I'd have no problem moving back in a heartbeat if my business existed there.

I miss it, big time. Enjoy it!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Amazing how the power of sports can unite us. Tomorrow&#39;s front page of KC Star is beautiful (H/T <a href="https://twitter.com/AshokaESPN">@AshokaESPN</a>) <a href="https://t.co/53i2uODRk2">pic.twitter.com/53i2uODRk2</a></p>&mdash; Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) <a href="https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/661743038339915776">November 4, 2015</a></blockquote>
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That's right.

It's Arthur Carlson.

Thank Eater. BTW, a bunch of Baconeaters lived near us, are you rela.....never mind.

Bob Dole has gone to KC and taken 7 or 8 Texans with him over the last 15 or so years. They were all amazed about the amount of green space in a metro area that size, and how amazingly pleasant and friendly people were.

It really is an underrated city.

I should have grabbed a hotel the night before and probably would had if I didn't have an dog to take care of. it would have been awesome to stay down near Crown Center and walk out and see the whole thing.

Yeah but Billay says you gotta watch out for the ghettos.

This is an amazing shot!

It's always sunny and 70 in K.C...

Those photos from the star are awesome. They should both be available for purchase as nice prints from their online store and I will definitely get one.

that's Olathe.

I always said I would if the Royals won the WS.

If you really want to ge the size of the crowd...look at the U.S. Pics..then go the the Star website and take the 60 second ride...:eek:

It will blow you away.

She's a professional victim.

The pics from the parade are ****ing amazing. Sad I couldn't be there but I'll never forgot witnessing that game 4 comeback in person.

Link?

sarcasm?

Just got home. 2 hour drive for me to Metro North. I have no idea how the buses got folks there. I would guess there were nearly 10000 people at metro north in line trying to get on a bus.

It was the most incredible thing I have ever been involved in. That many people all in one place to celebrate a championship. I'm glad I experienced it... and I will probably not do that again.

Just go to the sports page and scroll down to the video....taken from the blue Toyota ....

I was there. Post some pics tomorrow

pretty awesome that yesterday was the biggest event in missouri history.


i was shocked. the "best fans" in baseball have only had 12 tries and couldnt get that many people at a parade?

I got to the Red Bridge shuttle at about 8:40, on the way to pick up some friends that live right off Red Bridge. We were planning on taking the shuttle, but after seeing the cluster **** that was developing there, we decided to drive down ourselves. I stayed off the highways and ended up driving most of the way down there on Troost. The closer we got, the worse traffic was getting so we ended up parking at 28th and Harrison and walked in.

We decided to blow off the rally since we knew there was no way to get even close. Left after the parade and was home by 3:30 (including a stop for lunch at BB's Lawnside BBQ).

My legs are DEAD today. I figure we ended up walking around 6 miles yesterday.

Son flew in from Jersey. Lower part of the hill at 0900. On my feet for 7 hours but I'll never, ever forget the experience.

Parked at 27th and Troost. Had no trouble getting out really. Hit 31st and worked around Linwood due to a tremendous wreck at Prospect.

Beautiful day. Beautiful, beautiful day.

I heard the Northland was a cluster****.

They expect it every year & they have done it so much it's no big deal or that's what a couple told me.

Well, it was KC fans who were saying it's a "once in a lifetime" event.

Anyway, I read where KCPD reported only three arrests yesterday. That's pretty phenomenal for a crowd that size.

Reason enough to hop they get to experience a 30 year drought.

I was there with my family. I'll post some pics soon...need to sift through to find good ones.

Pics (these are 25% the size of the originals...if anyone wants full-sized copies I can oblige):

I listened to 610 the day before the parade and 'ol Sly James was on there and said he expected a crowd of 200 K. I thought no way, he was covering his butt because he knew it would be double that easily and the city would have no way of handling that and for providing enough transportation into the city.

Sure enough after the parade Sly said he under estimated the crowd and that he's sorry. :rolleyes:

more...

I was there right in the thick of it
Probably less than 100 yards from the stage

It was exciting but will probably not do it again
It turned into a giant mob once people started trying to leave

Saw at least a dozen people have panic attacks
Someone had a heart attack
A pregnant woman's water broke

way too many people in too small a space

more 2...

more 3...

I think the city did a phenomenal job planning. No amount of planning is going to ease the congestion of 500k+ trying to get to one sppt

more 4...

more 5...

more 6...

Same here. Well went back out to OP

It was crazy. I have never been part of such a huge event. I felt it was poorly planned. KC cops were blocking streets off, not letting fans move to the front of Union station from the side. No bathrooms or water stations. We parked at Kemper and it was a cluster. Busses were mobbed afterward and had to walk back. Put in about 6 miles for the day.

Pretty disappointing day.

FS1 said that none of those arrests were event related, and that Kansas City knows how to keep a celebration classy. That is really great to get those props national TV. You all deserve it, wish I could have been there.

It can't be easy to plan an event that is literally bigger (in attendance) than anything the city has ever done before on 2 days' notice. It sucks that not everyone had a good time, but I understand why it would be pretty much impossible for it to run smoothly.

I'd vehemently argue with that. That initially planned for 250,000, and it ended up being 3 times that. That's lots of fail just by itself. They had completely inadequate facilities for that many people, and absolutely no way to control the mob that resulted. They likely broke about 2,000 fire and public safety regulations yesterday. If something were to have happened, if a fire broke out, it would have been a very dangerous disaster. People were abandoning cars. They had an entire tent set up just for people who lost their children in the crowd. The only thing keeping that crowd in control, was the crowd itself. And that's a testament to how awesome Royals fans are, and not at all how well the city planned....

I don't think there's any amount of good planning that can go into getting 800,000 people into and out of a downtown area that's not built for it, on a weekday without a ton of planning (I assume they were doing some planning before they actually won the WS). They could have started the shuttles earlier, maybe used school buses since all the schools were out anyway... maybe brought in even more people to direct traffic. Abandoning a car on the highway would suck though, heard some were in their car for 5+ hours, but well, downtown was full.

Solutions for all that?

Nope.

We just parked in North KC as close to the Heart of America Bridge as we could, then walked across and went to 9th & McGee. There were tons of people, but we really didn't have trouble getting there or back.

The lost kids thing was kind of sad, how many times they announced it at the rally... people around me were writing cell numbers on their kid's arms, which of course would only help after several hundred thousand people left the area.

I was there and my group had a great time. We didn't even attempt to drive within a few miles of the parade or get close to the stage - we got into the crowd, got out, and went to a bar to watch the rally on TV.

There is no understating how poorly the shuttle situation was executed. It would've been a cluster **** with 200,000 people, much less 800,000.

1. The parade route itself was a cluster. They should have started at River Market (like the old St Pats. parades used too). It would have stretched the crowd out and the parade so more than 25 k could actually see it.

2. Bathrooms- any would have been nice.

3. KC police did not seem to have a clue to handle the massive crowd-blocking access and exit points and herding the masses down dead end streets was terrible.

4. The off parking was a great idea-unfortunately they should have have dedicated streets blocked for bus and emergency traffic only. Busses could not get through the traffic - creating 10 k of people waiting hours just to get there. Same with the pick up- total cluster and thousands had to walk miles to get back to their cars.

5. Have the ceremony and parade broadcast at Kauffman and at the Power and Light. This would have eased some of the traffic and provided a nice fan day.

I am not sure what the total will be on the crowd-I have heard upwards of 600,000 to 800,000. I would guess this is close. I am glad I was there to support our team. It was a day I will never forget.

Props to KC fans- they showed the world how to do it! People were VERY patient all day. Except one 80 year old lady that tried to run me over-lol I don't think people told her there was a parade and she was having a road rage / panic attack while stuck in traffic.

Royals forever!!

Yeah, I hear you. And the next time they win it, I bet things will be better. It just takes time to plan all of that, which they didn't have (not to mention money that isn't likely anywhere in a budget).

Yes 45 mins to park at Kemper. 45 mins wait for bus. 1 porta-potty with an hour long wait. 45 min bus ride to go 4 miles and be dropped at 16th and wyndotte-( where every bus in the city was dropping off!!) . :rolleyes:

Dedicated bus and emergency lanes would have helped-also having other drop off points different from the Metro and every other service. The busses were so log jammed- an ambulance could not get through with its lights flashing.

Having different dropoff and pickup points would have helped- people were still being dropped off as 5 thousand people were mobbing the busses to get on.

We were first in line- but when thousands cut in front and started blocking the streets in front of us-we gave up. Total fail.

They had Only 30 years!!! Lol

The 85 parade was better in every way.

This crowd was AWESOME though-chanting "Lets go Royals" all day. High fiving, everyone was happy and Very patient considering it was the largest crowd in state history. Probably the largest in the entire midwest. Ever.

Lucky you. I got in line at 9 and didn't board a bus until 12:45.

LIGHT RAIL!



*runs for cover

Lol

that crowd at the parade/rally is ****ing amazing!...I wonder what spring training is gonna be like in march. I hope people come out in droves to see the champs! hope to see some of you guys at a game.

They had last year to plan it and though we did not win the parade route and all was in the KC Star just in case the Royals last year.

This year everyone knew well in advance the Royals were in the post season the city had plenty of time to go over the plans with transportation, police and fire department heads to improve them.
I blame this failure on Sly this parade could've been improved immensely.

Man, this week has been a whirlwind for me. I was up and out early, went to the parade with my pals Gary and Derrek. These two guys are dear friends, and we went to the parade together in 1985. 30 years later, we're all together again, doing the parade once again, celebrating being a WORLDS CHAMPION again.

We got to our spot around 8:30am, we were between 10th and 11th and Oak, right up the street from City Hall. Here's some of my favorite pictures I took from my vantage point.

I've had a charmed life, and a front row seat for many of KC's biggest sporting events. I'm blessed, and a lucky guy.

Pictures to follow:

Here's some more...

Ned bringing up the rear with the hardware, and my pals Gary and Derrek, 30 years back from the future.

So, how many do you think would should up next time, granted it's not another lifetime before then?

If it's another 30 years, I probably won't be here to see it.

I have no sympathy for anyone that expected to go to an event of that size and didn't expect some inconveniences.

"OMG I had to walk so far!"
"OMG it took an 2 hours to get into/out of downtown!"
"I had to wait in line to use the bathroom!"

Stay at home losers.

I don't know what people expected in terms of logistical planning and preparation. I was impressed at how quickly they determined a route and could get stuff like the stage pulled together.

Plus, even if there had been some better planning nobody expected 1/4 of the metro area to come down. They probably could have put every port-a-potty in the region there and people would still have had to stand in line.

Personally my only regret is not having the foresight to go down to one of those labor-ready outfits and dispatched 100 dudes with backpack coolers and nat-light to sell for $5 a piece inside the crowd.

I heard MLB has a rule that the parade has to be held within 3 days after the series ends.

Per my wife's suggestion we booked a room at the westin first thing Monday Morning.
Took us over 2 Hours to get there from Southern Johnson County leaving the house around 8AM

FYI there was plenty of parking at Crown center - If you were lucky enough to get in there.

Here are a few shots from our 9th floor room.

as a father to a lot of kids, and the fact that my 87 year old grandfather joined us - having our own bathroom, seats, land line was worth us not even spending the night in the hotel.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/714/22...04326c7c_o.jpg


Something tells me this guy wasn't aware this walkway had previous collapsed killing people - cops were getting people off the top of that thing all day.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/756/22...f3dc1c54_o.jpg

Fireworks!
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5730/2...bf04f283_o.jpg


The Aftermath
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5642/2...71f40a67_o.jpg

I was sure they would have lanes dedicated to the buses. If not, there isn't much point in having them, everyone knew traffic would be just as much of an issue as parking.

But honestly, this thread is the only negative feedback I've heard. Everything else has the tune of "I can't believe such a big event went so perfectly".

Really went about as well as could be expected. Just sucks getting caught up in that cluster ****ed shuttle situation and missing out on most of it.

I lived there for 19 years. No way I'm going back. I miss the tailgating and BBQ but living on the water and the weather is just too damn good to give up.

The mass of humanity between Union Station and the WWI memorial was just insane. And they had ONE video screen. And it was located pretty much right next to the stage and not elevated much higher than the stage. Other than just being there, there wasn't much point in being there for most of those people because they couldn't see anything and could barely hear it.

I was on the hill in front of Union Station right at the top of the steep part where it starts to flatten out a bit and I could see ok most of the time. But the people behind me had a tough time. And the people way behind us, they had no chance.

In the town I live they have a big park right on the water. It holds about 125K. They have no issues getting people and supplies in and out even though 50% of the land is on water and obviously cant be used to get supplies and people in and out. It's really about experience and trial and error with the cities logistical capabilities.

Sure, but the crowd estimates in KC that I've seen were about 5 times that.

Pretty sure that was the same parade route as 1985.

And the city infrastructure hasn't done anything like this in 30 years. Seems to me looking at it from the outside that the did a pretty damn good job.

You guys posted some awesome pictures. Thank you so much for sharing those! Bummed I couldn't go. But obviously that's part of being a Royals fan "out of town."

All the people who know me are so happy for me, knowing how long I've suffered faithfully as a Royals fan...it's really cool as a lot of folks out here have adopted them as a new favorite.

85 was a mess too! The buses went no where for that one. People walked from as far as the plaza. I walked from 39th and it might have actually been the best part. A big roaming party made its way to downtown. The ticker tape caused multiple fires, and the mess was beyond ridiculous. I still thought it was great, but this one was probably better run.

For some parade perspective, the Rose Parade has 700k in attendance and it takes them a full month to set up every year.