Weekend Review: Philips Arena Tour

This weekend was a rainy one. However that didn’t stop this family from having a bit of fun. Saturday we were given the opportunity to get a V.I.P tour of Philips Arena. As a stay at home mom I sometimes don’t feel like I contribute enough so when I am able to set things up like this or when contests to go places I feel better. So when I got the call for this opportunity I was thrilled and jumped on it. When I told The Husband about it he thought that I was pulling his leg. Then when I showed him the email and the text between the representative and I he got excited. I like to surprise my kids but I can’t keep a secret to save my life. I let it slip on Friday that we were going somewhere on Saturday but I managed to not tell them where until the next day. We have been to Philips Arena for events such as the circus and the Harlem Globetrotters but we had never seen empty before. So we were totally excited. The point of the tour was for us to hear about the benefits we would have of getting a membership to attend some Atlanta Hawks games. We have never been to one before. Hopefully we can change that this year. We are seriously considering it because from what we are told there are some awesome perks.

Let me tell you it is so totally different to see the arena empty as opposed to with thousands of people in it. I mean you actually get to take it all in. We were able to see things that we normally wouldn’t pay attention to any other time. For example the size of the corridors. There is a restaurant called RED that I had absolutely no idea was there. It’s the newest addition to the arena/ You can sit there and watch the game while you eat. I mean it looks great inside. Unfortunately for me my phone battery died and I was unable to get any pictures. However The Husband has a few. I’m going to get them from his phone and upload them as soon as I can. I can’t wait to share what I saw. You would think that with as many times as my battery as died on me that I would remember to carry my trusty digital camera with me. We got to see the area for the Georgia Own Credit Union Members. We got a chance to see what the view of the arena looks like at the top which we had seen before but again it’s different when it’s empty. You get to appreciate it more. The highlight for all of us is when Ms. Toth the representative who guided us through the tour took us down to the basketball court. Princess S and Private J’s face lit up like Christmas lights and they were off. They did cartwheels, ran, and tried to jump to touch the basketball goals. They didn’t bring a basketball so they didn’t get a chance to try to make any hoops. They loved it. I got a kick out of seeing them enjoy themselves. Ms. Toth was so nice she answered all our questions and the kids questions as well. She helped us understand everything. There are some great restaurants there that you would recognize from the Buckhead area such as Buckhead Diner and Veni Vidi Vinci. I mean there are some great things. As far as perks go she told us there are some things like member dinners and discounts to places like Andretti. I don’t know if we will get a membership but the tour was awesome. The kids enjoyed and so did The Husband and I, I hope to go back for an event soon.