Provo, UT

Sundance Film Festival has been on my “To Do” list for years, but I always put it off because the whole process–getting tickets, park & ride, crowds–seemed a little overwhelming (turns out, it’s not). So this weekend I took advantage of sunny skies and no snow in the forecast (necessary for driving through the mountain pass), and headed to Park City with three of my girlfriends to see what we could see.

Driving into Old Town Park City during the film festival is discouraged and Park City has an excellent free transit system. We first parked about 6 miles out at Kimball Junction but found out that the shuttle bus only ran about every 45 minutes from there, so we decided to drive closer to town and catch one of the more frequent shuttles. We paid $10 to park at The Yard, which is about a 15- minute ride (with stops) to Main Street on the Theater Loop bus (red line). Parking was free across the street at the Albertson’s parking lot, and also free at Kimball Junction. Once you get off the highway, there are signs alerting you to parking and shuttle bus locations. Ask any local for information and they seem happy to help. The shuttle was quick, clean, and surprisingly uncrowded. The bus lets you off at the Old Town Transit Center, just behind Main Street. Walk down a steep flight of stairs, cross the street, and there you are!

We walked up Main (with one eye out for celebrities, of course) to the Egyptian Theater to find out about getting wait list tickets to see An Education. Here’s how the process works:

To get wait list tickets, they give out numbers 2 hours prior to movie time. So, for example, for a 3 p.m. film you need to be in line no later than 1 p.m. That’s the key: no later. We got there about 12:30 p.m. and got numbers 64-67 when they handed out numbers at 1 p.m. on the dot.

After you get your wait list number you have to come back no later than 30 minutes before the film starts, and get in line in numerical order. You must be in line 30 minutes prior because they cut the line off, and if you’re not in line by then it doesn’t matter what number you have, you have to go to the back of the line. If seats are available, you exchange your wait list number for a movie ticket. Tickets cost $15, cash only.

The line monitors at An Education were very nice, and told us up front that this particular movie had a lot of industry interest and it wasn’t likely there would be tickets available. Only a certain amount of tickets are initially sold at presales, and they hold seats for industry insiders based on an estimation of how many distributors, producers, directors, stars, and their collective entourages, etc. may be attending each film. After industry and ticket holders are let inside, they determine the number of available wait list tickets.

We decided to wait and see what would happen–after all, films are what Sundance is all about! We had about an hour to kill from the time we picked up our wait list numbers until we had to return to the theater, so we ate lunch next door at Red Banjo Pizza (good, inexpensive food, but crowded and not great service). We headed back to the Egyptian, and waited in line with a good-natured crowd, and had the chance to chat with some Hollywood insiders. Unfortunately, the 223-seat theater was completely full, and NO ONE was able to get in. Disappointing, sure, but in the end it worked out just fine–instead we spent the rest of the afternoon celebrity-spotting, and I’ll catch a film later this week.

Next year I’ll be sure to take advantage of the fact that Utah locals can purchase tickets in advance. If you don’t have tickets but would like to catch a film during the Sundance Film Festival, here is the movie schedule, and here is a list of best bets. The 2009 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 15-25, so there’s still time to take advantage of this awesome “To Do”–a must if you live in Utah!