Visiting the Center

A quick guide on how to move with ease and efficiency, and how much you can expect to pay:

Parking

A. The Center Tower Garage is the closest structure. Cost is $6.

B. This structure can be cheaper and especially convenient if dining at such adjacent restaurants as El Torito Grill or Amici. Cost, paid upon departure, is $1 per half hour but free after 9 p.m. The lot, about three blocks from the center, stays open all night.

C. Alternative structures. Prices vary. Free parking for ticket purchases (limited to 30 minutes). Patron drop-off and pickup is available near the street-level box office and theater entrance.

Tickets

The box office is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and until 8:30 p.m. on performance days.

Single tickets range from free, for family-oriented Imagination Celebration events, to $125 for opera box seats.

The average price for most events is $25. Season subscriptions range from $15 for two dance performances to $316 for four operas.

To charge by phone, call Ticketmaster at (714) 740-2000; there is a $3.75 per-ticket surcharge and a $1.35 handling fee per order. There are Ticketmaster walk-up outlets throughout Orange County at Robinsons-May, Blockbuster Music, Tower Records and Ritmo Latino stores. Surcharges vary.

Refunds are granted only for canceled performances. Exchanges (for a fee of $2 per ticket) may be made for tickets to the same attraction.

A tip: If, for any reason, a quick exit is necessary, think twice about sitting in the center of the orchestra section. The section’s “pardon me, ‘scuse me” configuration--with rows as long as 57 seats--has no middle aisle.

Restrooms

Near the elevators on every level except the ground floor. (The lines are usually shortest on the third tier.)

Beverages

Bars serving soft drinks and alcohol (except for potentially carpet-staining red wine) are on every level except the ground floor.

Coffee is available on the second floor, but you can only drink it within a small area near the patio or on the outdoor patio.

No munchies available.

Special Needs

Spaces for patrons in wheelchairs are available. Call for reservations.

Free wireless headsets are on hand for the hard of hearing.

Miscellaneous

Smoking is only allowed outdoors, on designated balconies.

A registered nurse is on duty during performances.

A free coat-check booth is on street level.

How to get to the artists’ entrance? Practice, practice, practice . . . or enter on Avenue of the Arts.

General information: (714) 556-2787.

Shaded areas represent recommended seats for performances of dance, musical theater, opera and concerts.*

* General areas selected by Times arts writers.