Thank You Indy

[anniem]

The stadium itself is very nice (dome comments aside), but I believe the area itself is not that great. Has a hard core inner city feel to it which doesnt appeal to me. I know my wife felt very unsafe walking back to our hotel.

I respect your feelings about not feeling safe walking back to the hotel from the stadium. Downtown Indy is bustling with pedestrians and feels very safe but LOS was recently built just a couple blocks south of where most things happen so it can be a bit dark and desolate at night.

[rcawth]

Serioulsly?! Where are you from? "Hard core inner city feel" is far from anything in downtown Indy.

Second that. Great downtown.

They have the nicest dressed pan-handlers you've ever seen too.

[chadwick]

Second that. Great downtown.

They have the nicest dressed pan-handlers you've ever seen too.

I actually saw one wearing a Cavaliers shirt.

[Taylor]

I liked Indy for the 3rd straight year...note to all avoid the Sheraton City Centre like the plague. Other than that, I love how nearly everything down down is within reasonable walking distance. The "Raceino's" are not to far away for a little gambling pleasure, Indiana live was a very nice place...hit a couple of simulcast trifectas as well.

My only Beef is why cant DCI start each show an hour or 2 early and get us out of LOS by 10pm or something.

Because Open Class Semis and Finals already begin at 8:00 am as it is.

[KakkoiiOtaku]

My trip was rather eventful, if you ask me.

My flight from Charlotte to Cincinnati was delayed about 20 minutes and then my flight from Cincinnati was delayed an extra hour. Both due to maintenance on the planes. Gotta love Delta lol. But, this was on Quarterfinals and I really wanted to get to the lot to see Teal warm up, but because of these delays, I was unable to.

I got it, took my hotels complimentary airport shuttle to my hotel, checked in, went to Wal-mart below my hotel on IndyGo (to buy a Monopod), rushed in, bought it, ran back out and got back to the bus stop in under 20 minutes to catch the bus on the return trip to ride into the area around LOS. Went to eat at Champions (at the Downtown Marriot) when I got in town and then went to the Lot for the rest of the night. Got some great pictures and some good video of Spirit, Crossmen, Troop and Madison. I ended up disappointed in the lot because I felt like most corps were only playing short snippets of the shows and I was hoping for larger chunks. So, I didn't get much of anyone after Troop because of that fact. I love White River State Park, though. It's so beautiful! Then, after BD finished warming up, I walked to the Hard Rock for the Big, Loud and Live 7 Afterparty that never happened lol. I met up with my ride earlier in the lot and he met back up with me at the Hard Rock (he had to go help with BD - his son was the drum major). After eating, I went back to the hotel and went to sleep.

The next day started with me getting on IndyGo and heading into town to go to the Marketplace and do my souvie shopping early. Wanted to get it done early so I could have a Star shirt for the Star Alumni performance that night. After that, I left to go eat at Circle Centre and then head back for the show. I was going to go to the DCI Headquarters Open House, but for some reason I thought that was actually in LOS so I went in and then was told it was not so I decided not to bother with getting the hand stamp so I could re-enter. I was in with my monopod and I was happy that I didn't have any problem with that. My pictures could look better :). So, I went back to the Marketplace to do a little more shopping (some booths were not open during Open Semis) and got my Star Shirt and Hat. Changed and went to my seat. Sound was a lot better in the 400's than I originally thought it would be. Pictures turned out pretty decent too for being so far away and my point-and-click not having a good amount of zoom on it. My only gripe was the price of concessions. That pizza that was $8 was way too much for the quality of it. Way too much of the pizza was still just crust. The drink was okay for the price. It was a decently large drink so that's okay. Plus, the souvie cup is nice too so that was worth the extra dollar. I was also glad I could move down lower into the 100's for Star Alumni's performance. That was the highlight of my trip. Absolutely amazing and emotionally moving! Went back to the Hard Rock after seeing my Age-Out friends on the field (I was lucky enough to get down there after the ceremony was over) and hear Star up close when they played for the Age-Outs. Went to the hotel and back to sleep.

Finals day started with going over to Subway across from my hotel for probably the worst service I'd ever had at a Subway. I refered to the gentleman making my sub as "sir" and him and his co-worker had a conversation about how it offends them when people call them "sir" or "ma'am" as if I wasn't even there. So, that was the first problem. The second came when I was about to pay. The gentelman making the sub had asked (he decided to ask) if he could do my sub as a $5 footlong and the woman above him said it was okay. When she rang me up, she rang me up for a regular footlong and I said that wasn't right. She basically then acted like it was all my fault and got upset and said "Next time you get this, you won't get this price." She evidentially "didn't understand" what the other employee meant, so she took it out on me. Terrible customer service. I went ahead and ate left to wait for my ride back to LOS. Got to the stadium and went in for the Backstage experience (though I'd already been in the tunnels on two separate occasions over the past couple years). I wanted to go get my picture taken with the trophy. Then I went and checked out the historical exhibits after making one last stop in the Marketplace for a couple things from the Crown Booth that I decided I did want. Made my way up stairs for the show and highly enjoyed my experience on my first finals as a fan. Although, after seeing Ryan being pulled off the field at the end of Crown, I wasn't really able to enjoy the rest as much as I could have because I was worried about his health. I'd have felt the same about anyone I saw in that condition ... having to have three people pull him/her off the field. Went back to Hard Rock after scores were announced to wait for my ride and one of my best friends. Had some good customer service up until the very end. All I had in my pocket cash-wise was $1.61. My bill was $17.99. After I'd paid the waitress looked at my tip and pushed it back to me. She stated "You know what, you can keep this. DCI's given us a raw deal. Eighteen-Twenty% is expected and when I see a dollar and some pocket change, that's just insulting." I'm sorry, but I didn't have to give her anything. Instead, I gave her every penny of cash I had on me. I really don't like putting a tip on a check. Plus, I really don't feel that a waitress deserves 18%-20% unless they've given service that says they deserve that much and her services was perhaps worth 10%-12%. She was a bit pushy. She knew I was waiting on friends to arrive and kept pushing me to order something other than a drink. Anyway, probably won't be going back to that Hard Rock, or at least not eating there, in future trips. Might give it one more chance, but I'm not sure. After that, I went back to the hotel, packed and went to bed.

Luckily my hotel shuttle was able to get me to my early flight really early so everything was smooth sailing on Sunday Morning. Neither flight was delayed and everything just went really well after that.

Overall, it was a great trip to Indy. I love the area and can't wait to visit again next year. Though, I might actually either drive to Indy or rent a car next time. Might be better.

[sax1210]

I actually saw one wearing a Cavaliers shirt.

[chaddyt]

With the exception of the zoo, my crew didn't do much that we hadn't done before (with the exception of my sister, since it was her first finals). Cadets rehearsal on Wednesday. White River Park on Thursday. Rock Bottom for food Saturday and Sunday. LOS for some of that drum corps stuff Saturday and Sunday too.

Thinking of hitting up some of the night life next year so I can get my freak on.

[chris ncsu]

With the exception of the zoo, my crew didn't do much that we hadn't done before (with the exception of my sister, since it was her first finals). Cadets rehearsal on Wednesday. White River Park on Thursday. Rock Bottom for food Saturday and Sunday. LOS for some of that drum corps stuff Saturday and Sunday too.

Thinking of hitting up some of the night life next year so I can get my freak on.

You do that...

[Tom Brace]

Because Open Class Semis and Finals already begin at 8:00 am as it is.

Open Class finals started at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday.

[chaddyt]

You do that...

You know you want to too. There's a freak inside just itchin to get on the nearest dance floor.