Sufferin
07-20-2005, 12:31 PM
Yes, I'm one of those fans who's followed the Sox for years but haven't been to a game in about 4-5, for many reasons; wasn't wild about the new park, had a kid, travel quite a bit for my job, had another kid, $$$ a little tight (because of kids mainly), time at a premium due to kidsand business travel.
Anyway, I did finally take my 3 and 6 year old to the last game before the All-Star break and thought I'd share a few thought from a prodigal son point of view.
Got there easily (1 1/2 hours before game time) but was shocked at the parking price. $17?? Is this normal for baseball parking? I guess I'm a little out of touch but that seems pretty high. Also I did try to park on the street or something but didn't see anything close enough that I'd want to walk my kids from the spot to the park.
I bought tickets at the window for kids day, the guy was very friendly and helpful. Bummed that there were no lower bowl seats though. But $24 for me and both boys to sit in the upper deck boxes seems like a great deal.
We grabbed 2 kids hot dog meals a pretzel 2 dogs and a coke for myself for something like $15. Now this seemed like a really good deal ( much rather spend cash on food than parking I guess). Ate at one of the picnic tables on the concourse and we all really enjoyed the food.
I also bought a program for $4, this seems about right. Sat down and waited for the game to start, this was the most challenging part of the day, keeping them occupied.
After 1st inning the 6 year old asks "Can we go home now?" Not a good sign. I quickly realized that these seats were too far from eh action to keep his interest. I bought a bag of peanuts as a food weapon for the two of them, this got me through 2more innings of watching Garcia play therole of Pinata to the As. The little guy didn't even eat the peanuts, he just liked breaking them open for me.
After the 3rd I decide it's time to check out the fundamentals. While the purist in me would rather my boys enjoy the game I have to say this attraction is a godsend. Only problem is I can't very well leave them unattended, so I missed most of the game during this time (innings 4-6). I had one problem with this area though. My boys wanted to run against Podsednik and they stood in line for a good 25 minutes waiting their turn. Just as they get near the front they're informed they can't do it because they're wearing sandals!! Now I'm all for safety but I have to tell you my boys can run just as well in sandals (these are the rubber Sponge Bob specials, not some beach comber's wear) as in gym shoes. I was really hot about this, because while there was a sign addressing this I never saw it because of all the kids in the line and my boys don't read yet. Why the heck couldn't there be somebody at the FRONT of the line checking shoes? Nothing quite like carrying a crying 3 year old on a hot sunny day. I was also dissappointed at this juncture that you can't access the outfield concourse with an upper deck ticket. This blows, I can understand not letting upper deckers into the lower bowl for crowding and seat stealing prevention, but let us into the outfield, not like there's not room and we're looking to steal a bleacher seat. IMHO this policy has to be revisited. I really wanted to check out the fan deck, but apparently am not good enough. Remember I tried to buy lower bowl but there were none available.
So we went back tour seats, getting dippin dots on the way (kids love that stuff) and settled in to watch the end of the game. Of course someone had TAKEN OUR SEATS! This is incredible considering we were in the 12th row of the upper deck! Only thing I can figure is it was people seated near by who wanted a little more room. Luckily the seats rightin front of ours were vacated so I decided just sitting there was better than getting into a fistfight in front of my boys. The unreal part is I had left the stroller under the seats and I had to say excuse me to the guys in MY SEAT and reach under his legs to get it. The guy never says a damn thing, you'd think he could have offered to move his fat ass. People like that just piss me off, well anyway back to watching the game.
Trouble is the boys got bored again (seats still too far away). So we watched the exciting comeback (Timo's pinch hit double to tie the game) but then left after the 9th. This really goes against my credo of watching every out of the game but 3 hours was enough for these two and lord knows how much longer the game would have gone on.
Good thing about leaving then was we drove right out of lot A with no one else in the way, we were on the Ryan in 5 minutes.
All in all a good time and the boys want to go back. Things I'll do differently: 1) parkin the G lot 1/1/2 hours before game time (how'd I miss that on here before?) 2) Do everything in my power to get lower deck or at the very least bleacher seats. 3)Eat somewhere before the game after I park (or find a restaurant to park at). Or just go to the Fundamentals area before the game.
We had a good time overall, the changes they made to the park are all great and for the most part the Sox staff is very friendly and helpful. Looking forward to getting back there again this season. Next kids day maybe?
There's my $.03 (inflation ya know):D:
Anyway, I did finally take my 3 and 6 year old to the last game before the All-Star break and thought I'd share a few thought from a prodigal son point of view.
Got there easily (1 1/2 hours before game time) but was shocked at the parking price. $17?? Is this normal for baseball parking? I guess I'm a little out of touch but that seems pretty high. Also I did try to park on the street or something but didn't see anything close enough that I'd want to walk my kids from the spot to the park.
I bought tickets at the window for kids day, the guy was very friendly and helpful. Bummed that there were no lower bowl seats though. But $24 for me and both boys to sit in the upper deck boxes seems like a great deal.
We grabbed 2 kids hot dog meals a pretzel 2 dogs and a coke for myself for something like $15. Now this seemed like a really good deal ( much rather spend cash on food than parking I guess). Ate at one of the picnic tables on the concourse and we all really enjoyed the food.
I also bought a program for $4, this seems about right. Sat down and waited for the game to start, this was the most challenging part of the day, keeping them occupied.
After 1st inning the 6 year old asks "Can we go home now?" Not a good sign. I quickly realized that these seats were too far from eh action to keep his interest. I bought a bag of peanuts as a food weapon for the two of them, this got me through 2more innings of watching Garcia play therole of Pinata to the As. The little guy didn't even eat the peanuts, he just liked breaking them open for me.
After the 3rd I decide it's time to check out the fundamentals. While the purist in me would rather my boys enjoy the game I have to say this attraction is a godsend. Only problem is I can't very well leave them unattended, so I missed most of the game during this time (innings 4-6). I had one problem with this area though. My boys wanted to run against Podsednik and they stood in line for a good 25 minutes waiting their turn. Just as they get near the front they're informed they can't do it because they're wearing sandals!! Now I'm all for safety but I have to tell you my boys can run just as well in sandals (these are the rubber Sponge Bob specials, not some beach comber's wear) as in gym shoes. I was really hot about this, because while there was a sign addressing this I never saw it because of all the kids in the line and my boys don't read yet. Why the heck couldn't there be somebody at the FRONT of the line checking shoes? Nothing quite like carrying a crying 3 year old on a hot sunny day. I was also dissappointed at this juncture that you can't access the outfield concourse with an upper deck ticket. This blows, I can understand not letting upper deckers into the lower bowl for crowding and seat stealing prevention, but let us into the outfield, not like there's not room and we're looking to steal a bleacher seat. IMHO this policy has to be revisited. I really wanted to check out the fan deck, but apparently am not good enough. Remember I tried to buy lower bowl but there were none available.
So we went back tour seats, getting dippin dots on the way (kids love that stuff) and settled in to watch the end of the game. Of course someone had TAKEN OUR SEATS! This is incredible considering we were in the 12th row of the upper deck! Only thing I can figure is it was people seated near by who wanted a little more room. Luckily the seats rightin front of ours were vacated so I decided just sitting there was better than getting into a fistfight in front of my boys. The unreal part is I had left the stroller under the seats and I had to say excuse me to the guys in MY SEAT and reach under his legs to get it. The guy never says a damn thing, you'd think he could have offered to move his fat ass. People like that just piss me off, well anyway back to watching the game.
Trouble is the boys got bored again (seats still too far away). So we watched the exciting comeback (Timo's pinch hit double to tie the game) but then left after the 9th. This really goes against my credo of watching every out of the game but 3 hours was enough for these two and lord knows how much longer the game would have gone on.
Good thing about leaving then was we drove right out of lot A with no one else in the way, we were on the Ryan in 5 minutes.
All in all a good time and the boys want to go back. Things I'll do differently: 1) parkin the G lot 1/1/2 hours before game time (how'd I miss that on here before?) 2) Do everything in my power to get lower deck or at the very least bleacher seats. 3)Eat somewhere before the game after I park (or find a restaurant to park at). Or just go to the Fundamentals area before the game.
We had a good time overall, the changes they made to the park are all great and for the most part the Sox staff is very friendly and helpful. Looking forward to getting back there again this season. Next kids day maybe?
There's my $.03 (inflation ya know):D: