If Bama does play in the Cotton Bowl

[Tide-N-Texas]

As a Dallas resident, wanted to give a few tid bits of info:

The Bad:

1. The neighborhood around the Cotton Bowl makes Legion Field look like it is in Beverly Hills. The condition of the Cotton Bowl makes Legion Field look like a modern state of the art facility.

2. Traffic Parking around the Cotton Bowl stinks at best

3. TT fans(students) are the most obnoxious you have ever met. I have friends who went to Tech and say they wish the student section would self implode. If you thought certain Aubies were trailer trash, wait until you see the students throwing tortillas and stuff.

The Good:

While the neighborhood is the pits, the Dallas PD do an exceptional job of keeping everyone safe. If you are adventerous you can park in someones yard and get some excellent BBQ.

BAMA will be there to win # 10

Spending New Years with 20K+ BAMA fans.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
As far as places to go/stay:

I would recommend staying either downtown in the Central business district, close to the west end (bars, restaurants, etc.) or along US 75/Central Expressway. The Double Tree @ Campbell Center is an excellent hotel near SMU off of US 75. You are also within walking distance of Northpark Mall (keep the wives happy) and about a mile from all the nightlife on Greenville Ave.

The advantage of either location is you could take mass transit to the game. $2.50 round trip. Very easy to use.

I would recommend taking a few hours to see the JFK memorial and 6th St Museum. Downtown near the West End.

 

[Alanbama27]

I would also recommend staying at the Anatole or the Adam's Mark. Both are really nice hotels if you're into upscale hotels and if you make reservations now...you can have New Years Eve dinner in Reunion Tower.

As for fun...My recommedations are either the West End (Very Touristy but still fun) or if you're into the younger scene as Tide -N-Texas mentioned Lower Greenville area is fun as is Deep Ellum! Deep Ellum is where all of the indy music is played and there are A LOT of bars, so you can literally park and walk from bar to bar. It is definitely the youngest area of down from an entertainment standpoint. You'll find the crowd in Deep Ellum to be in their early to late 20's. Lower Greenville will find crowds in their late 20's to early 40's for the most part although lower Greenville does have places that cater to all ages. The west end as mentioned is the most touristy place and you'll find all ages of people there. It is also very close to the JFK exhibit and most places are open during the day as well as night.

 

[DiamondDust]

As a Dallas resident, wanted to give a few tid bits of info:

The Bad:

1. The neighborhood around the Cotton Bowl makes Legion Field look like it is in Beverly Hills. The condition of the Cotton Bowl makes Legion Field look like a modern state of the art facility.

2. Traffic Parking around the Cotton Bowl stinks at best

3. TT fans(students) are the most obnoxious you have ever met. I have friends who went to Tech and say they wish the student section would self implode. If you thought certain Aubies were trailer trash, wait until you see the students throwing tortillas and stuff.

The Good:

While the neighborhood is the pits, the Dallas PD do an exceptional job of keeping everyone safe. If you are adventerous you can park in someones yard and get some excellent BBQ.

BAMA will be there to win # 10

Spending New Years with 20K+ BAMA fans.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
As far as places to go/stay:

I would recommend staying either downtown in the Central business district, close to the west end (bars, restaurants, etc.) or along US 75/Central Expressway. The Double Tree @ Campbell Center is an excellent hotel near SMU off of US 75. You are also within walking distance of Northpark Mall (keep the wives happy) and about a mile from all the nightlife on Greenville Ave.

The advantage of either location is you could take mass transit to the game. $2.50 round trip. Very easy to use.

I would recommend taking a few hours to see the JFK memorial and 6th St Museum. Downtown near the West End.

How far is the Cotton Bowl stadium from the Westlake/Grapevine sections of Dallas?

 

[Alanbama27]

Grapevine and Westlake are West and North of town...it is about 20 minutes (although it depends where in Grapevine or Westlake you are staying) It can be 30 - 45 without traffice (when I say without traffic, I'm talking about slow Dallas Traffic, which is still very busy compared to B'ham) Dallas without traffic (is like B'ham in rush hour) to the Cotton Bowl. With traffic it is 45 to an hour from the Cotton Bowl.

 

[Alanbama27]

To give you a better idea...Grapevine is North on 35E and the Cotton Bowl is just East of Downtown Dallas off of I-30. It is a 15 - 20 minute drive from Grapevine just to get to the 35/635 intersection. At that point there are 3 ways you can get to the Cotton Bowl. The easiest is to follow the signs to 75/45, which will take you just to the loop just North of Downtown...then follow the signs to 30 E and then follow the signs to Fairpark and the Cotton Bowl.

 

[Tide-N-Texas]

If you are looking to stay in the Grapevine area, the DFW UA Alumni Chapter meets at the Hilton Hotel in Grapevine. It is a pretty nice Hotel.

I work in the towers attached to the Double Tree Campbell Center. I have a contact there and have spoke with him about having a "Roll Tide" rate.... He is going to get back to me next week. If anyone thinks they might be interested, you can e-mail me at alabamacottonbowl@yahoo.com The more #'s, the better price.

The Anatole and Adams Mark are both very nice. I have heard the AM is under renovation, may want to check unless you want to hear jack hammers in your dreams....

The view from the top of reunion is awesome! Not a fan of the restaurant but the view IMHO makes the price of the food worth it.

For Steak Lovers, Bob's Steak and Chop House or Smith and Wollensky's are excellent choices.

ROLL TIDE!

alabamacottonbowl@yahoo.com

 

[DiamondDust]

If you are looking to stay in the Grapevine area, the DFW UA Alumni Chapter meets at the Hilton Hotel in Grapevine. It is a pretty nice Hotel.

I work in the towers attached to the Double Tree Campbell Center. I have a contact there and have spoke with him about having a "Roll Tide" rate.... He is going to get back to me next week. If anyone thinks they might be interested, you can e-mail me at alabamacottonbowl@yahoo.com The more #'s, the better price.

The Anatole and Adams Mark are both very nice. I have heard the AM is under renovation, may want to check unless you want to hear jack hammers in your dreams....

The view from the top of reunion is awesome! Not a fan of the restaurant but the view IMHO makes the price of the food worth it.

For Steak Lovers, Bob's Steak and Chop House or Smith and Wollensky's are excellent choices.

ROLL TIDE!

alabamacottonbowl@yahoo.com

The reason I asked is because I work for the Boy Scouts, and our national training center is in West Lake(Right next to the Marriott Solona - that's where we stay at when we do training). Our headquarters are in Irving. I was out there back in March, and that part of town was real nice, although I can imagine hotel rooms can run a pretty penny(Considering we didn't have to pay for a thing when we were out there).

 

[Alanbama27]

If you are looking to stay in the Grapevine area, the DFW UA Alumni Chapter meets at the Hilton Hotel in Grapevine. It is a pretty nice Hotel.

I work in the towers attached to the Double Tree Campbell Center. I have a contact there and have spoke with him about having a "Roll Tide" rate.... He is going to get back to me next week. If anyone thinks they might be interested, you can e-mail me at alabamacottonbowl@yahoo.com The more #'s, the better price.

The Anatole and Adams Mark are both very nice. I have heard the AM is under renovation, may want to check unless you want to hear jack hammers in your dreams....

The view from the top of reunion is awesome! Not a fan of the restaurant but the view IMHO makes the price of the food worth it.

For Steak Lovers, Bob's Steak and Chop House or Smith and Wollensky's are excellent choices.

ROLL TIDE!

alabamacottonbowl@yahoo.com

Hey Tide...I agree the restaurant is good but not great! Bob's is my favorite place in Dallas! Although Sullivan's is great as are any number of places in Dallas and/or Carrollton. Just thinking about driving up the Tollway makes me hungry!

Do I know you by the way? I was the V.P. and Pres. of the chapter until 2 years ago when we moved back to Alabama. I'm guessing your name came from our T-Shirt design??? A friend of mine designed it and I spoke with Karl before this season as they were considering changing the design. Did it get changed?

Alan

 

[PlayerUA]

A few years back when it wasnt commonplace for Texas Tech to beat Texas A&M...after an upset victory, the Texas Tech students tore down the goal posts - then marched them down to the Texas A&M section and threw them at them.

 

[Tide-N-Texas]

The reason I asked is because I work for the Boy Scouts, and our national training center is in West Lake(Right next to the Marriott Solona - that's where we stay at when we do training). Our headquarters are in Irving. I was out there back in March, and that part of town was real nice, although I can imagine hotel rooms can run a pretty penny(Considering we didn't have to pay for a thing when we were out there).

Diamond,

That area is very nice! Yep, the rooms are pricey. I would suggest not staying in that area just b/c of the drive to the Cotton Bowl unless you have friends or other things going on in that area.

 

[Tide-N-Texas]

Hey Tide...I agree the restaurant is good but not great! Bob's is my favorite place in Dallas! Although Sullivan's is great as are any number of places in Dallas and/or Carrollton. Just thinking about driving up the Tollway makes me hungry!

Do I know you by the way? I was the V.P. and Pres. of the chapter until 2 years ago when we moved back to Alabama. I'm guessing your name came from our T-Shirt design??? A friend of mine designed it and I spoke with Karl before this season as they were considering changing the design. Did it get changed?

Alan

Alan,

I probably went to 1 or 2 game watching parties a year, the PPV games not available on game plan. I went to the So. Miss game this year and do not remember them selling any shirts. When the games were in Addison and Richardson I went every week. It just seems every year we get closer and closer to Ft. Worth. I know being DFW, Grapevine is in the middle but I just hate the 45 mile drive. I know 15-20 people who always get together at the Humperdinks on Greenville just to avoid the drive.

 

[Croyle4Heisman]

Thanks for all of the great local info on Dallas, it's really appreciated. Our group had it so great last year, we stayed across the street from the stadium and had a short walk across the river to the bars. Very cool. But, I've never been to Dallas, and I'm hoping you guys can help with a few answers...

I am considering staying in Addison. The hotels downtown either seem to be too expensive for my budget or too slummy, no happy medium. I read a few reviews that indicated that the West End/Deep Ellum bars are really bad about crime, etc. Any truth to that?

How close would I be to the Lower Greenville bars? I've read online that those can be fun too.

Thanks again for all of your help and Roll Tide!

 

[DiamondDust]

Another good place to visit in Dallas is the South Fork Ranch, the home of the Ewings in the show "Dallas".

The ranch is a little ways out of the main portion of Dallas, but the area around it is absolutely gorgeous. Plus, if you are a "Dallas" nut like myself, it's awesome to tour the house and the grounds. I got pictures in front of the house, on the balcony, and by the infamous pool.

 

[Tide-N-Texas]

Thanks for all of the great local info on Dallas, it's really appreciated. Our group had it so great last year, we stayed across the street from the stadium and had a short walk across the river to the bars. Very cool. But, I've never been to Dallas, and I'm hoping you guys can help with a few answers...

I am considering staying in Addison. The hotels downtown either seem to be too expensive for my budget or too slummy, no happy medium. I read a few reviews that indicated that the West End/Deep Ellum bars are really bad about crime, etc. Any truth to that?

How close would I be to the Lower Greenville bars? I've read online that those can be fun too.

Thanks again for all of your help and Roll Tide!

Addison is not bad, although a drive from Lower greenville. I am guessing on mileage but about 15 miles. Maybe a little less. Deep Ellum can have issues. I would not go alone but, if you are in a group you should be ok. Just remember the age group down there is 18-25. Greenville will be 25-40ish. The Westend is not bad at all.

Check the Wyndham Dallas MKT, Bradford Lincoln Park and Double Tree Lincoln Center. The hampton down town is not bad at all......

 

[Tide-N-Texas]

Another good place to visit in Dallas is the South Fork Ranch, the home of the Ewings in the show "Dallas".

The ranch is a little ways out of the main portion of Dallas, but the area around it is absolutely gorgeous. Plus, if you are a "Dallas" nut like myself, it's awesome to tour the house and the grounds. I got pictures in front of the house, on the balcony, and by the infamous pool.

Great idea of something to do. I live about 5 minutes from there and it is well worth the drive. About 30 NE miles of downtown.

 

[Alanbama27]

Alan,

I probably went to 1 or 2 game watching parties a year, the PPV games not available on game plan. I went to the So. Miss game this year and do not remember them selling any shirts. When the games were in Addison and Richardson I went every week. It just seems every year we get closer and closer to Ft. Worth. I know being DFW, Grapevine is in the middle but I just hate the 45 mile drive. I know 15-20 people who always get together at the Humperdinks on Greenville just to avoid the drive.

That's amazing! I can't believe they either ran out or stopped selling the T-Shirts! They were a HUGE HIT! As for the drive, I lived in East Plano (Basically Jupiter & Spring Creek) and just jumped on the George Bush to 35E up to 121 and across! It only took us about 20 minutes or so and there are normally 75 - 150 people at every game watching party. A lot of fun!

The reason we chose to move was because the Chapter is called the Dallas/Ft. Worth Alumni Chapter and when we had the parties in Arlington or Carrollton we continued to have only 15-20 people show up. We tried once to have them in Richardson and that sucked too! I know it's a bit of a drive but if you're going to Humperdinks on Greenville it's nowhere near a 45 mile drive to 121 & LBJ! Also, the parties haven't moved in over 3 years (with the exception of moving across the street from the Embassy Suites to the Hilton). From Lower Greenville to the Hotel is a total of 18 miles. I know it's farther than the 8 or 9 you're presently driving but if you go to www.tideintexas.com and check out the link to Football Parties and scroll down and see the crowds and new screens and such, you'll see it's worth the drive. We loved it! You should consider talking to your smaller group and everybody head over there! They have great giveaways and watching the games with a lot of Bama fans in a club that is 100% Bama (sound and all) is FANTASTIC!

Good luck & Roll Tide!

 

[Tide-N-Texas]

That's amazing! I can't believe they either ran out or stopped selling the T-Shirts! They were a HUGE HIT! As for the drive, I lived in East Plano (Basically Jupiter & Spring Creek) and just jumped on the George Bush to 35E up to 121 and across! It only took us about 20 minutes or so and there are normally 75 - 150 people at every game watching party. A lot of fun!

The reason we chose to move was because the Chapter is called the Dallas/Ft. Worth Alumni Chapter and when we had the parties in Arlington or Carrollton we continued to have only 15-20 people show up. We tried once to have them in Richardson and that sucked too! I know it's a bit of a drive but if you're going to Humperdinks on Greenville it's nowhere near a 45 mile drive to 121 & LBJ! Also, the parties haven't moved in over 3 years (with the exception of moving across the street from the Embassy Suites to the Hilton). From Lower Greenville to the Hotel is a total of 18 miles. I know it's farther than the 8 or 9 you're presently driving but if you go to www.tideintexas.com and check out the link to Football Parties and scroll down and see the crowds and new screens and such, you'll see it's worth the drive. We loved it! You should consider talking to your smaller group and everybody head over there! They have great giveaways and watching the games with a lot of Bama fans in a club that is 100% Bama (sound and all) is FANTASTIC!

Good luck & Roll Tide!

Hey Alan-

I understand why they moved. I am going to try and be better about going out there more next year. I live over near Los rios Golf Course. Humperdinks off of 75 is a drive. I don't go there just have friends who do. I know a lot of BAMA alumni are in the Plano area and wish we could be like Nebraska's group 1 day and have watching parties with 100+ people in Plano, Dallas, and the Mid Cities. Then no one would have an excuse.

Have you heard if the chapter is hosting any parties or things for the Bowl Game? I just honestly don't see people coming in from out of town wanting to go up to Grapevine. I am sure the NAtional ALumni Group will be having something on Grenville, West End or Downtown at one of the hotels.

ROLL TIDE!

 

[kev4bama]

I think I saw where the Marriott is going to be the SEC team hotel. I have always stayed in the same hotel as the team for bowl games and road trips and had a ball. You are constantly running into players and coaches. I got this info off of the cotton bowl website.

Roll Tide

Kevin

 

[Tide-N-Texas]

I think I saw where the Marriott is going to be the SEC team hotel. I have always stayed in the same hotel as the team for bowl games and road trips and had a ball. You are constantly running into players and coaches. I got this info off of the cotton bowl website.

Roll Tide

Kevin

I checked the Cotton Bowl website and the only hotels mentioned are the Hyatt Regency @reunion arena, Hilton Lincoln Center and the Anatole. I can not mention a Marriott being used for anything. They are 3 star hotels VS 4 and 5 Star for the Hilton, Anatole and Hyatt Regency. The official Media Hotel is the Omni in Las Colinas.

Here are some things to do:

http://www.jfk.org/

http://www.palaceofwax.com

http://www.medievaltimes.com

http://www.dwazoo.com

http://www.nashersculpturecenter.org

http://www.dallasmuseumofart.org/

http://www.galleriadallas.com/ (for the ladies)

http://www.northparkcenter.com (see above)

http://www.dallascvb.com/media/press_releases.php?id=2&category=5359

 

[CrimsonVan]

I have been around TT fans before and they aren't that bad really.

They can be terrible but IMO at the Cotton Bowl it won't be that bad.