2009 Worlds

[sillylionlove]

Well if I do go..I have the the great luxuary or not having to pay for a hotel. The hubby grew up in Southern California and most of his friends live in either the San Diego area or the LA area. But still very expensive...and yes the third level is very high up there!!

 

[acraven]

The LA Worlds folks had a booth in St. Paul. Their ticket order form shows the arena seating diagram on one side (similar to the one found at http://www.isuworlds2009.com/ if you click on "Seating Chart" at the bottom of the page then rotate the picture 180 degrees) and the order form itself on the back. I can't find the order form part of the handout on the web.

Although the diagram suggests that the $1315 "VIP" tickets cover about half of the lower bowl, the order form says they are "within 5 rows of the ice", which means that Premier Level at $1135 should include all the available lower-bowl seats beginning with Row 6.

The LA Worlds folks in St. Paul said they expect to assign specific seats to All-Event ticket purchasers by the end of February. We don't usually have that information for major skating competitions in the US until a month or so before the event. (St. Paul was unusual in that it notified us of our seat locations before the tickets were mailed out.)

As for tours, I don't think anyone should feel that going through a tour is essential. It will be *a lot* more expensive to do so, and there's no guarantee of getting an ideal seat location either way. At least some of the tours give seating preference within each category to the folks who have been traveling with them the longest, which is perfectly reasonably but works against anyone who would be a first-time customer for LA Worlds. And there have been occasions when there was so much demand for tickets that some tour groups did not get as many as they wanted in certain price ranges. (If demand is really down for LA, that may not be an issue in 2009.)

 

[chuckm]

I looked up Dash Tours and the seating was towards the sides of the arena, not center ice. It was also horribly expensive, and if you didn't book right away, you could wind up pretty far from the ice.

If you didn't use a tour and wanted to buy good seats for two, it would cost $2270 for the tickets. Hotel and food for the week would add at least another $2000. Travel to L.A. would be an additional heavy cost. Much too expensive!

 

[Tenorguy]

Regarding Staples Center - If possible and you can afford to, stay away from Upper 1 and Upper 2, the top level of the arena. They are very high up - those seats would be perfect for watching the patterns of synchronized skating because you are so abve the floor.

OF course, if money is an issue, the sight lines in the building are excellent; its a very comfortable arena (no miles of cold exposed concrete) and should show well with world attention.

Regarding hotels, if you do not know LA, stay in downtown. If you know the city and have a car, stay away from downtown. LA is a tricky city for navigation - for those who like to use public transportation, the site for LA Metro is http://www.metro.net/default.asp .

I'm sure plenty of SoCal forum folk will be putting tons of info for Worlds in the future. We are so happy to welcome the world skating community here! It will be a big Welcome to Crazy California to you all.

Tenorguy

 

[acraven]

The LA handout I picked up in St. Paul notwithstanding, it seems that the information I provided in post 23 upthread may be incorrect. A poster on FSUniverse has seen information sent to Staples Center suite holders that says VIP seats extend to Row 11 (not just to Row 5), meaning that Premier seating begins at Row 12. I don't know why there's inconsistent information out there. I suggest that those contemplating lower-bowl seats call and confirm exactly what rows are included in the VIP and Premier sections before ordering.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

No Worlds is going to be inexpensive if you don't live in the city of the venue.

Most of you guys are die hard fans of figure skating and if you can not afford the total costs, I can understand that. I am retired, with a decent pension, divorced, do not try to buy any thing that hasn't worn out. Am I lonely? Yes! but skating , the NY City Ballet,and the NY Mets keep me in life's interest. So I spend money on things I like. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, I have some charities I donate to often.

I think those of you who have to watch what you spend, as I did a few years back (and still to a certain extent), should take on Nancy's website and watch this all important Worlds. I will watch in LA, more for what the top skaters need to do to win the Olys in the following year. For some ridiculous reason, fans insists the Olys mean more. Still, it's nice to get a Worlds medal. Isn't it?

Joe

 

[Tonichelle]

It is tough when you have to watch the $$...

with me it's normally one passion or another once a year. This year it was skating, last year it was Disney... 09 will be Disney again.... and so on...

I have a friend who lives in the area and she's debating going or not, because of the ticket cost of the lower section... it just doesn't make sense that it is SO MUCH MORE than prior worlds competitions.