Dear Leslie, we can understand your frustration for waiting all this time outside in the line. This tour includes your tickets and you can enter directly with the tour guide. This time of year as tourism is recovering, a lot of people are visiting Athens . The day that you were at Acropolis there were 10 cruise ships as well. All of them got there first thing in the morning and all of them had tickets. So all these people with the rest of us created a gigantic line. Even if you have a ticket someone must scan the ticket.
You cannot enter without being checked. We have already asked from the Archaeological committee to open more gates as this problem will be a daily routine now that we are at the peak of the season.