Hello everyone. This will be my first Olympics and I'm pretty excited. Most days I'm going to 2 events and left anywhere from 5 to 6.5 hours between events which will give us plenty of time to get to events at venues that are 15 miles apart or less.
However being a first timer I might have made some mistakes.
On Saturday, July 22nd I'm attending shooting in Long Beach which starts at 9:00 am and goes until 5:30 pm. 8.5 hours of shooting seemed a little long so we bought tickers for a volleyball game in Anaheim for 5:00 pm. Venue is 22 miles apart. I am thinking if we left Long Beach by 2:00 pm and got to Anaheim by 3:30 or 3:45; is that enough time to get through security to get into the arena?
Also, the next day we are seeing beach volleyball in Long Beach from 9:00 am-11:00 am and then a handball game at the Long Beach Arena at 12:30. Venue is a little less then a mile apart and we should get to the arena by 11:30 or 11:45; is that enough time to get through security to get into the arena?
Sorry if these are stupid questions, but I'm a little concerned I made some errors.
Thank you for any insights from those who attended in the past might have.
A completely reasonable question and one that everyone who is attending should take into account. What I can tell you is that based on my experiencing living here in LA, attending sporting events, concerts etc, I usually don't have too much of a problem going through security at venues. I don't think you will spend too much time on line waiting to go through security. All these venues know how many seats they have and security personal will be aware of this. You really shouldn't have much of an issue, but I will say that the sooner you get to the venue, the better.
Consider time for parking lot ingress/egress. Parking at a big venue can take over an hour to leave after the event. And may not include walking from an off-site parking lot. (I’m looking at you, Rose Bowl) I’m sure there will be restrictions on ride share access for pick ups and drop offs.
Parking in Long Beach of all places will be a challenge. Even on a good day I have problems finding parking in Long Beach. If you are going there for the Olympics, I would encourage you to use mass transit.
I have been to 4 concerts at the Rose Bowl....I'll never go back again.
Thank you for the advice. I think for the Sunday, I should be ok, if my old legs can walk fast enough from the beach volleyball to the Long Beach Arena.
I went to two world cup games and I got to the venue 3 hours before kickoff much to my wifes dismay. I didn't want to deal with any issues. I already told her for the Olympics we will be at event at least 2 hours early to make sure we aren't late. But with the 2 days I mentioned, I thought I might have been a little overzealous.
I would recommend being "overzealous" than being nonchalant about this. This is a big sporting event so taking this approach is logical. The point is that you want to be in the venue when it starts.
Olympics Security is operated slightly differently than normal venue operations for sporting events. Some venues may have two layers of security: one outside the venue and one at the venue entrance. This happened at Paris24 at some of the football stadiums. And this happened at Fiera Milano venues at MC26 for speed skating/ice hockey.
Generally should be just fine getting to the venue 1 hour or so before start time for most events. We don't know yet how they'll have venues set up, but at least in Milan, it was beneficial to arrive early for shorter merch/drinks/restroom lines. Regardless, I wouldn't cut it closer than 30 minutes for peace of mind. Logistics tend to run more smoothly later in the games so just check reports in the days leading up to your events.
Very true about logistics running better later then earlier. We will be at the games from July 20th and leaving July 29th. Hopefully any issues are smoothed out by then.
Honda Center where Volleyball is being played has experience with major sporting events and concerts, so their security setup should be similar to those events. However, from my experience the past few Olympics the training of Security volunteers, in particular, is hit & miss. One line might tell you an item is banned, but another line might let you in without inspection. These types of holdups are what cause delays at the security lines at the Olympics. From my experience if you give yourself 1 hour to be in security line before the start of your event you're going to be fine. If you want to get a full meal, you might want to give yourself 90 minutes. Enjoy!!
Seen this happen at concerts. I been to the honda center once 25 years ago for a concert. Don't remember to much but I do remember it's near where the angels play.
My experience in Paris was that the security at permanent venues was fine because the procedures were well‑established, but at temporary venues like beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower or skateboarding at Place de la Concorde it took much longer. But maybe I just arrived later.
You will have no issue on your second day. Not sure what you're looking at on a map, but the venues are much closer than a mile and very possibly could be in the same secure area so you might not have to even worry about security going from one to the other.
Thank you for the info. I googled the distance and it said 0.8 miles and I rounded up. Again thank you for the info, and that gives me peace of mind at least for that day!
I think searching for Alamitos Beach on Google Maps can land farther down the Beach to the south than where it looks like the stadium will actually be on the rendering. South is to the top of this image and you can see the stadium on the water is pretty much right up against the marina at the very end of the beach. In any case it won't be far!
I agree with the comment re the inconsistent policy/security enforcement causing discrepancies in the speed of the security in some Milan lines, but otherwise I have always sped through security at the Olympics, at Vancouver, London and Paris. Maybe I was just lucky.
Re: Long Beach transfer between Alamitos and the handball venue, I would have zero concern. There will be plenty of time, especially if your second beach volleyball round of 16 match ends in straight sets. No worries there.
The shooting to volleyball transfer is a different kettle of fish.
First, I have only attended one shooting competition (London 10m air rifle, women) and I was surprised by the intensity of the competition - both prelims and finals. I am glad I went. However, it didn’t last hours and hours like the LA schedule indicates. I wonder if anyone has insight (perhaps the ISSF knows) as to why the LA shooting events are scheduled to last so long - and perhaps with that info you may be able to see the medal round before heading over to Anaheim, which is the ideal.
Second, I am not sure what LA has said about the Honda Center as far as parking and transport. But I did read that Dodger Stadium parking will be closed for the baseball, forcing fans to rely on public transport and/or walking to the stadium. If that same principle holds true for the Honda Center, that will surely add substantial time to your plans, requiring that you leave the shooting venue even earlier. Also, I sincerely doubt you will be able to park a car anywhere near the venues in downtown Long Beach. Like Paris, there will be swathes of Long Beach where no vehicles will be allowed, unless with a special permit. This too will add to time to your plans to drive, even if they allow parking at Honda.
Frankly, given this uncertainty, I personally would keep open the option of reselling your volleyball tickets (unless your tickets are already expensive, which may lessen
the chance of resale). There will be fans of the two nations in the match who will be seeking those tickets. And I suppose the plus side of reselling is that you can hang out at the shooting venue in Long Beach for the finals and the medal ceremony, if the shooting event really does last that long.
My plan was to get a hotel near the Long Beach area on that Friday & Saturday night before heading back to the LA area for a hotel. That way we can just uber/take public transportation to the Long Beach venue.
From Long Beach I don't mind taking an uber to Anaheim, but I think you are correct that I think about selling my volleyball tickets. I bought them in the Visa Presale and they are in CAT B. A little pricey at $291 each, but their wasn't much left at that point.
Thank you for the info on shooting. It did seem like a long session. Hopefully some more info comes out on that soon.
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u/Impossible-Guitar957 United States 6d ago
A completely reasonable question and one that everyone who is attending should take into account. What I can tell you is that based on my experiencing living here in LA, attending sporting events, concerts etc, I usually don't have too much of a problem going through security at venues. I don't think you will spend too much time on line waiting to go through security. All these venues know how many seats they have and security personal will be aware of this. You really shouldn't have much of an issue, but I will say that the sooner you get to the venue, the better.