Discover Nationals Park with a gluten-free and sensory-friendly experience, perfect for all families. Enjoy a fun-filled day at the ballpark!
Discovering Delicious Options and Inclusive Experiences at the Heart of D.C
Clay explores the vibrant atmosphere of Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., delving into the exhilarating world of Major League Baseball while addressing sensory challenges faced by many fans. He emphasizes the importance of gluten-free options available at the stadium, ensuring that those with dietary restrictions can enjoy the game without worry. The experience is enriched as he discusses the historical significance of the Nationals and the excitement surrounding their match against the Atlanta Braves, a rivalry that adds to the game-day thrill.
The modern stadium garners mixed reviews from fans and critics alike. Clay evaluates the various aspects of Nationals Park, from the ambiance to the overall game-day experience, providing insight for baseball enthusiasts and those with sensory sensitivities. His takeaways highlight both the strengths and weaknesses of this popular venue, making it a valuable resource for anyone considering a visit to this ballpark.
Discover Delicious Delights and Sensory Wonders at the Heart of D.C
Hello everyone and welcome back to venue diagram I’m clay and our venue this week is Nationals Park in Washington DC visiting Nationals Park was a very fun visit for me because it was my first time visiting Nationals Park I’ve been to DC a few times I love visiting DC this was my first time coming to the baseball stadium so let’s just jump.
Right in to the venue overview the first thing to go into here is a little bit of history about the stadium the Nationals moved to Washington DC in 2005 they had been the Montreal Expos hopefully at some point we’ll be able to get up to Montreal and do a little bit of something about Olympic Stadium up there a vintage venue diagram of some form but.
They moved to DC became the Nationals reinvigorated baseball in Washington DC there had been the Senators the classic morab buun franchises in DC see the two senators franchises the the classic uh Nationals franchise that was from before the turn of the 20th century had always been there there’s always been baseball in the nation’s capital.
But the Nationals moved back when the Expos moved to Washington DC and played their first few years at RFK Stadium while this stadium was being built and it’s a pretty pretty nice place overall I’d say it’s a it’s a good standard Stadium the nice thing about it is again the spaciousness is good there’s something about these mid 2000 stadiums.
Yankee Stadium City Field Nationals Park all built around that same time National Stadium here opened in 2008 and it has a lot of spaciousness it’s a nice park it is the first certified Green Stadium which is a cool thing about it but it has a really odd nature to it the thing that I most think about when I’m walking around the.
Stadium both inside and outside is it feels like a mid 2000s Mall experience if you remember what it was like to be in a mall at that time not like an 80s Mall not like a a classic mall like you’d see on stranger things but like the malls in the Grove in LA as walls were starting to possibly not be a thing anymore that’s what.
Nationals Park seems like so you just kind of think about that and think about being in that space But now where it’s kind of losing a little bit of its luster too that’s what Nationals Park feels like as far as a venue for moving around and being there but it’s still fun it’s still a nice place it’s still got some nice shops and got some nice.
Open spaces again but everything is very very bare that’s the other thing you’ll go through a corridor and it’s very concrete and bare and then you’ll go through like a a doored off area through another escalator area and it’s not like there’s club seats or anything like there are at a lot of the other newer nicer stadiums or refurbished.
Stadiums you’re just kind of going from one place to another and there’s no decorations anywhere there’s a lot of decorations outside the stadium but there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of decorations at least on this interior on the inside of the stadium over on the Outfield part there’s still a nice little area in any case I’d say.
It’s a it’s a fun place to see a game but it is losing its luster a little bit it had the All-Star Game in 2018 it had the Nationals finally winning the championship in 2019 and I feel like maybe they need to refresh the stadium I know that it went through a bit of a renovation in the last year or so I think this year it actually had a.
Renovation I think it could stand a little bit more I know that the sound system and the lights and all that stuff they’re like slowly redoing it which I will say is a nice thing as we move into section two the sensory experience at the stadium it’s not a bad place as far as the sensory experience because it’s not very loud now is that because the.
Nationals are not very good possibly but this year they really really took it to the Braves and I was here to see the Braves and that was not fun for me but it was fun for the Nationals fans although I would say at least around me there were more Braves fans than Nationals fans which meant which meant that at this.
Game which the Nationals won it was very quiet in the crowd because the crowd was more excited when the graes did something well than when the Nationals did something well in any case it was quiet and it was quiet as far as the sound system and it was quiet as far as the fans which as far as a baseball game maybe people didn’t like that but as far.
As me I did not even really need my Loops like I wore them because I don’t like that external um cacophonous sound and the the just the crowd noise itself makes me very anxious at these games but it was really kind of nice as far as the actual noisiness especially as you were walking around you could get to any place that you were trying to go.
Without having any problems as far as going there and nicely there was a place to go for gluten-free food a repone and a razone um wasn’t specifically designed to be a gluten-free experience but it was a gluten-free experience because the oras are all um Corn based flour and so all of the oras here at the erea zone are all gluten-free and since all of the.
Oras are gluten-free then all of the fries and everything else that’s cooked at Ora Zone were all gluten-free so I actually had a full gluten-free chicken orpa which was really good and um fries and so I had like a full meal and there were all kinds of other oras to choose from if you don’t if you eat the other stuff there other options so as long as.
You eat an erepa you’re good to go when you go to Nationals Park really good stuff there one last weird thing as far as the sensory experience at Nationals Park I’m not sure that this is the right place to put this but it feels like this is the right place to put this they do a weird thing and that thing is they take a picture of the entire crowd watching.
The game and it’s kind of nice that they do it because it means that you do have like I went to this game by myself it means that you have a picture of yourself there but you don’t know when this picture is going to be taken so they take it of the entire stadium and they mail emailed it to me after the game I guess they emailed it to.
Everybody who was there and this picture which was of One Moment In the game which happened to be I guess between Innings because me like you’re supposed to be able to like zoom in on yourself in your seat I I zoomed in myself at my seat and here I’ll post it you can see I am walking away from my seat to go to the restroom or to get a drink or or.
Something um because it was between Innings and uh the thing I’m thinking is I wish they had at least done this during an inning where I could have been paying attention to the game and secondly I don’t like that this like all powerful camera is taking pictures of everybody I know that’s happening all the time time and I mean it’s not like I.
Care that much about my face being out there I’m putting it on YouTube right now right but still I’d like to have control over it happening I guess in any case uh comment down below if you like or dislike the idea of them taking this picture at some random time during a game whether you’d like to have this random picture of yourself you’re.
Getting up to go to the bathroom emailed to you after you’ve gone to a game let’s move on into the event experience and get it over as fast as possible because that seems to have been what the Braves tried to do in this game the Braves did not have a good season playing the Nationals this year it was kind of a disaster from start to finish.
The Nationals won the season series against the Braves the Nationals who did not have a great year really did take it to the Braves all season long and they took it to the Braves in this game and Hurst and walp started so it wasn’t like I even got to see like a great pitching performance from the Braves it was like a a just a rotation of all the relievers.
Coming through it I think the Braves scored five or six runs but it never felt like they were in the game at all and nothing could ever come together and it was just one of those games that just drug and you just never felt like anything was going to happen which is kind of how this Brave season has felt most of the Season it was a really fun.
Place to watch a game though so my seat was up in the place that I love to have a seat which was basically behind the plate in the second to the second level down from the upper deck so kind of below the Press Box but the Press Box at Nationals Park is very very high up they talk about it on the broadcast all the time so it was a little bit further down.
From there but it was in that same general vicinity so you get that that nice like Press Box style view of the field where you can kind of see everything that’s happening and I love that because I love being able to see all of the different aspects of what’s happening out there so here you can see this uh fly out by Michael Harris where.
You can kind of see everything from the crack of the bat all the way to the ball going into the glove of the outfielder and that’s what I want to be able to see at a baseball game right and so this seat and this actual lineup of how everything worked at Nationals Park was really good as far as the big three and bottom three for.
Nationals Park the bottom three I’d say number one from the bottom three it’s just it’s time to refurbish the stadium let’s just get in there get some new stuff happening just throw a coat of paint on everything you know maybe po post some photos of some of your players I know that you’ve been rebuilding so you may not have all of.
Your players actually available to put up some pictures of them but throw up some pictures of them you at least got CJ Abrams when you’re not sending him down to the miners for off the field incidents at least post his picture up a couple more places something like that number two and this is a weird one and it’s kind of tied into that.
First one the Outfield area behind the fence just looks bad it looks cheap and not like finished and that really bothered me like in a very sensory type of way it very much bothered me in a in a way that I was kind of distracted by so I got to say number one refurbish the interior of the.
Stadium number two definitely refurbished The Outfield area like the hitting eye and all of that stuff because it it looks weird out there and number three if you’re going to take this picture of everybody in the stands at least let us know when it’s going to be like top of the third inning so we know.
Not to be doing something weird or strange or wandering around outside of our seat just give the fans the opportunity to make this kind of cool picture situation look good on to the big three number one really good gluten-free options this a.
Repone thing please keep it I had noted in one of your website situations it said that you didn’t have a repone anymore uh it was really nice and I really hope that you continue to have it because it was nice to actually have gluten-free food for only the second time in all of these visits that I’ve been going to now to have like a fullon.
Gluten-free meal at a stadium visit number two for the big three is just the actual way that the stadium is built this entire green zone situation the way that it fits into the downtown of Washington DC it’s a little bit further along the Waterfront but everything about it and the kind of outside feel of it does feel really nice and I really.
Enjoyed being out there and walking to the park I walked all the way from the train station to the stadium it was very nice the walk was about 25 30 minutes but it was a good walk to get there and a good walk to get back and number three number three from The Big Three is definitely just the way that the sound is diffused inside the stadium now again.
If I’m designing a sports stadium and don’t have sensory issues I probably don’t want this right like I want something like Seattle’s field is designed to keep the sound in and make it terribly loud and obnoxious for the opposing team but for someone who does have sensory issues the fact that it is quiet and feels much more like a very.
Nice place to catch a quiet game on a quiet afternoon is very nice um so you may not like that if you’re a very hardcore fan but if you’re someone who has some sensory issues then you may enjoy it so here I am out in front of Nationals Park and another stadium is down and another Braes game with another disaster but this has been a great day.
For venue di thank you for joining us and see you next time
