renee and elliott

I’m a sucker for theme parks. (Although it’s crazy… I’ve lived in Florida for 6 years and never went to Disney! But I digress.) But I had no idea that I would be attending one last week, right here in Fort Lauderdale!

I dutifully marked the IKEA Grand Opening on my calendar. Wednesday rolled around I planned to head over there by 3 pm, before the after-work crowd swarmed. Unfortunately it took quite a bit longer than I had expected to get out of the house, considering we have a newborn who seems to eat CONSTANTLY. We thought about nixing our plans when it was 5 pm and we still hadn’t left home. Now even though we didn’t camp out overnight to get in line, I was devoted. I still wanted to show up on Day 1. Elliott somewhat hesitantly conceded.

According to the website, there would be “overflow” parking at the Bank Atlantic Center. I thought that was optimistic. Or at least good fodder for the media. But how crowded could it really be? The cars lined up one mile before the freeway exit was telling. But for some reason we thought there still might be some spots available. When we arrived at the lovely blue box, the drive was blocked with orange cones. Police were already directing traffic to the overflow lot.

That’s when surreality set in. This was going to be a historic event!

The theme park vibe increased once we boarded the free shuttle trolley/bus. There was a pre-recorded marketing message playing over the P.A. system. During the 15 minute ride, we worried that we may regret our persistence. It may be too crowded to enjoy. But it was no time to turn back. Once we arrived, unloaded the stroller, and approached the store, the sheer scale of the building was overwhelming! I got that excited feeling that I always get before boarding a roller coaster. The news crews were all on site.

I knew I had found my happy place!

Also like a theme park, we had to ride an escalator (or hidden elevator since we had the stroller) to the second floor. And we found a labyrinth of model rooms in the showroom. There are paper maps, as well as signs throughout the store, to help one stay oriented. (Yes. The store is so big you NEED a map!)

IKEA-land is bilingual! Even though it’s a Swedish company with Swedish product names, all of the price tags are in both English and Spanish. I suspect you would only find this in South Florida. I invite anyone who has been to one of the other stores and seen this elsewhere, to please leave a comment about your experience at IKEA.

Finally, with tired feet and hungry tummies, we made our way to the restaurant. It was the final reminder of theme park fare. The line was horrific! They even had the divider posts which transform open space into a tightly packed maze. Just like the lines for the biggest, newest rides! The food prices, however, were NOT like a theme park. They were actually quite reasonable. And the food was tasty.

Overall, I am very impressed with the new IKEA store. The pricing is clearly marked. It not only shows the price of each item displayed, there is a sign indicating the price of the entire room as shown. Many of the items can be mixed and matched, reminiscent of the children’s line of clothing from the 80’s, “Garanimals”. And despite the “shortcuts” to other sections of the showroom, which can be confusing, the traffic flow is good. There are even arrows on the floor to point you in the right direction.