Super easy. I didn't pre-order it.. To be honest, I did not plan on getting it right away.
Me and my sisters boyfriend (who also did not pre-order) went to Best Buy at 9pm expecting there to be a short line at that time.. Wrong.. 250 people in line. Said no way and headed for home. At around 10pm on release night, I said let's try Walmart... Was expecting it to be a gong show like they always are on midnight releases.. Not a soul there. Just a sign that says 'Take a number - 250 unreserved consoles available at midnight'. I was #91, he was #92. Came back at midnight, they called out numbers sequentially and was gone by 12:43am. Was not a mad house, or circus.
I was actually surprised how great it went. These things usually devolve into some sort of medieval wonk bating. But no, we all stood around and waited. They still had a few left - I was actually surprised too how many unreserved they had, since Best Buy in Canada (other then two or three locations) could only guarantee 100 unreserved at the midnight launch.