Buses and Ballgames: An Angels Adventure

Los Angeles Angels

Specifics:

Angel Stadium

Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Angels

Date of Game: Sunday, September 29, 2019

Time of Game 12:10 PM PST

Final score: Astros-8, Angels-5

 Section 239, Row S, Seat 1

Early Thoughts

I am probably among a zillion others who would rather refer to this team as the Anaheim Angels or the California Angels rather than the Los Angeles Angels, but I guess there are certain give and take in a negotiation, and the name was a give (or take), depending on which side of the table you are on.

This trip was arranged as part of our quest to see a baseball game in every MLB stadium. In this case, it was the Angels with a side of Disneyland.  We were already in Anaheim on game day.

Game Day

Our day started at the Four Points Sheraton Anaheim hotel which was where we stayed while in Anaheim, CA. The hotel has shuttles to and from Disneyland as well as a bus stop on the ART (Anaheim Transportation Network) out front that goes to Angel Stadium. This worked out great for us, as we didn’t need to rent or park a car while in Anaheim.

With some poor planning on our part (ok, my part), we used a Lyft instead of the bus to get to the game.  I got my time zones confused, and thought the game started later, oops!

The Lyft dropped us off outside the parking lot. As we walked across the lot, it was impossible to miss the two giant red baseball caps above the entrance area for Homeplate Gate. In addition, to the caps, I could see giant murals of baseball players in their Angels uniform. Since the team jerseys are red and white, this made such a contrast against the blue sky and pale stadium outside, that they were a beacon.

It was a great day to be outside, 71 degrees but very few clouds so the sun was warm, but not too crazy hot. We arrived about 15 minutes before game time; I was so relieved I didn’t screw us up too much.

We went directly to our seats. They were in the outfield, and from my view of the upper deck as well as surrounding us, the stadium seemed very empty. I find that surprising for a Sunday afternoon, but I suppose it could be because it is at the end of the season.

To the right of our seating area, there was an interesting sight to see. A rock display (like mountains). During the game it has running water for a waterfall and spray geysers. It’s called the California Spectacular, and I read that it was paid for by Disney. This is also where the stadium fireworks are housed. Fireworks are released at the beginning of each game, when an Angel hits a home run, or when the team wins a game.

The Astros took the lead early and kept it. By inning 3, they had acquired 3 home runs and 5 runs in total. However, Matt Thais hit two home runs for the Angels, one in the bottom of the third inning on a fly ball, the other in the 6^th, sending Taylor Ward home for the teams’ 3^rd run of the game.  This helped keep the Angels in play but didn’t quite give them the victory we were hoping for. To be fair, the Astros were already the leaders of the American League West (AL West), whereas the Angels were in third.

In the fourth inning we decided to go grab food. I saw Cathy’s Cookies advertised and really wanted to try them, but we stuck to the basics and got hot dogs and soda for lunch and chased it with ice cream in plastic souvenir baseball helmets. As we went back to our seats, it felt a bit warmer, but there was a nice breeze, plus you know, ice cream, so the heat wasn’t too distracting.

It would have been a great end to the day to see the Angels win. It didn’t happen. But at least it was a rather calm afternoon with good weather and not too crowded. A nice, slow pace for a Sunday afternoon.

We took our time leaving the stadium and looked out over the parking lot to see if we could find the bus stop. There was a visible walkway attaching the parking lot to the street, and that was the direction we walked. The parking lot was very empty as we left the stadium (I seem to remember walking past vacant spaces when we arrived at the stadium and walked through the lot).

The walk to the bus depot was a bit of a drag, it wasn’t very scenic. It also wasn’t terribly far, a trip across the parking lot and a few blocks more, but I was out of breath. I was surprised that there wasn’t a bus stop in the parking lot.

Once inside the depot, it was a bit confusing. This was the ARTIC depot (Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center), which also has a train station and taxi service. We must’ve entered through a door that is mostly for the railway because all I saw were timetables for the train. We were the only “customers” walking around, so that intimidated me also. After about 10 minutes of looking around, my partner found the ticket window for the bus. I think if we had walked around the building to the front entrance, we’d have seen the ticket window for bus tickets first. Luckily, there was a bus leaving for Disneyland shortly, which we could use to connect to a bus that took us across the street from our hotel. We got our tickets and walked out into the yard where all the buses were loading and unloading, found our bus and off we went back to the hotel.

Final thoughts

If the weather was different or if we had tickets to a night game, I might not have been keen on using public transportation. But I think the day worked out well, even with its little oopsies here and there. If I were in Anaheim and at the same hotel again, I would consider using the bus.

Some information, such as baseball game information and directions were sought by using ChatGPT or Perplexity.

Written March 31, 2025