Ticket Pickup on Monday

For those participating in the advance order process, you will be able to pick up your tickets (or vouchers for films that were sold out) starting on Monday, September 1, 2008, at the Toronto Life Square box office only, starting at 10:00 AM.

To pick up your tickets, you will need your Pick-Up Voucher. You will exchange this for your tickets and/or vouchers.

If you received all your picks, then I would recommend that you don't show up first thing in the morning, as the lines will be long; go later in the day once the pick-up line has died down. You should have received an e-mail confirmation from the festival outlining the tickets you did get; if you didn't get an e-mail, then as commenter Nicole pointed out, you can go the festival web site, click the Buy Tickets link, and then select the option for checking the status of your order, as it will show you exactly what the confirmation e-mail does. If you see any line items in the confirmation for a Regular Top-Up Voucher, then that means you didn't get some of your picks. The confirmation will outline how many of these vouchers you have, and thus how many alternate picks you will have to make.

If you have top-up vouchers because you couldn't get all your selections, then you will be able to line up on Monday in a separate line (after picking up your tickets and vouchers) to select new films. Be warned, this process can take several hours, so if you know that you didn't get all your films, plan ahead. Figure out what gaps you have in your schedule, and then select other films that you would like to see, but make sure you select a lot of alternates. By the time you get to the front of the box office, a number of your choices may already be sold out. The festival posts big boards outlining all the films in the schedule and which ones have been sold out.

Note that once the festival starts this Thursday, additional tickets will likely be released for all the showings, so if there was something you really wanted, you can try searching for tickets then. Also, as other commenters have posted in the past, some people will exchange movies they did get in their order for others on the Monday pickup day, so it is possible that tickets may open up periodically during the day even if the big signs say the screenings are sold out.

Also, you don't have to use your top-up vouchers on Monday. You can use them at any time during the festival, once it starts on Thursday.

One other tip, make sure you are in the correct line on Monday, so you don't spend hours in the wrong one. Look for the festival volunteers wearing festival t-shirts or headsets/clipboards, and ask which line you should be in.

I'll be there bright and early on Monday since my friend and I have a few vouchers to use, so I'll twitter from the line periodically to indicate how long it is and how fast it is moving (or not :-)).

Tags: 2008,tickets