Fans Visiting Vancouver - Information.

[Beaner]

Arena Name
Pacific Coliseum, located at the PNE Fairgrounds.
Arena opens 1 hr. prior to game start time.

Seating:
Lower bowl is 7,000, with the upper bowl open it seats 16,000 apx.
Visting Team Defends Section A twice, Giants Defend Section N Twice.
Benches are sections G/H. G is behind the visitors bench.
Penalty boxs are sections U/T. Section U is behind visitors box.
Upper bowl sections are designated by numbers, 110,111 etc, Lower Bowl by Letters.

Ticket Prices:
Golds, 18$,
Reds, 16$.
Lots of scalpers around the arena, never had to buy from them but, if you want you can get some from them, or thru Ticketmaster or the Gaints Box Office.
Lately the team has been averaging about 9,000 fans give or take. The Arena Drapes off the unused sections.
There are a number of different deals click the link for details
http://www.vancouvergiants.com/tickets.htm


Parking:
6.50$
Lot 7, the one to the North of the coliseum and the closest, is reserved for Season Ticket Holders.
I recommend Lot 9 - Park as close to the Ticket Booth as possible, as a LOT of cars exit form this Lot as it goes straight to the Highway. The Extra time spent walking to the rink will save you 1/2 hr to 45 mins. getting out of there depending on the crowd.
You can buy parking in driveways from some residents usually about 5$. All the street parking near the rink is Restricted to residents only.
Traffic can get very congested very quickly around the PNE, I recommend trying to ge to the rink about a 1/2hr prior to the game. CKNW 980 does Traffic reports every ten minutes, if you are curious.
A couple maps can be found here.
http://www.pne.bc.ca/events/gethere/index.html

Food and Spirits:
Standard Arena Fair, gee they have White Spots right inside, I wonder why?
Beer sold by tickets, and you are allowed to drink in the stands, except in the Family Sections. I believe the Family Sectiona are Sections L and Y. I reccomend buying all your beer drinking tickets in advance as the lineups form fast. All beer sales stop after the 2nd Intermission.
All smoking outside, you are NOT allowed to take your beer outside with you when you go for a Smoke. If you are really sensitive to Cigarette smoke you may want to stay away from Section A,B,Y,Z as the smoking area is right near these sections and the smoke has a tendency to blow in from outside into these areas.

Concourse Movement and Flow
On nights with the large Crowds (10k+), the concourse gets filled up really quickly and the lineups for eveything are insane. However, you can head downstairs to get your beer and visit the little hockey fans room. There is usually no-one down there at all. Even though there is a large sign above the staircase saying Beer, people dont seem to believe it. The Staircases to downstairs are on the Penalty Box side of the Rink. Sections V/U.

Oher stuff inside:
Souvenirs - Right by the main entrance.
Bank machines - Multiple units around the rink. They are "cash in a box" machines, so expect service charges. The lineup for it gets real bad real quick.

Accomodation
Holiday Inn North Vancouver - About 10 mins. Driving from the Rink, just have to cross the bridge.
http://www.hinorthvancouver.com

Holiday Inn Express - Right by the rink, a 5 minute walk from the main entrance.
http://www.hievancouver.com/

Things To do Around the Rink
To be honest, not much. Head downtown.

Signage, Noisemakers, Flags etc.
To be honest the PNE is very good about allowing all of this stuff into the Arena, they seem to allow everything and anything into the rink as long as it isn't an obvious weapon. I havent heard of anyone being told they cant bring things into the arena. I do believe they make people check Backpacks etc. Just use a bit of common sense with your signage etc.

I'll update, with more info as I think of it.


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[Kassian]

Good post. Lots of good info.

[Rookie]

I am hoping that someone can give the best route to take. Going to a game next week and have tickets already. Thanks in advance. PS. not a big city boy.

[Beaner]

Ok, this may not be the quickest way but it will be easy, with little chance of getting lost.

From the Airport

*Head East towards Arthur Lang Bridge. Stay in the right hand lane.
*While on the Bridge take the SW Marine Drive Exit, heading east. NOTE: For some strange reason I think the Exit is labelled something besides SW Marine Drive, but whatever it is, you want to go EAST, towards Cambie street.

NOTE: SW Marine Drive automagically turns into SE Marine Drive. Just past Cambie. Its one of those FUN? Vancouver things

*Keep driving past Cambie St. and Main St.
*Once past Main, get into the Left Hand Lane.
*Take a Left on FRASER Street ( North )
*Head North on Fraser about 20 odd blocks, You will want to be in the Right hand Lane.
*Take a right at 49th Avenue (east) and Get into the Left hand Lane.
*Drive about 10 Blocks and Take a left (north)at KNIGHT Street. It's your next MAJOR Road - 6 lanes. Its a major trucking route N/S for the city.

*You're going to be on Knight for a while, stay in the Centre lane, that way you wont get caught in left hand turn messes.

NOTE: Knight automagically turns into Clarke, just past 15 Av. See more fun.

*Keep driving along, once you get past 1st Avenue you are starting to get "Close"
*Keep driving past Veneables, next major road.
*Keep driving thru the next major street. HASTINGS, but be in the Right hand lane. Do NOT go over the bridge, go to the right of it.
*Stay right and take a right onto POWELL St. You can only go left or right at POWELL.
*Keep driving along Powell, past Commercial Drive, Victoria Drive.
*After Victoria, you're close to your next big decision.
*One you start going up the big hill, keep to the right.
*You want to go straight thru the Intersection of Nanaimo and Powell. Watch the Signs, There are 2 Left Turn lanes here! Go STRAIGHT!

* You are now on Dundas Street Automagically again. Keep driving straight till you can't go straight no more, and Take a left at RENFREW.

Dundas area is a Residential Area, FYI lots of Houses. No Street parking!

*Wow look the RINK! Find somewhere to Park and go get a Beer, you earned it. The 1st Lot you think you can park at you can't. Season Ticket holders only. Goto the second one. If that lot is full follow my directions from above to get to the next lot.

Depending on the time of day you are heading to the rink, The trip can take about 40 mins give or take.

Also, as a point of reference, Avenues run East West, Streets Run North South, and Drives are just there to play havoc with tourists.

On another note, Vancouver drivers can be a little..umm...aggressive. Especially during Rush hour. Which starts around 4pm and keeps going till 6:30ish.

Hope that helps.

[thankyougiants]

There is also one other ATM that I am aware of... just around the corner from the souvineer shop!

[langdak]

There is also one other ATM that I am aware of... just around the corner from the souvineer shop!

There is 2 in that general area

One by the souvenir shop and one about 20 feet away by the womens washroom/media staircase behind section C

[Soundy]

I notice there's no info here about getting to the Coliseum by transit. Unfortuantely, it's not quite as convenient as access to BC Place and GM Place, both within a few minutes' walk of SkyTrain Stadium Station, but it's still not bad.

If you have ready access to SkyTrain from wherever you're staying, whether directly, by SeaBus, or by regular bus, ride to 29th Avenue Station (Expo Line) or Renfrew Station (Millennium Line), and get on the #16 Downtown bus - it runs fairly regularly straight up Renfrew and then turns west down Hastings. Hop off just before it turns, and follow the crowds northbound across Hastings and down to the PNE main gate.

If you're coming in from the Tri-Cities area (Port Moody/Coquitlam/Port Coquitlam), you can either get the #151 or #152 bus from Coquitlam Station (the West Coast Express station) to the Lougheed Town Center SkyTrain station and take the Millennium Line to Renfrew Station (see above), or take the #160 from the Coquitlam or Port Moody WCE stations; it goes along the Barnet Highway and onto Hastings Street, through Burnaby and right past the PNE.

From the North Shore (North and West Vancouver), find the appropriate bus route to the SeaBus station, then ride the SeaBus across to Waterfront Station, and take the SkyTrain to 29th Ave.

Complete route information and schedules are available at Translink's website at http://www.translink.bc.ca - you can put in the address you're starting from, the address you're going to ("Renfrew and Hastings" should work for a destination), and what time you want to leave or arrive, and it will give you a stop-by-stop itinerary suitable for printing You can also call them for route information (number on the website).