I bought tickets in person at the Lawlor events center at UNR, which saved me a $5.75 fee PER TICKET for buying them online. I understand paying an extra buck for buying a movie ticket online, but a $5.75 fee PER TICKET is insulting, especially for those coming from out of town who have little choice but to buy their tickets online. Good thing I can get to Lawlor on my lunch hour, right? Here's an idea: make the cost of the tickets an extra buck or two if you really need the revenue that badly. Is this the Reno Rodeo, or American Airlines?
Our tickets were for opening night of the Reno Rodeo last night, and we saw what we could of it. The show starts at 7:00 PM, so we thought we were OK leaving our house in South Reno at 6:00 PM. It would give us some time to check out the vendors before the show starts.
Unfortunately they had traffic so completely screwed up that it took us NINETY MINUTES to get there. Traffic was backed up all the way onto the freeway, and we witnessed several near-misses between cars trying to exit the freeway for the Rodeo with those trying to merge onto I-80 from Wells St. It was a really dangerous situation caused by the Reno Rodeo's lack of proper planning. One young father got out of his car on the Wells Street exit ramp and carried his 2 year old over the jersey barrier and into the bushes so he could go to the bathroom. The traffic was at a dead stop, so he didn't even have to run to catch up to his car after his kid was finished.
After driving all the way around the block...very slowly, I might add...a very nice attendant by the parking lot we were circling told us that due to security, they had parking reduced to one entrance. However, they did not have it properly marked and the people who were supposed to be guiding traffic toward the parking lot were chatting with each other and not doing their jobs.
So after passing the VIP and disabled parking entrance, the security-only entrance and the contestants-only entrance (all of which were very clearly marked) we missed the regular-slobs-like-us entrance, which was not clearly marked AT ALL. There also did NOT seem to be any additional security measures that we could see...nice try, guys. We ended up parking in a back alley near the freeway and walking about 1/2 mile to the venue. How's that secure?
We discovered an additional reason for the ridiculous and dangerous traffic backup: parking is $7. Not $5, or $10, but a weird amount in the middle that requires the poor attendant to make change at almost every transaction. Here's an idea: add another $2.50 to the price of a ticket and make parking FREE. It's what they do at ski resorts and amusement parks in order to get large numbers of people into the venue quickly to spend their money. It's a really easy fix that would make everybody happy, keep traffic moving, and perhaps prevent a deadly accident on the freeway nearby. Also, why have only one or two parking attendants...why not 5 or 6? For an event that will be attended by THOUSANDS of people, it makes sense to invest in a little bit of logistics, right?
We missed the opening ceremony completely and ended up watching about 30 minutes of bull riding (which was great), the mutton busting (which was adorable) and then the show was over. What we saw of the show was great, and why I gave it two stars instead of one. We have come to the show before and are really glad that it is so well attended, but with the rate that Reno is growing, the planners really need to anticipate the crowds that are going to show up.
I'd love to come back and have a chance to enjoy the show, but last night's experience really bummed us out. If you live in Reno, I would recommend leaving yourself at least 2 hours to get there. If you are coming from out of town, good luck! read more