Continued from part 2
We started to follow The Citrus Bowl website directions to our designated parking lots only to find the streets around the stadium closed to traffic and road blocks in place, every intersection we came to we would ask the traffic officer the way to Lot M and they all sent us in the direction they thought it was, no one really seemed to know for sure and none of them were right! We lost count of the number of U turns and double backs that we made and if it hadn' t been so frustrating it would have made a good comedy script. Eventually we came across a more sensible officer who could probably sense we were at the end of our rope, he consulted a map and gave us clear and concise directions to our destination.
We got into the correct line of traffic and we queued and queued and queued, it didn' t help that frustrated drivers behind us were coming up the outside in the incorrect lane and cutting everyone up, there was lots of hooting of horns and nerves of steel were required to prevent multiple cars cutting in front of you! Eventually we reached the lot, having been directed down a closed road by a police officer, only to find it was full! At this juncture we had been driving around for almost an hour and a half, we could see empty spaces in the car park but the parking attendant would not let us in despite us having a pre paid ticket for that particular lot. ' You' ll have to park in the high school' she said ' they will honor your ticket there' . The most frustrating thing about this was that we had passed the entrance to the high school some 50 minutes earlier whilst queuing for Lot M!
By the time we were finally parked our stroll to the stadium had become a rapid walk, no time for refreshments, just a quick bathroom stop and on to our seats just in time to see the teams emerging and the national anthem being sung.
I' m sure there must have been lots of build up and razzmatazz but I am unable to report on it as we missed it. if Orlando City are to get this number of supporters at every home game they really need to get their parking sorted out as they don' t have the excellent public transport links that say big game at Wembley stadium has, most people were arriving by car except for the locals and a few buses and the car parks didn' t even open until 2pm. There were hundreds and hundreds of people behind us who must surely have missed the kick off.
Continued in part 4
We started to follow The Citrus Bowl website directions to our designated parking lots only to find the streets around the stadium closed to traffic and road blocks in place, every intersection we came to we would ask the traffic officer the way to Lot M and they all sent us in the direction they thought it was, no one really seemed to know for sure and none of them were right! We lost count of the number of U turns and double backs that we made and if it hadn' t been so frustrating it would have made a good comedy script. Eventually we came across a more sensible officer who could probably sense we were at the end of our rope, he consulted a map and gave us clear and concise directions to our destination.
We got into the correct line of traffic and we queued and queued and queued, it didn' t help that frustrated drivers behind us were coming up the outside in the incorrect lane and cutting everyone up, there was lots of hooting of horns and nerves of steel were required to prevent multiple cars cutting in front of you! Eventually we reached the lot, having been directed down a closed road by a police officer, only to find it was full! At this juncture we had been driving around for almost an hour and a half, we could see empty spaces in the car park but the parking attendant would not let us in despite us having a pre paid ticket for that particular lot. ' You' ll have to park in the high school' she said ' they will honor your ticket there' . The most frustrating thing about this was that we had passed the entrance to the high school some 50 minutes earlier whilst queuing for Lot M!
By the time we were finally parked our stroll to the stadium had become a rapid walk, no time for refreshments, just a quick bathroom stop and on to our seats just in time to see the teams emerging and the national anthem being sung.
I' m sure there must have been lots of build up and razzmatazz but I am unable to report on it as we missed it. if Orlando City are to get this number of supporters at every home game they really need to get their parking sorted out as they don' t have the excellent public transport links that say big game at Wembley stadium has, most people were arriving by car except for the locals and a few buses and the car parks didn' t even open until 2pm. There were hundreds and hundreds of people behind us who must surely have missed the kick off.
Continued in part 4