Wolf Den — Local services in Montville

As an Ascend level member, I received an invitation E-Mail for 2 PRIORITY seats for each show in Dec. I called the number & the man replied that he put me in for "2 V.I.P. PRIORITY" seats for the show on 12/2/16. also made 3 more reservations for other shows in Dec. I am a disabled veteran with cancer & neuropathy of my leg &.... my wife has M.S., is in a wheelchair & has difficulty with stairs. I arrived at the entrance at about 5:30 & got in the priority line. I talked to a friend near the front of the first come/first served line & she said she had been there in line since 4:00.At about 6pm a person arrived to set up the entrance gate that checks off the names of the people with reservations. I asked if my wife & I could sit in the front row & she said no. I asked to see the person in charge, Michelle, & she told me that I had to sit where they put me...in the back of the venue. She also stated that the lower level was reserved for the people in the 1st come/1st serve line. While I was there at 5:30, I watched people in that line come & go as they pleased...as long as there was a person in a wheelchair watching their spot. As 6pm rolled around, the folks in the front of the line seemed to multiply 10 fold. I asked the girl in charge "Who makes the seating charts?" She replied that "that's the way that it's done here". I asked to speak to her supervisor, & out came an obnoxious woman & told me "this is the way it is". She was very rude & full of herself. She told me " I'm not going to argue with you...You either sit where we put you or you can leave". So much for the V.I.P. treatment.. The seats she gave us were in the upper level & required us to go down some stairs & then....back up some stairs. Not so good for my wife who struggled the whole time. When we went in we were the first people in the venue for the show. There were women already seated at a table. They were friends of the obnoxious one. It seems that the seats on the floor had been held for friends of the staff. I've been there before & it seems like the same people sit in the front rows every show. They are not gamblers, they don't drink & create no revenue for the casino...but get the best seats. This is wrong. BUT...this is the way it's done. These people have no regard for the handicapped people with special needs...unless you're a member of their little clique. I had an awful night, I left the show after 15 minutes, left the casino with a bad taste in my mouth. I'm never going back to "The Wolf Den". It's an awful set up & run by a bunch of clowns. So much for V.I.P. PRIORITY seating that they offer you! There's nothing...

I’ve been here a couple times for some free shows. The free shows themselves are great. The atmosphere is great. The venue is really neat - it’s a circular concert area in the center of the Mohegan Sun casino with a 350 capacity.

But what makes going to shows at the Wolf Den so daunting is, because the shows are free, it’s first come first serve. Which means you will find people waiting in line for hours and hours to get in.

That in and of itself is understandable - you want to get in, you take the time to get there. What I don’t appreciate is that there are no efforts made by the staff to count the line or give people a heads up, especially hours in advance, that they might not or definitely will not make it into the show. The last time I went I waited in line for two hours to find out I wasn’t getting in five minutes before set time. It wouldn’t be too difficult for a staff member to count down the line and, once they get to even an estimated 100 people above capacity, start telling people they won’t make it in.

For a casino looking to make money, that’s hours of money on potentially hundreds of customers waited. For people looking to go to a show, that’s hours wasted for nothing.

Believe me, a free show is always appreciated, and I think the venue itself is really cool. But if you’re going to a show here, go incredibly early and be prepared to wait or don’t bother at all until they have a better system in place.

In fairness, if you don’t get in, there are places all around the venue where you can still see or at least hear. But if you’re looking to get a seat, or get in the pit, or actually feel like you’re at the show, you’ll be spending hours of your day just waiting. For some people a free show is worth that, depending on how much you care about the band. But for others it can make for a frustrating and...

I’m giving one star for the lack of communication from staff for people who stood in the line to get in.. The music is always great, but last night the experience of getting in and some of the staff was very disappointing. My husband and I got in the line at about 5:15 pm and waited till they let everyone in which was about 7 pm. When we got to the entrance the women gave us a wrist band and said there are no seats available to anyone it is standing room only. So that was a lil alarming because our place in line was not that far back. When we got in everyone was upset and irritated because what we were being told was that all the seats were reserved by “hi roller hosts and their guests”. We were told by a very rude security women that “you cannot stand here”, “ please get off the stairs” “I’m sorry I already told you that you cannot stand here”. We were told the only place we could stand was in the floor. Normally we would not mind that , but we just stood for two hours in a line. We ended up going outside the perimeter of the wolf den to stand against the railing. As the band started their show and throughout we were watching to see if the reserved chairs were filled. Throughout the show a lot of reserved chairs remained empty. Such a shame and disappointment with how all this was handled. I wish they would have told us that this was going to be the process as we were all standing in line for two hours. We have been to wolf den many times prior and this was not...