WASHINGTON - For the first time ever, Easter Egg Roll tickets were given away online. Now, thousands of parents who lost out are growing more desperate to get their hands on the coveted tickets.

The online system was supposed to make White House Easter Egg Roll tickets more attainable, but instead, it's left people like two-time Egg Roll participant Laura Franklin out in the cold.

"It was frustrating. It was difficult. I just kept hitting refresh over and over again and I just got the spinning wheel or a screen that said, 'sorry they're not available,'" Franklin said.

Franklin and her sister, both professional photographers, posted offers on Craigslist to barter their services for those highly coveted tickets. The pair spent hours online Thursday but were unsuccessful in their quest.

"I'm hoping now I have a service that someone would value and that they would be able to trade their extra tickets for a photo session from me," said Andrea Hatch.

Dozens of people flooded Sheryl Stein's blog with criticism of the new system. "There was pretty much unanimity about the frustration," she explained.

Stein's husband has camped out and gotten tickets in the past, but with the online system, her family was shut down. The same thing happened to Gainesville dad Michael McSellers who was at his computer all day Thursday trying to get tickets.

"They said nothing was wrong with the system... well every time you got to the last stage you got kicked out," said McSellers. "Who got the tickets? How did you get in? Because I want to know!"

The White House acknowledges there were a few glitches in the new system, but says people from 41 states, including a mother from Alaska, were able to get tickets.

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