Friday, June 28, 2013

Accessibility Review: Turner Field Section 229/231

Chipper Jones #10On June 28, 2013, we went to the Dbacks @ Braves game.  Mik wanted to go to the game as soon as he found out that the one time the Dbacks were in town at the new closest MLB ballpark for us (4 hours vs. when we were only 2 hours from Phoenix) was also when they were retiring Chipper Jones jersey (only one of Mik's favorite players that was never a Dback or a pitcher).  I put off getting the tickets for awhile since we did not know our flights for our Disney Cruise until late April.  Once I knew we would be back in barely more than enough time to get to Atlanta for the game I found the game sold out when I went to the regular online ticket buying, but when I clicked the accessible link and went through the chat process to purchase there were still wheelchair seats with the best available being in 229.

No Cup Holder
Not sure if the seats have been changed throughout the park since 2009 or it is just the 200 level, but they now have seats that can be folded and swung to the side out of the way every two or three spaces for the accessible rows.  That seems to be an improvement, but sadly still no cup holders and it is annoying with the regular seats in that section having them.
View from 229/231

The view from our seats was not bad, but the scoreboard was partially blocked.  Mostly that did not matter, but during the Chipper Jones number retiring ceremony it was annoying to not be able to see what was going on on the field due to only seeing the bottom half of the scoreboard.  Since the row is raised up a good amount from the section, heads do not get in the way, but it also leads to it being mainly just an obstructed scoreboard view for the accessible row.  They attempt to fix this problem with television screens, but the one in our section was not on and there was nothing they could do about it (or even say that it was broken).  What is really sad is now that I look at the ballpark map, I believe we got seated in 231 and not our ticketed section of 229 and that TV worked.

Mik Food Scrapbook: Corn Dog @ Turner Field

Corn DogMik was not sure what to have at the ballpark after referring to his post from 2009.  He considered some waffle fries, but he wanted something more than that, so Dad and I walked to the stands near our seats to see what we could find for him to try.  We decided to get him a corn dog, which he ended up enjoying and did not need any waffle fries in the end.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Baseball Smashed Pennies: ESPN Wide World of Sports

ESPN Wide World of Sports
There is a smashed penny machine in the ESPN Clubhouse Shop at the ESPN Wide World of Sports (where the Atlanta Braves spring train).  The designs in the machine include the ESPN Wide World of Sports logo, one featuring Mickey with a variety of sports gear including a baseball bat, and one featuring sports Minnie and Daisy (possibly softball related).
Mickey Sports Smashed Pennuy

Baseball Smashed Pennies: Batting Mickey

Mickey Baseball Smashed Pennuy
While staying at the All Star Sports hotel at Walt Disney World, we found the machine with a smashed penny featuring Mickey batting.  The design is in one of the machines across from the food court near the arcade in the main lobby building.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Kj's Baseball Collection: Braves Spring Training 2013

Braves Spring Training 2013 Baseball
After being somewhat disappointed in the Nationals Spring Training ball option, which I probably would not have gotten if it was not my favorite team, I was really excited to find a cool one when we went to see the Nats play the Braves at Champion Stadium.  The ball features a Spring Training 2013 logo with palm trees and says Grapefruit League.  The Braves logo is kind of hidden in the logo, but as a non-Braves fan I do not mind that at all.

Mik's Mini Bat Collection: Brave Team Signatures

Braves Mini Bat
Before we left for the spring training trip Mik said he was not going to get any mini bats unless they were of the parks or really cool.  Apparently, this one with the signatures of several Braves players was a design he thought qualified as really cool as he just had to have it when he saw it.  It is actually a 2012 Braves mini bat design and his reasoning for getting it was that it has Chipper Jones on it, which is sort of special with him now retired.
Braves Mini Bat

Mik's Food Scrapbook: Champion Stadium

Champion Stadium
There were quite a few food items that appealed to Mik as we walked around Champion Stadium.  At first he was really into getting the brisket sandwich basket.  However, once he found out there was a cheese pretzel dog he had to have that, as he is a huge pretzel dog fan.  He really enjoyed it, although it ended up being quite messy with the cheese oozing out as he ate it.
Champion Stadium

The evening was a little windy and cool, so he also was glad that Dad found hot chocolate for him to warm up with.  He did not say what he thought of it, but it must have been at least okay or he was really cold because he downed it pretty fast (Dad taste tested to check it was not too hot before giving it to Mik).