The aptly named Big Room in Kartchner Caverns State Park.
When the "live" cave, Kartchner Caverns finally opened to the public for tours, phone lines were jammed as people tried to make reservations to see the caverns.
In an effort to preserve the cave, tour slots were limited and many had to wait months to see the attraction.
Kartchner Caverns opened for tours on November 13, 1999.
From the Arizona Daily Star, November 12, 1999:
Cave curiosity overloads Benson phone lines
Ignacio Ibarra
The Arizona Daily Star
Kay Rylance is nothing if not persistent, but it hasn't helped her secure the tickets she needs to get visiting family into Kartchner Caverns State Park over the holiday season.
And the Green Valley resident's odds aren't getting any better. Cave tours are booked from tomorrow - the park's public opening - through Christmas.
And even if Y2K's OK with you, you'll be in for a wait if you haven't made reservations and can't get a weekday off. There isn't a weekend cave tour available until some time in mid-February.
Stories and photos in The Arizona Daily Star and other media have piqued so much interest in the magnificent caverns that the telephone system in Benson has been overwhelmed, said Arizona State Parks spokeswoman Ellen Bilbrey.
The problem is expected to continue as word of the "live" cave trickles out to newspapers and television outlets across the United States and Europe.
On Tuesday, the pressure of up to 10,000 incoming calls was so severe that the switching office in Benson had to block calls to the Kartchner reservation line for about an hour so that local residents could receive incoming calls.
The volume is starting to level off, said U S West spokesman Jim Roof, but "when you have calls coming in that are two and three times the normal volume, there are going to be times when calls are not going to get through."
Rylance began her quest for tickets Monday. By Tuesday she'd pounded the redial button on her phone and listened to it spew out the tones for the reservation number, 520-586-CAVE, hundreds of times to no avail.
It was time for a more direct approach.
Rylance and her husband, Bob, drove from their home to the state park near Benson in hopes of securing the tickets in person. Bob drove while Kay continued trying to connect on a cell phone.
They were turned away at the gate and told by the state worker at the booth to keep trying.
She took the advice and tried again yesterday, but she's given up, for now.
"It's so frustrating," she said. "We wanted tickets for 11 people and we were hoping to get them for the day before Christmas. The grandkids were so excited about it.
"Today I e-mailed everyone and said, 'Why don't we make it a year from now?' "
More than 35,000 reservations have been sold so far, and reservations are flowing in at a rate of about 1,100 a day, Bilbrey said.
But that means there are still about 110,000 tours available over the next year.
Bilbrey said that because no tour slots are available, no one's sure what will happen tomorrow when the park officially opens to the public. People who drop in without reservations won't be able to see the cave, but still can have a good time at the park, she said.
"We think other people are going to come and pay the $10 (parking fee) to see the visitors center, go through the hummingbird garden and see the facility," Bilbrey said. "If there's a lot of them, we may have to sort out the ones who have reservations and make sure they get in."
If you go
To reach Kartchner Caverns State Park from Tucson, follow Interstate 10 about 40 miles east to exit 302, then take Arizona 90 about nine miles south.
Reservations are crucial, especially on weekends. Call (520) 586-CAVE to reserve a spot.
If you get a fast busy signal, that means the call did not get through the switching station in Benson; a normal busy signal is coming from the state park.
Once a call gets through, it takes nine minutes on average for it to be answered.
Be prepared to provide information including your credit card number and number of people in your party. Reservations can be made for no more than eight people at a time.
The park entrance fee is $10 for a car with up to four people, $1 for each additional person. Cave tour admission is $14 for people 14 and up, $6 for children 7 to 13 and free for kids 6 and younger.
The park is open every day except Christmas from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with cave tours running about every 15 minutes from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
