Advice for Gameday and Patriots Place

I live in the CA desert so we don't go to Boston for games. I always wanted to go to a "Banner Game" but with (you know what) hanging over this game I blew it off. When Judge Berman did his thing, my 15 year old decided he wanted to go. So off we go.

A few, dumb, questions (I haven't been to Gillette since 2003) :

Hotel is about 10 miles from the stadium. I've heard about the traffic nightmares, how early should I plan to leave to travel 10 miles by car in the 6pm or so range ? Or is there a better time to do it "\

Any advice for the best pregame, tailgaiting experience ? Just walk around and soak up the atmosphere I would guess.

If we enter the stadium early to find our seats and leave for the parking lot (keeping tickets, of course) or once you leave are you out for good ?

Anything else for gameday ?

We have a full day the next day which will be for Patriots Place, Patriots HoF, etc. I plan on just showing up, walking around and seeing what's there. Anything that really shouldn't be missed there ?

Any other general advice for anything would be appreciated.

BelichickFan said:

I live in the CA desert so we don't go to Boston for games. I always wanted to go to a "Banner Game" but with (you know what) hanging over this game I blew it off. When Judge Berman did his thing, my 15 year old decided he wanted to go. So off we go.

A few, dumb, questions :

Hotel is about 10 miles from the stadium. I've heard about the traffic nightmares, how early should I plan to leave to travel 10 miles by car in the 6pm or so range ? Or is there a better time to do it "\

Any advice for the best pregame, tailgaiting experience ? Just walk around and soak up the atmosphere I would guess.

If we enter the stadium early to find our seats and leave for the parking lot (keeping tickets, of course) or once you leave are you out for good ?

Anything else for gameday ?

We have a full day the next day which will be for Patriots Place, Patriots HoF, etc. I plan on just showing up, walking around and seeing what's there. Anything that really shouldn't be missed there ?

Any other general advice for anything would be appreciated.

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Check and see if your hotel has a shuttle to the game. The only time i got a hotel was the AFCCG and they did, and i was under the impression it was done every game.
Once you enter the stadium you can't leave. My son likes to go in the second they open the gates and go directly to our seats and honestly the time flies.

BelichickFan said:

I live in the CA desert so we don't go to Boston for games. I always wanted to go to a "Banner Game" but with (you know what) hanging over this game I blew it off. When Judge Berman did his thing, my 15 year old decided he wanted to go. So off we go.

A few, dumb, questions (I haven't been to Gillette since 2003) :

Hotel is about 10 miles from the stadium. I've heard about the traffic nightmares, how early should I plan to leave to travel 10 miles by car in the 6pm or so range ? Or is there a better time to do it "\

Any advice for the best pregame, tailgaiting experience ? Just walk around and soak up the atmosphere I would guess.

If we enter the stadium early to find our seats and leave for the parking lot (keeping tickets, of course) or once you leave are you out for good ?

Anything else for gameday ?

We have a full day the next day which will be for Patriots Place, Patriots HoF, etc. I plan on just showing up, walking around and seeing what's there. Anything that really shouldn't be missed there ?

Any other general advice for anything would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

First off once you enter the stadium don't leave. No re-entry.

If you want to see tailgate and really check out the scene then I'ld leave before 6. If you're only 10 miles away it would be just enough time to park and walk in.

I'ld make sure to be in my seats well before kick off you don't want to miss pregame. Might be over kill but I would suggest leaving at 4pm to head to the stadium.

And be loud please!

signbabybrady said:

I'ld make sure to be in my seats well before kick off you don't want to miss pregame. Might be over kill but I would suggest leaving at 4pm to head to the stadium.

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Thanks, will do. Actually I'm curious what the pregame will be. With no Ommissioner I assume the stupid pregame concert will be gone, hoping for a nice banner raising ceremony and that be about it.

signbabybrady said:

And be loud please!

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Indeed. You know how those stupid Steeler fans travel, hopefully not too much nasty black & gold spoiling OUR night.

I would leave a minimum of 2 hours from the start time to get to the game. The area is gonna be jammin! There isn't much besides general shops and food at Patriot Place, but the HOF is a must go. I did the HOF before going in the Bengals game last year so i could do more stuff around Boston during my visit. Expect a few hours or so for the HOF depending on how interesting y'all find the stuff could be more or less. Also, as others have said, no re-entry to stadium. Enjoy you lucky SOB!

Oh if your an outdoor guy bass pro is a must see.

BelichickFan said:

Thanks, will do. Actually I'm curious what the pregame will be. With no Ommissioner I assume the stupid pregame concert will be gone, hoping for a nice banner raising ceremony and that be about it.


Indeed. You know how those stupid Steeler fans travel, hopefully not too much nasty black & gold spoiling OUR night.

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LOL WE're going n a friend , who's a Steeler fan, offered up his towel!
What are people's thought as to how early to actually enter the stadium? We usually rendezvous about 10 miles from the stadium n caravan in. It looks like we'll be meeting around 4 PM but I am not sure what time to actually pack up our tailgate and start heading into the stadium.

Leave early enough to park in a "satellite lot" which are generally every hotel, restaurant, or plaza leading up to the stadium with a sign out and "flag wavers". If you are heading south after the game, park south of the stadium and if heading north park north of the stadium.

I would not recommend the stadium lots, but if you arrive late, that is all that will be left. You can get buried acres and acres deep and it could take hours after the game to get out of the parking lot. The satellite lots generally have state police helping them exit and fewer cars so they empty pretty quickly.

I'm planning to arrive around 5 and will start heading for the stadium no later than 7. They used to wand everyone with hand held metal detectors at the gate, but at the preseason game they have installed free standing metal detectors that you walk through. Not sure if that will speed up the process or not, but fingers crossed.

Should be a flyover by the Air Force. Someone famous will probably sing the anthem. The musical acts are all in San Francisco as far as I've heard for the Super Bowl 50 promotion. The headline act was Train, so not sure we are missing that much.

To kickoff the 2005 season, we had Ozzy Osbourne sing Crazy Train as the team ran on the field:


If you get there super early, there is a bar outside the gate "CBS Scene" where the local sports broadcasters should be setup taking phone calls.

Enjoy!

micronin127 said:

The musical acts are all in San Francisco as far as I've heard for the Super Bowl 50 promotion. The headline act was Train, so not sure we are missing that much.

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Definitely NOT wanting some mini concert like that Ozzy thing. Hoping for a nice banner unveiling, though, that's the reason I want to do to this game.

micronin127 said:

I'm planning to arrive around 5 and will start heading for the stadium no later than 7.

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So to arrive around 5 should I plan to leave the hotel around 4 (to go about 10-12 miles) ? I guess that's what I'm planning now.

Plan to be INSIDE the stadium no later than one hour prior to kickoff. The lines and security will be extra slow, plus you've got the banner unveiling.

Yes. Leave the hotel by 4. If you arrive by 4:30... no big deal. If you leave 30 minutes later it could add an hour stuck in traffic and you might not get into the lot you want to.

I'm going on Thursday as well. What time will the pregame ceremonies start? I was thinking of taking the Patriots train but it says it will arrive at 7:40pm. Wouldn't you want to be there a bit earlier?

At the Revs game right now and they have the grass field in for tonight and the Brazil game Tuesday....probably leaving it in for Thursday also maybe?

I live 35 min away...leaving at 330 for tailgating and to go in 1.5 hours early

One piece of advice: Do not buy a goddamn thing at Traitors Place; you would needlessly be putting
money in Bendover Bob's pockets.

Brady_to_Moss said:

I live 35 min away...leaving at 330 for tailgating and to go in 1.5 hours early

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Is that when the ceremony starts? I don't understand why the train for opening night is arriving 50 minutes before the game when the train during preseason games arrived 2 hours and 15 minutes early.

trevrox said:

Is that when the ceremony starts? I don't understand why the train for opening night is arriving 50 minutes before the game when the train during preseason games arrived 2 hours and 15 minutes early.

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Train alway gets in 1 hour from.start. at least it always has

Brady_to_Moss said:

Train alway gets in 1 hour from.start. at least it always has

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Ah, well it didn't for the preseason then. Will I miss anything important?

trevrox said:

Ah, well it didn't for the preseason then. Will I miss anything important?

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They said tonight be in seats for 8. Ceremony must start then