A St. Louis Cardinal’s Game with Littles (We had a blast!)
Full disclosure: We’re Brewers Fans
But… we’re HUGE baseball fans. Especially live games. We’ve been to countless Brewer games with our boys (they’re two and one) and we’re excited to experience other stadiums, teams and fans when we travel.
The St. Louis Cardinals and Busch Stadium did not disappoint. It’s a great way to spend a couple hours, and for families especially.
If you want to see how we fit a Cardinal’s Game into our four day visit to St. Louis, you can read our whole itinerary here.
Ballpark Village
Before we head into Busch stadium, I’d be remise not to start right outside it. Ballpark Village is a very family friendly area with lots of restaurants, beverage carts, and open areas for the kids to play. During our four day stay in St. Louis, we visited this area every day to give the kiddos space to run around, kick soccer balls and throw frisbees. (And to give the one year old a place to walk without fear of him hurting himself.)
If you don’t want to go into the game, they play it live on the big screens and also have fun interaction with DJs, etc. Just an all-around great atmosphere for the whole family.
And… a fun fact. The home plate in the picture on the right is where the home plate of the previous Busch Stadium is still buried! (A lovely older gentleman told me that when I was here in the wee hours with my one year old.)
Entering Busch Stadium
We attended a noon game on a Sunday and boy was it HOT. Even though it was only the middle of May, the temperature reached into the 90s (which is not usual for St. Louis). Luckily, there was no wait to get into the stadium. You do have to go through security but it went very fast.
Pro Tip: You can bring strollers in! We thought about doing this but in the end decided against it as the walk from our hotel to the stadium wasn’t that far. We had our toddler walk and I put the one year old in the baby carrier.
Second Pro Tip: You are not allowed to bring in a video camera. I’m probably one of the only folks in the world that actually owns a video camera that I use for family vacations. But, if you have one, don’t bring it. We had to go all the way back to our hotel to put it back.
The Sunday game that we attended had a lot of fun things for kids! They got free sunglasses (and us adults got a large puzzle). We also got free ice cream! My toddler still talks about how we got ice cream from “the bird” because the Cardinals Mascot, Fredbird, was handing them out.
They also had competitions for the kids, fun games, and prizes, all hosted in the Ford Plaza. If it wouldn’t have been so dang hot, we would have spent the hour before the game in this area. But due to the heat, we had to find shade (and there was none in Ford Plaza).
Our Seats: Section 134
We got three tickets, for $10 each. Our seats were amazing (view on the right). I researched a lot before we bought them as I knew it was going to be hot, so we had to get seats in the shade. I used the Shaded Seats website to do my research and they were spot on. Not only were they shaded at the time of day we needed, but there was a huge fan right above us. Despite the high heat we were very comfortable.
After finding our seats, we walked around a bit. The shaded areas where all the food and drinks are were crowded, but everyone was friendly. There are a lot of food options. We opted for some French fries, popcorn and some adult beverages. We made it about halfway around the stadium before our two year old was ready to sit in his seat again, so we headed back.
My toddler loves baseball games. He could sit in his seat for all nine innings. My one year old, not so much. He just got his walking legs so that’s all he wants to do. So after a few innings (and bribing him with a lot of snacks) we had to get up and move.
For Babies and Toddlers
In the Hi-Chew Family Pavilion there is a ton of fun stuff for the kiddos. There’s arcade games and huge play areas (one for bigger kids and one for littler ones). There’s a “kid specific” concession stand. They have a batting cage. You really could spend hours here and I think many families did.
The littler play area was okay for my one year old, but was more targeted for toddlers. He did enjoy walking around on the padded floor and watching the other children though.
And, they have TVs with the game, so as an adult, you don’t have to miss anything.
When we first entered Busch Stadium we had this lovely woman who worked there offer to take our family picture. She then told us that there is a Sensory Room for young children, right near the Ford Plaza! She mentioned she would be working it and to feel free to visit if we needed to get the little one out of the heat. So that was our next stop.
You have to put your name on a list outside the door, and they ask you to remain inside for 30min or less, so other families can take advantage. For two minutes, my son and I were the only ones in here, and then another two families joined us. It was the perfect space for a one year old. The game was on the TV (so this mama was happy). They had coloring and toys and building blocks. We stayed here for about 20min and then decided to head back to join my husband and other son.
Overall: A Huge Success
While we did leave in the sixth inning (we were hoping for some naps back at the hotel which didn’t end up happening), we couldn’t have asked for a better experience at Busch Stadium. The heat forced us to get a bit creative and in doing so, we discovered some pretty neat areas for my one year old. We would highly recommend families enjoy a Cardinal game when they’re in St. Louis.
