New Moon DVD Release Party: We Hung Out at Walmart with Nikki Reed, Chris Weitz, and all the Cool Kids

Doesn’t this poster bring back great memories?

For the DVD release of New Moon in March 2010, Summit hosted midnight parties with cast appearances at several locations all over the country. The not-so-brilliant part of their plan was waiting to announce the actual locations and which cast members were appearing until late afternoon on the day of the event. Even though we had no idea where or even if there would be an LA area appearance, we still hopped into the car and aimlessly drove in that direction since it was an over 2 hour drive and we needed the lead time. Luckily we found out the location on twitter and arrived at the Walmart in Santa Clara early enough to be about 30th in line. (You know, this all seemed perfectly normal at the time, but as I write it right now... not so much.)

Walmart actually turned out to be a pretty good place to wait in line. They were super organized with lots of security, the store sold just about every item known to mankind (including a section of New Moon merchandise), the restrooms were very accessible, and there was a McDonald’s. Other than having to sit next to pallets of fertilizer for 7 hours, it was great place to hang around and visit. Hundreds of people turned out to wait in line, along with many news crews and curious Walmart shoppers.

Here’s our happy little group: Twi-daughter Nicole, ZAnyMouse, Twifixx, TwiloveSue (me) and Allye. Note the fashionable Twitarded shirts.

When it got close to midnight, they let the first 100 people enter the store to wait in the glamorous garden department for Nikki Reed and Chris Weitz to arrive. It was funny to watch Twi-daughter Nicole and Allye interviewed by MTV and a couple of other news channels. While we were waiting, they held prize raffles (we didn’t win) and gave away free cupcakes. The lesson of the night was that no matter how hungry you are, do not ever eat cupcakes with black frosting. Sure, they looked cute and fit in well with the vampire-y theme, but there were many people running around with black teeth after that. I will not mention names, but I was not one of them.

Once Chris and Nikki arrived, they greeted the crowd waiting inside the store and briefly answered questions before signing some autographs.

Nikki was very pretty and petite, although I still can’t get used to her not having blonde Rosalie hair. People in the back of the crowd kept shouting to get her attention and every time she looked up to smile at them.

Chris worked the crowd, patiently signing autographs and joking with everyone. By the way, if you aren't following him on Twitter, you should. He's hilarious.

Don’t you just love the classy Walmart signs?

Each person was given approximately 4.5 seconds to go up one at a time to meet Nikki and Chris and say something gushy that they would later regret. They were very nice and gracious, and seemed to appreciate everyone coming out to see them. Isn’t it funny how they were positioned right in front of a stack of birdseed bags for such a fine photo op? They also stood behind a short little barrier apparently for their protection, as if that would stop us if we decided to attack. I do have a picture of me with them, but you can just take my word that it came out terribly. Thank you to ZAnyMouse for this wonderful shot!

After meeting Nikki and Chris, we were directed over to the registers to purchase a pre-signed DVD (please ignore my ugly bedspread).

At 1am, the line still stretched further than my tired eyes could see and the people still waiting gave me hostile looks when I took this picture. I can’t even imagine how long it took before they got through the last person. Even though we didn’t get home until 3:30am, we still had to stay up to watch the DVD (although we may have forwarded through the Jacob parts…)

Today’s Rob photo is brought to you courtesy of Twifixx, who always knows how to brighten my day with a well-timed bit of eye candy.

TwiloveSue XOXO