Accessibility Review: Kauffman Stadium

Parking at Kauffman Stadium was pretty easy and there seemed to be a decent amount of handicap spots in the front row of each parking lot. From there to the stadium is not very well planned, though. About every other van accessible spot has a path leading to the street that goes in front of the stadium. There is no cut out up to this path and then none when you get to the street. Then when you get across the street there also is not a cut out, but it is a rounded curb. There is a cutout way at the corner of the parking lot, but it is literally at the corner and not at the side of the corner where the crosswalk is even located. It is not that big of an inconvenience for Dad pushing Mik, as he can do the curbs, but it is kind of annoying that they seem to have paths right by almost every handicap spot, however, the paths are truly only built for those not in wheelchairs or walkers.

Getting into the park was pretty easy. The security person looked through our bag and then led us to the gate on the side of the turnstiles. We then went to the inside side of the turnstiles to have our tickets scanned. We were early and they only had one person scanning tickets, but I imagine closer to game time they have someone actually at the gate scanning tickets instead of having you back track to get them scanned, as that would be annoying with crowds coming in.

Getting to our seats was not too hard, but finding the elevator kind of was. The guy at the escalator just said there were next to each spiral ramp and we got there and it did not seem to be there. Problem was that it was on the far side of the spiral ramp from where we were and it is sort of hidden at least on the concourse level. It seems obvious when you are on the upper level and if you go straight to it from the gate entrance, but from the main concourse it is not quite so obvious. The elevator is rather small and getting more than one wheelchair group at a time was pretty much impossible, but at least they did not have fans that did not need it trying to get on.

Our seats were in section 411. They were on the third base side and in the upper deck above the visitor’s dugout. The view was great. We could see the whole field for the most part. Dad said nothing blocked his view and Mik had no trouble either because he could roll right up to the bar. Unless I leaned forward the bar blocked the third base line for me, but that is not too much of an inconvenience and at least the wheelchair seats worked for Mik, who actually watched a good part of the game since it was too sunny to play his PSP. There were no cup holders, but this is an older park and no one had cup holders, so Mik did not feel cheated. However, it is kind of sad they are just about to finish their remodel by reopening their Hall of Fame on the left field concourse in July 2009 and their remodel did not include adding cup holders.

Overall Kauffman rates as one of the more accessibly enjoyable parks, especially since the staff was helpful besides the sort of clueless escalator guy. The getting from the parking lot to the stadium is annoying, but at least almost everything else is well done. The only other thing we found not the best was the MLB 2K9 area, which had the computer screens at bar stool height tables and the only ones at easy wheelchair height were at the big screen that was hogged by another kid and probably usually is hogged because it has really comfy lazy boys to sit in while playing. The controllers from the computer screens did reach down for Mik to play, but it is not the best angle to look at the screen to play.

Car Sticker Update: Colorado Rockies

We had a little trouble finding a sticker at the Rockies, but we did end up with a bumper sticker style one. We have mostly tried not to go with this style, but at least this one is a good looking one with three different styles of Rockies logos. This sticker put the National League side of the car ahead 7 to 4. Yeah, that does not add up right to the number we should have after the Rockies being Game 12, but I will explain with the next photo of the American League side in the Royals Car Sticker Update later.

Kj’s Baseball Collection: Silver and Purple Rockies

None of the balls in the selection for the Rockies was as purple as I would have liked. Nor did they have any with Coors Field, which was really odd when they had a whole lot of Coors Field merchandise including car stickers, pins, mouse pads, t-shirts, playing cards, etc. I ended up getting the baseball that is purple on one strip and silver on the other strip. It has the Rockies mountain logo on both strips.

Mik’s Mini Bat Collection: Purple Rockies

At the Rockies Mik choose the Purple colored mini bat with the Colorado Rockies Mountain logo. There was another cool one that had the logo and said Baseball with Altitude, but it was not purple and since the Dbacks are no longer purple this was the only chance for him to get a purple mini bat to make his collection as colorful as possible, so he went with the purple one.

Smashed Pennies: Coors Field

Coors Field has a penny machine right outside their Team Shop. Mik choose the one with a dinosaur and the Rocky Mountains and says Colorado Rockies underneath. I choose the one with a baseball that has the CR logo and says Colorado Rockies Baseball Club.

Game 13: Cincinnati Reds 1 @ Kansas City Royals 7

We got to the Kauffman Stadium about two hours before game time, but the gates to the outfield area were already open. The outfield area has the kid's entertainment stuff including a mini golf course, although we did not try it because I did not feel like even figuring out how much the tokens to play cost. They also have an enclosed room with Xbox 360s to play MLB 2K9, so Mik and I went in there a little while Dad made the baseball card with him on it.

By the time we walked over to the area on the third base side where the team shop is the rest of the park was open. After a quick go through of the team shop to get the usual souvenirs we tracked down the elevator and headed to our seats. I really doubt you can have a bad seat here, as it is designed without the high seats in the outfield. Besides as long as you are not in the little sections under the scoreboard you can get a great view of it and boy is it big.

The game started off sloppily with the Reds getting 2 errors in the first two innings and the Royals getting one in the first, which allowed the runner on base that ended up scoring the only run for the Reds. From there though there was not much in terms of batting or pitching from the Reds. The Royals pitcher did not go all the way, but he threw a decent game with 0 earned runs. The Reds starting pitcher was out by the 7th, but not without going over or at least close to 100 pitches. The Royals mostly singled, but they did get one 2-run homer and a double or two and one triple. The Reds did get a few hits scattered in the game, but never really even got into position to score. Overall good game, but boy did it clear up to be a hot and humid afternoon game.

Day 26: Failed Attempt to Go to Negro Leagues Museum

This morning for once Dad was ready to go early. Sure when it ends up not counting at all he can manage it. Perhaps because he learned from the other day that in the rushed leaving the cabin he left his computer and camera with his backpack at the kabin and then did not have it all day when we were seeing the Train Tour and Game 12. Anyways we were out of the KOA in Kansas City by 8am this morning and at the museum 30 minutes before we planned to be.

The plan was to go to the Negro Leagues Museum before the Kansas City Royals game this afternoon. When I made the time schedule for the trip back in late April/early May the website said it was closed on Monday the day I originally planned for us to see it and I am certain it also said 9am to 6pm Tuesday through Sunday. Well, now it is or perhaps it has always been 12pm to 6pm. Thus we did not go this morning and instead are hanging out at a nearby Panera Bread before the game. We are hoping to go to it after the game, which we are hoping involves no rain delays/postponements as the weather looks yucky yet again.