Atlanta Braves: first trip to SunTrust Park, thanks to Chevrolet

Semi-Ambulatory

Then this shuttle bus dropped us off at a spot… well, it really wasn’t close to the stadium at all.  I believe it was along the Interstate N Parkway near the intersection with the Windy Ridge Parkway.

I was reminded strongly of that scene from Monte Python and the Holy Grail – the ‘Tale of Sir Launcelot’ (about 6:50 into this video).  You know – the part where John Cleese is running to the castle… and running and running and running… but continues to look like he’s further and further away?  That was me walking toward the stadium.

I would estimate that it was at least a half mile from where the bus stopped and the third base gate.  That night, my wife’s FitBit thought she had walked 3 miles+ on the day.  That would be an exaggeration (even at 1-1/2 miles), but especially with the entrance path going uphill, that was more than I could manage… which played a role later in the day.

As we finally reached the stadium, there is a road that we crossed directly in front of the gates.  That road primarily serves as the access entrance for people turning into the Delta parking garage – the primo spot for Club members, but vehicles were occasionally going by each way, so having the bus traffic go through there would be a substantial improvement for … well – everybody, frankly.

Security, then Ticketing

PRO TIP:  I was pleasantly pleased to see that STP (after some complaints, as I recall) allowed a fairly liberal policy of allowing patrons to bring in food in clear gallon-sized plastic bags… along with a plastic drink bottle in the same bag.  There’s a lot you can cram into such a bag.  Do that.

The security check-point was similar to that of an airport, sans the shoe inspection.  Limit the amount of metallic bling you have and you’ll have no issues.

TICKETS:  The preferred method of delivering and handling tickets is now via smartphone and the MLB Ballpark app.  Take advantage of that.

When you buy tickets, set up an account on braves.com, make the purchase, and then use the Ballpark app.  You can get this app to sync your tickets account and then Ballpark will show you your parking ticket, your game tickets… everything you need.

Moreover, each ticket – even the parking one – has a scannable code to get you in the door.  Parking attendants and stadium gate attendants have these scanners – so it’s a quick scan-and-go operation.

But what if I buy tickets through a third party?  I don’t have direct experience here, but tickets can be formally transferred to anyone else.  Be careful here, for that just smells like there is an opportunity for fraud.

Witness:

• I had the Ballpark app; my wife does not.
• I screenshot the image of the ticket for her seat and sent that to her via an email.
• She brought the image up on her phone and she was successfully scanned into the stadium while I used the image of my own ticket from the app.  Both worked perfectly.

You see the problem?  Suppose some ne’r-do-well jerk buys four nice tickets, then sells them 10 times to others via ebay and multiple other means:  he then sends all of his buyers a screen shot of each ticket, collects the money, then deletes all of the accounts he created to do this.

So the only one who gets to see the game – maybe – is the first group arriving at the stadium with the first scan of the duplicated tickets.  All others are denied entry.

So be careful.  If you are buying tickets electronically, make sure you can access them through the app and not just via an image.