Help! Info on Pirate City

[rucker59@gmail.com]

Yea! Spring break is in March this year and we're going to be able to spend a few days at Spring Training.



We visited a couple years ago and caught some games, but our one attempt to visit Pirate City. We were simply denied access. I apparently was at the wrong place, but I couldn't find any good info.



Can anyone share any info about access and finding daily schedules?



Thanks!

[fjk090852-7]

I was in Florida a couple years ago and you cannot access Pirate City at the main entrance. They directed me down the road a short distance to a road which I believe was near a golf course. Be sure to visit Nixons the orange grove near Pirate City while you are there.

[Quail]

656968333A333B36312E34030 wrote: I was in Florida a couple years ago and you cannot access Pirate City at the main entrance. They directed me down the road a short distance to a road which I believe was near a golf course.  Be sure to visit Nixons the orange grove near Pirate City while you are there.


Yes, there is no access for fans at Pirate City's main entrance (although someone there should be able to direct you to where fans are allowed to park). A few hundred yards past the main entrance on the same side of the road is a parking area in which fans can park and then walk over to the training complex. The area is not well marked but it isn't terribly far from the main entrance.

[rucker59@gmail.com]

7753474F4A260 wrote: I was in Florida a couple years ago and you cannot access Pirate City at the main entrance. They directed me down the road a short distance to a road which I believe was near a golf course.  Be sure to visit Nixons the orange grove near Pirate City while you are there.


Yes, there is no access for fans at Pirate City's main entrance (although someone there should be able to direct you to where fans are allowed to park). A few hundred yards past the main entrance on the same side of the road is a parking area in which fans can park and then walk over to the training complex. The area is not well marked but it isn't terribly far from the main entrance.




Seriously? The first time I was there the several employees that saw me acted like they were guarding Area 51. And I was only a few feet away. Nice.



Anyway, thanks for the info. Much appreciate the help. A follow up Q: is there any place to check daily schedules? We'd like to spend the morning at Pirate City before heading to the game but don't want to waste time if nothing much is happening.



Thanks!

[Bobster21]

Here's a schedule.



http://www.escape-to-sarasota.com/pitts ... edule.html

[rucker59@gmail.com]

775A57464150470704350 wrote: Here's a schedule.



http://www.escape-to-sarasota.com/pitts ... edule.html




Great! I really appreciate the help.

[wtmjkj@verizon.net]

The security around the building can be a bit, uh, enthusiastic, but they've generally been polite to me.  But like others have said, you go on past the building and there's a drive that leads to a golf course.  It runs alongside the practice fields.  You can go all the way down and park in the golf course lot (they don't care), or you can pull off onto the grass before that.  (Pull off to the right, the side opposite the fields, so a HR doesn't hit your car.)  Just before the golf course lot, there's a walkway in between two fields where you can enter.  There'll be security there and they'll check any bags you have.  They usually have rosters and minor league exhibition schedules there, or in a box on the wall on the side of the tower that's in between all the fields.

[wtmjkj@verizon.net]

Here's a shot of the entrance from the golf course lot:







And if you enter there, you'll see this:

[rucker59@gmail.com]

7D7E676061604A7C6F786370656424646F7E0A0 wrote: Here's a shot of the entrance from the golf course lot:







And if you enter there, you'll see this:






Again, I really appreciate the help. This is good stuff!



Thanks!