Anyone headed to Spring Training? Spring Training Lodging? (Designated Spring Training travel thread)

[jhartzell2]

I'm heading down to Phoenix for the first time this year, and I was wondering what areas you guys stay at. I heard the area around the stadium isn't the safest place, and I would like to know what are some of the good neighborhoods/hotels within 20 mins of the park.

 

Also, when is the earliest you can arrive at the park to watch practice? I want to get the most out of this trip as possible.

 

Thanks

[polwonks]

where you stay might depend on your budget and what you can tolerate for the few hours you're there. I've been down 3 or 4 times and tend to stay at the Travelodges or Motel 6 for the price- certainly not the atmosphere. But then I'm out the door by 8:30 to hike in the desert or go to the ball park. Don't roll in til after 10 and no hanging around the hotel anyway. I have stayed at Northern and I17 and also at W. 51st and I10. Both areas are close to the park and also to desert walking. Most of the nightlife is closer to Scottsdale but you'll probably pay more. Never stayed up by Peoria but that might be good if you want to go to Surprise and/or Peoria a lot.

 

Cheers.

[1992casey]

I'm going to add this puppy to the Designated Threads List.

[ryne100]

Just bought my tickets. I'll be in AZ from March 20th through the 27th. If you're going golfing, stay on the fairway cause I won't be hitting it there.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

I'll be there from March 12th to March 17th. We are staying downtown Phoenix and hope to catch a Suns game while we are there. I want to get down to Tuscon for the DBacks game as well.

[jhartzell2]

Just wondering again when you guys think the best time is to arrive at the park. I want to see as much practice as possible.

Thanks

[Patrick425]

The day we arrive, we're headed to the Pink Pony Steakhouse in Scottsdale

We ate there last year and Max McGee sat in the booth right next to us.

 

My son ended up getting sick that night (not from the food, he had the flu). We had room service in our room at 2am cleaning up puke. Yeah, that was fun.

 

We'll be partying at night around the ASU campus in Tempe

We go there at least one night every year to grab a meal (hard to "party" with a 9 year old). Although, beware of all the birds and their "bombings" on Mill Ave. if you visit there.

[patdaddyp]

Thinking of heading down from March 20-25th is it better to cab it around, or rent a car? Staying in the Tempe area. Thanks in advance..Oh yeah one more thing anyone know where I can find a good deal on a flight?

[bullox]

kayak.com is great for flights.

[bobbledude25]

I went to spring training a couple of years ago. I also saw and attended games at every stadium in the Cactus League. The drive to all of them is not that far, they are all relatively close and I would recommend going to them. If want baseball go the Angels ST stadium, they hit a ton of them out onto the road during BP and I must have about a dozen that I got in one day.

 

Tickets? We bought the cheapest available and sat basically anywhere we wanted for nearly all the games

 

As far as places to stay, I stayed at some dump hotel right by Arizona State University. The area is much better then by Maryville, trust me. However, it's spring break so places to stay are hard to find and my hotel was extremely noisy.

 

I would suggest to everyone going to check out the minor league fields on the other side of the parking lot of where the brewers play. If your into autographs players are easily accesible and nearly all sign autographs. I posted a thread a while back on how I met Ryan Braun and my dad and I where the only ones watching BP and he signed everything I gave him during BP. He even stopped and talked with us for a few minutes. Its something I'll never forget

[NeedMoreFans]

We may be headed down to Arizona in mid March, but not for the sole purpose of going to spring training. We may be touring the state a bit, going up to the northern part of the state to see the Grand Canyon and some other stuff. However, I am planning on going to one (minimum) game while down there.

 

Out of curiosity...I'm finding the cheapest airfares have us catching a red-eye home at midnight and returning to Madison at 10:30 AM the next day. Anyone else find anything that actually arrives at a decent time? The advantage I guess is that it gives us an extra full day in Arizona, but we waste the next day traveling.

[jhartzell2]

Out of curiosity...I'm finding the cheapest airfares have us catching a red-eye at midnight and returning to Madison at 10:30 AM the next day. Anyone else find anything that actually arrives at a decent time? The advantage I guess is that it gives us an extra full day in Arizona, but we waste the next day traveling.

My flight to Arizona leaves at 1:30 pm, and arrives in Phoenix at 8:30 pm after a layover in Atlanta. But my flight back is a red-eye, arriving in Milwaukee at 5:14 am. Im really not looking foward to it.

[patdaddyp]

IT'S OFFICIAL! Booked last night, spring traning here I come! March 20-25th WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Besides the games what else is there to do? Anyone know any good sports bars or food that are a must when your down there?

[NeedMoreFans]

I made it official today too. We're going down on the 12th, heading to the northern part of the state for a couple days (including a trip to the Grand Canyon), then back down to Phoenix on the 17th to catch the Brewers vs. the White Sox (or Mariners...split squad game) before our flight leaves at 11:45 PM.

[TheHappyYoungster]

Through my travels/experience and from what others have told me; I have come up with the following:

Areas of interest for the 2008 Cactus League traveler: (keep in mind, these are just my opinions-and in good taste, I will only do the best of-not worst)

 

Best Cactus League Stadium for watching a game: Scottsdale Stadium (SF Giants)

Best steak: 1. Pink Pony Steakhouse 2. Don & Charlie's Steakhouse

Best nightlife: Downtown Scottsdale

Best hiking trails: (follow this link) http://www.visitphoenix.com/visitor/index.cfm?action=trails

Best Stadium for scenery: Tempe Diablo Stadium (Angels)

Best shopping: Scottsdale Fashion Square

Best Cactus League Stadium for player interaction: Maryvale (although it's in a rougher part of town, you can almost stand on the practice fields!)

Best Mexican Food: Valle Luna Mexican Restaurant

Best Party Bar: ACME Roadhouse (near ASU campus) good looking staff caters to college or recently graduated crowd.

Best Blues Bar: Rhythm Room (Phoenix)

 

Others: The Phoenix Zoo and Botanical Gardens are really cool, also.

If you are going to Arizona, do yourself a favor and rent a car!!! The driving in Arizona is fun and well worth it. Hope to hear from more people that plan on going.

 

 

"Happy"

happyyoungster@hotmail.com

[pitchleague]

I made it official today too. We're going down on the 12th, heading to the northern part of the state for a couple days (including a trip to the Grand Canyon), then back down to Phoenix on the 17th to catch the Brewers vs. the White Sox (or Mariners...split squad game) before our flight leaves at 11:45 PM.

hey, enjoy Northern Arizona. It's just like Wisconsin. No, seriously, except for the mountains, you'd swear you were back home. There's probably the same amount of snow in Flagstaff as there is in Milwaukee right now (well, before this week at least).

[AZBrewCrew]

Having lived in the Phoenix area for just over 6 years now, I must say the Scottsdale nightlife sucks. Its good if you are into rich yuppies, plastic women and BMW's everywhere. Come out to the west side, its a little more laidback and people arent as stuck up as they are in Snobbsdale. I prefer Top Shelf over Valle Luna,and there are plenty of hole in the wall bars that are 10x better than the Acme Roadhouse. I suppose for tourists Tempe and Scottsdale are great, but being a resident here I avoid those 2 communities unless I have absolutely have to go there.

[JonnyLungs]

Having lived in the Phoenix area for just over 6 years now, I must say the Scottsdale nightlife sucks. Its good if you are into rich yuppies, plastic women and BMW's everywhere. Come out to the west side, its a little more laidback and people arent as stuck up as they are in Snobbsdale. I prefer Top Shelf over Valle Luna,and there are plenty of hole in the wall bars that are 10x better than the Acme Roadhouse. I suppose for tourists Tempe and Scottsdale are great, but being a resident here I avoid those 2 communities unless I have absolutely have to go there.

Thanks for those tips. If that is what Scottsdale is like, I'll probably avoid that. Definitely looking for more laid back places to party. Got any more specific areas or places?

[jhartzell2]

My hotel is right next to the MetroCenter mall in Phoenix. Does anyone know if that mall is even worth going to some night?

 

Also, if you are going and haven't booked your hotel yet, then use Priceline. I got that hotel by the mall (Four Points Sheraton) which is usually $149 a night for $54 a night with the place your own bid thing on Priceline. It also saved me money on my rental car. It really made my trip more affordable.

[phxMILWfan]

MetroCenter mall is kinda ghetto. Maryvale is by far the most fun stadium to go to. My experience is that the other parks fill up and it you don't have your pick of seats like you do at Maryvale. Just to add to the list of bars/restaurants to check out... Try Claim Jumper on Baseline near AZ Mills mall. Huge portions, great food. If you are downtown try Alice Cooperstown. It's right near chase field which is also worth touring once. Now that the Suns traded for Shaq take in a Suns game. Its just my opinion but I don't see much point in trying to get to several different stadiums. They aren't as unique or interesting as big league diamonds and I think you're just driving around the valley for no reason. Hohokam park where the cubs play is a tough ticket but for some reason people don't think of going to see their team on "the road". It's weird. Other stadiums aren't that far away. Thats why the Barry Bonds only plays home spring training games was so strange. I've never been down to Tucson for a game so I don't have any opinion on those locations. Hope this was at all helpful, sorry it was all so random.

[AZBrewCrew]

Metrocenter Mall is ok to goto during the day, its not somewhere I would recommend during the night. If you are looking for a decent mall, you can go over to Arrowhead Mall which is in the nice area of Peoria and Glendale. Its just down the road from the Peoria Sports Complex. The Westgate area in Glendale is nice, one of the bars I like to goto down there is called Hell's Half Acre, its a pretty busy bar with decent drink prices. Heres a link to the Westgate area... http://www.westgateaz.com/

[Patrick425]

We always go to Fridays at Chase Field one night while we are there. However, if you are going to do this, try to do it on a night where the Suns are not playing, otherwise it's difficult to find parking (well, cheap street parking anyways).

[pgajeski]

Are the hotels by Maryvale Stadium ok? We are headed down March 6th. We were told not stay by the stadium?

[pitchleague]

There's a Hampton Inn on 51st and I-10 that we've used before. It's okay and pretty safe. 5 minutes from the Maryvale ballpark. There's even a Denny's right there by the hotel.

[valpocrewsader]

I just bought airfare for March 6th-9th and it's probably my happiest moment of 2008 so far. ($380 roundtrip, non-stop, Midwest Airlines ... woot!) I've got a Brewer-fan cousin living down there with time off, so I get free lodging & transportation and I might get to go to all four Maryvale in that stretch ... I'm pretty psyched. I've been promised a weekend of baseball, drinking, and grilling. Get me out of this turkey town now! I'd love to meet up with / say hi to anyone down there who's from milwaukee. Surely I'll be sporting my BF.net softball jersey and "I [beer] Milwaukee" t-shirts....