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Seattle Mariners 2015 FanFest (Photo Gallery And Thoughts)

By Dan Hughes |
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This looks familiar. The namesake media campaign. – Photo credit: Dan Hughes

The 2015 Seattle Mariners FanFest was this past weekend. For those of you that weren’t able to attend, you missed out on a chance to interact with some Mariners players past, present and future. You also dodged a large bullet in the form of standing in lines forever!

Lines to get into the event, lines to get an autograph, lines to ride the zipline, lines to take your swings in the home run challenge, lines, lines everywhere.

“It feels like Disneyland,” one passer by told me as I was, you guessed it, standing in line. “I can’t believe the crowd. They should be able to do something about this.”

Photo Credit- Dan Hughes

My son and I drove up from Salem, Oregon and got in the first line outside at about 9:30 am. With the gates opening at 11 am, we liked our position. But upon messaging a friend who was mere feet from the door, he informed me that there were at least 100 people in front of him and he got there at 8:30 am.

Getting an autograph came down to luck. Could you be one of the first 225 people through the doors to get Nelson Cruz‘s voucher, guaranteeing you an autograph.

The answer for us would be no. But that’s due in part to the fact that the “line” outside became a free-for-all as soon as the doors opened. People pushed their way through the pack, to one of the security points and into the stadium far ahead of many that were in front of them the entire morning.

My suggestion? Treat it like Black Friday at Best Buy. A half hour before the gates open, have the vouchers handed out in line. Then, when the gates open, people can relax without trying to trample people to get an autograph.

In the end, my son and I met and got autographs from Austin Jackson, who was extremely friendly and talkative as I had heard.

After getting our autograph, we went down to the concourse, grabbed something to eat and went to the line for the home run challenge.

We were in line there for 1 hour and 37 minutes before we took our three swings a piece. My son didn’t hit any over the wall, but he looked damn good doing it.

Some of the Mariners future stars were on the field giving positive feedback and encouraging the kids on the field. Patrick Kivlehan spent some time chatting with my son.

And I will boast, I got a “Wow” out of him when I launched the first one onto the concourse.

This was the day, lots of lines. Photo credit: Dan Hughes

As much fun as it was, the length of time in line wasn’t really worth the payoff. Part of the reason the wait is so long for all of the attractions is because of the Express Line feature for season-ticket holders.

That’s where the Disneyland comparison comes in again. Much like the Disney “Fastpass” fans were allowed to head to the front of the line of all of the attractions because they were season-ticket holders.

Look, I know the team wants to recognize and thank these fans. I get it. But, they were already allowed access into FanFest at 9 am for a meet-and-greet with Nelson Cruz. That should be enough. They don’t need to alienate other fans by continuing to kiss the posteriors of the season-ticket holders.

At one point, the line for the zipline ride in right field was three hours long. Really? The event was only five hours long!

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I don’t want to understate the fact that we had a good time, as did many others. The Dugout Dialogue chats were fun and informative. Tom Wilhelmsen danced his funky dance again. Taijuan Walker answered questions about his flashy shoes and there was a lot of great fan interaction.

The future FanFests should feature more of these types of things. More photo ops, more autograph sessions, or at the very least, more players at each session. Fans had to choose one of four sessions and then could exit and re-enter for vouchers to one of the the four sessions at the other three time frames.

In a previous FanFest, one autograph session included Michael Morse, Michael Saunders AND another player (was it Brendan Ryan? I don’t remember). They did combine John Hicks with Alex Jackson, Kivlehan with D.J. Peterson and Julio Cruz with Dave Henderson.

But they could’ve combined Taijuan Walker with James Paxton for example or Wilhelmsen with Charlie Furbush, instead of separating them.

We were able to secure a voucher to see Lloyd McClendon before the day ended, which was a smaller line, due in part to the fact that most people were stuck in other lines around the park.

As always, the staff was extremely friendly and did all they could to try to keep people’s minds off the fact they were in line over and over again. It was a long day – my son fell asleep 20 minutes after we left – but it was still fun.

I think though that if the team doesn’t make some changes for next year, we will either try to come on Sunday and test the lines then – supposedly less busy – or we may just pass all together.

The new LED lights at Safeco. Photo Credit- Dan Hughes

Other Thoughts about FanFest

– The new stadium wifi system was up and running and was working at all corners of the stadium, even down in the clubhouse.

The signal was “very strong” and even with hundreds, if not thousands of people connecting to it, it remained strong and fast.

– The new LED lights in the stadium were on and boy were they bright. It appeared from certain angles that only half of them were on, but as Kevin Martinez explained in the dugout chat, the lights were angled in different directions, thus when you moved around the stadium, it looked like different ones were off or on.

I can’t wait to see what the field looks like during a night game under those lights.

Another look at the lines- Dan Hughes

Former writer Russell Hartness even got in on the act at the home run challenge, with his Rickey Henderson leg kick. He even earned a spot on SeattleTimes.com.

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