Taking a trip to Busch Stadium

[I Heart Brewers]

Hello, so my wife and I have to be in St. Louis for a wedding and plan on going to a Cardinals game (June 4th). Any one have some thoughts on where to sit, if it would be obnoxious to wear my Brewer paraphernalia to the game, buy tickets beforehand, any other comments about the stadium in general. My price range is cheap to cheap for tickets, so I was looking at the bleachers. But if better seats are really worth it I would pony up more for the experience.

 

If there is another thread on this topic already I apologize, didn't see one when I searched.

 

Any thoughts or comments are appreciated. Thanks!

[ewizabeff]

I'll take any of your advice too, as sgt and I are heading down for the last series of the season. For sure, wear your Brewers stuff....Cards fans wear their stuff at Miller Park, why should it be any different?

 

And as a side note - Cards tickets are expensive! Marquee pricing for every weekend game too.

[jlau20]

I went down there last August with my girlfriend for the a two game series when the Brewers were playing. We only went to one game, but it was definitely a good time. We sat in the right field bleachers (section 508), and I think the tickets ended up being $25-30 each, including fees for ordering online. I have no complaints...the bleachers were field level and had a decent view of everything except plays up against the right field wall. I'd definitely recommend any of the bleachers in Busch though if you're looking to stay on the cheaper side.

 

We got to the game when the gates opened and checked out all the levels of the stadium, and also sat down along the 3rd base line in left field while the Brewers warmed up throwing before they took batting practice. Got some awesome pictures that way. I don't know who the Cards are playing the weekend you're going, but if you apply yourself you should be able to get some autographs or a ball if you wanted down there. Just go early. We also sat in the left field bleachers while BP was going on and came really close to getting a few BP balls off ones over the fence.

 

You should be fine wearing your Brewers gear, especially if it's not against the Brewers. The fans around us were all pretty cool, and if you have anyone in your section wearing Cubs logos, they'll definitely garner the most attention so the Cards fans will forget about you anyways.

 

If you have time I'd recommend going to the stadium early in the afternoon and taking a stadium tour. It was $10 each, lasted an hour an a half. Got to see all the standards like the radio booths, etc. Since we took the early tour though, we got to go down in the visiting dugout and then walk around the warning track for a few minutes behind home plate and got some really cool pictures that way if you're into that at all.

 

If you think of any specifics to ask, let me know.

 

ewizabeff, if you guys haven't looked at hotels or anything yet, I'd recommend the Millenium Hotel. Rates were reasonable if you get the room through hotels.com or something, and it was halfway between the arch and the stadium. Location couldn't have been better, also right off the freeway and easy to find. A ton of Brewers fans hanging out in the lobby areas too.

[lodiness]

Been down there a couple of times. Be sure to stay in the downtown area, near the area called Lanclades Landing. There's some shops, bars, a new casino (with unusual rules). we've sat in about 3 different areas, and all of the seats were pretty good. Hopefully in June it won't be too hot. We've stayed at the Crown Plaza, and the Shereton downtown, and both places were really nice, and within walking distance to the ballpark. Pregame is pretty interesting as no one tailgates. A lot of open air bars on game day. Forget the name of the one that we always go to, something Sherman. Really cool bar. Have fun, nice ballpark, and the fans are pretty good for the most part too.

 

For hotels we've had good luck booking on Hotwire.com if you look in the area downtown, and stay in anything 3 stars or above, usually pay only about 60-70 a night for a really nice hotel

[razzzorsharp]

I went there last year when the Brewers swept the four game series (I went to the final three games) and had an awesome time. Stadium was nice, people were nice, and I got way under face value on the tickets by scalping them. We also stayed at a hotel downtown so the walk following the game was great.

[tristarscoop]

I cannot get over how expensive tickets are or what a difficult time I had getting through for single game tickets. They contract out to Tickets.com for single game and whenever I talked to a Cards ticket rep, they basically told me too bad, so sad, can't help you. We're going for the series in May, meeting up with my brother coming in from Memphis. Four of the cheapest available tickets to two games ran me $264 dollars.

 

There were, however, a lot of tickets available on Craigslist, so I'd definitely check that out.

 

For anyone looking to stay down there that will have a car, Collinsville, IL is right across the border, has good chain hotels, and the rates are much cheaper. You're talking a 10 minute drive. Growing up in high school we spent every Easter in Collinsville for a soccer tournament.

[ewizabeff]

lodiness - what crazy casino rules are you talking about? We were considering staying in one of the casino hotels b/c it's more upscale without the crazy price of the Hilton. It would be nice to be walking distance to the park, but I'm completely comfortable with public transportation so as long as I'm by the train station I don't really care. My plan is to park the car at the hotel when we get there and never move it again until we leave.

 

Tristar - I know what you mean. I got a pair of tickets to 3 different games, 2 in the 300's and 1 in the 200's, the day that single game tickets went on sale, and my total bill was about $300.

[apirk]

I live in St. Louis so if you hae in a particular questions let me know. I've sat pretty much everywhere in the stadium and yes ticket prices are rediculous. I go to the majority of Brewers games and am either wearing my Yount or Braun jersey. People have always been incredibly friendly and have fun with it, and there are always a good number of Brewer fans at the games as of lately. If you want to stay downtown just priceline it. When people have come to visit they've been able to stay in super nice hotels for pretty low prices. If you can you can get to Busch at 9 AM the day of the game and there is a promo where the first 50(?) people get tickets for $5.50. Not sure the exact rules but if you get the voucher you go to the game 30 minutes before first pitch and they give you an envelope with tickets. The one time we did it we got a pair of nice box tickets.

 

Oh as far as bleachers go they are probably my least favorite seats there, and I like the Bleachers usually. They are nowhere near as nice as Milwaukee plus they are not covered at all and being in the sun during June in St. Louis is not fun at all.

[lodiness]

lodiness - what crazy casino rules are you talking about?

You have to sign up for a players club card. I don't know how much you gamble, but you can only gamble $500 in an hour. Many side bets that are for suckers, and we were denied access to the casino because we were "too drunk". Other than that the casino was good, although the Sunday brunch Buffet was not good at all. Just a different than the casino's that I am used to going to. Very nice asthetically, they just finished construction the March before we were there last year.

 

http://www.lumiereplace.c... Here's the link to the one that we went to the most. It was right in the middle of the nightlife, it would be a bit of a walk (maybe 20 minutes) to the ballpark, but it's right on the trainline, and I believe they had a shuttle to the park. When you go there, you have to hit this little greasy spoon restraunt called Ed's Chili Mac. This place has the best breakfast, and don't be afraid to get the chili on your eggs and American fries, it's delicious! Got to go there in the morning though, think it's only open til 2. Don't be afraid to drive around St. Louis downtown area, it's actually really easy to get around. I agree whole heartily with the other people that for the most part people are really friendly down there.

[brewcrew00]

I used to live in St. Louis on 10th and Washington, which is about a 5-10 minute walk to the park. Don't be afraid to drive around downtown, it's quite easy. Just next to the Millenium Hotel is the Drury Plaza, much nicer not much more expensive. Close to both the park and the Arch. Laclede's Landing is OK, but can get quite crowded on nice Summer nights. If you have some time to relax, I'd head over to U-City. Nice restaurants and some shopping, pretty safe place to walk (from my experience). If you prefer to do some gambling, don't waste your time IN STL, but rather head out to St. Charles and go to Harrah's or Ameristar. Crossing the River to the Casino Queen isn't a bad idea either. If you need some tickets day of, try the scalpers, they'll part with seats pretty cheap if you threaten to not buy. Hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions!

[flosses like fossas]

i've been to busch a few times, it's nice, and the stadium seems to be really accessible. as far as seats, i would recommend avoiding getting too far down into the corners, as the seats out there felt really far from the action. other than that, bring sunblock.

[Jimbo]

Not sure if this will be an issue, but I-64 is the main artery that cuts through downtown and it is COMPLETELY closed for the next year.

I've been to the Ameristar Casino and it's nice, easy to get in/out, but again not sure how easy it would be to get there from downtown.

 

[brewcrew00]

Not sure if this will be an issue, but I-64 is the main artery that cuts through downtown and it is COMPLETELY closed for the next year.

 

I've been to the Ameristar Casino and it's nice, easy to get in/out, but again not sure how easy it would be to get there from downtown.

Shouldn't be a problem, I would imagine you can loop around on 70. It's been a couple years, but I'm pretty sure it's a viable option to get there.

[Blancofan1]

If anyone is going to be there April 7, 8 or 9th for the Cards vs Pirates, I can forward you an email for some discount tickets. We've been going down there every year lately and they sent me a link to purchase tickets in the all-inclusive Coca-cola area for only $40 for those games. Pretty good deal for a decent view of the game, free buffet and free beer and soda.

Makes me wonder how there ticket sales are going if they are discounting those by over 50% for the opening week of the season.

[Glennron]

Figured I'd give this a bump rather than starting a new thread, a couple friends and I are going to the Brewers series in early September.

 

Does anyone know if the Millenium Hotel charges extra for parking? I didn't find anything on their website but noticed a lot of other hotels around the area charged extra for it. Not really a big deal, especially if it's within walking distance, just curious though.

 

Would it be unrealistic to expect to be able to buy tickets the day of? It's a Tuesday-Thursday series if that makes a difference, we were hoping to just get there early for the Tuesday game and buy for all 3 games right away. We're looking to sit in the Outfield Box once, the Bleachers once, and then their Outfield Terrace Reserved for one game, not sure if any of those fill up quickly or if we'd be better off just buying online before we leave. If anyone has any answers it'd be much appreciated!

[SeriesFinale]

I've stayed at the Millenium and paid for parking although I don't honestly remember how much. It was by-day so I could come and go as I pleased.

 

I also bought tickets day of once when I was there, and this was weeks after new Busch opened, but it was just a single ticket. Hard to say if you've got a few guys. I know there was a flourishing trade in scalpers outside the park.

[sargennm]

Glennron: I don't know about the Millenium, but I'm guessing yes. I'm sure a call to their front desk would clear up the issue.

 

On most weekdays it would not be difficult to get tickets for less than face in the bleachers and terrace reserved. But since it's one of the last series of the season and the Cards figure to be in contention up until the final games, you will have a harder time. If you hedge your bets and buy your tickets online before the series, I would advise you sign up for updates from http://ktowntickets.com/. They send out discount codes for sites like TicketsNow and StubHub (when they find some that work). It makes buying tickets there a much better deal.

 

There's also this: http://mlb.mlb.com/stl/ticketing/first_pitch.jsp

The Cards give out 550 tickets the morning of each game for $5.50 each. It's a grab bag of tickets - you get a voucher with your name on it that you turn in 15 minutes before the game and you are handed an envelope with tickets that could be anything from standing room only to right behind the dugout. Usually it's no problem to get a ticket this way; You can show up right at 9 a.m. and get a voucher.

[jlau20]

Stayed at the Millennium for a series last year...$20 a night in the structure across the street.

[beno78]

SeriesFinale[/b]]I know there was a flourishing trade in scalpers outside the park.

Interesting way to put it. I have seen more scalpers there than just about any other stadium I have been to. On the walk from where we parked (at the Arch) we passed people on every street corner. It was amazing how many people were reselling. IMHO the best view in the ballpark is anywhere you can see the Arch out left center field. We made the mistake of sitting down the RF line and couldn't see the great skyline. Also we were in the first row of the second level and it felt VERY far away from the field compared to Miller Park. For being a new park I was not impressed at all at the "amenities/character" of the ballpark.