I always think (briefly, at least) about the title of each of my blog posts. I think this one is pretty clever, if I do say so myself. 🙂

As you may remember from my last post, Scott and I are currently on a trip to California. We’ve actually been here since Sunday night as Scott had to attend a conference for work on Monday and Tuesday. We didn’t really do anything those two days as he was at his conference and I was working remotely from the hotel, so there wasn’t much for us to do (he had dinners for work both nights as well, so we didn’t even do anything in the evening). Although we were in Anaheim for that, we migrated over to West Hollywood today, where we’ll be staying until we fly home on Friday night. Exciting, right? Well, it should be because today we had the chance to…

COME ON DOWN!!!!!!

Yes, that’s right, we went to a taping of The Price is Right! This is something that’s been on my bucket list for years as I’ve watched the show since I was probably five or so (thanks in large part to my babysitter, who had it on every morning). Although I don’t watch it regularly now (work gets in the way of a show that’s only on weekday mornings, after all), I enjoy it when I get the chance and it will always hold a special place in my heart.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “Is it even worth it to go?”. I can emphatically say YES! For those of you who may be interested, here’s a quick rundown of how the process works:

• First, you need to secure tickets. The show is on hiatus until July 6th (the taping we attended was for the season finale), so keep an eye out for tickets to become available again in the near future.
• We had priority tickets. What does that mean? We were guaranteed to get in! You either get priority tickets or line vouchers, but trust that you do plenty of waiting in lines in both cases. 🙂 Although priority tickets mean you have a guaranteed seat, the ticket company tells you that you’re likely to get in even with line vouchers. Oh, and tickets are always FREE. Can’t beat that!
• Upon arrival outside the studio, you join the line everyone is in (outside the entrance gate, not inside) and wait in it until you reach the man with the clipboard. If you have priority tickets, he sends you through the gate, where you have your ID checked. If you don’t have priority tickets, you continue to wait (presumably until they know how many priority seats will be taken), though I’m not sure for how long. A fair amount of time, I’m sure!
• You’re taken to an exterior waiting area where you sign your release forms and wait for the line to move forward. Eventually, you’ll have two photos taken – one is for the profile the producers have and the other for a souvenir photo you can choose to buy later if you want it (we did).
• After the photos, you walk around the corner to another waiting area. This is where you get interviewed by the producers! Although this is the only interaction they have with you, I’m pretty sure they’re watching you the whole time in one way or another. They want to understand how excited you are, how you interact with other people, etc. When they actually interview you, it’s very brief (they ask you where you’re from and what you do, maybe what you favorite TPIR game is, etc.) and they do it in a group of 15-20 people in the waiting area. Be yourself, be outgoing, and be natural. Let them know how excited you are!
• After the interview, you go around the corner again to another line, which is the final waiting area. All told, it takes a good 3-3.5 hours to go through the whole waiting process before you go into the studio and then you spend another two hours in the studio. Your cell phone is taken from you when you enter the third waiting area, but you won’t even miss it as you’ll be having fun interacting with others, getting excited for the taping, and being in the actual studio.
• Note that there are restrooms, water fountains, and snack bars at the pre- and post-interview waiting areas, but once you’re in the studio, you’re there for the duration of the taping. Plan accordingly!

Now for the big question – did we get to be contestants?? Sadly, we didn’t get called. But that’s okay! We both had fun and it was totally worth it. We did have to devote a chunk of time to the whole process (we arrived at the studio gate around 1130a and weren’t released from the studio until just after 530p), but I would do it again in a second. It’s not something I need to do anytime soon, but I would be willing to go again. I gotta have my chance at the big wheel someday! 😀

After the excitement of the taping, we needed to meet our Airbnb host to be let into the apartment we’re staying in in West Hollywood. It took us barely ten minutes to drive to it and our host was super friendly (she and her partner live a block away, so they were very flexible in when they could meet us). This is our first time staying in an Airbnb place in the US, but it seems great so far! Very comfortable, good location, and good wifi, which are all big things we look for. Looking forward to spending a couple of days here!

Time for today’s pictures to COME ON DOWN!

My name tag and contestant number. Full names (ie – what’s on your ID) only!

Scott and I in line in the first waiting area.

Our souvenir photo in front of the big wheel! Okay, it’s a green screen and it cost $20, but we thought it was totally worth it.

Looking into the entryway of our WeHo apartment.

The cozy living area.

Looking back towards the entryway from the living room.

The kitchen is very small, but definitely works for us.

The bedroom, which is really an extension of the living space (more like a studio apartment). Again, seems like it will work great for us!

Looking into the bathroom from the bedroom.

The rooftop pool at our apartment. It’s not really big or deep, but with temps around 90° here this week, I bet it will feel great!

Pretty amazing views of the hills from the rooftop.

And that’s been our trip to Cali so far! Our only confirmed plans for the rest of the trip are dinner at Sur tomorrow night, but we’ll probably do some exploring around WeHo as well. Scott found this great walking tour path, so we may follow that as he hasn’t spent much time in this area previously and I’m far from an expert myself. With a great homebase and great weather though, I’m sure we’ll have a fun couple of days. As always, if you have any suggestions on places to go or things to do, let me know in the comments.

More to come tomorrow!