Traveling to Omaha

O

orangecat

1,000+ Posts
Never been to Omaha, gonna go one of these years, especially if it looks like the horns have a decent chance. Just started playing on the expedia website, air fare, hotel + car starts at $1515, this is leaving on June 12th(DFW) and coming back on the 24th. This is for one person.

Location is not good but it does include a car. Also, hotels close to the park say arrival not allowed on that day.

Curious, I'm guessing most of you drive? How long is the drive? Do you go ahead and make reservations for the whole 12 days and then cut short your stay if Texas bows out early? I'm thinking when I go I probably want to stay the whole time, but not sure.

How about tickets? Do you even try to buy whole packages or do you just buy individual game tickets?
 
If someone can chime in on this I would appreciate too...

My business partner's wife is from Lincoln... Can one of the Omaha NCAA baseball geniuses post a few tips... So I can figger out if it is worth going up..?
 
Okay since I posted the question I have done enough internet research to suggest that the key might be finding a motel with a decent price, not too terribly far away from Omaha. What do you experts think about staying in Council Bluffs, Iowa?

Looks pretty close, might be some decent deals to be had there. Since the main focus are the games, I'm thinking as long as it is reasonable, say less than 45 minutes one way, location doesn't have to be too much of a factor. Also, you are traveling during non rush hour to get to almost all of the games.

Other questions for the Omaha experts:
1. How many days off do you normally take? Let's say you are pretty die hard fan, do you skip the first elimination game if it's not Texas?
2. Are there enough other attractions to interest you? Horse racing, the zoo, what else?
 
Some teams and fans will be leaving town in the first few days which will open up hotel rooms and ticket possibilities. On the other hand, as teams win, their fans start coming in to town. In 2004 it seemed that the number of Longhorn fans more than doubled for the final series.
 
We've been several times.

The first weekend will be the toughest for tickets and for hotel. Right now, trying to book hotels for the championship series will look impossible.

However, as teams get eliminated, hotel rooms open up. In the middle part of the week, you'll be able find a hotel room for the championship series.

Yes, staying in Council Bluffs is fine. It is directly across the river from Omaha and is often much closer to Rosenblatt than other hotels that you can find. That is also where the closest Sam's is, for those of you looking to stock up for tailgating.

Tickets can be had through scalpers, just like any other event. Prices vary by how good the ticket is, but it doesn't get crazy.
 
It is somewhat hard to fly there, and then you may need a rental car for a long time. Driving is not that bad, but it depends on your work, dollars available, time available, etc.
You can leave Austin Thursday afternoon and drive to the north side of Oklahoma City where there are several decent motels (discounting the fact they are in Oklahoma, that is), get up at 6 a.m. and make the Friday game in Omaha. This is tiring, but you will recover in time for the second game.
Some people like to attend the other games, some just the Longhorn contests.
There's the horse races, the zoo (a must), the Fontinelle Forest (nice hike), a museum over in Council Bluffs that's interesing about the westward trails, great steakhouses, what else?
If you didn't make a hotel reservation 10 months ago, you will have trouble getting one around the ballpark, but staying out in the west part of town is not that bad. The town isn't that big.
There's the Holiday Inn and Sheraton and several others out on 72nd Street, I believe, and some smaller motels.
Council Bluffs is closer.
As teams lose and go home, lots of hotel rooms open up.
I don't think you can buy a package ticket, because these are all held by people who renew them year after year. I used to have one, but eventually let it drop. The majority of the stadium is held by owners of the Omaha Royals minor league season ticket holders, as I recall, who can buy CWS packages as a priority. So you have to hustle up a ticket for every game, which gets tiresome, but it is great to go up there for the CWS.
 
I used to travel to Omaha for work 20-30 times a year and we always stayed at one of the casinos in Council Bluffs, which is right by the airport. Driving from there to the ballpark is (from memory) only 5-10 minutes or so, all on the highway, and you're not too far from the Old Market area downtown. Great to go there during the CWS, not so bueno any other time of the freakin' year...
 
There's a Harrahs in Council Bluffs that is 10 minutes (if even that far) from Rosenblatt.
 
Another good attraction just outside Omaha on I-80 is the Strategic Air and Space Museum (aka the Strategic Air Command Museum). Omaha is the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command, so the museum has lots of good military stuff, including lots of jets, all indoors. Here is their web site: The Link
 
Lots of parking across I-80 to the north on 10th & 9th Streets, then walk across 10th St. I think it is closed to traffic during the CWS. So take 13th, right on Frederick and you'll see the locals hawking parking in their yards. I think you'll feel pretty safe there. If you are bring a cooler of lots of crap, bring a hand truck or little red wagon and bicycle cable lock to lock them up when you're in the stadium.
Lots of trading (scalping) of tickets around the main entrance and at the commercial booths. If you're used to paying for football tickets, then even good scalped seats will seem cheap. Tickets will be easier to come by if KSU & KU do not make the tourney. KSU fans especially would come flocking over the border.
 
Just thought of a twist that could help reduce expenses.

Check out this scenario. You know all teams are playing in at least two games. If you plan to go not taking into consideration if the horns are going, you could plan on being there for the meaty portion of the games, IOW, you could skip the first two days, arriving Monday and that way you are seeing the most important games.

You do take a chance on missing great games, but they are first round games.

I'm thinking the best baseball in Omaha are the winner's bracket games, and the loser's bracket games.

Attending starting with the winner's bracket games could cut down your time pressure as far as driving is concerned, and lower your bills.

I'm guessing that since the 'horn fan population grows as Omaha goes on, some people use a similar strategy and wait until Texas won one or even two games?

If you wait until Texas has won two games, does that have you coming to just the finals?
 
Try booking at one of the casinos in council bluffs, IA. It is about a $5 cab ride to rosenblatt, so you'd save on the car, and there are good deals, especially if you have a players card from the harrah's family of casinos.
 
The year we beat South Carolina was One of my best memories from college. We were just gettnig done with working the longhorn basketball camps. We headed home to watch the semifinal game on TV. when the horns won, me and a couple of buddies who were athletes decided we should drive up for the Championship game. One of my friends was roomates with a couple baseball players so we had tickets and his roomate said we could sleep on their floor at the hotel. So we left that night, drove up to Duncanville and stayed the night at my buddy's parent's house. Woke up early the next morning and drove all the way to Omaha. Only got 1 speeding ticket the entire way (of course I happened to be driving). It took us about 16 hours total. We crashed that night on the floor of one of the player's hotel rooms. I still laugh at the thought of Augie knowing that. Of course we had gone out all night to the casinos and had come in at the crack of dawn. We went to the game that day and had a blast. Omaha is an awesome experience. Especially when your team wins the title.

Funny side story is that I didn't tell my dad I was going to the game. I didn't want him to worry about us 3 college kids driving all night to get to omaha. Well of course the camera finds us at the game because the two guys I was with were UT basketball players. It wasn't 25 seconds before the phone calls started rolling in. My dad was so jealous I was there for the game. My grandma called me cause she was watching the game at work. LOL.

Anyways, we went back to the hotel to celebrate with the team. Then at about midnight we decided to road trip it all the way back to Austin. Let me tell you, that was a long long long drive. And just as a side note, when you get on the Kansas turnpike, make sure you have plenty of gas because there aren't any gas stations for long stretches.

Sorry to bore you guys with that story, but that was definately one of my fondest memories from college. I keep telling myself I am going back some year. It's a great time and great experience.

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If you're a beer aficionado and want to sample a really good array of delicious beers, be sure to go to Old Chicago. This is a chain of beer bars (not a brewpub, sadly) that has the best selection of beers I've ever seen. They have them in several cities, but the only one I've ever been to is in Omaha. It's great.
 
I have been to the CWS 3 times (once as a student and two for work). In 2002, we went for 3 days and ended up staying for all 10 days. We had some shady motel called the Suburban Inn that we payed $29 bucks a night. It was the only hotel we could find in town. This is the same hotel that the college aged mail bomber made some of his bombs. That is there claim to fame. We scored a parking pass at the stadium and hosted many of the players families and athletic staff. We hit it about as hard as you can for 10 straight days and then drove home after the National Championship game.
 
I have been to three CWS' and each time stayed somewhere different. Once outside Omaha in a small town in nebraska (cant honestly remmeber the name), once at a days Inn near the stadium in omaha and once at a Hampton Inn in Council Bluffs. The last time was the chamr and i do remember that right across the river in Iowa are some nice and reasonably priced hotels all within easy distance of Rosenblatt and the casinos. The last two times we went, we actually flew to Des Moines and drove the 2 and 1/2 hours over because we could get much cheaper flights from DFW and cheaper rent a car deals.

Having been to the men's Final Four, two Rose Bowls to watch the Horns and the CWS 3 times to see the Horns including winning the 05 NC; I can say that the CWS is as incredible an event as you can find and while the 06 Rose Bowl will probably forever rate as the greatest sporting event I have been to, the three trips to Rosenblatt with the tailgating, the zoo, the games and the whole atmosphere is as close as could be to the perfect sports trip.
 
OK, final planning for Omaha.

So is there an official Horn Fans tailgate party, and how would one recognize it?


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I didnt read all the responses, but I've been several times. We stayed at the Ameristar Casino in Council Bluffs, and they had a bus that went back and forth across to the stadium and dropped us off right in front.

Our room and food were "free" for the 10 days we stayed each time. Of course, it helped that we had big gamblers in our group. It was truly one of the best times we had in Texas Baseball.

Tickets are very easy to come by.
 
Omaha is a nice city.

Grab a steak at Johnny's Cafe. Good place, probably not renovated since the 60's, but it is an Omaha landmark.

Texanne mentioned Old Chicago. If you eat there, get the pepperoni rolls. They are phenomenal. Famous Dave's BBQ is a couple of doors down. It's a chain, but the BBQ is good. There is also a little Irish Pub/restaurant on the other side of ld Chicago.

Go to the Creighton bookstore and buy a "Peck 'em Jays" shirt. I think they ripped that one off of us, but it's pretty funny. Council Bluffs is a good place to stay.

I am envious of those who are going. Omaha's a friendly town, and there is a fair amount to do. Unfortunately, I'll be up there at the end of the month, after the CWS.

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For anyone who needs a room: I just booked the Magnolia for Sunday night @ $60 on hotwire. It was still showing up at that rate after I booked, so they have at least one room left. It is $189 if booked elsewhere. (Could be less than $60 on priceline, but I wanted to grab the deal on hotwire while I could.)

No deals anything like that for Monday and Tuesday at this time, unfortunately.

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okay, now that teams have started going home and the horns are 2-0, motels open up pretty good, so if someone was holding off on going, I'm guessing they could leave Thursday after work, drive the 13 or so hours, arrive Friday morning sometime between 7 and 10 a.m., find a motel, check in, take a nap, and be ready to go for the Friday night game.

That way, you could miss work Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and possibly Thursday, depending upon if the horns play two or three games next week.

Obviously I don't expect two losses in a row at this point.

I guess only one other question. Does it matter that Arkansas is still in the tourny? Because they are the closest to Omaha, does that affect the amount of rooms available?
 
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