Ballpark Savvy

Have you ever planned a baseball roadtrip? I have, and I know it takes a lot of time. Looking for the right hotel, finding the best tickets to buy, it can be overwhelming if you don't know what you are doing.

My latest affiliate, the Visa Black Card, has a pretty nice way to help. For people who own a black card, you get complimentary 24 hour concierge service. For planning a trip, that means they can take care of finding the best hotel deals, ticket deals, and making your reservations.

If you are going to go watch the Rangers and stay in a hotel, check out the Arlington Trolley. This is a free service for select hotels and drops you off right at the ballpark. Not a bad benefit if you are looking for somewhere to stay.

My Ballpark in Arlington guide is updated with a link to the list of participating hotels. If it's free it's for me.

My wife and I had a son, Jackson Clive Cain, this past February. I had the privilege of taking him to his first Opening Day this year. He really enjoyed it.

Ticket Liquidator has a promo code available which gets you $20 off a ticket order of $250 or more. If you are looking around, it might be worth your while to compare their prices. Use the code "spring11" in the spot provided for a gift card code, which is right below where you put in credit card information.
Click here to check it out.

If you have been to GABP, you have likely noticed the restaurant on the second level, down the first base line. In the past, you needed a ticket just to get to this area, and then order of the menu. According to the Enquirer, that has changed for 2011. I can't verify this yet on the Reds' site, but here is the Enquirer write up:

"The Riverfront Club is now open to anyone with a ticket. It’s a buffet, set up with upscale food stations including a salad bar, a carving station, a pasta bar and a dessert bar. Sounds like a bargain to me: it’s all you can eat for $26 ($20 on day games except Opening Day).

Plus, there are great views of the game and the river from here, so if you’ve bought cheap bleacher seats, you can not only up grade the food, you can possibly snag a much better view of the game while eating. It also offers an a la carte menu, with dishes like Airline Chicken, a half breast beautifully sauced with morels and gnocchi and slender young carrots."

If true, this presents a nice budget luxury option. Get a $5 ticket and pay $26 more for all your food and drinks in a premium area. I would call ahead until you have done this once, and definitely get there early. There are only a few tables with a good view of the action.

I am making an effort to update my guides as the season gets started, and I am starting with my most visited pages. Fenway Park is near the top of that list, so I just made a few updates to my guide.

Check it out for some new comments on ticket demand and best standing room areas at Fenway Park.

I realized after looking at my analytics that a number of you click on the "ballparks" page of this site, but I don't have anything there! The idea is that you would hover over the ballparks menu item, and then select the park you want to see.

I realized that if you access this site on a mobile device, that isn't possible. So now, you will find the links to my ballpark guides on that page as well.

In other news - Spring Training has started!

If you haven’t heard, the Reds are in the playoffs. Perhaps you were lucky enough to snag a couple of tickets to the NLDS game vs. the Phillies on Sunday night. I have heard it said that these tickets are as in demand as any tickets in the area over the last 15 years. If you are headed down, parking should be a nightmare. The Bengals play at 1, and there is also an event at U.S. Bank Arena. Obviously, you should plan to leave about an hour earlier than you normally would for a game.

 

In my opinion, it will be worth your while to park in Newport or Covington and take the Southbank Shuttle to and from the game. Heck the shuttle has a stop by Mainstrasse, so you could park in their lot for free and ride the shuttle to the game. The key is being very early, because the shuttle will probably be delayed because of traffic. You could also flag down a cab; which may cost a little more but will be quicker.

 

I can’t say for sure, but if you park in Cincinnati you can expect wait times after the game to be much longer. Generally, the Kentucky side provides quicker access to the interstate for a really crowded game. The moral of the story is you probably don’t want to get stuck in some 10 story garage for an hour afterward.

 

Go Reds.