The Coca-Cola pavilion inside LiveCity Yaletown: Free Coke awaits those who can brave the queue.

It’s a reality that we’re all going to have to face up to: the Olympic queue.  With an estimated 250,000 fans and athletes in town for the Games, expect line-ups for just about everything, from restaurants to washrooms to Olympic events and celebrations.  With that much waiting around, you’ve got to have a plan.  I think I discovered mine at LiveCity Yaletown this afternoon, one of the two celebration zones in downtown Vancouver.

First off: Whatever you do, don’t drive.  Streets were chaos today, with the Olympic flame slowly winding its way across downtown Vancouver.  Mass transit is great, as is walking or hopping on a bike.  I haven’t been on a bicycle in years, but I oiled up my chain and put on my helmet for my first trek to LiveCity Yaletown.  Pulling into David Lam Park, I dropped off my ride at the free bike valet service operating just outside the entrance.  No waiting in traffic, no struggle to find parking, no headaches.

Complimentary valet service makes biking the obvious choice for fans coming to LiveCity Yaletown.

Then came the queue to get inside.  Mercifully, there were only a few dozen people in line this afternoon (I’m pretty sure that won’t last).  Security at the door is tight – pretty much like you’d expect at a major international airport.  I had to empty my pockets, take out my camera and pass through the metal detector.  Keep in mind that, just like at the airports, you can’t bring liquids into the LiveCity zones.

Once through the gates, I got my first look at Yaletown’s big party zone.  The LiveCity site is centered around a huge stage, flanked by massive flat screen TVs, which are at least a few st0ries high.  Around the stage are clustered pavilions run by some of the Olympic mega-sponsors.   Outside the Samsung pavilion, I ran into a trio of photogenic huskies.  The dogs were garbed with blue Samsung sweaters and tethered to a bobsled carrying none other than Quatchi himself, one of the 2010 Games’ big mascots.  Inside, crowds waited for a peek at Samsung’s 3-D high definition theatres.

Official Samsung huskies pull Quatchi's sleigh.

But I had come for the free stuff.  The good thing about corporate sponsors, as all Olympic fans know, is that they’re always giving things away.  I sensed from the queue forming outside the Coca-Cola pavilion that there were freebies inside.  The line slowly worked its way past exhibits on Coke bottles past and present and a big display of Olympic torches from recent games.  Finally, after about a half-hour of waiting, I was poised at the entrance.  That’s when it happened – One of the most brilliant and shameless queue-jumping moves I’ve ever witnessed.

An innocent-looking girl – blonde-hair, braces, maple leaf painted on her cheek – rushes in front of me, coughing and wheezing.  She turns and, in a panic, tells me that she’s having an asthma attack.  Her friends are inside with her inhaler.  And, boy oh boy, do I buy it.  Hook, line and sinker.  I make way and let her cut right in, only to find her inside moments later, chugging down a bottle of free Coke, not a friend in sight.  Her asthma seemed miraculously cured.

If there is gold medal for line-cutting, young lady, it goes to you.  Bravo!   A little sneaky – but in the cut-throat world of Olympic pavilions – you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if I “lose my inhaler” once or twice in the weeks ahead.

Complimentary Olympic torch photos and other freebies wait inside the Coca-Cola pavilion.