All-Visiting From Out of Town/Ticket Thread for the Washington Capitals
Hello all, I'm moving to DC DuPont circle area to live with my girlfriend from NY. I need your help, I play ice and roller hockey and was wondering where the beer leagues in DC were and which would you recommend over others? Thank you for your help.
There are a ton of local rink in-house adult leagues...Kettler, Rockville, Laurel, Ashburn, Mt. Vernon, Cabin John, etc..(ice hockey that is..I don't roller so maybe others will chime in).
Kettler is probably your best bet given your location. It's quick to get to and very nice. The winter leagues are wrapping up in a couple of weeks and then the spring/summer league will start sometime in april, iirc.
There's actually 2 rinks in Reston if you include the outdoor rink at Reston Town Center. Not fit for hockey, but a great place to skate if you just have to get on some ice.
There's actually 2 rinks in Reston if you include the outdoor rink at Reston Town Center. Not fit for hockey, but a great place to skate if you just have to get on some ice.
Yeah, and there is the rink by the gallery downtown,. I actually work 2 blocks from the town center and live a couple miles away.
Yeah, and there is the rink by the gallery downtown,. I actually work 2 blocks from the town center and live a couple miles away.
I can see Town Center out my bedroom window, and I remember when they first built it (which dates me a bit). It's not a great rink aside from the fact that it is public skate all the time.
All-Visiting From Out of Town/Ticket Thread for the Washington Capitals
WORK IN PROGRESS
Ok, work in progress and definitely going to require feedback and edits, but an attempt to pull information from the other thread to the front and it needed a reboot anyway. So here it goes...
Post 1: The Overview (this post) - Please note that there are many links in these first few posts. Hopefully they are all working links. Please use the links to find out more information as your question may be answered.
Benches: Section 100 side
Penalty Boxes: Section 111 side
Capitals shoot twice - 105/106 end
Visitors shoot twice - 116/117 end
Seating: 100s, Club, 400s, Suites
Club Seats since the question was asked several times in the old thread: Club level seats are a nice view for watching hockey; most season ticket Club seats come with the Acela symbol on the ticket, which allows one access to the Acela Club/Restaurant, but once inside bar and restaurant, money required, it isn't free (restaurant is all you can eat; based on history: pricey and mixed reviews); my understanding is buying a club seat online via ticketmaster, the ticket will not include the acela club symbol and will not include access unless you are purchasing via exchange from a STH; not sure what happens in those situations.
The Caps have practices and most of the pregame skates at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex, located at Ballston Common Mall (on top of parking garage) in Arlington VA.
Also, sometimes visiting teams practice there if they stay an extra day or arrive a day early.
If you don't happen to have computer access and are wondering about practice information, people have posted before that the number to call is 703-243-8855.
Last edited by sk84fun_dc: 09-30-2010 at 11:06 AM.
Getting to DC:
Train: Union Station/Amtrak - Direct trip on Metro from Union Station
Airports: Reagan National (DCA) - Can take the Metro; Washington Dulles (IAD); Baltimore Washington (BWI)
Bars/Restaurants
Everyone has their preferences and there are a lot of options in the Gallery Place/Chinatown area...so an alphabetical listing by general category of places people have recommended in the previous thread. Again most of these are included in the Downtown DC site linked above.
Bar Louie
Clyde's
District Chophouse and Brewery
Fado Irish Pub
Gordon and Biersch
Greene Turtle (attached to the arena)
Irish Channel, in the Red Roof Inn at 5th & G
La Tasca
Matchbox
RFD
and more
Quicker Bites
BBQ place on H (TX? name?)
Chipotle
Chop't
Five Guys
Fuddruckers
McDonalds
Potbelly's
Subway
and more
Last edited by sk84fun_dc: 09-29-2010 at 10:04 PM.
This section could go on and on and on. There are a ton of tourist sites if you are visiting DC, but people log in and ask. Everyone has their preferences/favorites, so here is some basic information and links.
Some sites in the city require timed tickets if you want to do more than just see the site from the outside and most, if not all, now have options to purchase tickets in advance online if you want timed tickets (for example, the US Capitol, Ford's Theater). The ticket itself is free, you are paying the service fees to buy it in advance. There are likely some sites that explain this better than I can typing quickly here, but for example, if you want a tour of Ford's Theater or to go in and up the Washington Monument, you need a ticket. If you just want to walk around the outside, no ticket needed.
Also, additional timed tickets are handed out same day on a first come first serve basis. Some of the sites require all in your party to be there to get the tickets; some let one person pick up a few tickets. If you have an interest in a site, check the Check the National Park Service website in advance to see what your options are.
Museum of Natural History
Museum of American History
National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum (immediately across from Verizon Center)
Air and Space Museum (one on the Mall, newer/bigger one Udvar-Hazy Center out by Dulles Airport; only cost is for parking at U-H near Dulles)
and more, see the link above
National Archives including the permanent exhibit of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence.
Sports Bar/Restaurant Information for Game Viewing
(note: A list of some of the arena area bars/restaurants is listed in an earlier post; this is a list of sports bars where one can hope to have a tv turned to a hockey game in the area; some have NHL Center Ice; some have Versus; some have NHL Network; call ahead to confirm)
see Caps on Tap Partners with information and links to the participating individual restaurants/bars
The catch-all - a space to add other useful information as it is posted in the thread. There is some information in the old thread about areas of the city. This was already too long so I left that stuff off for now.
If you are visiting from out of town and coming to a hockey game at Verizon Center rooting for the other team, from this one fan, welcome and I hope this information helps. OT: I hope the only bad part of your visit will be seeing your team lose the hockey game. If you are a Capitals fan coming from out of town, Go Caps!
Last edited by sk84fun_dc: 09-30-2010 at 11:11 AM.
Ok, work in progress and definitely going to require feedback and edits, but an attempt to pull information from the other thread to the front and it needed a reboot anyway given the old thread covered 3 1/2 years of questions and answers.
Note: I'm not thrilled with the formatting so if anyone has any suggestions or a mod wants to take another shot at this, enjoy.
Feedback/Edits/Additions/Corrections...have at it.
My wife and I are going to visit her family this Christmas in D.C. We were looking at ticket prices for the caps on ticket master and the cheapest we could find for Dec 21 (devils) were 60 bucks and for Dec 23 (pens) were 95. Is there a place to find cheaper tickets or are they that expensive because of the holiday season or are they always that expensive? Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Ticket prices have increased, but the Caps also have a tiered pricing strategy, where some opponents are more expensive to go see compared to certain other teams. The games all sell out now too.
Do you guys have a season ticket holders ticket selling thread? I'm looking into getting tickets for the game vs. the Rangers on 2/25/11 and I'm shocked to see upper deck seats going for well over $100 on TM. Does anybody here have anything for sale?
If we did have things for sale (and most typically don't on these boards) they usually are day of type of sales.
Not to mention, while I'm not 100% you're a Rags fan, since you list NJ as your your location, I don't know that Caps fans on these boards are going to want to sell to you. While Rangers fans aren't exactly our biggest rivals, many who make the trip down (or are local) have been a pain in the years past, so I know I wouldn't sell to you.
If we did have things for sale (and most typically don't on these boards) they usually are day of type of sales.
Not to mention, while I'm not 100% you're a Rags fan, since you list NJ as your your location, I don't know that Caps fans on these boards are going to want to sell to you. While Rangers fans aren't exactly our biggest rivals, many who make the trip down (or are local) have been a pain in the years past, so I know I wouldn't sell to you.
Fair enough, but I assure you I'm just about the easiest to deal with sports fan in the world. My post was pointed more towards how shocked I was at the cost of tickets down there though. I thought we had it bad up here...
It's not about you to deal with per say, but generally, now that we can sell out consistently, most prefer to avoid bringing in other fans when there are Caps fans who will buy them.
As for the prices, they've gone up significantly, but they're also higher for certain match ups. the Rangers would be one.
First off, this is a great thread. Very informative.
Anyway, I have just moved to DC from Philadelphia (and I'm a Coyotes fan, so swap out your antipathy for indifference) and am trying to get to know the area. I figured this might be a good place to get some tips.
I'm living in Mount Pleasant and working in Foggy Bottom, and I feel comfortable enough to get to whatever part of the city might have something cool going on. I'm open to whatever recommendations you might have.
In particular, I'm on a hunt for a decent record store. I checked out the two on 18th in Adams Morgan (Smash and Crooked Beat), but I found them both pretty lacking, though more in terms of what I was looking for as opposed to overall inventory. I'm willing to grant that my tastes are relatively obscure and I've been spoiled by living near both the Princeton Record Exchange and Wuxtry Records in the past eight months. Still, I'm sure there are good places to buy vinyl in this town. I just don't know where they are.
