UPDATE: September 16, 2017 at 9:24 a.m.
If you were hoping to get your hands on eight weeks of unlimited pasta, or a sick trip to Italy, you better have had some crazy-fast reflexes. Olive Garden's 22,000 Pasta Passes and 50 Pasta Passports were claimed in less than a second this year.
Fans staked out the restaurant's website Thursday for a chance at the ultimate carb-loading challenge, and the angst was at a ten.
Many were sorely disappointed with how fast the passes sold out, with some convinced it was a scam.
But for the lucky winners, it was like Christmas morning.
If you didn't get a pass, there's always next year. Or, you can head to Olive Garden for a single Never Ending Pasta Bowl meal for around $10.
ORIGINAL POST: September 12, 2017 at 12:00 p.m.
Olive Garden fans collectively rejoiced last year when Pasta Passes were sold, giving 21,000 fans unlimited access to pasta for seven weeks – so much so that passes sold out in one second, and eBay resales went for as much as $900.
The deal is pretty amazing – for $100, guests could go into any Olive Garden, any time and eat all the pasta, breadsticks, soup and salad their hearts desired. The annual event is coming back this fall with an even more spectacular deal.
Olive Garden announced today the sale of "Pasta Passports," in addition to 22,000 Pasta Passes for this year's promotion. Fifty lucky guests (who are going to have to be glued to their computers this Thursday) can pay $200 to receive a Pasta Pass and a weeklong, all-expenses paid trip to Italy for two.
Mic. Drop.
The itinerary is still being finalized, but will start and end in Rome and include stops in Florence, Assisi, and Siena. The goal is to give guests an opportunity to experience everything they would want to if they only had one chance to visit Italy, Director of Marketing MaryKate Rosack said, with sites like the Coliseum, the leaning Tower of Pisa, and Sistine Chapel high on the list.
Airfare, ground transportation, hotels, meals and excursions are all included in the Passport. Since there's no way you and a friend could get to Italy (let alone travel for a week) on $100, this trip is obviously an amazing deal, and will no doubt sell out very quickly. The trip will take place next April, so you can enjoy eight full weeks of pasta pre-gaming this fall before heading to Italy.
Pasta Passports and Pasta Passes will be available for purchase on Olive Garden's Pasta Pass website starting Thursday, September 14 at 2 p.m. EST. Given how quickly they sold last year, you'll want to have the screen loaded and ready to hit "refresh" the second the clock strikes two.
The normal Pasta Passes are getting some upgrades this year too, with an additional 1,000 passes sold to commemorate the 22nd year of Olive Garden's Never Ending Pasta promotion. There's also a new creamy mushroom sauce available, which Rosack says Alfredo lovers will obsess over. With the pass, you can make more than 100 combinations of pasta by choosing your own pasta, sauce, and toppings.
The deal will run for eight weeks instead of seven this year, starting Sept. 25 and ending Nov. 19 for those lucky enough to snag a pass. Set your alarm now.
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