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A short supply of happiness

Two weeks away from graduation and I feel like I’m finally stumbling across the finish line. Unfortunately, as I’m about to make my escape, I’ll be leaving with a bad taste in my mouth after ASI failed to plan an event that included all students.

Like thousands of my peers, I was not able to secure $10 Disneyland tickets for the recently-announced “big event” on Monday, and I will not be going to Disneyland this Friday. But this wasn’t from lack of trying.

After waiting in line for hours, Associated Students Inc.’s first-ever Disney Day was sold out before I could even reach the front  

When ASI announced over social media last Saturday that they were going to offer $10 tickets to a limited 1,000 students on Monday, my personal group chat flooded with messages.

While the idea of Disneyland seemed like a fun idea, it was not a feasible plan for a campus of over 35,000 students.

Right after the announcement, all of my friends immediately began discussing plans to get out of work or class so they could grab a decent spot in line. At almost $120 for a regular day-pass, $10 was almost too good to be true.

We knew that we would have to arrive early to get a decent spot in line. This goal would be difficult since ASI announced that students were not allowed to line up until 1 p.m. for the 2 p.m. start time.  

When we found out that there was only going to be total of 1,000 tickets with a limit of one per person we knew that we might have some trouble. Considering the amount of students at CSULB, the chance of us getting to “the happiest place on earth” for such a low price seemed slim.

On Monday I arrived at the USU just after noon with two of my friends. The room was amess with students filling every corner waiting to jump in the line.

One woman was leaning against a wall, oblivious to the sign telling students not to block the path inches above her head. This seemed to be one of the last straws for coordinators as they shooed people away from the hall.

From here things got confusing.

No one around me was sure where to wait and around 12:40 p.m. the crowd moved to the steps in front and I found at the top of the stairs next to the belltower. It quickly became clear that ASI was not ready for the overwhelming response they received.

This seems odd considering they were selling tickets to one of the most popular places in the country.

For the most part, I would consider myself a patient person. But it’s hard not to be annoyed after watching student after student cut in line ahead of me.

Case in point, a mob of frat bros behind me started to multiply by the minute while yelling at nobody in particular about how they should get tickets.

I have no particular hatred for fraternities, but no one was watching the line for the first half of the sale. This seems massively unfair to those who were waiting patiently in line for hours.

Thankfully, ASI coordinators and campus police did try to eliminate the cutting, and eventually set up tape to create a more obvious barrier. But at that point the damage was already done.

Aside from being unprepared for the masses, the limiting amount of tickets available was also problematic. I’m sure it’s not cheap to purchase 1,000 tickets, but maybe Disneyland wasn’t the best choice? It may not be as glamorous, but maybe Knotts Berry Farm or Six Flags might have been a cheaper alternative.

Six Flags tickets sell online for $89, with Knott’s selling at $46 online and $79 at the gate. Considering theme parks sell group packages, these may have been cheaper and both would have allowed ASI to purchase more tickets for a larger portion of the college.

In an e-mail ASI Senior Communications Manager James A. Ahumada said that ASI reviewed social media interactions, such as likes and shares, and projected a few hundred students in line throughout the process of distributing tickets.

Obviously, this method was not sufficient since their announcement video had thousands of views.

I don’t mean for this to come across as an attack on ASI or the hard work they do. As someone who has worked part-time jobs while balancing classes and being involved in a student-run organization like the Daily 49er, I understand the stress they are under.

Many ASI members are students learning and trying their best, and I believe that they want to provide the best events for CSULB students.

Still, ASI’s failure to organize and oversee left a lot of students confused and angry. If ASI wanted to plan something this big it should have found a better method than likes and shares on Instagram.

Next time, try not to shoot too high. Especially if it leads to thousands of students standing in line for hours with nothing to show for it.

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