This ain't your father's launch event. We're in uncharted waters here with how insane it's going to be. I think anybody who goes to the Apple store thinking it will be similar to the 3GS launch is going to have a rude awakening.
I can just see the poor soul walking into the store after work to find out that the phones were all gone by noon.
phpmaven, I agree with you. I think we are going to be reading about some people who had reservations but did not get a phone on the 24th. It will vary from store to store.
The one thing that will help offset it is this: many people were unable to get a pre-order at first and they made a reservation. But then they got a pre-order. So the stores may have some no-shows if these are not cancelled.