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Need info on Dallas

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by DBear, Sep 7, 2013.

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  1. DBear

    DBear VIP Bear

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    Visiting Dallas for 3 days. Never been there before. Need info on sites to see and area to stay.

    Is Dallas a spread out city that requires a car rental? Or could you stay downtown and walk to the main sites. How far is DFW from downtown, or the main area you'd recommend to stay in?

    What's the weather like in late October? Any must try restaurants or foods (ie BBQ?). Doesn't have to be fine dining either.

    Is Dallas an easy town to get around in, with or without a rental car? How's the bus or subway system? Are all the main sites easy to get to without a rental?

    I haven't checked the Cowboys schedule yet but are Tix already sold out for home games this season? Any other sports in the area come late October?

    Thanks in advance!
     
  2. hillwood24

    hillwood24 High-Roller

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    I live in DFW so I could be of a little help.

    It's a spread out city, so you'd be best to have a rental car. It's not like Vegas where you could pretty much walk anywhere. Also, I don't think you'd want to be walking around in most of the areas late at night. We have a repeat rapist that they haven't caught yet. It's been a big deal for the past couple weeks.

    There are some nice hotels in downtown Dallas, but not much else to see unless you wanna hit some museums, the Grassy Knoll, or reunion tower.

    We don't have a subway system, just a single train that takes you from fort worth to dallas (~25 miles) and I've never ridden the busses. I hate public transit, so rent a car.

    Cowboys games are probably sold out. But you can still get tickets via third party sites or craigslist. The stadium is in Arlington about a half hour away from downtown Dallas (if traffic plays nice). It's an awesome stadium so definitely check it out if you have the means. Also, the Texas Rangers play right next door, so they could be playing some playoff baseball in late October that you might wanna checkout.

    The weather starts to get a little better in October. It is usually in the 80's and will cool down a little in the night. Pretty much the same as Vegas but a little more humid.

    Hope this helps.
     
  3. DBear

    DBear VIP Bear

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    Thank you Hillwood24!

    Are there a lot of tourist sites outside of downtown that you'd recommend? If you had to make a top 3 list of must see things, what would you include?

    I'm really trying to avoid a rental. Never like renting them and I'd be ok with the DART system if it goes to all major tourist spots. Not necessarily trying to see and do everything DFW has to offer, but just wanna see the highlights, or at least fill up 3 days.

    I do like museum hopping and historical kinda of stuff (big history buff). I've been reading up about the Arts district. I'm interested in the grassy knoll museum (6th floor museum or something?). Is that worth going to? I was hoping for a strong theater prescense but my dates don't show a lot of offerings on the AT&T performance center. Mavs and Stars play once at home each but probably not too interested in seeing a sports game. Was interested in the Cowboys as I've never been to a NFL game.

    Outlet shopping is a bonus but not a deal breaker. If I'm close to a mall like Premium Outlets, I'd go but I won't rent a car just for that purpose. I'm assuming there'd be a big mall downtown somewhere too.

    Oh, and that serial rapist sounds horrible. Hope they catch him soon! Is downtown safe to walk at night? Is there a trendy part of downtown with a nightlife scene? I'm thinking that area would probably be safer to walk in. I'm tentatively thinking about the Hotel Indigo on Main St downtown.

    Thanks again!
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2013
  4. Film-Noir

    Film-Noir High-Roller

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  5. Someone

    Someone High-Roller

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    what exactly are you going to be there for?

    is there a specific area that you need to be for business or something else?

    depending on when late October is I would say put this on the list

    http://www.bigtex.com/sft/livestock/Schedule.asp

    last day is Oct 20

    the problem with the Dart light rail is it pretty much goes to nothing important it is just a bunch of lines running from the suburbs to downtown dallas and downtown dallas is no longer the center of commerce in the DFW metromess.....it has a 28% vacancy rate haha......and there is next to no night life downtown or much day life other than people going to work

    UT plays OU Oct 12 in the Cotton Bowl at the State Fair of Texas and UT plays TCU the 26th of Oct in Fort Worth and TCU has a really nice stadium

    SMU might have a game going on as well there stadium is not as nice, but they have a really nice campus and it is right pretty much in dallas proper (even though it is actually in the Park Cities)

    you can ride DART to the State Fair and to the dallas zoo (I would say the Fort Worth Zoo is nicer and the dallas zoo is not in the best area of town and neither is Fair Park)

    Perot Museum of Nature and Science

    dallas museum of art

    where JFK was shot is pretty boring, the book depository is ok, JFK memorial is boring

    dallas Arboretum

    George Bush Presidential Library on the SMU campus

    Nasher Sculpture Garden

    I would say it will be more like 1-1.5 hours from hotel to seat (maybe longer) for a Cowboys game depending on where you park......you are looking at an hour in the car for sure just to get to where the parking lots are then depending on where you park a long hike......plus the way Cowboys stadium is you have to pretty much enter at your entrance that matches your seats because you really just can't walk around the stadium concourse and have a look around it is all sectioned off and closed off to control access for various "classes" of ticket holders

    in Fort Worth there is the Stockyards

    Kimble Museum of Art

    Fort Worth Zoo (better than the dallas zoo)

    Fort Worth Museum of Science and Technology

    Amon Carter Museum of American Art

    Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

    Stockyards Museum

    where to stay is hard to say really

    the west end in dallas is dead now

    Victory Park is dead

    deep ellum is dead and no hotels and kind of trashy anyway (ok lets be honest it was pretty much really trashy even when it was "happening")

    Lower Greenville is douchbag central and no real place to stay although it still has night life

    Uptown is a nice area to stay and near downtown and SMU and the museum areas, but no real tourist night life per say

    Fort Worth Stockyards is a much better touristy spot to go out at night and do touristy stuff than pretty much anything in dallas

    the area around the new downtown Omni Convention Center hotel is dead especially at night, but the hotel is nice

    Gaylord Texan is a nice hotel and located near DFW airport and kind of equidistant between dallas and Fort Worth and close to Arlington and Cowboys Stadium and The Rangers ball park, but you would need a rental car for sure

    everything in dallas is spread out, the buses suck and the light rail kind of goes nowhere other than the State Fair and the Zoo and it goes to nothing in Fort Worth or Arlington or to DFW airport

    more of what you might be interested in from the above list would narrow down where to stay......downtown dallas is probably not it though

    Northpark Mall is a really nice mall (even for people that live in places that have a decent mall)

    Grapevine Mills Mall and one of the big outdoors stores will be located in Grapevine near the Gaylord Texan hotel for "outlet" shopping

    the Museums in dallas are nice but Fort Worth are nicer and closer together

    since you said history buff the 5th floor museum (book depository) is probably worth it for you and the grassy knoll is right there as is the JFK 4 walls so if you go there you can see that all

    also while some might say a state fair is not for them Fair Park has a number of museums as well they are listed on the link above so it is not all corn dogs, cows and Ferris Wheels (but the corndogs cows and Ferris Wheels are what makes it haha)
     
  6. Mitkraft

    Mitkraft VIP Whale

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    I'm from Houston and have been to Dallas many many times in my life. The only thing I have to add is that tou are in a tough spot if you don't like renting s car. You have the worst of both worlds: spread out city with no decent public means to get around easily, and a not to easy freeway system to navigate. If you are from a big city or are confortable with confusing spaghetti bowl freeways then you'd do ok. But to your question, no Dallas is not a particularly easy city to drive around in for those unfamiliar with it.

    Oh, and I second the mention for the Stockyards. Risky's is still some of the best BBQ I've had in my life! LOVE the BBQ catfish!
     
  7. zamboni

    zamboni VIP Whale

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    I was sent to Arlington about 12 years ago for training when I was a Schwans man. One of the other guys was down from OK and had his car so one afternoon after class he took me down to Dealy Plaza. I am a history buff myself and that place gave me goosebumps. Someone else mentioned it, and I suggest it as well. The Depository building closes somewhat early if I remember right, so keep that in mind.
     
  8. sarah9nascar

    sarah9nascar VIP Whale

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    Oh come on DFW people. Some of you are making Dallas sound like a horrible place to visit. I love living in Dallas. You can't walk every where in Vegas either, just the strip. I guess I am the only fan of the Dart train here too. Find a hotel close to a DART rail station and you can get lots of places. For the life of me, I don't know why you would want to go to one of those outlet malls in Allen or Grand Prairie. If you have been to one in Vegas, they are all the same. There are tons of great dining in Dallas. Lots of famous chef restaurants. Most talked about BBQ here is Sonny Bryan's but I think Lockhart's in the Bishop Arts district is way better.

    DFW is no where near Fort Worth or Dallas. How do you plan to get to Dallas?
     
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  9. DBear

    DBear VIP Bear

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    Thank you everybody. I will be flying into DFW for work. Coincidentally, I had already booked a few extra days off prior just to use up my remaining vacation days. So, might as well explore Dallas as work is paying for my flight in. Got 3 days on my own. I really don't know where I'm staying yet for work but im pretty sure it wont be downtown. That's why I was thinking about staying there for my first few days.

    I just want to know what's the top 3 things you'd take a friend visiting the city for the first time. I do like historical stuff but am game for anything a city has to offer.

    I havent completely ruled out renting a car. Just trying to avoid it. I'm from a small town with just a few stoplights. Don't like the big freeways.
     
  10. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

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    you should know that the city basically empties out in the evenings. we were staying there for a summer and we went into the city there for dinner one night and the place was deserted like a ghost town. maybe on the weekends it's different, but during the week, everybody heads back to the burbs and there's absolutely nothing going on.
     
  11. KellyLovesVegas

    KellyLovesVegas Earthling/retired space nerd

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    If you aren't renting a car, the DART system appears to have some level of service to both DFW and Love Field, according to the DART website.
    Here is the link:
    http://www.dart.org/maps/systemmap.asp

    Enjoy your visit to Dallas!
     
  12. VP PLAYER

    VP PLAYER Tourist

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    Dallas

    Went there last year for a conference. Stayed extra days for visiting. The best advise is 2 important things. One is a car is a must - the cabs are very very expensive. Mostly because the metro is so spread out. That's what makes the metro so great! Nothing like the tight squeeze getting around in Chicago. Second google things you would like to see and do and then pick your places and study the map. Did I mention study the Map? That helped me big time. The metro is an awesome place with endless things to do. I even changed hotels just to be closer to the things I wanted to do. Here is my list of suggestions to you;
    West End - west side of down town. You can go through the museum of daily plaza and see all of the JFK stuff. It's the actual bldg where Oswald shot from. You can stand on the road where the president was shot. Seen a lot of tourist there. They have a mall there but not a normal mall . More unqiue stuff.
    Cowboys- you can get tickets. Just google cowboy tickets. End zone party platform is only 25 bucks but no seat. A seat will cost you about 125. Many hotels around the stadium and some have free shuttles.
    it's an awesome stadium. Jaw dropping.
    Also near the stadium is Cowboys Dance Hall and Saloon. Wow! Just think of the largest WalMart you have been in and picture that being a nightclub with stage and live band. This is a top notch club. Massive. Loved it. They have 2 there but the one in Arlington by the cowboys stadium is the one I am talking about. There is a shepler's western ware right by the club if you need some boots for boot scooten.
    Six Flags amusement park and a water park by the stadium but not sure if they are open in Oct????
    Grapevine Mills mall is a very good place to shop. It's just north of the stadium about 30 minutes but will take a good portion of your day.
    Fort Worth Stock Yards - many places to eat and door to door country night clubs with the World famous Billy Bobs being the center piece.
    Once here you can hoof it all night.
     
  13. Someone

    Someone High-Roller

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    the portion of DART that goes to DFW is not opening until Dec 2014 at the earliest and the OP I believe said they are coming into DFW

    other than Love Field and the dallas Zoo and Fair Park there is really not much that DART goes to for the light rail portion
     
  14. DBear

    DBear VIP Bear

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    Thanks for all the suggestions. Will take it all in and come up with a plan in a week or two. Will post my plan here later.
     
  15. weluvvegas

    weluvvegas Casino Countess

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    Lived here all my life - and worked for a local travel agency for a while helping people in town for weeks of training.

    PM me if you’d like, I can give you several suggestions for what to do on your off time depending on where exactly you are staying. I’ve done business with almost every hotel surrounding the DFW airport – and worked at the two inside the airport as well - so I can give you some pointers as far as rate range...amenities...location....that is if you have a choice of where to stay.

    I can try and get you a good deal on a car rental from the place I used to do business with, as we had a special rate. I still have connections. :thumbsup:
     
  16. DBear

    DBear VIP Bear

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    Well, I've been back from Dallas for several weeks now. Won't go into much detail but will post the highlights. Chose to stay downtown for 4 nights before going back to the Irving area for work meetings. No rental car but I kept myself extremely busy downtown during those 4 nights.

    Food
    Pecan Lodge. Their BBQ was unbelievable. Even now, I dream about eating their brisket again! Well worth the hour long wait before they opened to get some. Farmers Market was neat but I read Pecan Lodge is soon moving to Deep Ellum. Coincidentally, a rerun of DDD was just on tv airing the BBQ episode which featured this joint.

    Capriottis. Lo and behold a sub shop had just opened around the block from where I was staying. I first read about this sub chain on this board. Got their famous turkey sub, the giant one, and had enough for 2 meals. I went back twice.

    Food trucks at the Klyde Warren park across the DMA musuem. Luv the atmosphere here, day or night. Food was so so but it was exciting to see a lineup of food trucks.

    Sightseeing
    Sixth Floor Museum. WOW. Very touching. Very historic. Highly recommend to anyone and everyone. Spent a good 3 hours here. Go early to beat the lines. I went around the 50th anniversary so perhaps it was busier than normal then.

    DMA. Great free museum. Wish my town had a place like this to spend a weekend afternoon in. Even the cafeteria had good food. Can't remember if it was a Wolfgang Puck cafe, maybe that was at the Perot Museum but food was good at "publicly accessible prices".

    Perot Museum. Interesting but definitely geared towards kids. I could only stay for an hour or two since it was louder than a school bus in there. The earthquake simulator was neat. I didn't catch any of the other rides/simulators since there were way too many kids on a weekend there. The oil drill ride had a long line, estimated at about 45 minutes on a Sunday afternoon. Exhibits were really well done not to mention interesting architecture.

    Went to AA arena to watch a ball game and concert too. Lots of scalpers and you could really bargain to get a good price. Nice arena. That Victory Park square must be something when it's full but guess that rarely happens.

    Loved the city. Know I only touched the surface by staying downtown and would love to return to explore the rest of the city, including Ft.Worth.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2014
  17. lotso-bear

    lotso-bear VIP Whale

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    You worked at the Grand Hyatt DFW? Best airport hotel, EVER! :nworthy:
     
  18. weluvvegas

    weluvvegas Casino Countess

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    Yeah it is pretty great! I left cuz of my crazy hours but would've certainly stayed...good people
     
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