Planning a trip for Twins games?

I am planning on bringing 2 young grandsons, ages 9 and 7, to the Twins games July 28th and 29th, playing the Pirates. Both boys are big Twins fans. I HATE big city traffic. Looking for suggestions on where to stay south or around ball park that won’t have me stressed out in traffic. The 28th is a night game, I assume traffic may be an issue, and the 29th is a noon start. We will arrive early to ballpark for the experience and hopefully some autographs. We will just being staying overnight the 28th. What or where do you recommend me staying? Price really doesn’t matter for convenience, my wife will also be along.

Thanks in advance. Brent

If you don’t like big city traffic I would recommend staying somewhere around the Mall of America and take the light rail down to Minneapolis for the game. It does get busy right before and after the game but if you leave a little early for autographs you should miss that going in and hang out for an hour after the game and the after game rush should be over by then. No parking fee’s and they drop you right by the stadium and there’s all kinds of hotel options around the mall.

I second the light rail. Many Hotels right in that area as Hunting said.

Have you or them been to Target Field before?

Dan wrote:

Have you or them been to Target Field before?

The boys have.

What hotels are by the rail system? I assume this is downtown? Is the walk far from rail to hotels? My wife and I are concerned with the night game and being down town late in the night.

I live in SE MN so I always drive there and back each time, so not really familiar with the hotels in the area and definitely not the light rail.

I was just asking if you or they had been there because if not I highly recommend, as you mentioned already, getting to the ballpark as early as gates allow. They really got it right when they built that field. Get there early and walk around all the concourse areas and see the park from all different angles. Just a real great place. Quite a variety of food too, so I’d recommend taking a look at a lot of different options for food before committing to one.

The hotels I was talking about are in Bloomington and not in downtown. They do not have light rail from the hotel. You could stay by the mall and drive to the mall and park there for free and then take the light rail into downtown. There are a lot of hotels within 5 miles of the mall. I would google Bloomington hotels around the Mall of America and you should come up with many choices. If the kids are old enough, there is a nice hotel right across the highway from the mall that has a sweet waterpark in it that the boy’s may enjoy. I wouldn’t rule out Eagan for hotels too if you go the light rail route from the mall. Eagan is just over the Cedar Avenue bridge from the mall (3-4 miles). The light rail has a stop right at the mall.

There are a TON of hotel options for you both downtown (walking distance from the stadium) and by MOA (walking distance to the light rail). Also, I would like to add you have little to NOTHING to be afraid of downtown after a twins game. There are cops and people everywhere, and I have never seen or heard of any issues. The Waterpark of America (I think is what it’s called) is near the Mall of America and would be ideal for the boys I’d guess, then you could drive to the mall, hop on the train and avoid all that big city traffic.

Embassy Suites is right on the rail line in Bloomington. Easy on/off 494 or Cedar Ave. Not sure on how many stops along the way, but gotta be faster/safer than driving !!! http://www.hilton.com/search/es/us/mn/minneapolis/msp/0/0/0/0/0/50?wt.srch=1

Here’s a map of the light rail so you can see where it goes and how far each hotel is from the rails. It looks like Crowne Plaza is right by the Embassy Suites and American Blvd light rail station too.

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I would echo the guys saying find a hotel by the Mall of America. Most of the hotels near the Mall have shuttle busses going back and forth from the hotel to the Mall, so you don’t even have to drive again after you get to the hotel.

Hotels I’d recommend looking at:

The Grandparent of the Year Option – Radisson Mall of America! Nice hotel, very close to Mall, and has the attached Waterpark of America that the kids will freak out over.

Bonus: Hotel guests get exclusive access to the water park every morning from opening to 11:00. Totally awesome perk because then there are no crowds and no lines for anything for 3 hours, so the kids can go nuts.

Really cool modern hotel with great Mall access: Radisson Blu. Literally attached to the Mall. Upscale option, very modern, but when I’ve stayed there there are still plenty of families with kids staying.

The Crowne Plaza is decent, so is the Embassy Suites although the Embassy is very close the airport/flight path. Really, any of the airport hotels or any hotel near the MOA will do.

As others have said, don’t worry about downtown before/after a game. The light rail station is literally attached to Target Field so you don’t even have to walk a block to get from the train to the stadium.

After, there will be crowds and lots of police presence both downtown and on the light rail for hours after the game. You’ll need to be a little patient in waiting for a train to go back to the MOA, but that’s a small price to pay.

Grouse

Thanks for the suggestions. A lot of the motels are booked. I have reservation at the Embassy Suites in Bloomington on American Blvd. They will shuttle us to MOA and we will take the rail to the game.

GO PIRATES!!

Have fun ! That’s a nice hotel, I go to alot of Chrysler Meetings/Training there and they always have good food and it is clean ! (Go TWINS… I’m with the kids!)

I took two grandkids and their dad to a Twins game this spring. First time in about 35 years for me. I was flabbergasted at the price of tickets and especially concessions. With parking was about a $250 outing as the kids were hungry. And we sat in the left field bleachers, not behind home plate.

Taking the light rail is a good choice. I live a few miles south of MOA and anytime I have to travel DT for games or events I now just drive a couple miles to the light rail and hop on that to go DT. I HATE traffic and this solves all the problems. It can get packed before and after games. Go early and you will be fine getting on to head DT. After the game, I would recommend either leaving a tad early to get on it or just sit in your seats or walk around DT to kill some time and let the crowds clear up.