Tesla's Gigafactory grand opening brings in 15,000 people, plus more hoping to get in

Tesla's 15,000-person gigafactory grand opening led to lines of cars and people without tickets wanting to a get a glimpse of the action. 

Officials with Travis County say arrival times for guests are staggered. Guests all have instructions for where to park. Officials say they don't anticipate any major delays on State Highway 130. There won't be any changes to normal traffic flow on the roads.

"It was all right. It took us about 5 minutes to get through. It was pretty smooth up to there," volunteer Dylan Scott said.

"Traffic wasn't terrible. It was way better than I expected," volunteer Jung Cook said.

Lots of people who didn't have tickets went early, hoping they might have a chance to get in. 

Brandon Smith, who's hoping to get in, says he thinks a couple thousand people will show up who don't have tickets. 

"The hope is that after some time they'll be a little bit more relaxed about letting people in, and we'll just hang out until then," Smith said. "If there's going to be a long line, I need to be one of the first few people in that line because let's say they have a permit for 15,000 people, and 500 people leave. I want to be the first 500 people to make sure that I can get in and see this factory."

Others want to share their love for the company by giving out T-shirts and hoping for a way to get in.

"I've been up since 6 o'clock this morning trying to get here as fast as I can with this wind and hold on to my hat before the wind takes it away," Mikeberti said. "I hope the wind would take me and my suitcases over to the other side of the field, so I can give these to people for love of Elon [Musk] for God's sake."

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MORE HEADLINES: 
Tesla to host 15,000-person grand opening at Austin Gigafactory
Tesla grand opening brings opportunity to Del Valle community
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