Advice for Gameday and Patriots Place

[trevrox]

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

Ah, good news! Thank you! Section 330 for me

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

I am not far...325...where you get tix

 

[BelichickFan]

I'm across the field from you guys, 309. Definitely planning on leaving around 4pm for the short drive, and will be in my seat in plenty of time. I have little doubt the Krafts will do this right. Definitely happy the piece of sh!t won't be there and, instead, will be almost as far away as possible while still being in the continental U.S. Almost.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

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

I am buying a jersey for my GF who visits me next month soooo

 

[trevrox]

I am not far...325...where you get tix

eBay

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

dress for some rain...heavy T storms Thursday night they are calling for..at least for now

 

[BelichickFan]

One more question, my flight out of Boston is 8am on Saturday - leaving from the Foxboro area, I assume if I leave at 5am the roads (barring an accident) will be fairly dead in that 5-6am Saturday morning time and I can reasonably assume an easy drive to the airport ? Or could the freeways be busy at 5:30 on Saturday morning ?

 

[PatsDeb]

One more question, my flight out of Boston is 8am on Saturday - leaving from the Foxboro area, I assume if I leave at 5am the roads (barring an accident) will be fairly dead in that 5-6am Saturday morning time and I can reasonably assume an easy drive to the airport ? Or could the freeways be busy at 5:30 on Saturday morning ?

The roads will not be busy, but there has been major road construction on some of the roads around Boston this summer which closes all but one lane down during the night. You might want to check the construction schedule of any major roads you are planning to use. Otherwise, you'll probably have very little company on the roads.

 

[BelichickFan]

The roads will not be busy, but there has been major road construction on some of the roads around Boston this summer which closes all but one lane down during the night. You might want to check the construction schedule of any major roads you are planning to use. Otherwise, you'll probably have very little company on the roads.

Thanks, that's what I figured. 8am is a little earlier than I would have liked but, as they say, it is what it is.

 

[PatsDeb]

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.

I am answering you *** backwards, but just saw your original post. Leave earlier than 6:00 p.m.! I have a one hour drive from southern New Hampshire (with no traffic) and I am picking my daughter up from school at 2:45 and hope I make it to my stadium parking lot by 5:45 p.m. Yes, it's THAT BAD for a weeknight game. The universe aligned to put Gillette Stadium right in the middle of all the commuter routes in MA so you not only get game traffic but maddening rush hour traffic too, which starts at 3:00 p.m. on Rte. 128/95. You should park in a lot on Rte. 1 outside the stadium and facing the direction you want to go after the game (stadium lots are a nightmare to get out of after the game). I.e., if your hotel is north of the stadium, park on the north-going side of Rte. 1, north of Gillette (you do NOT want to have to drive towards the stadium or make a u-turn after the game). This may involve doing a u-turn somewhere before you settle on a lot. If you are going to tailgate, bring your own food and drinks (no grill? No problem - bring subs or sandwiches from Panera or something), and save yourself a water or a coke for your "drive" out, as you are likely to sit in your car for a while. Bringing a football to toss around will be a good conversation starter with other Pats fans.

If you are going to Patriots Place and the Hall the next day, then I suggest getting into the stadium early and going up to the catwalk on the highest level to take it all in and just walking around. There are some new sports bars in the stadium which I have not checked out yet so those might be a good bet, but I don't really know. I suggest going to a gate on the south side of the stadium as the one in the north end zone (where the lighthouse is, right outside of Patriots Place) gets so crowded it takes you forever to get in (the train dumps people off near here and there are a bunch of lots to which this gate is closest). No matter what gate you are going in, you should get to the stadium by about 7 to be sure to be in your seat by 8. You won't believe the crowds (all in a good mood, though!).

If you plan on going to Patriots Place to get a drink or a bite to eat somewhere, you should leave VERY EARLY (like, 3:00 p.m.). Every place fills to capacity quickly for late games and you won't be able to get in, except to Five Guys, where the line moves fairly quickly. Stadium food is expensive and not very good (like most stadiums everywhere).

Have fun at the game and Go Patriots!!

 

[PatsDeb]

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?

Don't take the train! It arrives just before the game starts (if you are lucky) and leaves 30 minutes after it ends, leaving no time to do anything but run from the train to your seat, then your seat to the train. It also does not save any time (my husband and I tried it once).

 

[BelichickFan]

I am answering you *** backwards, but just saw your original post. Leave earlier than 6:00 p.m.! I have a one hour drive from southern New Hampshire (with no traffic) and I am picking my daughter up from school at 2:45 and hope I make it to my stadium parking lot by 5:45 p.m. Yes, it's THAT BAD for a weeknight game. The universe aligned to put Gillette Stadium right in the middle of all the commuter routes in MA so you not only get game traffic but maddening rush hour traffic too, which starts at 3:00 p.m. on Rte. 128/95. You should park in a lot on Rte. 1 outside the stadium and facing the direction you want to go after the game (stadium lots are a nightmare to get out of after the game). I.e., if your hotel is north of the stadium, park on the north-going side of Rte. 1, north of Gillette (you do NOT want to have to drive towards the stadium or make a u-turn after the game).

Thanks - turns out my hotel is in Mansfield so it's south, I'll definitely park in the first place I find heading towards the stadium that's reasonably close. I think the last time (2003) we parked in the stadium parking. I'll see how far it looks, I guess. The others convinced me to leave around 4pm so that's the plan now.

 

[trevrox]

Don't take the train! It arrives just before the game starts (if you are lucky) and leaves 30 minutes after it ends, leaving no time to do anything but run from the train to your seat, then your seat to the train. It also does not save any time (my husband and I tried it once).

Well, I go to college in Boston and don't have a car, so it's really my only option unfortunately. My last class gets out at 5:45, I'll get to South Station just in time.

If I had it my way I'd be there early tailgating and enjoying Patriots Place.

 

[trevrox]

Don't take the train! It arrives just before the game starts (if you are lucky) and leaves 30 minutes after it ends, leaving no time to do anything but run from the train to your seat, then your seat to the train. It also does not save any time (my husband and I tried it once).

My other option was to take an Uber but I think it would be quite costly and also leaving Boston at 5:45 after class would mean I'm stuck in hours of traffic. Unless of course I skip class...

 

[PatsDeb]

My other option was to take an Uber but I think it would be quite costly and also leaving Boston at 5:45 after class would mean I'm stuck in hours of traffic. Unless of course I skip class...

Don't take Uber! LOL, funny story. A few weeks ago I went to NYC with some friends for the weekend. We decided after a long day of sightseeing and walking all over the city to go out for a few drinks before our dinner reservation. We called for an Uber car as one of the friends we were with swears by them. We should have just quit while we were ahead when the guy couldn't find us. We were in a big hotel on Times Square that takes up a whole block, and we were on one side with the guy on the other. We had to go find him. Then, instead of going straight ahead through Times Square (it was clear a block or so away I could see) he made a left right into the heart of Times Square and all of the Saturday evening crowd. After sitting there for about 30 minutes not moving he took us the wrong way for the rooftop bar we were trying to reach, he almost hit a child (started backing up without looking after getting behind a car that stopped unexpectedly), then almost caused World War III when he yanked his big car back into traffic and took a left from the right hand lane. Needless to say we never made it to the rooftop bar, and kissed the ground outside our dinner restaurant when we had him drop us there. 45 minutes to go about one block. If you see Tony with a big black SUV from NY as your Uber driver, RUN!

Seriously, Uber would not be a good choice for you and it seems like the train is the best option, unless as you say, you bag class . Have fun whatever you decide!

 

[PatsGuy]

One suggestion when leaving might be to take 140 N. to Route 1A W. then take 495 south to Mansfield particularly if Rte 1 is jammed up