- Joined
- Dec 4, 2004
Every skating venue/town is different, so I keep some notes just in case I ever go back to that city/venue. Here are some misc. brain droppings from my thoughts about Ontario CA. At the end is a link to a few pics I took.
Notes from SA 2011 Ontario. (Bottom line. I would go back to this venue in a heartbeat. Please don't make me go back to Cleveland...)
The airport is nice, small , and only a few miles from the hotels, which have shuttles. I stayed at the LaQuinta, across the street from an event hotel, the Hilton. I did not rent a car. The Hilton had an excellent breakfast bar with great coffee, so I ate there. Most of the credentialed folk ate in their own eating area, away from the common folk, next to the official event Room. But if they dallied, they had to eat with us in the guest area. The free LaQuinta "breakfast" will sustain life and nothing more, although the "you make em" waffles were good. These two hotels were by themselves just to the south west of the arena. There are others to the north with more restaurant choices. Next to the Hilton is a Black Angus, a Mexican place, and the Fusions Bar and Grill. There are other restaurants east of the arena within walking distance, and if you had a car, there are many places north east of the arena. Bill boards and signs are not allowed so know where the restaurants are before you go.
As in many places, there are steep state and local hotel taxes.
The streets around the arena were surprisingly empty of cars at all hours, as a whole. Walking was safe and there were few pedestrians and bicyclists. I saw no pan handlers.
The arena was neat, clean and modern. Food choices were poor but there was an excellent French Vanilla coffee for $3. There was nowhere to sit and eat. Arena Seats were relatively wide and well padded. The pitch was good. Only three sections were open to the fans for practice, which was free and open to the public. There were plenty of bathrooms for men as the attendance was small. Bathroom breaks for woman were problematic during events. The jumbotron was high and not obnoxious. Oddly, there was no ISU video shown before each event showing great skaters from the past, only a USFSA one. There was a curtained VIP eating area on the promenade that blocked any attempts to do laps of the arena during breaks. The "crowds" were mostly kept to four sections. Ticketed VIP folk got free alcohol and excellent finger food in the San Manual room. We ate there four times and I think we got six free drink tickets.....this was only open for an hour before events but was nice and quiet, with an indoor and walled outdoor area. This was also where the "Friends of Figure Skating Breakfast" was held so that took care of another meal. I had to leave the breakfast when the ice dancers came in as every time I get around Madison Hubbell , I start to drool. She is almost as pretty as my wife.
The arena was cold and kept cold for the event. My seat was about unique compared to all the seats in all the events I have been to. Section 102, Row A, seat 1. There was only one seat in Row A.
Credentialed folk rising out of the underworld came up on a platform just to the left of my seat and had to walk to the left or to the right. If they went right, they had to walk by me to where I had to tuck in my feet. At first I thought they were punishing me by putting me there in a corner as I had tried to take Alissa Czisny home as carry-on from the Greensboro airport, but security mostly left me alone and it was a great seat to watch folk on and off the ice (see pic on link) . I have found at events that if you make your own credentials, plus use your VIP ticketed seat credentials, ushers pretty much leave you alone, except during the final events. Before the ladies long I started to walk down to my seat and an usher stopped me and told me I could only sit in the last six rows, at which time I showed her my ticket. Savvy real credentialed folk just used the tunnel by my seat and bypassed the ushers...there was plenty of seats for everyone. (see pics at link)
Just a few skating notes....
Elene Gedevanishvili was in great shape physically and did great practices.....as did Caroline Zhang.
I wish they would have done better in competition.
Do not ever have your wife as your skating coach and do a bad short program as she knows how to really punish you in sooooo many ways. Tiffany Vise and Don Baldwin are looking good and it will be fun to watch Mary Beth and Rockne grow. But I predict we should really keep our eyes on Caydee and John. They really have meshed fast.
Kudos to the USFSA for having a camera policy printed up on the event website.
Finally, kudos for Peter Carruthers ragging on skaters for bending over, grabbing their ankles, spinning, and showing us their butts.....would you want your daughter doing this? I think we all need yellow sweat shirts with a stick figure of a guy doing a crack-a-toe-ah spin and then
a line drawn through it...at nats, we will be on national TV, Rusty Cap will interview us and we can give Peter a Sweat shirt too.....Keep Krakatoa East of Java!
http://s1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd385/CoyoteChris303/skating/
Notes from SA 2011 Ontario. (Bottom line. I would go back to this venue in a heartbeat. Please don't make me go back to Cleveland...)
The airport is nice, small , and only a few miles from the hotels, which have shuttles. I stayed at the LaQuinta, across the street from an event hotel, the Hilton. I did not rent a car. The Hilton had an excellent breakfast bar with great coffee, so I ate there. Most of the credentialed folk ate in their own eating area, away from the common folk, next to the official event Room. But if they dallied, they had to eat with us in the guest area. The free LaQuinta "breakfast" will sustain life and nothing more, although the "you make em" waffles were good. These two hotels were by themselves just to the south west of the arena. There are others to the north with more restaurant choices. Next to the Hilton is a Black Angus, a Mexican place, and the Fusions Bar and Grill. There are other restaurants east of the arena within walking distance, and if you had a car, there are many places north east of the arena. Bill boards and signs are not allowed so know where the restaurants are before you go.
As in many places, there are steep state and local hotel taxes.
The streets around the arena were surprisingly empty of cars at all hours, as a whole. Walking was safe and there were few pedestrians and bicyclists. I saw no pan handlers.
The arena was neat, clean and modern. Food choices were poor but there was an excellent French Vanilla coffee for $3. There was nowhere to sit and eat. Arena Seats were relatively wide and well padded. The pitch was good. Only three sections were open to the fans for practice, which was free and open to the public. There were plenty of bathrooms for men as the attendance was small. Bathroom breaks for woman were problematic during events. The jumbotron was high and not obnoxious. Oddly, there was no ISU video shown before each event showing great skaters from the past, only a USFSA one. There was a curtained VIP eating area on the promenade that blocked any attempts to do laps of the arena during breaks. The "crowds" were mostly kept to four sections. Ticketed VIP folk got free alcohol and excellent finger food in the San Manual room. We ate there four times and I think we got six free drink tickets.....this was only open for an hour before events but was nice and quiet, with an indoor and walled outdoor area. This was also where the "Friends of Figure Skating Breakfast" was held so that took care of another meal. I had to leave the breakfast when the ice dancers came in as every time I get around Madison Hubbell , I start to drool. She is almost as pretty as my wife.
The arena was cold and kept cold for the event. My seat was about unique compared to all the seats in all the events I have been to. Section 102, Row A, seat 1. There was only one seat in Row A.
Credentialed folk rising out of the underworld came up on a platform just to the left of my seat and had to walk to the left or to the right. If they went right, they had to walk by me to where I had to tuck in my feet. At first I thought they were punishing me by putting me there in a corner as I had tried to take Alissa Czisny home as carry-on from the Greensboro airport, but security mostly left me alone and it was a great seat to watch folk on and off the ice (see pic on link) . I have found at events that if you make your own credentials, plus use your VIP ticketed seat credentials, ushers pretty much leave you alone, except during the final events. Before the ladies long I started to walk down to my seat and an usher stopped me and told me I could only sit in the last six rows, at which time I showed her my ticket. Savvy real credentialed folk just used the tunnel by my seat and bypassed the ushers...there was plenty of seats for everyone. (see pics at link)
Just a few skating notes....
Elene Gedevanishvili was in great shape physically and did great practices.....as did Caroline Zhang.
I wish they would have done better in competition.
Do not ever have your wife as your skating coach and do a bad short program as she knows how to really punish you in sooooo many ways. Tiffany Vise and Don Baldwin are looking good and it will be fun to watch Mary Beth and Rockne grow. But I predict we should really keep our eyes on Caydee and John. They really have meshed fast.
Kudos to the USFSA for having a camera policy printed up on the event website.
Finally, kudos for Peter Carruthers ragging on skaters for bending over, grabbing their ankles, spinning, and showing us their butts.....would you want your daughter doing this? I think we all need yellow sweat shirts with a stick figure of a guy doing a crack-a-toe-ah spin and then
a line drawn through it...at nats, we will be on national TV, Rusty Cap will interview us and we can give Peter a Sweat shirt too.....Keep Krakatoa East of Java!
http://s1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd385/CoyoteChris303/skating/
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reading your insights about SA, etc.
