| Great American Ballpark, while an improvement over Cincinnati's old ballpark (Cinergy Field), simply doesn't stack up to some of the other new major league parks built in the last decade. Despite going late in its inaugural year, the park still had a somewhat unfinished feel to it. Part of the reason is the large hole left where Cinergy Field was. The other reason is that there is lots of unpainted concrete, especially along the outfield concourse. From the exterior, the park has a somewhat unique appearance, with a resemblance to Cleveland's Jacobs Field. The front of the park features a nice courtyard, known as Crosley Terrace. An elevated concourse (just like Cinergy had) extends around much of the exterior. Inside, the main concourse is wide and features a bevy of concession stands. Fans can circle the park on the concourse, but unfortunately it doesn't overlook the field in the outfield. The seating is all red fold downs with the exception of the outfield bleachers. There are five levels of seating, including a club level, which means the upper deck seats are quite high (probably on par with Cinergy). A gap in the seating along the third base side allows people in the downtown to look into the ballpark - a unique design point, but one that doesn't make much sense to me. Concessions are well varied and portions rather generous. Coneys (hot dogs with chili and tons of cheese) are the speciality item. The setting at GABP is pretty cool, especially when in the upper deck. The river is just beyond the outfield fence so boats can be seen going by constantly. As for the atmosphere, the Reds have added a few minor league type gimmicks, but overall it's pretty tame. Also, they shoot off puffs of smoke from the smokestacks in the outfield after each strikeout and fireworks after each home run. Typical of most new parks, the place was crawling with ushers. While they weren't too intrusive, the large number of them gave the park a more restricted feel to it. Parking is $8-$15 and some of it is a bit far from the park. Egress is also a bit slow after the game. Hopefully after they finish cleaning up the remains of Cinergy, the parking situation will be better. Overall, I did enjoy my visit to GABP. It is certainly a better park that Cinergy ever was, but still I was not blown away by it.
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