Leah McCarville, 11, of Scituate, is startled by the Providence College Friars mascot while having her picture taken yesterday with her sister Jayna, 8, rear left, and dad, James, in the team’s locker room at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

The Providence Journal / John Freidah

PROVIDENCE — Looking fresh and new, the Dunkin’ Donuts Center opened its doors in an official grand reopening yesterday, impressing thousands of visitors with its expanded lobby and concourse and roomier cushioned seats.

Closed since crews began arriving last June to begin the third and final phase of an $80-million renovation, the center will host its first paid event of the new season with an American Idols Live concert tonight.

But yesterday was a free day, allowing Tony Medeiros and his wife, Colleen, and other visitors to look in on parts of the center they didn’t think they could otherwise afford — such as the luxury “party” suites looking down on the arena from the fourth floor.

Could Medeiros see himself watching a concert or game from there? “Not unless I won it,” he said. “Something like this would probably cost thousands of dollars.”

Maybe not. It all depends on the event, said Cheryl Schadone, the center’s marketing director. “You could rent a suite for 20 people for a P-Bruins game for $300,” she said. And if you’d like to invite your neighbors and friends to a children’s party during one of the performances of Ringling Brothers Circus, you’d probably be able to grab a suite for $500, with tickets for 20 included.

The main arena yesterday did have a certain three-ring circus feel: in the center, contestants were lining up on the boards under the eyes of Providence College’s Friar Lady cheerleaders, for a chance to throw some baskets, while in an ice-covered section of the arena visitors were given the chance to pick up a hockey stick and hit a puck across the ice toward the goal.

And on the other side, some female contestants were taking the opportunity to sing on stage, a reminder of the center’s history as a long-time concert venue.

Everywhere yesterday, people were roaming around the center looking for prizes and giveaways.

Blake Rodgers, 25, a Cranston resident and cell-phone technician for Sprint, had his own table as part of his quest for one particular prize: to earn a place in the Guinness World Records by beating the record for the most “high-fives” within a 24-hour period.

Guinness officials had told him that to break the record of 2,000 high-fives, he would need to remain in one place, make sure that for each “high-five” his hand was above his head, and have it all documented. Rodgers’ friends had a video camera running to record the process, and asked all the people who gave him a high-five to sign their names. Blake’s mother, Mary Ellen, said she was worried at first because only 400 people high-fived her son in the first hour. But then the pace picked up. The 2,000th high-five was with a 1½-year-old girl who came by around 1 p.m. When the open house ended at 3 p.m., Rodgers had reached 3,131 high-fives.

“My hand is sore, but surprisingly so are my legs from having to squat down for little kids,” he said afterward. “Who would have ever thought that high-fives would give you pains in the legs.”

Down on the main floor, Julie Ann Leach, of Warwick, was standing in line with her children, Cian, 5, Keira, 4, and Connor, 10 months, waiting for Cian’s chance to hit a hockey puck, when it occurred to her that she should go into stands and try the new black cushioned seats.

“The seats are soft and have cup holders,” she said. “I like it.”

“It’s better than what I anticipated,” said Ron Laliberte, a Providence College Friars season ticket holder who has been coming to the center since it first opened its doors as the Providence Civic Center in 1972. Laliberte, who managed to shoot two out of three baskets yesterday, calling it luck, said the center had been in need of renovations for a long time. And while there had been changes over the last three years, the full impact hit him only yesterday.

“From the seats to the concourse to the food vendors to the bathrooms, it’s spectacular,” he said. “Something well deserved and well needed.”

Mary Maitland, of Warren, said she liked the new seats but having “a lot more restrooms” was especially welcome.

Fitted in clown attire, Watson Kawecki, 36, and Jay Stewart, 39, who had been sent to represent Ringling Bros. Circus, said they had always enjoyed visiting Providence while touring with the circus because the venue is right in the downtown, affording opportunities before and between shows to stop in at a restaurant or to shop.

Kawecki, a West Virginia native who now lives in New York City, said he was impressed with the changes to the Dunk. “It’s so shiny. They obviously put a lot of work into this place.”

Ray Hall, a Providence College junior who plays on the Friars team, said the team has yet to use the expanded locker room, but he thought it was going to help bring the team together.

“The older locker room was a little outdated, and a little cramped inside,” he said. Now, with an adjoining lounge and flat screen TV, he said, the locker room is friendlier and may cause players to linger and talk.

From their vantage point in the new One LaSalle restaurant overlooking the arena from the third floor, P-Bruins season ticket holders Joe and Karen David, of Cranston, said the improvements should make the center a better venue for shows and events.

“It was so dingy before,” said Karen. “They classed it up a lot.”

But the couple said they can foresee some problems. Newly installed handrails in the middle of each aisle may offer a way to hold on while going up and down the stairs, Joe commented, but they may also make it more difficult to have people get by without everyone standing up.

And then there are the seats. “The seats seem roomier,” he said, “but to make them roomer there’s a lot less leg room and it’s a little harder to get by. And I’ve noticed a lot of people banging their legs on the cup holders.”

rdujardi@projo.com