Uffizi Academia Lines Ticket Pickup Official Vs Re-Seller Recommendations
 

Dear Fodorites

Our family will be traveling to Italy the first two weeks of August. During our stop in Florence we have schedule a visit to both Uffizi and Academia. I tried booking tickets thru their official web site http://www.b-ticket.com/b-ticket/uffizi/default.aspx but the site does not work properly, it times out often. I was able to make a reservation to both museums by calling the ticket office 055-294-883. Their ticket officer was really in a rush to get rid of the call and besides the reservation # she only told me i would have to pick up the tickets at the window. There were no confirmation sent by email, payment requested, she didn't even ask for my full name, just last name.

My question is, Are the big lines on these museums are to pick up the tickets for those who have reservations or to buy tickets?

Seems a lot of the re-seller sites like the ones below advertise the no wait in lines, also the re-seller's available times are earlier than the official web site.
http://www.florence-tickets.com/
http://www.uffizi.com/online-ticket-...zi-gallery.asp
http://www.viator.com/tours/Florence.../d519-2428M1M2

We are hoping to get some input from anyone that has visited recently. We are traveling with two toddlers and like to give them breaks off the strollers in between museums. Comment we found we several sites suggest to spend at least 3 hours on Uffizi so we decided to break it down into two visits.

Should we keep our reservation made by phone or should we consider a re-seller?

as always thanks for your input
Johan

We went in April. We had our hotel make reservations for us. They gave us a specific entry time. We showed up about half an hour early to get our tickets and barely waited in line. They have two entrances, one for reservations, one without. The long lines were individuals without reservations. Very little waiting and no extra charges from a re-seller.

We went a few years ago. We got a reservation number for the same two museums and time. I don't think we paid anything before we got there. I was a bit worried, too, like you are. It worked fine. We didn't have to wait. Just gave the number, got our tickets and went in. The long line was for people with no reservations.

Gina is quite correct.

You can relax - you're good to go.

Just go to the short (10 people?) line, give your reservation #, and go on in.

Thanks so much for your replies. Gives me some piece of mind!