These die hards slogged hard for sliders.
Fans came out en masse to celebrate Orlando’s new White Castle — the largest ever outlet of the fast-food chain — on its opening day Monday, with some even camping out overnight to wait on line.
“I could not sleep last night,” Sheila Santiago, who got in line at 3:30 a.m. Monday, told the Orlando Sentinel of her intense anticipation of the new location. “I literally have chills because I feel like it’s just brought me home.”
Santiago was far from alone in her exuberance for the beloved chain’s new 4,567-square-foot branch, which is set to eventually operate 24 hours a day, every day of the week.
Local tweets showed the area completely swamped in traffic jams from revelers waiting to make their first orders at the freshly ribbon-cut restaurant.
“The entire area is an absolute nightmare. Every road in the area is at a standstill,” tweeted one witness to the vehicular hellscape.
Eatery devotees Fred Olderr and Joshua Mendoza proved the most committed to White Castle Orlando, according to a tweet from Orlando news reporter Ezzy Castro, who revealed the two to be the folks first on line when the doors opened. The pair got to the new location at 8 the previous night.
White Castle higher-ups correctly anticipated that Floridians would be uniquely hyped for the location.
“This is the largest White Castle in the system and we built it because we figured that in Florida they would have the largest craving for our products,” White Castle CEO Lisa Ingram told the Sentinel while wearing a “Slider Queen” shirt. “Florida’s obviously a very big state, so we’re excited about being here in Central Florida and look forward to our continued relationship.”