ANAHEIM ARENA : THE BASICS : What to Expect With Tickets, Traffic, Food

So you’ve decided to go to the Anaheim Arena to check out a game or a concert.

First, you need tickets. That could be as easy as picking up your phone or heading to the mall.

Next, you have to get there. If you’re smart, you’ll drive--and avoid Katella Avenue.

Once you enter the arena, your stomach might growl, and you will want something to eat. What’s available? Everything you’d expect, plus a few things more.

Tickets

Many believe to get the best sports or concert tickets, you have to go to the stadium or arena box office.

But that will not be the case at the Anaheim Arena, spokesman and marketing manager John Nicoletti said, because the arena will be making sales through Ticketmaster.

“No matter where someone buys a ticket, they will get the best seat available in that price range, no matter if they are here at the arena or at another Ticketmaster location,” Nicoletti said.

The Mighty Ducks ticket prices range from $18 to $125, with individual game tickets going on sale later this summer. Tickets for Bullfrog roller hockey games will cost $8 and $6.

Nicoletti said precautions are being taken to keep ticket brokers and scalpers from getting prime seats, but conceded it will be difficult.

“What they do is hire people to stand in line and buy tickets as soon as the tickets go on sale,” Nicoletti said. “My suggestion to anybody who wants to get the best seats to an event is to be there when they first go on sale.”

Transportation

Drive, leave home early and enter via Ball Road.

That would seem to be the best advice for those planning to attend early events at the new arena.

Neither the Orange County Transportation Authority nor Amtrak currently is scheduling any special buses or trains for arena events, so assume that traffic on Katella Avenue will be heavy.

“The brochures and pamphlets that have been distributed show the arena’s access as being off the Orange Freeway and Katella, and it’s our feeling that most people will use that entrance,” said Jim Paral, the city’s primary traffic engineer. “So as an alternative, I would use the entrance off Ball Road. It has not been advertised much. . . .”

To use Paral’s recommended entrance, exit the Orange Freeway at Ball and head east. Turn right on Auto Center Drive, which leads directly into the arena parking lot.

A few of those inclined to walk a little can avoid the arena’s $6 parking fee by turning onto Sanderson Avenue, a small cul-de-sac just in front of the arena’s gate, where there will be a smidgen of street parking available. Parking will be illegal on other streets near the arena during events.

Because of bus and train schedules not yet correlated to arena events, mass transit seems to be out of the question for most Orange County residents.

Amtrak has run trains to Rams football games at nearby Anaheim Stadium in the past, but will for Duck games or other events at the arena.

Gunter Settele, Amtrak’s district sales manager, said he doubts that there would be enough arena-goers to warrant special trains. Regularly scheduled trains arrive at Anaheim Stadium--about a quarter-of-a-mile walk--throughout the evening, but the only pickup points are in Fullerton, Santa Ana and San Juan Capistrano. The last train heading back to Fullerton leaves at 10:57 p.m., the last heading south at 9:48 p.m. Both are too early for people wishing to catch the end of most night events.

Buses are a similarly shaky proposition, but the OCTA is rethinking its routes, spokeswoman Elaine Beno said.

Concessions

In the beginning, Anaheim Arena food will be the usual--hot dogs, peanuts, sodas and beer.

But, concessions General Manager Walt Farris says, it won’t be long before the arena is noted for “signature” foods: “Items that will give us an identity.”

For now, such signature items will include personal-size pizzas called Supremos, charbroiled hamburgers and chicken sandwiches, gourmet desserts such as cheesecake and mud pies, as well as espresso.

Farris is employed by Ogden Facilities Management, which operates the arena for the city. “But we intend to do some test marketing at the arena and see what the public likes. When an arena first opens, it’s hard to tell exactly what people will buy.”

Farris said it is undecided which souvenirs will offered at the arena.

Customers will be able to use credit cards for food purchases. Nicoletti said the system will quickly scan the card and give instant authorization, perhaps faster than a cash transaction.

“That’s the only reason we decided to go with it,” Nicoletti said. “It’s quicker in that the cashier does not have to handle money and make change.”

Getting In

Box office: 10 a.m. 6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.

Ticketmaster: Tickets for all arena events, including sports. (714) 740-2000.

Mighty Ducks hockey team: Season tickets only, (800) 462-5394.

Bullfrogs roller hockey team: (714) 936-7663.

Getting There

Arena parking: $6. Bus: Bus No. 50, from east and west, $1; late-night travel limited, particularly on weekends. Revisions being considered to accommodate arena. Orange County Transportation Authority, (714) 636-7433. Train: Limited Amtrak, particularly late at night. Fares from $7. (800) 872-7245.

Getting Fed

Comparison of prices at selected Southern California stadiums and arenas:

Food Arena Anaheim Stadium Forum Hot Dogs $2.75/$2 $2.75/$2.25 $2.75/$1.75 Spicy hot dog $3.75 $4.75 $3 Pepperoni pizza* $5.50 $4.25 $2.50 Beer $4.50/$3.50 $4/$3.25 $4.75/$3.75 Soda $2.50/$1.75 $2.50/$2/$1.50/$.75 $2.25/$1.75 Nachos $3.25 $2.75 $3 Peanuts $1.25 $1.25 $1.25

*--Arena will serve eight-inch “personal-size” pizzas; Forum sells four-inch slices, stadium six-inch slices.