[NYC - Broadway] Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Friday Forty Lottery Winner

I finally won the lottery for "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" on Broadway!

I just thought I'd write a quick post about how to win, what to expect, etc.

When you enter, you need to decide if you want one ticket or two tickets. Then, decide if you want to do both shows on the same day (like I did) or split them across separate days.

Forty tickets are released for each show for lottery winners. When you win, you pay $20 per per ticket - so if you order 1 set of tickets, it's $40, plus taxes and fees.

HOW TO ENTER:
1. Download the TodayTix app
2. Create a TodayTix account.
3. Search for "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."
4. Set a push alert for the "Friday Forty."
5. Enter every week until you win. :)

I entered every week for about 2 years, which is major dedication considering the fact that I am not a Harry Potter fan - as in, I haven't seen all the movies and haven't read all the books.

The lottery is typically for shows that are for the next weekend after you get the alert saying you win. So, it's fine for those of us who live nearby, but for visitors, make sure you check the dates for the lottery when you enter - most other lotteries are for the day of or the day after.

Recently, maybe in the past couple months, TodayTix also gives entrants who do not win the opportunity to buy greatly discounted tickets, too. So, make sure you have your push notifications on and you watch your phones on Friday at 1PM Eastern Time. If people don't claim their tickets in time (there's a 1 hour limit), there will be an announcement for the waitlisted individuals, so make sure you keep watching your phone.

I won this lottery, so I can't be certain how it works for waitlisted entrants, but when I've been waitlisted for other shows like "The Book of Mormon," I got an email saying I've been waitlisted and then the email told me to wait it out and the unclaimed seats would be released at around 5PM.

When you win, you have a set amount of time to claim your tickets (1 hour), so definitely be ready at 1PM on Friday to check it - this is especially important to recall for international visitors! Set an alarm so you're not asleep during the winner announcement.

In case you don't win and are in NYC and still want to see the show, there aren't many tickets available the day of, but this is the schedule. The box office is open 10AM - 8PM.

Make sure you look at the schedule to the left before you order just to make sure you are able to get part 1 AND part 2. There are not shows every day! I can't even tell you how many people came by while we were queuing to ask about buying tickets for Monday. There is no show on Monday currently.

So, the "third way" they mention to see the show...I wouldn't recommend seeing part 2 on its own without seeing part 1. I was semi-confused since I hadn't read/seen HP in a long time, but I know for sure I would be so lost if I only saw part 2.

Check out the gift shop hours above, too. If you somehow wanted to buy some of the merchandise without tickets. Come back tomorrow for the gift shop prices and a sneak peek of the merchandise available and come back on Thursday to see the part 2-specific merchandise. I am not sure if the part 2 merchandise is available if you go during the posted times since I only visited before each part of my show.

WHERE ARE MY SEATS?
For lottery winners during my show (maybe it changes, not sure), our seats were in the orchestra level, but relatively far back. My seats were in Row W. What that means is that the review was slightly restricted. There's a part of the show (no spoilers) that you may miss out on, but otherwise the view was pretty good - I kind of prefer the backish area to the front row (where most of the other lottery tickets put you).

WHAT TO KNOW THE DAY OF:
1. You need to arrive at least 1 hour before each show to pick up your tickets, go through security checks, etc.
2. The box office checks your ID, so make sure you have that with you. They are not lax about IDs at this show.
3. My show was at 2PM and we knew we wanted to do some looking around at the gift shop, snack bar, photo stations, etc. So, we arrived by noon.
4. The gift shop is open before the show for ticket holders, so disregard the public hours posted.
5. The women's bathroom (not sure about the men's) is pretty small, so I may recommend trying to use the restroom outside at your brunch restaurant.
6. There are various photo locations throughout the theatre (and some outside). If you exit the basement restroom, there will be a line to the left, going up the stairs.
- That is the line for one of the photo zones - the photo zone when you choose your house's banner and pose with it.
- There's also a photo zone on the second floor - this is more like a zone with a backdrop with just the name of the show, something like you see on red carpets, if that makes sense.
- There's also one outside by the line...that's the "sorting hat" one. It's kind of lame, in my opinion, you just stand in front of the wall under the photo of the hat.
- Another photo zone is by the coat check. You can take pictures with your Patronus.

WHAT I WISH I KNEW BEFORE:
1. I recommend going to the entrance on 42nd street to enter! The line is a lot shorter on 42nd street and the entrance opens directly into the gift shop, so you don't have to go through the crowds backwards as you would have to do if you entered from the other side.
2. I knew that I was going to have an entire day devoted to Harry Potter, but it didn't really sink in how long I would be sitting. I mean...I sit all day at work but this is a different type of sitting and sometimes I had to sit at a weird angle to see around the people in front of me. That being said, the theatre got a revamp before The Cursed Child opened, so the seats aren't terribly uncomfortable.
3. If you have children, you may want to split it across two days. Even as an adult, it did get long after a while.
4. There are no themed snacks/drinks - more on that on Thursday, so come back to read about that.
5. There are different merchandise available for part 1 and part 2! Come back tomorrow and Thursday to read more.

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