I did the VIP thing in Dallas .. some thoughts
1) They were really organized, getting your swag, getting in, the drawings, the food, etc ... it is certainly not half assed
2) Kim was actually really nice and probably the reason why it is so organized.
3) The food was good, it was snack stuff and I am sure it varies by venue, but the little grilled cheese sandwiches and Beef Wellington bites were good, plus the usual snack stuff (nuts, chips, etc) ... that with the 2 beers were good. I would not call it dinner, but I was good food-wise for the night.
4) The bag the swag came in was cool, nice t-shirt, I'll use the coasters in my office, nice flag .. nothing seemed cheap.
5) I was able to walk up to the merch stand and make my t-shirt purchase within 30 seconds, that was really nice
6) They let the fan club people on the floor first, then us, then the Ghost people. We got to within 3 people behind the barrier and about 10-15 feet off center. If they goal is to be on the barrier dead center, then first to the barrier is better. There were two of us and there was enough of a delay between when we got there to when they opened the gates to stake a claim on a spot, take turns going to hit the head and grab a drink .. that was a plus and would apply to first to the barrier as well.
7) Varies by venue, but they had it in a really nice place in the American Airlines Center, basically the bar you get into if you have really expensive season tickets for the Stars or Mavericks overlooking the Mavs practice court and weight room. They decked it out with some Maiden stuff and were playing Maiden on shuffle .. we heard mostly stuff from AMOLAD, DoD, and TFF.
Overall good experience, I do not feel ripped off. I would not do this every show and probably only for a show I was sitting on the floor (or if they do it in Mandalay Bay again to avoid the hour long t-shirt line). Overall you can see an effort was there to make it nice and the people running it were friendly, helpful, and knew what they were doing.
There were two drawings, a set of "Ed phones" signed by Steve and a Nicko signed Drum head. Sadly, I won neither.
Pro tip .. if you wear a belt, you can use that to hold the bag during the show.
