding stools and had a roll of garbage bags from the hotel. I swear you would have thought she had autographs pictures of Rob the way everyone wanted a garbage bag to use to sit on. In the middle of the night we received pizza (rumor was it was from Rob and  Reese – personally I think it was Fox). A couple of hours later we did receive donuts and hot chocolate courtesy of Sara. I swear hot chocolate never tasted so good!

Photo Credit - Jeri

The early morning was the hardest time for me; I really wanted to give up and just crawl into a nice warm bed and sleep for a week. I never thought in my lifetime I would spend the night on a sidewalk in NYC for a movie premiere. I am so grateful I was in good company and thanks to Jeri and Eryka I made it. 

Around eight in the morning, the delivery trucks started pulling in and we were able to watch how the “red carpet” was set up. At nine Fox handed out our number wrist bands as we counted out loud as we walked out of the barricade. We had 6 hours until we needed to be back for the premiere......

Photo credit - Jeri

Our Water For Elephants Wristbands

Photo Credit - Eryka

Stay tuned for the next installment which includes Rob and Reese at the premiere!