Long wait to enter Colosseum at peak?

[ryarger]

We’ll be at Civitavecchia on Thursday, July 11th.

 

We’ve been to Rome before but my wife has not been inside the Colosseum so we decided to make that our focus this time.

 

If we buy the official tickets, what kind of wait are we looking at?

 

if we buy the official tickets with a timed entry to the Arena/Underground/Attic do we need to account for waiting in the normal entry line before our scheduled time or can we show up shortly before the scheduled time?

 

It looks like the you can get tickets for one of the Arena, Underground or Attic but not all three or any combination of them. Which do folks recommend (we’re thinking the Arena would be the most interesting)?

[Rocky Mountain Cruisers]

We were there a week ago with timed ticket for 11 am - we got there maybe 5 minutes before and pretty much got right in.  Just have to go through security screening which takes a bit of time but not bad.  The lines are long for those without tickets.  Once inside, however, be prepared for large crowds, many tour groups etc.  It is very packed inside.