The renovations seem to target two distinct audiences: millennial
drunkards and families. I attended
Friday’s game as the former and Sunday’s as a still-hungover version of the
latter. Here's a quick look at the
renovations from those two perspectives.
FRIDAY’S GAME
It’s hard to overstate how impressed I was with the new bar
and standing-room area in the right-field corner. It will change the way a lot of people attend
games. The former Budweiser party deck
has been replaced with rows of standing-room areas open to anyone attending the
game. These rows are large enough to go
2-3 people deep and have a railing to set drinks and/or food. We were standing with a group of nearly 15
people and were all close enough to hold conversation. Don’t let this probably-too-drunk-for-a-four o'clock-start-time face fool you; the views are great for the baseball purists, as well.
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| I need a new hat. |
The concourse behind this standing-room area contains the new bar, called The
Corner. The Corner contains multiple
bar areas, each with different craft beer selections. Since it was the Home Opener (and therefor a
sellout), the lines were pretty deep to get drinks, but I don’t think I waited
more than five to 10 minutes the entire day.
Also in this area are quite a few tables and couches. With a roof and a bit of a breeze flowing
through, this will be a great retreat on hot days to get out of the sun.
The second level of The Corner contains additional bars as
well as the self-serve beer dispensers.
To use, you first purchase a $15 or $50 card to be used at each
machine. I believe $15 purchases 32 oz
of craft beer. This area is a bit clunky
and I’m sure will be stream-lined as the year goes – you have to go to the tap
you prefer, wave your card in front of a Chief Wahoo sticker, and then have approximately 20 seconds to fill a beer. There
was a lot of confusion as most pours would contain a lot of foam – so remember
you have a full 20 seconds to dump out the foam and re-fill back to the
top. Also on this second level were more
tables and a railing to watch the game.
This was the most impressive area of the park and will
probably attract a large crowd most weekend nights.
The much-discussed upper field boxes didn’t seem like nearly
the eye sore they did on various pictures floating around the Internet in the
last few weeks. They don’t look
particularly great, but when compared to the large unused section in left
field, they are still an upgrade over empty seats. I didn’t venture up to this section, but in
terms of “here’s a nice place to drink beer” it does its job. One nice bonus is that they make a lot of
noise when fans were stomping their feet / pounding the sides during rallies. It’ll be interesting to hear these down the
stretch if the Indians are playing well. Who knows, maybe John Adams relocates here with his drum.
The “Neighborhood” areas that contain food options from
local Cleveland restaurants replace many of the old vendor options throughout
the park. The prices didn’t seem
outrageous for stadium food ($5.75 for a Barrio taco that had both a hard and
soft shell and $9.50 for a Melt sandwich, which is about what you'd pay in one of their actual restaurants)
Craft beer options were available throughout the park at decent prices
$6 for 12 oz ($4 for domestic.)
SUNDAY’S GAME
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| View from family section |
The area formerly known as the Mezzanine, or Pronkville if
you’re nasty, has been home to kid-friendly concession and entertainment options the past several seasons. The renovations have
expanded on these and really made things easier for parents overall. The Kids' Clubhouse is located near the entrance to
this section and is great for kids of all ages.
Outside of the Kids' Clubhouse and behind the seats are multiple concession
areas that have kid-friendly grub available (including stands for burgers, pizza,
mac & cheese, and nachos.) Various
games and activities were also in this area that drew large crowds. Here are a few of the options available in
this area:
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Scale the wall to steal a homerun.
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"Race" an Indians player to first
(Red light indicates chosen player's speed)
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Wiffle ball
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Match your batting stance to an Indians player
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There were also batting cages and other activities on this level.
The Kids' Clubhouse itself contains quite a few options for kids
of various age levels. For older kids,
interactive screens allowed for a pretty in-depth experience with current
Indians players. My daughter being only two, I got an in-depth look at a lot of the Step 2 plastic toys in this
section. It also contained a two-story
slide and coloring books, as well as an outdoor area that has screening over
the railing so smaller children can play and run without fear of them falling
through. Access to this area requires a
waiver and a wrist-band.
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| Clubhouse outdoor area |
.JPG)
Family restrooms and concessions were all over this area,
which is always helpful. By the fifth inning there was a long line to enter the Kids Clubhouse – so I’d suggest trying to
arrive a bit early and going to this area first, if interested.
We didn’t run the bases after the game, but have done so in
year’s past and can’t recommend this enough.
Being on the field and having current players and coaches out giving
high-fives is a really cool experience for a kid after taking in a game.
Other quick notes:
The former Gate C area that faces East 9th got a
face lift. This is now much more wide
open and has a view right down into the park.
A lot of people seemed to use this area as a meeting place, a place to
take food to sit down for a bit, or to let their crazy two-year-old run off some
excess energy. But I’m not naming any
names. The Feller and Thome (grumble
grumble) statues are now right outside of these gates, as well.
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| Facing E. 9th (back to field) |
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| Facing field (back to E. 9th) |
This is a small thing – but there used to be an
Indians-themed Mickey Mouse statue near the escalators on the first level. This has been replaced with a large block C
logo that will undoubtedly be the Facebook profile picture of most of your
friends by the end of the summer. This
is a cool feature and kids seemed to enjoy climbing on it – but the Mickey statue
was always a nice distraction for kids when they started to wear out. If it’s not going to be in the park I think
you should all join my campaign to have it donated to my backyard.
My only real gripe (outside of the aesthetics of those
right-field upper deck boxes) was a somewhat confusing entry system. I don’t remember this being quite so
cumbersome in the past, but there are now metal detectors in the gates to
enter. Lines backed-up quickly as people
tried to sort through their bags and phones and other items they needed to
remove – and immediately after walking through the detector, someone was trying
to scan your ticket. It didn’t allow for
time to sort through the things you had just removed and created a pretty large
log-jam. Definitely recommend coming
early or a bit late to try and avoid some of these lines.
All in all the renovations were a hit, in my eyes. The new bar area is easily one of the best
bars downtown and a great place to meet up with a group. The Kids' Clubhouse and other activities provide a
nice break for kids who can’t make it through an entire game. The new concessions and local food options
make eating at the park affordable and gives decent options.
As I’ve said many times before – going to a baseball game at
this park is easily a top-three activity in Cleveland during the summer. These renovations have certainly improved the
experience of attending a game.
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